Albion manager Chris Hughton hopes the signing of Emmanuel Ledesma can help spark more goals for his strikers.
The Argentinian right-winger is in contention for his debut against Birmingham at the Amex today after joining on a month’s loan from Middlesbrough.
Leon Best and Chris O’Grady, currently vying for the lone centre-forward spot, have not scored in the Championship since last season.
Hughton told The Argus: “It’s about service. You speak to any strikers and what you are after is for them to give you workrate, do a good job for you defending from the front, but mostly what they want is good service. They want opportunities to score.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean it has to come from wide areas. That can be (Joao) Teixeira playing off the front. How many balls can he slide through to the centre-forward to beat an offside trap or to put him through?
“So it doesn’t necessarily mean it has to come from a wide area but, of course, it gives us better opportunities if you are getting good service from that area.”
Albion face Birmingham after firing blanks in back-to-back draws at Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday. Their tally of 32 goals in 31 games is the joint fifth worst in the division.
Hughton said: “The last couple of games have been tight and different, two away games, particularly the last one at Sheffield Wednesday where we were having to deal with a very difficult pitch as well. But centre-forwards want to score goals and they want to get opportunities. What they can do is manoeuvre some opportunities themselves but generally they are relying on a good service and we need to do that.
“We are very conscious of the fact that we need to be scoring more goals and we’ve certainly been working very hard on the training pitch to do that.”
Meanwhile, 21-year-old development winger Jeffrey Monakana has joined League Two strugglers Mansfield on a month’s loan following temporary stints with Aberdeen and Crawley.
Original article
The Argentinian right-winger is in contention for his debut against Birmingham at the Amex today after joining on a month’s loan from Middlesbrough.
Leon Best and Chris O’Grady, currently vying for the lone centre-forward spot, have not scored in the Championship since last season.
- Hughton backs winger to be spark to get Albion's strikers firing
- Monakana loaned out for third time by Albion
- Ledesma in but Hughton won't rule out return to loan market
- Crawley sign defender Wood on loan
- Albion boss Hughton has the ideal opponents for his Championship century
Hughton told The Argus: “It’s about service. You speak to any strikers and what you are after is for them to give you workrate, do a good job for you defending from the front, but mostly what they want is good service. They want opportunities to score.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean it has to come from wide areas. That can be (Joao) Teixeira playing off the front. How many balls can he slide through to the centre-forward to beat an offside trap or to put him through?
“So it doesn’t necessarily mean it has to come from a wide area but, of course, it gives us better opportunities if you are getting good service from that area.”
Albion face Birmingham after firing blanks in back-to-back draws at Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday. Their tally of 32 goals in 31 games is the joint fifth worst in the division.
Hughton said: “The last couple of games have been tight and different, two away games, particularly the last one at Sheffield Wednesday where we were having to deal with a very difficult pitch as well. But centre-forwards want to score goals and they want to get opportunities. What they can do is manoeuvre some opportunities themselves but generally they are relying on a good service and we need to do that.
“We are very conscious of the fact that we need to be scoring more goals and we’ve certainly been working very hard on the training pitch to do that.”
Meanwhile, 21-year-old development winger Jeffrey Monakana has joined League Two strugglers Mansfield on a month’s loan following temporary stints with Aberdeen and Crawley.
Original article