Cat amongst the pigeons

Brunello

Viewing the comments re best player so far it appears that a lot put Chris Iwelumo at or near the top which most probably puts me in a minority of one when I suggest we would be a better team withouit him. I think we go a bit Peter Crouch/Liverpool when he plays and too often an aimless punt upfield with the hope of him getting on it appears our only route to goal. With Reid and ZZ playing as they are I would much prefer seeing Varney and Todorov as the first choice strikers.

Chris_from_Sidcup

Whilst i can sort of see where you're coming from i don't think you can knock Iwelumo in this league. As he proved last season with Colchester he's got what it takes at this level. This is a very tough physical league and the teams that tend to do well all have a big target man. Looking at the table the top teams all have 1. Watford have Henderson, we've got Iwelumo, WBA have got Craig Beattie, no idea who bristol city have, Barnsley have Odejayi, Coventry have Leon Best or Adebola, Stoke have that lump Parkin who scored the winner against us, Wolves have Keogh. And although they're not doing well, the leagues leading scorer is James Beattie, another target man.
Whilst those i've named are not exactly the best footballers around i think a target man is crucial to a teams success in this league so for me Iwelumo stays.

bingaddick

I think that he gives us options to play it to head or feet. It is for Pards to help the players manage how often they punt it up to him. If you take the sheff wed game, they were hitting long balls far too much in the first half. When Bent was replaced by Toddy, the second half, we played much better and Chris of course scored twice.

Swisdom

I kind of agree. For the first 25 mins against Barnsley we were playing some lovely football and passing it around. When we failed to score we became a bit too "route 1" for my liking.

Havng said that I have been very impressed with Iwelumo's workrate. He keeps on running and chasing and hassling people and that endears him to the fans - me included!

Personally I am delighted with him so far and think he gives us options - and when you look at our squad it really is very versatile all round (except at the back)

AFKABartram

Hmm. To be honest, i don't really think we have much choice. Quite simply, we have to have an Iwelumo in this division.

I would like to see at some stage Varney and Toddy given a go, but i think what we have at the moment is the best compromise. What Iwelumo gives us at the moment is an additional option, both defensively and attacking wise. Opposing defenders are pre-occupied by his presence, it should leave space for the other striker and the attacking midfielders. If we played with V and T, i think once the oppo clicked on that Varney will do the channels and get behind, and Todorov will come short and link, i think we'd be pretty easy to suss out.

Its a brute of a league at times, and sometimes you have to adapt to it, despite wanting to play the beautiful game. Iwelumo to me is talismanic because all ten players behind him know he will give 100% fighting for the cause. If he wasn't getting goals, i could see the argument more, but he's top scorer as well.

Oggy Red

I think Big Chris is at least as good on the floor as with his head. You often see it with the 'big man up front' - they don't seem to jump or attack the ball in the same way as a man 'only' 6 foot tall.

I'm surprised our midfield don't play more to his feet. He was lethal running with the ball in the box v Sheff Wed,
and also the neat & tidy composed finish v Hull last week.

Just because Big Chris is a big 6' 4", we don't need to lump it every time.

Rothko

I do think we're a little too willing to go long, but then Watford would hit it up to Henderson and King from minute 1.

AFKABartram

thinking about this a bit further, i kind of know what i'm going to get from Iwelumo, whereas i don't quite get that yet with Todorov.

Of course, Todorov is the better 'footballer', but i also think he is one of those where you kind of know within the first ten minutes whether you're going to get a good performance out of him, or not.