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PwoperNaughtyButNot 7:17 Tue Apr 12
Kral

Kral is on loan from Spartak Moscow - will he have a team to go back to at the end of the season or will he be a free agent?

Irish Hammer 8:56 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

He should be a free agent For life the repugnant permed turd

Sydney_Iron 9:07 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Just our luck! Any contract with Spartak is maybe down the toilet and i guess any deal with us? just a pity he didnt turn out to be the next Zidane or Kompany as we would be sitting pretty.............

We have seen fuck all of him, yet in nearly every game he is named on the bench? Suspect he is not deemed good enough but quite why he is a dead cert for the bench always baffles me, be a few in the chamionship or Europes smaller leagues who will snap him up on a free.

Good luck to him.

Lee Trundle 10:32 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

He hasn't been given a chance at all, IMO. Weird when you think that Moyes singled him out in the press as a player to watch in the Euros before they started last summer.

I'd have preferred to have seen a youngster given the role has he this season.

Manuel 10:34 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Irish - That's more like it :-)

stepney hammer 10:35 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Lee Trundle 10:32 Tue Apr 12

Yep, with hindsight would have been better to stick with Coventry after he was impressive in pre-season.

GreenStreetPlayer 10:46 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Wasn’t he ‘recommended’ by Soucek and Coufal?

Lee Trundle 10:48 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/moyes-talks-up-west-ham-target-kral-as-euros-one-to-watch-4373415

southbankbornnbred 10:55 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Anybody can be impressive in pre-season, when nobody is tackling, the pace is generally slower and most of the side gets subbed after 60 minutes.

Surely everybody remembers the media, and our fans, salivating over Joe Widdowson's 'domination' of Beckham in a pre-season game?

The best side Widdowson went on to play for was Grimsby.

He was a good lad, Joe, but he wasn't Prem class.

On Kral, he just looks like he's taken a long time to adjust to English football. He clearly has something - you don't get into that Czech side if you're a bad player. But he looks a yard off the pace in England at the moment. Needs to make better decisions quicker. Some players take time to adapt - look at Fornals.

DukeofDevo 10:55 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Been one of two disappointments that I expected a lot more of ; Vlasij being the other one. How long do you give a player to adapt before you call it a day?

southbankbornnbred 11:01 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Duke - that's genuinely a good question.

Not sure what the answer is. I guess you have to see signs of some improvement and measure that against your expectations (and any fee). But surely, for a foreign player, it has to be at least a season?

A lot of people tend to forget about the upheaval many of these players go through when they join a club in a country where they don't speak the language etc. Fornals took quite a few months to start ticking.

southbankbornnbred 11:03 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

I agree about Vlasic, btw.

I was really pleased when we landed him (although it confirmed we weren't getting Lingard). But he has contributed very little so far and looks too slow (physical speed and decision-making) for English football at the moment.

I hope that changes, as I want him to do well. Somewhere in there is a fine player.

Takashi Miike 11:04 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

not sure how anyone can judge his ability off a couple of cameo performances alongside noble. the deal and lack of appearances stinks of another sullivan special, where the manager either doesn't want to match the minimum games to make the deal permanent or a certain amount of games makes the dwarf cunt pay more money.

SteveJacko 11:05 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Should have kept Josh Cullen.

southbankbornnbred 11:08 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

I liked Cullen. Good attitude, even when he was a marginal player.

He's doing well in Belgium. Even captained Anderlecht on occasions.

Iron Duke 11:09 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

A terrible deal all round. He hasn’t looked very good the few times he has played, but the fact that he doesn’t even get a few minutes at the end suggests that this about more than football ability

⚒️ 11:13 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Kral? More like Krap 😂

GreenStreetPlayer 11:22 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Just my thoughts but if I moved abroad to play for another team in the first instance I’d bust a gut to show my worth, and in a way being a better player would get you more integrated and accepted in the club and socially perhaps.

Look at Coufal and Soucek, gave 100% for us which made them, and us feel comfortable.

Okay, Krai may have not had the same opportunities as his countrymen, but there’s been nothing there really to justify him starting.

It’s not just us, mystery as a number of other foreign players at other clubs haven’t shown much in their first season, then gone on to be decent the following season.

I just can’t work that one out. It does just seem there are factors that some can adapt straight away, and some can’t for a season or so for some reason.

Is it the clubs failings that they have failed or not aware of foreign players circumstances which are probably all different.

It’s all a mystery to me. When crossing that line, surely if it’s in you you perform at pretty much the same level as when you were bought irrespective what soil you played on.
And if a player plays a bit differently, it shouldn’t take a whole season for him or the team to adapt and work it out to get the best out of.

southbankbornnbred 11:33 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

But it obviously does take time for many players to adapt - otherwise they'd all hit the ground running.

Coufal and Soucek are the exceptions, not the norm.

There are many factors involved (language, position, fitness, technique, contentment etc), which is why it is never simple.

But a key issue is always the suitability of any player for English football. Regardless of the technical improvements, the game here is still generally quicker than most other leagues - you get so little time on the ball. And that tests any player's ability and decision-making. And even with technically gifted players, like Vlasic, if you don't make good decisions quickly then you aren't effective.

Personally, I think Kral and Vlasic have so far fallen foul of that. Neither has tended to make the right decision quickly enough. Kral takes time to get the ball out from under his feet and see even simple plasses. In England, somebody is on you then.

He's clearly used to having a bit more time on the ball. And it takes time to adjust to that different mindset/approach, because it might not be your 'instinct'. Some of these guys have played for a decade (including youth football) with more time on the ball.

PwoperNaughtyButNot 11:35 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

So the question is - if he doesn’t have a club to go back to then do we snap him up for free and expect more now he has a year to adjust and Noble is out of the picture?

Someone will get him and I am sure there is a player in there. He is only 23

southbankbornnbred 11:38 Tue Apr 12
Re: Kral

Presumably Kral will just remain a Spartak player under contract if we don't sign him?

He just won't be able to play in Europe for them because of the sanctions. But I guess he's on a contract, isn't he? The Russian league could, in theory, continue internally.

He signed a five-year deal for them in 2019.

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