Mid-February Mini-Blog - Strikers
Feb 7, 2018 13:39:20 GMT
Post by kingfisher on Feb 7, 2018 13:39:20 GMT
Today's article in GetWestLondon about JET prompted me to dust the cobwebs off a thought and put it into a blog....
Everybody agrees that our experienced strikers lack that extra something to create enough goals out of half-chances, and even put away some of the decent chances; but if we could turn the clock back to the beginning of the season whom from the experienced strikers (so not the emerging U23 young bloods) would you have kept and whom would you have played? I have not included Jamie Mackie, purely because of his long-term injury, but feel free to comment on his retention if you want. Here are a few curved balls:
Over to you!
Everybody agrees that our experienced strikers lack that extra something to create enough goals out of half-chances, and even put away some of the decent chances; but if we could turn the clock back to the beginning of the season whom from the experienced strikers (so not the emerging U23 young bloods) would you have kept and whom would you have played? I have not included Jamie Mackie, purely because of his long-term injury, but feel free to comment on his retention if you want. Here are a few curved balls:
- Seb Polter. The BFG was, like Washington, not that good on the first touch; but, unlike Washington, he was often able to break past defenders and cause disruption in the goal area. If we ignore the fact that he got homesick for sauerkraut and lederhosen, I think he would have been at least an alternative to Matt Smith and alongside Smith he would have caused real problems for the taller back fours or threes we have played at times against. I think he would have made a positive impact.
- Conor Washington. Should he have been given another season? Surely by the end of last season Ollie knew what Connor could deliver (or not)? I love his effort-level but he still lacks basic ball-control and space awareness in relation to defenders and also offside traps. This has led to Washington losing confidence which in turn has made goal-scoring that much harder. I would have looked to move him on.
- Jay Emmanuel Thomas. As today's article reminded us, he has not played in the first team since April 2016, with both JFH & Ollie deciding he was not what they wanted. His contract expires in June, so is it any surprise that he scored two goals in the last U23s game...? The problem often quoted is the perception that he is lazy, though whether that is directed at his training or play or both I am not sure. Was he given enough continuous play time to find match-fitness and awareness? He is another alternative to Matt Smith and, like Seb polter, an akward s*d to stop when at full speed. So would I have kept him at Loftus Road instead to cover the striker role filled at times by Mackie or Wheeler or Ngbakoto. I am not sure.
- Matt Smith. I felt he would be a worthwhile addition to the squad, and Matt's scoring record since (often coming off the bench in the first part of the season) has proved his worth to the squad. If you take into consideration that QPR has not had a penalty awarded since the opening game, and that Smith has persistently had valid claims ignored by refs for fouls in the box, I am pretty sure his real worth is even more than goals scored to date.
- Idris Sylla. At then end of last season I felt the jury was out on Sylla. Whilst he was getting goals in the goalmouth area I believed he was capable of better defending and better ball-play moving forward. Since then he has improved his defensive duties but his headers and ball interaction with other players, particularly strike-partners, has not improved.
Over to you!