No but I expected him not to miss some of the worst sitters in memory.. and we not talking one or two... he couldn’t hit a barn door from a yard out. So I’m glad he is getting the bounce of the ball now and they going in and there isn’t a blue who wouldn’t love him to become the striker so many think he transformed into overnight. But I still haven’t seen “that” goal that tells me he has made it yet. I know it when I see it. I’m not convinced he can sustain his goal output with the finishing quality he shows... but it doesn’t matter ... he has my full support every time he puts the shirt on..
What I will say is he get himself into quite a lot of scoring positions.. that’s a big plus
He doesnt have any conviction in his shooting, the poaching goals are great and need to continue, but if he's going to lead the line for a top 4/6 club, he needs to have that quality in the 1v1, or as we saw yesterday, he selfishly chose to shoot, but then didnt get a good shot off. I usually don't mind strikers shooting but they have to score those chances when there is someone wide open elsewhere. If you look at DCL's goals none of them are real quality strikes (i dont mean they arent good goals, the overhead v arsenal was excellent). Where as you have Richy who can beat a man and bury it in the bottom corner (Palace, Brighton).
Needs to get that conviction. Harry Kane is such a good example as he had a couple of loans and it took him a bit longer to develop, if you give HK the chances DCL has had this season, he scores the majority. He has that conviction. DCL needs to add that conviction and that quality.
Dont want this to seem like a DCL bash, I've been his biggest critic for years and never thought he would come this far, there is a demand for his hard working, hold the ball play and would be useful in a squad game, however he needs to be able to capitalise on when a team are on the backfoot and he slows it down and plays it back. Holding it up is great most of the time but he has to be more direct and brutal when he has that space.
He has come on leaps and bounds,but still has some way to go if hes going to be a top 4/6 strikers.
- Keep the poaching goals going.
- Add some quality in his finish of 'open chances'.
- Develop his awareness of attack and move the ball a quicker.