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Connor Wickham - gone to Dubai City (p11)
Comments
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Thank god we signed him because without that physical presence up front for the last 20 minutes it could have been a different result3
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On top of what he can provide on the pitch it must be useful for Kanu (and Miles if Wickham stays longer) to see another type of striker and get advice. We often focus on getting advice from those who have really succeeded but it can be helpful to get advice from those who have taken a different path too1
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seems like a very confident player - not afraid to have a pop like May, held the ball up well and was an outlet when we got under pressure, I think he did what Chuks would have done today. Can totally see why Jones hired him up for a few weeks7
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Was laughing at the Palace song n'all. Seems to have a bit about him and looked good today. A good signing out of nowhere.2
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I said it on the post match thread (because I’d forgotten this one existed). I think it was a master stroke of NJ to bring him in. He looked class today. Perfect in the Chuk’s mould.1
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Wickham was effective enough when he came on, contributed to our winner. Shameful truth is that missing a target man for 90% of the season has made our entire team dysfunctional, so "effective enough" looks great to most of us. It's why Chuks looks like a God when he comes on too.
And this was SO avoidable. As soon as Leaburn got injured pre season, we should have signed someone like Wickham then. This season could have been so different.25 -
Exactly how I saw it, although considering the season he’s had I’d say that was pretty good.PaddyP17 said:I didn't think he looked at all match ready. There were some GREAT touches including the flick on for the third, and a moment where he did one of their CBs with his feet to play a probing ball, but he looked quite lethargic and not able to help out defensively at points. But he's a good footballer and you can tell he has great instincts.
Jury still well out for me.1 -
JamesSeed said:
Jesus.PaddyP17 said:I didn't think he looked at all match ready. There were some GREAT touches including the flick on for the third, and a moment where he did one of their CBs with his feet to play a probing ball, but he looked quite lethargic and not able to help out defensively at points. But he's a good footballer and you can tell he has great instincts.
Jury still well out for me.Unfortunately James, we tried to get Jesus on loan from the Arsenal but he is still a big part of their plans.
We have Kanu and May to run around like terriers and score goals, Connor Wickham's role is to be a big target man, holding the ball up or flicking the ball on for one of the terriers to run on to.
Just like yesterday 👏1 -
Everyone is injury prone, you'll never be able to sign a player who wont be at risk of injuryChunes said:He's injury prone, isn't he? I thought he looked really good but not sure about a longer contract, purely on the basis of his injury record.1 -
It was a good cameo, but it’s premature to talk about next season after 25 minutes against bottom of league one and specifically Sam Lavelle.
Theres definite promise, but we’ll soon be in the luxurious position of having nothing to play for and planning for next season early. So no rush to decide.
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IF and it's a big IF, Leaburn has a good pre season, doesn't get clogged by a Welling CB, doesn't get sold because of his potential between the various injuries he's had over the last 18 months, then the experienced Wickham is really just a two month stop gap.
Disappointing 2nd season for Miles because of the injury in the first 'friendly' of the season and then the injury that curtailed him from the last 5 months of the season.
I would love to see Leaburn stay another season fit and be part of our strike force with May, Kanu and A.N Other plus Chuks (8 games from bench) and work with Nathan.
For a big guy, hopefully Miles can boss the CB's when he returns as that wasn't always the case over the last two seasons when he was available. I'm sure he has been doing gym work so he has the extra strength befitting of a 6ft 5in man.0 -
I think with Miles, due to the injury, even if he is sold it would be a loan situation back to us. I cant see someone spending a load of money to then experiment on his fitness in their U21s.
So hoping it works in our favour for a another season0 -
I thought Wickham did well but a bit early to talk about next season, though to br honest i trust Jones to make the right call he works with him day in day out.
For all the talk about Miles (who i think its a great prospect) he does seem to have been injured a dair bit in the last two seasons it seems maybe that will put people off in the summer as they can hope to pick him up cheaper next season if he manages a full season ?
Honestly im more worried about someone trying for Kanu, who i think has all the makings of a top striker. Good with his feet, his head, has a physical presences and is fast. He is very much the mould of the new type of strikers. Only saving grace is he signed a new contract so should be reasonable well compensated. I know some will say its too early for a big boy to come in for him but for my money he has showed much more than Mason Burstow did and chelsea came in for him (i liked MB but he was far from the finsished article)5 -
What is this perverse culture of attacking players for their injury record? Of course it is hugely frustrating but you realise a significant part of their overall remuneration relies on appearance and performance bonuses? Can we not appreciate players for what they can do rather than demonise them for what they can’t?
After barely starting for Palace & Ipswich in 2019/20 and failing to kick a ball for Palace in the 2020/21 season the guy has lived off short term contracts. Whatever benefits he gained from his earlier contracts at that time his current remuneration and career opportunities are most certainly not what they could have been.
It is a tough journey especially when you are aged 27-30 and your career is disappearing before your eyes. Having trialled with Reading pre season before Sam Smith chose to join them, rather than us, he has across his last 3 « gigs » Cardiff, MK Dons & Forest Green (since Jan 2022) made 47 appearances (20 starts).
His last 2 appearances against us (under Garner) were Sep 2022 with Forest Green where he scored the equaliser and (under Jackson) in Feb 2022 with MK Dons. We lost 0-2 with one goal scored by one T Watson (Assisted by one C Coventry).
We have not had an experienced readily available target man since Stockley left.
