Broja: ‘I’ve just had to be patient’

Armando Broja was all smiles after coming through his first action of the season, a 45-minute run-out for the Under-21s against Watford in the Premier League Cup last night.

The Albania international, a deadline-day loan signing from Chelsea, arrived at Everton with an Achilles injury that was expected to keep him sidelined until this month at the earliest.

As such, his recovery is on schedule and he began a programme of games aimed at building his fitness to the point where he can finally make his full Blues debut, hopefully before the busy Festive period.

“I got through the first 45 and I felt like I could have probably played more but it was always planned for me to play 45, so it was a good start for me,” Broja told evertontv after the U21s’ narrow defeat to the Hornets’ U21s.

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“As a player, you’ve always got to be patient — patient with chances, patient with injuries, patient with situations that are not always in your control.

“I would have loved to have been back sooner but it’s one of those ones where you just have to be patient, take your time with it, make sure you’re feeling good, make sure everything’s right.

“When I first came to Everton, I would have given anything to be out there on the pitch with the players. That’s what any player wants — to be in there with the squad week in, week out, playing and training. You need to be patient, you need to be resilient and strong.

The 23-year-old forward enjoyed the experience and it whetted his appetite for the moment can he turn out for Sean Dyche’s first team.

“It was good to be back out on the pitch,” he explained. “It’s been a while since my injury so it was just a nice feeling to be back out there playing, feeling the game, being back on the grass [and] playing with a smile on my face.

“So, I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to keep on progressing and hopefully be back with the first team.

“I was also excited to put on the Everton shirt. It was a really good feeling. Hopefully I can put on the shirt for the senior team soon.”

Get him in the team and change the way we play.

I’m sick of just seeing a big centre forward get the ball smashed to his head from Jordan Pickford.

Ball on deck and start getting men about him.

You’d be pleasantly surprised that Premier League football players actually can pass the football if you try training them on a regular basis Sean.

Posted 27/11/2024 at 06:34:53

I agree with you about our players being able to pass the ball given the opportunity and that is the very minimum required of a player. However, sadly, unless Broja brings with him a different set of skills, I feel it is likely to be the same tactics employed by Sean Dyche.

Admittedly, I don’t know much about Broja. I’m hoping that over a few months, he’ll be successful, make the art of centre-forward play fashionable and be renamed.

Ian

From what I’ve seen of him he’s very different to DCL.

He prefers to run with the ball and has a far better technique than Calvert-Lewin.

If we are just going to carry on smashing the ball to the forwards head then it’s not worth even playing Broja though because he’s not that type of player.

I do think we need to move away from DCL now though, he’s not staying here, we’ve been too persistent with a player that is not our future and I can’t see the logic in it.

If I’m a manager and I’ve had nearly two years working with a group of players and training them then I’m getting them to work on different ways of playing, using the ball, being more expressive and confident.

Do you honestly think DCL likes the way we play Jim ?

I actually belief thats one of the reasons. He wont sign. He’s waiting to see If Dyche gets another contract. Then He knows he will only get more of the same.

Broja looks a bit hot n cold to me, I’ve seen good and bad, but you must surely know that Dyche will not change his err… “style” to suit him. He wont for Beto. He didnt for Chermiti.