Lay off Cisse!

Cisse in the spotlight I've noticed that Papiss Cisse seems to be the attraction of a lot of harsh words and criticism from some fans at the moment.

I find that staggering to be honest. I'm not saying that the lad is beyond criticism, but I am questioning whether he actually deserves the stick that is flying his way at the moment.

Of course Cisse hasn't hit the heights he achieved last season when seemingly everything he hit found the back of the net. Realistically it was never going to be replicated. The guy broke Premier League history with his rate of goals and scored at a faster rate than legends like Supermac and Hughie Gallacher so to expect the same again is foolish at best.

However I will concede that his goal return from this term hasn't exactly been sparkling although there are mitigating circumstances that explain at least part of the reason for his lack of goals this season. Put simply we've played with one striker for the bulk of the season and that striker was Demba Ba with Papiss Cisse being pushed out on the wing. You know, the same position where Demba Ba's goals dried up from last season or were some people blinded by the sun shining out of Ba's arse that they forget this fact?

Since Ba left Cisse has been back in his natural position scoring two goals in seven appearances. It should have been three in seven after last night and could have even been four in seven with some benefit of the doubt. Cisse has been robbed of his 1 in 2 goal rate (a rate he has carried all the way through his career) since his return to the centre basically by some shoddy decision making.

People are saying that he is wasteful and that he should be putting chances away, and I agree to a point. Some of them have just been bad misses but some of them have just been plain bad luck combined with good goalkeeping. It's just one of those things that happens when you're luck is out.

His all-round play has improved immensely in recent weeks and now he contributes to the team in other ways aside from goals. Scoring should be his main priority of course, but are those who are having a moan about noticing how deep he is dropping to link up play? Probably not...

I actually think it's only a matter of time before Cisse starts finding the back of the net again. For me the key thing is that he isn't going into hiding and keeps on getting in to goalscoring positions. Combine that with the more effective role he is playing in attack these days and we could actually have a better, more rounded, Cisse as a result providing the masses stick behind the lad.

Just my opinion anyway...