As the old sayings go, “you have to be in it to win it” and “if you keep getting into the right areas you will score goals”.
I would agree he hasn’t set the world on fire but in his 20 minute cameos and the game on Tuesday he has been getting chances. Hit the crossbar, had a perfectly good goal chalked off and finally scored. Albeit vs a young team.
On the other hand, I have been pretty impressed with Woodrow since he came here - particularly with some of his link up play - but bar his penalty I can’t remember many chances that he should have scored or hit then get. Bell and McNeilley seem to be the ones that have the chances and goals.
I would take a berbatov-esque lazy looking striker that scores goals every other game vs one that runs around and does all the “right” things but isn’t ever in the right place to put the ball in the net.
You’ve made a really good point here that I’ve thought about Fink too. I agree he certainly hasn’t look brilliant so far, but the one thing that has impressed me is he is always getting into the right positions you want a striker to be in. He’s always between the posts in the penalty box and that is a great trait for a striker. As you said about Woodrow, he doesn’t do that at all really.
Fink hasn’t looked anywhere near as sharp as in that Bradford game though, so I think the injury he had may still be hampering him a bit. Some players do take time to get up to match fitness (Curtis Thompson was a big example, first game after injury looked like a pub footballer, but by game 5 looked like the brilliant player he was for us). I would like to see him get 5 starts on the trot to see whether he can cut it or not at the moment.
I kinda think the same. But I’ve come to the opposite conclusion. Woodrow may not be much of a goal threat but he looks like an unselfish attacker who’s good at getting the ball and playing it forward to set up his team mates. So far he hasn’t been played alongside an out and out striker. McNeilly is that. Start McNeilly and have Woodrow supply him with balls and we’re likely to get a lot of goals. Start McNeilly alongside Fink and we’re more likely to get two selfish strikers getting in each others way and hogging half chances. And quite possibly fewer goals as a result.
I would agree fink and McNeilley starting up top of a 2 might be a difficult pair to have.
But have fink holding the line pushing the defence back and McNeilley playing on the right of a three and cutting in field and back a bit, finding the space between defence and midfield (as he did on Tuesday watching them slide past him), and you could have a winning combination. Especially if you have 2 of a Lowry/henderson/fred/bell on the left and deep centre (in a 4 2 3 1) behind Fink.
A 4-2-3-1 with Fink up top, Lowry down the centre and Bell and McNeilly either side is pretty mouthwatering isn’t it? Especially with Fred, Quitirna and Woodrow to come on later. We are going up!
That’s some outrageous revisionism. That’s not how I recall it at all. I recall him being a lone soldier in the opposition half grafting very hard for no return and rightfully losing his rag for being unsupported by some terrible tactics, which included playing him on the left wing in the second leg at The Valley.
That’s why I said it could have been the Dodds affect/the injury (or both!). Kone also lost his touch. When he did get chances (all be it less frequently ) he had also lost his ability to finish (he missed several sitters). He got less chances and less service but he didn’t get no chances or no service.
His head was not in the right place for what ever reason and he looked half the player he had been (even Luton relentlessly trying to sign him over 4-5 weeks can’t have helped). My point is that both injuries and psycholigical reasons can have an effect on a player and especially a striker.
Fink is young,he has moved to a different country and league.He has had an injury and a change of manager too.Any game time he had with Dodds he was similarily left up front alone.It has been a fractured start to his career with us because of injury.I have no doubt that his confidence has suffered.Anyone playing any sport with no confidence(amateur or pro) look off the pace,slow and less skillful when not confident. I am sure he is capable of a higher standard than we have seen.
Don’t disagree - that’s why you have the 4 defenders and two defensive/holding midfielders. I would probably plump for CBM and Abbott, which is incredibly harsh on Leahy as he has been doing his best in one of those positions all season - I just don’t think it’s a role that suits him.
Tbh, I’m not convinced CBM and Abotts roles are best suited as defensive/holding players either but until Scowen is back, we have to try all the combinations and find one that works enough.