Sometimes I wonder about Jackett, his pronouncement after Bristol about Pompey not being clinical enough suggests he doesn’t feel any responsibility for what happens on the pitch. The old “once they cross the line onto the pitch it’s not my responsibility” doesn’t wash with me, he bought or loaned them, he trains and motivates them, he picks them and subs them.
If you play Marquis and Harrison, don’t expect clinical finishing, expect a high number of efforts to a low goal return from open play especially if you only look at L1 goals.....and they are the only goals worth bothering about until this seasons ends.
Marquis had a brief purple patch a few weeks ago when he had, it seemed, turned the corner but has since relapsed into the striker we have got used to since he’s been here, profligate, irritated, ineffective.
Harrison is not a fox in the box finisher in fact I would liken him to Ollie Hawkins, always available but rarely scores. Hiwula ? Who knows, never gets any meaningful game time in L1 so whose to say (although he has scored Championship goals in the past).
Are we left to rely on Curtis, Harness, Williams, Naylor to supply the goals in our promotion push ? Others weighing in with goals is important but it is still key for our strikers to score 40+ goals in the season (didn’t Guy do something like that on his own ?).
Not by chance that our goal yesterday came from a midfielder squaring to a defender who calmly slotted home, Marquis and Harrison never looked like scoring.
Jackett should do some soul searching regarding our lack of clinical finishing.
(11-01-2021, 06:15 PM)Wightblue Wrote: [ -> ]Sometimes I wonder about Jackett, his pronouncement after Bristol about Pompey not being clinical enough suggests he doesn’t feel any responsibility for what happens on the pitch. The old “once they cross the line onto the pitch it’s not my responsibility” doesn’t wash with me, he bought or loaned them, he trains and motivates them, he picks them and subs them.
If you play Marquis and Harrison, don’t expect clinical finishing, expect a high number of efforts to a low goal return from open play especially if you only look at L1 goals.....and they are the only goals worth bothering about until this seasons ends.
Marquis had a brief purple patch a few weeks ago when he had, it seemed, turned the corner but has since relapsed into the striker we have got used to since he’s been here, profligate, irritated, ineffective.
Harrison is not a fox in the box finisher in fact I would liken him to Ollie Hawkins, always available but rarely scores. Hiwula ? Who knows, never gets any meaningful game time in L1 so whose to say (although he has scored Championship goals in the past).
Are we left to rely on Curtis, Harness, Williams, Naylor to supply the goals in our promotion push ? Others weighing in with goals is important but it is still key for our strikers to score 40+ goals in the season (didn’t Guy do something like that on his own ?).
Not by chance that our goal yesterday came from a midfielder squaring to a defender who calmly slotted home, Marquis and Harrison never looked like scoring.
Jackett should do some soul searching regarding our lack of clinical finishing.
Jordy Hiwula has never played a game in the Championship, let alone scored a goal. He was kicked out of Coventry and on the scrapheap without a club for several weeks before we gave him a chance. He is what he is, looks a decent enough player to have to come off the bench, but to suggest he is the answer and should play as first choice is based on nothing other than hope. Or 'whoever isn't being picked must be better' syndrome that all unpopular managers have to put up with.
He has scored one goal every 4 and a bit games in his career, far worse than Marquis whose one goal every three games is pretty decent and not beaten by many in this division.
But more importantly scoring goals is not a problem for this team ... we are equal top scorers in this league (with games in hand).
Deep ,whilst I agree roughly with what your saying I don't think its fair to to suggest Hiwula is just a bit part player. Ok he hasn't played or scored in the Championship but then again neither have a lot of lower league strikers,that's hardly a guide to go by. All 3 strikers bring something different,playing Williams up front is not the answer as all it seems is it's 1 + either Harrison or Marquis. Why can't the +1 be Hiwula especially as Williams very rarely scores. If Hiwula isn't given much more than a cameo role why offer him another short term contract instead of 'going' for a another target.
