The same ‘terrible’ recruitment team also signed Anders, Allen, Henderson, Mullins, Woodrow, Bell… Taylor needs to be more decisive on the ball but is well on his way to being a very good player for us, Lowry similar. One or two might prove to be ‘duds’, but find me a club where that doesn’t happen. And to write any of these young players off already is just ridiculous.
Some people just seem so determined to reinforce their prejudices that they refuse to objectively analyse what’s in front of them.
At the risk of repeating myself from last night and copying duff the issue last night were two Fold:
We couldn’t pass water.
The gaps between everyone was far too big that even when we did try and pass they were too high risk and easily cut out.
Sure, fink was shit last night but I don’t think he stood out in his shitness more than any of the other players on the pitch.
To lump the blame all on him when Junior was tightly marked, Tilley and Lowry couldn’t get up to support him - or when they did the final pass in the last third was consistently shocking - and we kept turning the ball over on the half way line from passes by CBM, Westergaard, Casey and Gregory it seems, to me at the very least, to be incredibly harsh to pile onto Fink.
I’m not exactly sure what people were expecting fink to actually be able to do. Pick the ball up in defence, take it around the entirety of the Northampton team and put it in the top corner?
The reason Fink is under heightened scrutiny is because he is the expensive heir to Kone’s throne, yet he can’t displace a panic signing loanee that was Luton’s third or fourth choice striker heading into the season. It reflects very badly on our recruitment and ownership team. We have pissed our only transfer fee of >£1m totally up the wall. None of this is a personal attack on Fink.
In fairness to Fink, I don’t think he was fully fit at the outset. Then he was out injured. By the time he came back, Woodrow had made the CF spot his, then he got injured again. That’s the way it goes sometimes.
I still think Fink has a good chance of coming good.
As others said, Anders took a while and now looks a nailed on starter getting better all the time. He’s had an extra 6 months on Fink to get up to speed here. Westergaard less so but I’ll stop bashing him now.
If Fink gets a chance on Saturday, he simply must impress. If he doesn’t make the match day squad, we’ll know what Duff thinks about him. In his post match, Duff alluded to a lack of athleticism. I can’t help but think this was aimed at someone in particular.
I completely understand where you are coming from and it was almost a poisoned cup of whoever replaced Kone that they needed to be a 20 goal a season striker to be considered a good enough replacement for him. Then you are comparing him to a seasoned-pro who has plenty of experience at this level and has had good (and bad) seasons all at this level.
However, Fink has time on his side, he’s still young enough to be discovering aspects of his game, learning how to get the most out of the assets he has. Duff has said in a few interviews that he’s working with Fink to get him up to speed and to get him performing at our level. Yes, we want to see more from him but the leagues that he’s come from, is very different to ours even if the game is the same.
In terms of position, role within the team setup and style of play, Kone and Fink are as different as chalk and cheese from Woodrow who performs very much as an advanced midfielder, retaining possession before playing in the main striker(s).
The evening he last scored was one of the best on the gasroom for many a year.
Am still hopefully he emerges with such an impact that the club start selling those big foam hands and brand them as “Finky Fingers” in the best player related merchandise since the Sergio wigs.
BTW - anyone who is going to the Burton game (A) on the 13th, there is an RMT strike with cross country trains. Which means you can get as far as Tamworth.
It’s about a £32 Uber but I’m sure there will be some surge pricing.
Van Sas will grow into a decent keeper, but he’s not ahead of Norris at the moment.
Fink has shown tiny flashes of what he can do. We should probably all be a bit more patient.
Magnus is very much on the clock now. He’s been here almost 10 months with a whole pre-season. Perhaps we should write off the final third of last season as he was adjusting to life in a different country and we were adjusting to life with Dodds, but we’re now almost halfway through this season. Anders seemed to come good basically over night, so maybe Magnus will too.
None of this is helped by people using their poor form as a stick to beat Dan Rice with, and the fact that when they all start together they represent the most expensively assembled starting XI in our history.
Definitely got some great players in too no questioning that. The reported fees paid for Fink and Magnus and there clear lack of ability is the merky area I was alluding too. Someone in the scouting network has had a stinker.