Striker situation

[mreprice]

One of Hemeds best games for us.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Hemed's goal last week papered over the cracks, he was a complete passenger tonight and if you watch the replay of their second goal - what the **** was he doing ! But what disturbs me the most is when the ball goes forward to him he really struggles to hold the ball up and protect it, and it comes straight back which puts us under more pressure. His lack of pace is the icing on the cake. I'm hoping Murray starts on Tuesday to get his match sharpness back and that he starts against Newcastle next week.

There is usually a pattern on NSC, if the first person is somewhat in agreement with you on the first reply then people tend to take it seriously, if you get slated they all line up to slate. I don't believe Hemed is up to scratch, I don't blame the player, he does his best, we just failed to sign better and we have injuries and lack of match fitness in that top position. I'm not sure it showed tonight however, we had a few chances and took one of them. Stephens hit the bar, two stopped off the line, so we weren't lacking fire power. But we are desperately short of an out and out goal scorer, however my hope is, we will be sharing the goals about and that won't be a problem. Very few teams have a 20+ scorer in the Prem.

 

[West Upper Seagull]

There is usually a pattern on NSC, if the first person is somewhat in agreement with you on the first reply then people tend to take it seriously, if you get slated they all line up to slate. I don't believe Hemed is up to scratch, I don't blame the player, he does his best, we just failed to sign better and we have injuries and lack of match fitness in that top position. I'm not sure it showed tonight however, we had a few chances and took one of them. Stephens hit the bar, two stopped off the line, so we weren't lacking fire power. But we are desperately short of an out and out goal scorer, however my hope is, we will be sharing the goals about and that won't be a problem. Very few teams have a 20+ scorer in the Prem.

You are spot on there with your comments SN. The point I was trying to get across is that while I accept that scoring goals is obviously important for strikers, their role in the team is much more than that and that is where Hemed is seriously lacking. When your opponents are dominating possession like Bournemouth were, when you get the ball you have to protect it to take the pressure off. However, more often than not when the ball goes forward to Hemed the defender wins it off him very easily. It doesn't stick and his hold up play to bring others into the game isn't great in my opinion. Likewise, if the ball is played forward into space, then again more often than not his lack of pace is seriously exposed and we lose possession. With regards to his work rate, yes you see him run around a lot, but how often does he actually put a defender under pressure and wins the ball off them ? His tendency is to run towards the defender but rarely with the intention of actually trying to put in a challenge to win the ball - I describe him as the 'nearly man' because he always 'nearly' gets there !

These are the areas that I feel exposes Hemed's weaknesses whereas they are Murray's strengths when he is on his game - he is just off the pace at the moment and needs more game time to get his match sharpness back and Tuesday night will be very important for us in this respect.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Wow. He might not be a top, top striker but the last thing I would criticise is his work rate. Always gives 100% for the team. Thought he did well tonight, chasing, holding the ball up and a couple of very decent moments.

It's Murray that's looked by far the weaker striker so far for me. Seems to immediately resort to niggly fouls when he comes on and has contributed very little.

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Agree

 

[Brighton Mod]

Hemed's goal last week papered over the cracks, he was a complete passenger tonight and if you watch the replay of their second goal - what the **** was he doing ! But what disturbs me the most is when the ball goes forward to him he really struggles to hold the ball up and protect it, and it comes straight back which puts us under more pressure. His lack of pace is the icing on the cake. I'm hoping Murray starts on Tuesday to get his match sharpness back and that he starts against Newcastle next week.

Couldn't disagree more, thought he had a good game, held the ball well, won balls in the air and laid the ball off inteligently, he's our best option at the moment by a mile as Murray looks off the pace completely. Both these players are successful when the ball is in the area, so when we play such a negative gameplan as we did they really are just making up the numbers and will not shine, which is why Dunk is getting the high marks as we are constantly defending.