I'm not worried, strikers are always the last to gel into a side, because usually everything before them has to come together before they even get a chance at goal.
Not knocking Kelman as a player, but I'm not sure he suits the role he played today as well as our other options. I think he'd be better with a strike partner, rather than the lone striker role he played today, which Godden played so well last season.
With TC pulling wide and roaming, a more physical No 9 would give us more of a focal point. Godden isn't tall, but he's stronger than Kelman and has more "nous". Tanto and Miles are more physical options than Kelman, and are better at bullying defenders.
Not knocking Kelman as a player, but I'm not sure he suits the role he played today as well as our other options. I think he'd be better with a strike partner, rather than the lone striker role he played today, which Godden played so well last season.
With TC pulling wide and roaming, a more physical No 9 would give us more of a focal point. Godden isn't tall, but he's stronger than Kelman and has more "nous". Tanto and Miles are more physical options than Kelman, and are better at bullying defenders.
Isn't it nice to be in a position where 4 or 5 decent strikers are vying for a starting place?
I’m not concerned, he’s a goalscorer, that’s his strength over anything else. He doesn’t need to be Darren Bent and Yann Kermorgant combined to do well for us.
As with May and Godden, even if he scores 20 goals, that’s still potentially another 20 odd games where he doesn’t score.
I have confidence Jones and our coaches will improve players and no reason to think Kelman wouldn’t be part of that.
The great thing is if he struggles we have other options up front, same elsewhere in the team. Players can come out, get their chance again as a sub and work their way back into the team.
I’m not concerned, he’s a goalscorer, that’s his strength over anything else. He doesn’t need to be Darren Bent and Yann Kermorgant combined to do well for us.
As with May and Godden, even if he scores 20 goals, that’s still potentially another 20 odd games where he doesn’t score.
I have confidence Jones and our coaches will improve players and no reason to think Kelman wouldn’t be part of that.
The great thing is if he struggles we have other options up front, same elsewhere in the team. Players can come out, get their chance again as a sub and work their way back into the team.
I'm not worried that he didn't score today, it was more that in the system we played today, where he's effectively a lone striker, there are other strikers who offer more.
TC is not the right partner for Kelman. Put him next to a Leaburn, Godden or Olaofe and then you might have the player worth the money we’ve paid
Really hope we haven’t bought him to be Godden, because even watching just our games against him last season would show he isn’t that. And today the same, he’s not a back to goal striker, he doesn’t win flick ons or hold the ball up. He needs a partner to do that so he can play on the shoulder of the last man, run the channels and score goals
My fears about him remain. Light weight and no real pace. Abankwah was terrible and he got no change out of him unlike Miles.
Needs to take the first decent chance or face being benched.
Feel that’s a harsh comment and quite an easy cheap dig to make. He’s clearly a very intelligent runner. I felt he needed Leaburn or Oloafe off him today. Campbell didn’t really compliment him very well, but that doesn’t mean Campbell had a brilliant game either.
He’d be better up top alongside either Miles or Tanto, He is similar to Godden in some ways but unlike Matty he isn’t very physical and won’t win much in the air. Pairing him with TC was a mistake in my opinion.
The lad is 23, has just had a terrific league one goalscoring season and is keen to learn and kick on.
Today was a new beginning for him from many an angle, he will be better for it and in time, I believe we’ll have a Mendonca on our hands. The development won’t come sitting on the bench or in the stands, glad he played.
The lad is 23, has just had a terrific league one goalscoring season and is keen to learn and kick on.
Today was a new beginning for him from many an angle, he will be better for it and in time, I believe we’ll have a Mendonca on our hands. The development won’t come sitting on the bench or in the stands, glad he played.
I'd like to see him and Tanto start next Saturday. It's great to have so many options up front.
Keep reading he's not physical, Godden's stronger etc, but Cawley's article with thoughts from an Orient fan says the opposite. Going to be interesting to see if he shows better hold up play in time, because it sounds like it was a decent part of his game at Orient, rather than a major weakness.
ANY OTHER ATTRIBUTES WE HAVEN’T TALKED ABOUT?
Victor: It’s his physical strength, particularly upper body strength. When he goes shoulder to shoulder with a player, he is going to win it. I think he will do that at any level - it is a very important part of his game.
Keep reading he's not physical, Godden's stronger etc, but Cawley's article with thoughts from an Orient fan says the opposite. Going to be interesting to see if he shows better hold up play in time, because it sounds like it was a decent part of his game at Orient, rather than a major weakness.
