Kristoffer Ajer

If the money was reinvested in a real dominant cb id punt him tbh.

 

A very fair analysis of his current game but what is it you rate about him? Defensively he has no redeeming features.

He is a good deep ball carrier but that pales in importance compared to all his deficiencies you've listed

Hes a very poor defender with some potential further up the park atm

 

He's always been like that, hasn't he ?

I think the interest from England, well supposed interest, has went to his head. This season has been his worst, for me anyway. Either that or the injury he had has put the fear in him. He just seems like he's always got a mistake in him just now and an easy target for opposition strikers.

Hopefully Elhamed can help him along when he comes back. Think he's by far the best leader we have in our defence, which should help both Ajer & Jullien.

 

Been largely * since Rodgers left. Biggest problem is he hasn't really developed since his first couple seasons, when he was labelled a wonderkid.

Was, and will always be, a big slow guy but his passing and anticipation has been shocking at times this season and last.

 

Slow

 

Boyata was a big help to ajer although most will choke on this ,jullien is a little like ajer and can lose concentration , and get caught out , positioning is a little suspect too , but ajer is having to stand up and be counted as a player in his own right now , great at coming fwd out of defence , has to sharpen up get more aggressive and * learn how to score from corners .

 

It's weird how people have turned on him. Hes still young, bound to have iffy spells

 

Would like to see him rested for cup game on Sat, but with Joso not into plastic and I think Walsh is cup tied? cant see it

 

Here's a stat

Ajer has made more senior club football appearances than Jullien, Simunovic, and Elhamed. And he is 9 short of Bitton.

Edit: it would appear Soccerbase hasn't counted Jullien's time at Dijon and Freiburg properly. So that's wrong.

 

He seems to be going through a dodgy patch at the moment.

Can't fault his desire or passion but some of the very basic errors he made recently are in need of correction.

Ball watching ? getting pulled out of position or failing to see the danger ? loss of concentration ? it is not one basic flaw in his game and yes he is still young so just needs an experienced defender to point out some flaws in his game

My own personal wish is that he scores more goals , for a lad of his height he does not score enough. Big Julien showing what he brings to out attack and need Ajer to add that to his game

 

He's better than he's showing right now.

He perhaps has the benefit of cb options being rather non existent at the moment, so he can work on it and play through the form and find his class again.

 

Probably playing with a broken leg knowing our club.

 

I’ve definitely not turned on him, still a big fan. Always liked him even before he was a key part of the first XI.

For me he’s had a poor few months though, and looked much more vulnerable than usual. I’m not sure what’s caused it - lack of competition, interest from elsewhere etc - but he needs to step up certain areas of his game. He started the season really well too in that brief spell at right back but has fallen off the pace quite a bit.

Don’t think there’s any need to panic though. He’s still a good bit ahead of Simunovic for me. Feels like he just needs to back to basics a bit and do a bit of work on positioning. A lot of teams target the ball in between Ajer and the channel.

Also, Julien being so dominant in the opposition area has probably highlighted how much better Ajer should be doing in that area.

 

Don't think anyone has really turned on him, most are just being objective about his noticeable dip in form.

If it were 1 or 2 mistakes then I'd agree that would be hysterical but he's made double figures of serious blunders this season alone.

Wednesday he was atrocious, against Hamilton he inexplicably ducked at a ball that was 5 feet in the air and gave their striker a shot from 8 yards out, v the Huns he failed to follow Katic for their goal, he also dived in at Morelos and failed to win the ball giving him a chance to bear down on goal in both the league and league cup game, against Rennes (home) he failed to follow his man to the front post and allowed him an easy tap in, against Rennes (away) he dived in and committed 3 fouls at the same time to give away a penalty when all he had to do was attempt to stop the cross ball coming in, against Livingston he tried to run out from the back into a packed midfield, lost possession that led to them scoring their first, then let a long ball bounce in front of him and lost Dykes for them to score his 2nd.

That is just the mistakes that I can think of, off the top of my head.

No-one is saying he is a bad player, he has potential to be excellent but he has a lot to work on as his glaring errors have and will continue to cost us, unless he cuts them out.

 

Maybe hes quick in a straight line over 50/60 yards but he turns like an oil tanker.

 

It's not really weird, hes been poor all season. When a player plays poorly for a prolonged spell like this they will get criticism.

He is still youngish, but he has had almost 3 years worth of experience playing in this league and whatever 1st team experience from his previous club.

Maybe that's the problem, hes possibly played too much football at a young age. Also why it was so remiss of us not to bring in another CB in the window.

 

His form is a worry, definitely..

Bitton coming back may actually provide some more needed competition.

 

Have to say, Im very surprised by some of the comments. Do we not remember everyone saying the same about VVD? He wasn't perfect and had wild moments of zero concentration but we could see how good he was. I personally love Ajer. His ability as a ball playing centre half is priceless in our league where most stick 10 behind the ball. He's not perfect defensively but would we rather have someone like Ajer in there or a Mckenna type,who is perhaps more solid, but plays football like his boots are on the wrong feet with the laces tied together?

 

Van Dijk had lapses in concentration but nowhere near to the degree that Ajer has. Those generally came about from complacency as he was head and shoulders above the league.

When did you see Virgil getting done in the air? Hardly ever. Ajer is taller and yet Cosgrove beat him in December, then Katic the following week.

He has the makings of a good CB but his decision-making needs to improve. He is letting balls bounce that should be attacked and he's committing himself and going to ground and not winning the ball, which leads to 1 v 1s. If you go to ground you have to take the ball or worst case the man, there's no grey area.

 

That’s about right, people are going overboard on him though, he also does an awful lot right as well.

He’s clearly still learning. He’ll get there, he’s also good enough for us to play him while he’s had a dip. He’ll get through it.