(12-01-2021, 12:23 AM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]Deep ,whilst I agree roughly with what your saying I don't think its fair to to suggest Hiwula is just a bit part player. Ok he hasn't played or scored in the Championship but then again neither have a lot of lower league strikers,that's hardly a guide to go by. All 3 strikers bring something different,playing Williams up front is not the answer as all it seems is it's 1 + either Harrison or Marquis. Why can't the +1 be Hiwula especially as Williams very rarely scores. If Hiwula isn't given much more than a cameo role why offer him another short term contract instead of 'going' for a another target.
I do think Marquis, whilst I'm not a fan of his, does have the ability to be a decent finisher. We don't use him properly to my way of thinking. I would like to see how a partnership of Harrison and Marquis would fare but I concede that is never going to happen. Curtis, Harness (and Naylor!!) etc are chipping in with their share of goals and Williams is frustratingly close to doing that without it ever quite happening. If we miss out this year it will probably be down to a lack of one higher quality striker that can be a muscular nuisance in and around the box, possibly for Marquis to play off. However, I am enjoying seeing the creative players (inc Cannon) really starting to function well and have to say I enjoyed the way we played at Bristol. Maybe a sign that if we get up to the Champ these players will enjoy playing against teams that like to play football. Clearly, though, Marquis and Harrison will not be good enough at that level.
(12-01-2021, 12:23 AM)bluetagagain Wrote: [ -> ]Deep ,whilst I agree roughly with what your saying I don't think its fair to to suggest Hiwula is just a bit part player. Ok he hasn't played or scored in the Championship but then again neither have a lot of lower league strikers,that's hardly a guide to go by. All 3 strikers bring something different,playing Williams up front is not the answer as all it seems is it's 1 + either Harrison or Marquis. Why can't the +1 be Hiwula especially as Williams very rarely scores. If Hiwula isn't given much more than a cameo role why offer him another short term contract instead of 'going' for a another target.
Bluetag ... I'm not saying he could not be the +1 - I'd be delighted if he proved good enough to be that - but that he has no right to be above others in the pecking order at the moment.
it could well be that cameo appearances of the bench are the best way of using him - he has the attributes to be a good impact player. But I would agree that he should have been brought on as a sub more often than he has been, but not that he should be first choice.
We let go of our best Clinical Finisher Pitman who scored 24 goals a couple of seasons ago. That's in the past now but will no doubt come back to haunt us & KJ. Marquis is deadly from 6 feet but struggles outside that range. He's good at holding up the ball which Hawkins probably did better but debatable. He just needs to many chances to score a goal. Harrison looked far better as a replacement against City a lot more mobile & better in the air with all the accurate flick ons but again needs too many chances to score. Hiwula I think could be our best bet if he can be given more game time alongside I'd prefer Harrison but can also try with Marquis in a 2 upfront attack. He only had 5 minutes against City Not enough time but still looked lively & wasn't far away from a late equaliser. I guess it all depends on whether Kenny wants to get us promoted or not. It's there for the taking but is he Savvy enough to see the apparent problems & rectify them now.
Oops ! I stand corrected Deep, surprising that Pompey plucked him from the scrap heap particularly as he had been kicked out by Coventry. Perhaps explains why Kenny boy has given him scant league time but not why we have just extended his contract. Perhaps KJ still thinks he can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear...might just make a pig’s ear of it.
You seem to think I suggest Hiwula is the answer to adding fire power, thought I made it very clear from the outset that I have nothing to go on, haven’t seen any meaningful L1 game time from him.
The fact that we are the leading goal scorers and are handily placed means nothing, we were top at Xmas a couple of seasons ago...and look how that turned out, the 20/21 promotion race starts now.
I don’t think it’s our Goals Scored which sets us apart from the others, its our Goals Against, if we get injuries (please God no) to key defenders (McG, Jack, Naylor, Cannon etc) our strikers or others will have to really step up to the plate, our current 1.7 goals a game is hardly the stuff of dreams.
I think Deep we are looking at the same coin but your seeing heads and I’m seeing tails, just different opinions that’s all.
Marquis must be prolific in training to be keeping Hiwula out