Franny Jeffers....

[Dushku]

There was a famous occasion at Chelsea's training ground back in the 90's when Ruud Guilit was playing for them, when one morning they were joined by Messers Frank Rijkaard and Marco Van Basten ! If I'd been part of the Chelsea set-up and saw that, I'd of just got me coat and hailed a taxi to the nearest job centre !

It does happen all the time. Beckham trained with Arsenal for some time when he was 'between clubs' to keep up his fitness and it started all sorts of wild rumours. It's just a shame that the quality of transients we have passing through our Hallowed training facility gates isn't quite up to the calibre of others

 

[ToxtethBlue]

Johnson had pace and scored. Beckford has a touch of a child molester that's as subtle as a brick to the teeth.

Other than that....20 goals nailed on I say.

Jermaine Beckford's quick, that's quite obvious.

Johnson was hardly a technical god, his touch was average at best, no better than Beckford in that department.

Johnson is probably 10-12 goals a season man without penalties, and he was actually given a chance to prove he could score goals, Beckford's two starts into his Premier League career.

 

[ijjysmith]

Johnson had pace and scored. Beckford has a touch of a child molester that's as subtle as a brick to the teeth.

Other than that....20 goals nailed on I say.

Unnecessarily harsh. Hope he proves you wrong.

 

[Neiler]

Beckford will score goals nailed on.

 

[FinchFarmBlue]

Beckford will score goals nailed on.

Amen! bruv

As TB mentioned just needs the right ball in the box- and we have the providers currently under performing-I have faith it will come good- dress rehearsal this week and a good spanking for the barcodes next week imo.

 

[kenada_blue]

Jermaine Beckford's quick, that's quite obvious.

Johnson was hardly a technical god, his touch was average at best, no better than Beckford in that department.

Johnson is probably 10-12 goals a season man without penalties, and he was actually given a chance to prove he could score goals, Beckford's two starts into his Premier League career.

Not on par with AJ IMO in terms of pace. If Beckford is THAT quick, we'd be sending balls over the top for him to chase, which we havent even tried.

Not saying he was a technical god, but he positioning was better and knew how to leave a defender in the dust.

For all Beckford's limited playing time at the top level...he personally hasnt showed me much in terms of movement in the box, creating space, awareness of defenders around him (tends to turn into defenders) and hasnt had a single shot on goal or been on the end of anything yet.

AJ was never a world beater...but he did score a lot of goals before his 1 dimensional game was sussed. Dunno what Beckford's game is personally...but its been sussed so far.

 

[Neiler]

Not on par with AJ IMO in terms of pace. If Beckford is THAT quick, we'd be sending balls over the top for him to chase, which we havent even tried.

Not saying he was a technical god, but he positioning was better and knew how to leave a defender in the dust.

For all Beckford's limited playing time at the top level...he personally hasnt showed me much in terms of movement in the box, creating space, awareness of defenders around him (tends to turn into defenders) and hasnt had a single shot on goal or been on the end of anything yet.

AJ was never a world beater...but he did score a lot of goals before his 1 dimensional game was sussed. Dunno what Beckford's game is personally...but its been sussed so far.

I think the only quaestion is can he play alone up front, personaly im not convinced as 1 of 2 im certain he can score at this level, hes a player who thrives and puts away chances, if we're not making any then hes in trouble. That said all our strikers have struggled - i dont not necessarily think its a prob of their quality - worryingly i think Moyes was looking for a new striker in the window - like i say i dont hink its a problem in personel.

 

[ToxtethBlue]

Not on par with AJ IMO in terms of pace. If Beckford is THAT quick, we'd be sending balls over the top for him to chase, which we havent even tried.

Not saying he was a technical god, but he positioning was better and knew how to leave a defender in the dust.

For all Beckford's limited playing time at the top level...he personally hasnt showed me much in terms of movement in the box, creating space, awareness of defenders around him (tends to turn into defenders) and hasnt had a single shot on goal or been on the end of anything yet.

AJ was never a world beater...but he did score a lot of goals before his 1 dimensional game was sussed. Dunno what Beckford's game is personally...but its been sussed so far.

It's a completely different situation, in the three games Beckford has been involved in the team's have put men behind the ball and played deep defensive lines. That very rarely happened when Johnson was here because we didn't keep hold of the ball anywhere near as much as we do. Therefore teams could risk pushing up, taking possession of the ball at having a go at us, which left space for Johnson to exploit.

And even then, I remember people criticising Johnson's movement, he was very rarely seen running through one on one with a keeper because we didn't have any players who could make that type of pass. His movement wasn't always brilliant, but the style of creative player we have didn't suit him or players of Beckford's style either. Either that, or we aren't taking enough risks in these areas, sometimes you've just got to make that pass.

Beckford is very quick, he's just a different player in terms of size and build, being 6ft 2 and all but he'd quick enough to be considered a speedy striker, in the Vaughan/Agbonlahor mould, more of a powerful runner. Anyone who saw him in full flight against Everton Chile would see this.