ANY OTHER ATTRIBUTES WE HAVEN’T TALKED ABOUT?
Victor: It’s his physical strength, particularly upper body strength. When he goes shoulder to shoulder with a player, he is going to win it. I think he will do that at any level - it is a very important part of his game.
Shoulder to shoulder is very different to what Godden is good at though, and also very different to what Kelman struggled with today. He was poor in the air and with his back to goal. He’s a good channel runner and in doing that if he gets side by side with a defender it sounds like he will win that battle. But if we want someone to win headers and hold the ball up, he is not that player (yet)
I think we’ve signed Kelman with the view that we can improve him. If he can start to time his jumps half as well as Godden does and improve with his back to goal then he’s going to be worth a lot more than we paid for him. Won’t happen overnight though
Give him time. I am not sure if we will see the best of him paired with TC, I think if he plays with Tanto or Leaburn, different ball game.
I would also like to see Knibbs play behind him, when you look at Knibbs and Smith together at Cambridge & Reading, they built a great understanding of where they would be and complimenting eachother, that's when I think we will see the best of Kelman.
Big money signing but what if we try him in all the combinations and he still hasn't scored by January? Would make sense to cut our losses at that stage or failing that (no takers, Ahadme mk 2) loan him out to a league 1 team.
We're not a charity are we and the season could still be saved from that point as NJ showed last season.
Big money signing but what if we try him in all the combinations and he still hasn't scored by January? Would make sense to cut our losses at that stage or failing that (no takers, Ahadme mk 2) loan him out to a league 1 team.
We're not a charity are we and the season could still be saved from that point as NJ showed last season.
Wtf are you on about? Why are we even trying to discuss that after not even 90 mins of competitive football?
I thought Kelman was essentially playing through the middle on his own today not in a front two with Campbell as a few have said Wasn't it Campbell wide left, Kelman through the middle and Apter wide right?
Pretty sure we'll see Kelman a lot more involved when he's got someone with him through the middle, today was always going to be tough.
Held the ball up much better than I expected, but didn’t have the players around him to ‘play off’ - an issue Godden found at the start of last season…
he needs a Leaburn/Tanto to lead the line whilst he chases and runs after all the sloppy balls and flick ons
Talk of him not being interested, being benched or looking at cutting our losses in January. Genuinely don't know if people love being a WUM, crave lol's or just know very little about football.
Let's give the lad more than 71 minutes of one league game to show us what he can do in Charlton shirt.
As more sensible posters have mentioned, him and TC likely not the best partnership.
Im very keen to see Kelman with Tanto or Leaburn, think that could be exciting to watch, and will end up with goals for both of them.
Comments
That Godden from last season copped it for not doing anything in games, until he bagged 22 goals.
With TC pulling wide and roaming, a more physical No 9 would give us more of a focal point. Godden isn't tall, but he's stronger than Kelman and has more "nous". Tanto and Miles are more physical options than Kelman, and are better at bullying defenders.
As with May and Godden, even if he scores 20 goals, that’s still potentially another 20 odd games where he doesn’t score.
I have confidence Jones and our coaches will improve players and no reason to think Kelman wouldn’t be part of that.
The great thing is if he struggles we have other options up front, same elsewhere in the team. Players can come out, get their chance again as a sub and work their way back into the team.
Really hope we haven’t bought him to be Godden, because even watching just our games against him last season would show he isn’t that. And today the same, he’s not a back to goal striker, he doesn’t win flick ons or hold the ball up. He needs a partner to do that so he can play on the shoulder of the last man, run the channels and score goals
ANY OTHER ATTRIBUTES WE HAVEN’T TALKED ABOUT?
Victor: It’s his physical strength, particularly upper body strength. When he goes shoulder to shoulder with a player, he is going to win it. I think he will do that at any level - it is a very important part of his game.
Give him time. I am not sure if we will see the best of him paired with TC, I think if he plays with Tanto or Leaburn, different ball game.
I would also like to see Knibbs play behind him, when you look at Knibbs and Smith together at Cambridge & Reading, they built a great understanding of where they would be and complimenting eachother, that's when I think we will see the best of Kelman.
He will be great at some stage 👍🏻
Similarly a front 3 of Godden, TC and Berry proved to be very effective last season once they played a few games together
We're not a charity are we and the season could still be saved from that point as NJ showed last season.
Pretty sure we'll see Kelman a lot more involved when he's got someone with him through the middle, today was always going to be tough.
he needs a Leaburn/Tanto to lead the line whilst he chases and runs after all the sloppy balls and flick ons
Would also expect he might start Tuesday too