evertony
Player Valuation: £40m
There’s a theme with all the current centre forwards in the squad which is quite telling, and which to my mind explains why we don’t score enough goals to progress from our regular 7th or 8th spot. All of them are big, bulky units with little pace or technical ability on the ball. I convince s myself of it the last few weeks watching Fraser Hornby.
Calvert-Lewin isn’t a natural finisher unfortunately and visibly either hesitates or leaves his decision making in front of goal too late. Yesterday he had two really good chances and neither even hit the target. It’s said his strengths are his running, chasing and harrying but in truth I don’t recall him bullying a single centre half all last season. We keep saying he’s young and he’ll improve yet we’re apparently chasing Leao and Kean for mega-bucks and both are 19-20?
Cenk is a grafter who can finish, but has zero pace due to his build.
Prince Oumar has workrate galore but technically bereft. Again, a muscular frame but limited pace, awareness and ability.
Fraser Hornby - I don’t know enough about the lad to be honest but in the few preseason games I’ve seen him I really don’t see anything special at all. He’s another big lad for his age but one who seems to lack the basic instinct and positioning for a regular goal scorer. Without being too damning I’ve seen handfuls of forwards with his ability at non-league level so just don’t see what we could expect in the future from him.
Ellis Simms seems to be the exception - his goal scoring record suggests he knows instinctively where the back of the net is. Again, I don’t know enough about him to form a solid opinion other than his goal record. With a goal scoring record like his why isn’t he getting preseason game time in the event we’d likely need him in an emergency once the season is underway? Yesterday we had Walcott and Anthony Gordon filling in up front for spells.
There got to be something tangible as to why all the so-called centre forwards at the Club are so similar in terms of pace, mobility, physical stature and limited technical ability. Their general lack of measurable improvement is also a concern.
Is it the fact that Duncan Ferguson is the main attacking coach? I’m a tad baffled by it to be honest as the theme has been prominent for a while under numerous managers so maybe it’s a Club thing too that we prefer a big old fashioned centre forward?
Calvert-Lewin isn’t a natural finisher unfortunately and visibly either hesitates or leaves his decision making in front of goal too late. Yesterday he had two really good chances and neither even hit the target. It’s said his strengths are his running, chasing and harrying but in truth I don’t recall him bullying a single centre half all last season. We keep saying he’s young and he’ll improve yet we’re apparently chasing Leao and Kean for mega-bucks and both are 19-20?
Cenk is a grafter who can finish, but has zero pace due to his build.
Prince Oumar has workrate galore but technically bereft. Again, a muscular frame but limited pace, awareness and ability.
Fraser Hornby - I don’t know enough about the lad to be honest but in the few preseason games I’ve seen him I really don’t see anything special at all. He’s another big lad for his age but one who seems to lack the basic instinct and positioning for a regular goal scorer. Without being too damning I’ve seen handfuls of forwards with his ability at non-league level so just don’t see what we could expect in the future from him.
Ellis Simms seems to be the exception - his goal scoring record suggests he knows instinctively where the back of the net is. Again, I don’t know enough about him to form a solid opinion other than his goal record. With a goal scoring record like his why isn’t he getting preseason game time in the event we’d likely need him in an emergency once the season is underway? Yesterday we had Walcott and Anthony Gordon filling in up front for spells.
There got to be something tangible as to why all the so-called centre forwards at the Club are so similar in terms of pace, mobility, physical stature and limited technical ability. Their general lack of measurable improvement is also a concern.
Is it the fact that Duncan Ferguson is the main attacking coach? I’m a tad baffled by it to be honest as the theme has been prominent for a while under numerous managers so maybe it’s a Club thing too that we prefer a big old fashioned centre forward?