I think it's a bit harsh to be writing the lad off after two games against a team that's created very little in the games he's been involved in. Like any player, he needs time.

 

[davek]

I know it's early days, but I'm far from convinced over Beckford's quality. If either the Yak or Saha are fit he'll be played sparingly as someone who can come off the bench and boost attacking options when chasing a game. He should be seen in that context - a replacement for Vaughan rather than a successor to Yakubu/Saha. It's a massive leap from the division he was playing in to the Premier League. The club paid zero for him so it's a free roll of the dice.

 

[kenada_blue]

It's a completely different situation, in the three games Beckford has been involved in the team's have put men behind the ball and played deep defensive lines. That very rarely happened when Johnson was here because we didn't keep hold of the ball anywhere near as much as we do. Therefore teams could risk pushing up, taking possession of the ball at having a go at us, which left space for Johnson to exploit.

And even then, I remember people criticising Johnson's movement, he was very rarely seen running through one on one with a keeper because we didn't have any players who could make that type of pass. His movement wasn't always brilliant, but the style of creative player we have didn't suit him or players of Beckford's style either. Either that, or we aren't taking enough risks in these areas, sometimes you've just got to make that pass.

Beckford is very quick, he's just a different player in terms of size and build, being 6ft 2 and all but he'd quick enough to be considered a speedy striker, in the Vaughan/Agbonlahor mould, more of a powerful runner. Anyone who saw him in full flight against Everton Chile would see this.

I think it's a bit harsh to be writing the lad off after two games against a team that's created very little in the games he's been involved in. Like any player, he needs time.

I know we havent created much, but you'd think a striker would still be able to try and create some space/opportunities. He hasnt even had a shot on goal to my recollection.

We cant just solely blame the creative players (no matter how much I do think we need a creative player behind the striker), the striker does need to put a shift in rather than just be wanting things on a plate. Cant be throwing all the strike problems with the midfielders to make excuses for a league 2 striker stepping up to the big leagues.

I'd honestly play Vaughan over him rather than make him 2nd choice striker or even 1st choice as he was against Villa.

If he was at a Stoke or a Blackburn...we'd be saying he's average. That's what I feel.

Hoping to be proved wrong in a big way though.

 

[Neiler]

To be honest i think Yak is best suited to our current system.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

Jeffers is 100% suited to our system, in that he's not part of it.

 

[ToxtethBlue]

I know we havent created much, but you'd think a striker would still be able to try and create some space/opportunities. He hasnt even had a shot on goal to my recollection.

We cant just solely blame the creative players (no matter how much I do think we need a creative player behind the striker), the striker does need to put a shift in rather than just be wanting things on a plate. Cant be throwing all the strike problems with the midfielders to make excuses for a league 2 striker stepping up to the big leagues.

I'd honestly play Vaughan over him rather than make him 2nd choice striker or even 1st choice as he was against Villa.

If he was at a Stoke or a Blackburn...we'd be saying he's average. That's what I feel.

Hoping to be proved wrong in a big way though.

I'm not, there's no doubting he's got to adapt to playing as a lone front man, it's a difficult job for anyone, nevermind a striker who's come from League one, and it'll take more than two games to get that right. Sadly, with our lack of goals, he's been thrown in and expected to do it straight away.

He's hardly stood there with his hands on his hips waiting for the ball to fall to him. He's put the effort in, he's worked defences reasonably well (the Wolves game completely changed when he went off) and he's tried to vary his game to benefit the side. He was dropping deep against Villa, not everything came off, but he's giving it a go.

That's not to say he will make it, I personally think he has the attributes to be a decent Premier League striker, but it's early days. Anything could happen.

 

[kenada_blue]

I'm not, there's no doubting he's got to adapt to playing as a lone front man, it's a difficult job for anyone, nevermind a striker who's come from League one, and it'll take more than two games to get that right. Sadly, with our lack of goals, he's been thrown in and expected to do it straight away.

He's hardly stood there with his hands on his hips waiting for the ball to fall to him. He's put the effort in, he's worked defences reasonably well (the Wolves game completely changed when he went off) and he's tried to vary his game to benefit the side. He was dropping deep against Villa, not everything came off, but he's giving it a go.

That's not to say he will make it, I personally think he has the attributes to be a decent Premier League striker, but it's early days. Anything could happen.

True. Its not the lads fault. Think Moyes needs to view the games better. When Saha came on against Villa he had about 3 shots in 10minutes than Beckford had in 50. Little things like that win and lose games.

If its not working, change it rather than leaving it late IMO.

Beckford is probably gonna get goals when the team clicks...and to be fair that is probably gonna be when he's not involved.

 

[Neiler]

True. Its not the lads fault. Think Moyes needs to view the games better. When Saha came on against Villa he had about 3 shots in 10minutes than Beckford had in 50. Little things like that win and lose games.

If its not working, change it rather than leaving it late IMO.

Should be intresting to see who will get the nod, Yak or Beckford on Sat if Saha doesnt make it.