Varney's utterly predictable but still unbelievable miss aside can somebody tell me what the point of Andy Gray is?
He doesn't win any headers, he doesn't make any runs behind the oppo defence or in the channels and the ball doesn't stick to him when played up
In short he is totally anonymous and we may as well be playing with ten men when he is on the pitch...
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He is the only player able to hold the ball up and bring others into play?
did you go?
Its back to the same old we lost so someone is to blame again.
he worked hard, closed down but had no real clear cut chances end of story.
He was no better or worse than anyone else in a red shirt and my thoughts was they done alright last night and certainly improved on previous performances.
To be fair though, it is a thankless role that he is playing. He is left far too isolated far too often, so even if he were to win the ball there is nobody to pass it to or to pick it up.
But he isn't good enough. End of story.
I think he has done anything he has been asked of in the past few games. The ball comes into him, he controls it, holds defends off and then...oh wait! There is nobody supporting him around him, must be Gray's fault!
Maybe he should swivel and bang the ball into the top corner every time from 25 yards or dribble round the whole back four and lob the keeper?
Jesus Christ today is going to be hard work!
I probably understand as much about the game as anybody but thanks for the enquiry.
As Red Pete says - he isn't good enough - end of story!
He doesn't win anything in the air which is poor given he must be 6ft and he lacks mobility and is surprising weak. How easily was he muscled off the ball last night?
BUt then again maybe I was in a parallel universe watching a different game last night to the likes of RedArmy??
Jesus give the bloke a break, how manay chances did he have last night??
If he started to win balls in the air and flicking them on people would start moaning that he is not holding the ball up and just randomly heading it into space!
He does hold the ball up reasonably well if we get it to him in a reasonable manner, you can't expect him to hold it up very well if the ball is just aimed downfield towards him and arrives three feet above his head, not even Torres can do much with that kind of crap.
He is quite similar to Andy Hunt, probably a bit slower, but has a good touch on him and is OK in the air if the ball comes in from wide areas and is not just lumped up to him from goal kicks.
The main issue is that Hunt had providers like Mills, Robinson, Salako, Newton, Powell and Kinsella - Gray has been stuck with Sam, Ambrose, Varney, Bouazza and the rest of the dirge.
I bet if Reid had stayed he would have played very well with Gray, probably better than he had done with Iwelumo even.
Leaving the Sheff Utd game aside we've been damned unlucky not to have got avictory out of at least one of our last three games on the road...one thing we do ALL know and agree upon is that when you're struggling down the bottom of any league 'lady luck' always seems to desert you!
Yes I know you could say that he shouldn't be played etc.etc.etc......but the manager does the picking and I'm in no doubt that he tries his hardest.
Thanks.
And look at him now - another couple of goals last night.
According to commentary he won his first header of the game in the 45th minute. One presumed half-time team talk would have been about gettng the ball on the ground and trying to play him in as lumping wasn't working. But no, within ten mins of the second half commentators had made two references to the pattern of the first half repeating, with every header won by their defenders - mostly it seemed by Gorkss, although perhaps that's just because his daft name sticks in the mind.
Well you can blame Gray or you can blame those doing the lumping. May be it's both. I don't know. But there's something wrong with it !
Time and time again when one of our wingers look for a cross only Gray was in there.
He needs support.
I also thought he did okay last night.
So where was the boy Waghorn?
Conflictng reports on him. Commentary was very dismissive with several references to him being too easily shouldered off the ball and looking like a boy in a man's game.
A few of those who were there were considerably more impressed. So not sure where the truth lies.
But those of us who weren't there last night must be forgiven a lttle cynicism over reports of how well we played. Don't forget we were told that we had played really well at Argyle and Birmingham, deserved to win and - yes that phrase again - that a corner had been turned. We got back to the Valley and within 55 mins we were 5-1 down.
The majority of teams in this division have much less talented squads but what they do have is a side that plays to the strength to their one or two better performers. We seem to be trying to start the jigsaw from the middle out while other teams make their jigsaw by finding the corners.
I probably understand as much about the game as anybody but thanks for the enquiry.
As Red Pete says - he isn't good enough - end of story!
He doesn't win anything in the air which is poor given he must be 6ft and he lacks mobility and is surprising weak. How easily was he muscled off the ball last night?
BUt then again maybe I was in a parallel universe watching a different game last night to the likes of RedArmy??[/quote]
Ok lets agree to disagree on this. Who in our current squad would you replace him with then?
Bang on target, unlike Luke Varney.
Others say no blame attached to the boy Waghorn last night, either.
Then there's an entire thread called 'It's not Luke Varney's fault'.
I'm not out to apportion blame to anybody. I merely point out yet again that Charlton strikers have scored twice in open play (Gray one and Toddy one) from our last 1000 minutes of football over 11 games.
That cannot merely be laid at the door of poor service, however woeful it has sometimes been.
These are the records of a few established so called "goalscorers" that we have, over the years, afforded that opportunity to:
Lisbie - 16 goals in 63 starts plus 93 sub appearances
Varney - 10 goals in 39 starts plus 18 sub appearances
Gray - 8 goals in 24 starts plus 9 sub appearances
Marcus Bent - 4 goals in 32 starts plus 14 sub appearances
I think you all know who some of us believe hasn't been given any where near the opportunity that these guys have had and who fulfills the criteria required. There again, with yet another loan signing (Waghorn) that we are obliged to play, he will have to wait even longer for that chance - if he gets it at all.
McLeod must be given a long run in the side!
Joking aside Henry I actually think McLeod would be worth a decent run up top with Gray.