As with the continued employment of Aneke where he, for all his talent, cannot guarantee 10 starts a season and struggles to deliver 90 mins and the attempt to sign Ikpeazu, this signing speaks to the increasing role of niche players.
Physicality offers value at all levels but at League 1 it is an important competitive element. The ability to compete physically in the attacking third puts defenders under pressure, pressure creates mistakes and mistakes create goal opportunities. Rocket science it is not.
Beyond that every manager wants options. Leaburn offered a target option until his November injury. CW now offers a different option. Whether he has the general fitness to fully contribute time will tell. It will be good to see, given the chance, if Kanu, May & Ladapo can work off him. At first sight isn’t it just nice to see a player who simply knows his job.
Jones with his feet barely under the table a month has had Wickham (& others) in the building for a couple of weeks. As Jones positions he has earned his contract. The underlying message speaks volumes. Don’t you just love proactive common sense decisions?
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It's a good decision. I think our fanbase is just slightly broken from their hopes and expectations.
This is a good short term signing, but I understand the fans general concern about the volume of injuries we can offer a player, let alone one with a record of them
Initial excitement about Camara, Chuks, Leaburn, Ramsay, Ladapo have had to be managed (burst) due to injuries and fitness issues.0 -
Yeah, I feel as if my post comes across a little harsher than I meant it.Stu_of_Kunming said:
Exactly how I saw it, although considering the season he’s had I’d say that was pretty good.PaddyP17 said:I didn't think he looked at all match ready. There were some GREAT touches including the flick on for the third, and a moment where he did one of their CBs with his feet to play a probing ball, but he looked quite lethargic and not able to help out defensively at points. But he's a good footballer and you can tell he has great instincts.
Jury still well out for me.
I mean he was on for not very long ,and there was some good stuff, and a lot of times where he just looked... slow, even for someone who hasn't played all season and is getting up to scratch. If he continues to be used as an impact sub then that's probably fine, and hopefully he can continue to make contributions, and my jury will return a positive verdict.
But, like, Sam Lavelle was good for his first couple appearances in a Charlton shirt. I don't think it is unfair to point out that 1) a player who isn't match ready isn't match ready; 2) you can tell he's got skill; and 3) I've not seen enough of him to judge yet.2 -
@Grapevine49 said
"you realise a significant part of their overall remuneration relies on appearance and performance bonuses?"
You are making a big assumption there.
You don't know how any of the current players' deals are structured and neither do any of us.
The view of one of the current UK board, admittedly not an unbiased source, was too many of the existing deals AREN'T significantly performance based.
To suggest that focusing on injury records is somehow "perverse" is bizarre.
No matter how performance based an individual's contract is s/he will still be paid a base wage.
If s/he is consistantly injured then that money is not generating a useful input to the business. Expenditure is being spent on a broken asset.
And in football is not like having a broken down van that you can't use because you can buy or hire as many additional vans as you like.
In league football there are squad number limits so there is an opportunity cost.
On Wickham, it is a short term deal for an experienced, high quality ( for this level) player in a position where we are short.
The obvious downside is that his fitness record is poor.
It is quite legitimate to factor that in any consideration of offering him a longer deal.22 -
Passes the height test.0
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I think it probably comes from us having a season-defining injury crisis almost every year for as long as I can remember.Grapevine49 said:What is this perverse culture of attacking players for their injury record?
It's completely normal to look at the injury record of a new signing, it's mad to describe it as "perverse".11 -
Thought he did well in his short cameo. It's a small thing but when the ball was lumped up to him, he got his space, then took a look to see where the runner was going, then headed into his path on 2-3 occasions. Most of our strikers in recent years just jump and flick without really looking at where.
If he can prove his fitness over the rest of this season he certainly has the talent. A strike force of Wickham, May, Kanu, Leaburn and Aneke should be excellent at this level (subject to injury/availability). Casey and M'bick as emergency back up or loaned out.0 - Sponsored links:
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I dont think thats enough with question marks over Leaburn and Anekes fitness. Agree with assessment Wickham did look like he hadnt played for a while but showed the obvious talent which made him lauded in seasons gone by.Athletico Charlton said:Thought he did well in his short cameo. It's a small thing but when the ball was lumped up to him, he got his space, then took a look to see where the runner was going, then headed into his path on 2-3 occasions. Most of our strikers in recent years just jump and flick without really looking at where.
If he can prove his fitness over the rest of this season he certainly has the talent. A strike force of Wickham, May, Kanu, Leaburn and Aneke should be excellent at this level (subject to injury/availability). Casey and M'bick as emergency back up or loaned out.
Personally i think we need one more striker, wouldnt nessacarily mind casey getting a chance as it may keep him here longer as the big boys have already started circling. I think keeping Kanu might be a struggle in summer but at least his signed a long term contract so might put bigger teams off.
In terms of signing wickham longer term, i trust Jones to make the right call which after previous seasons feels quute good to actually trust the manager.0 -
It was a promising debut, he adds something we don’t have to the squad that we don’t have (with Chuks out) and he contributed to the win.
It’s going to be interesting to see how he performs in the remaining games.
He could potentially win another deal, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong pointing out the concern is his fitness record. Before he signed I said next season we need another physical striker rather than Ladapo signing permanently - but with Aneke’s and Leaburn’s injury records it needed to be someone who’s fitness we could rely on (accepting any player could get injured).
I read the comments about negativity in the player marks thread, at the time all I could see was one mentioning his lack of pace. Seems a bit of an overreaction, I was expecting to have read an overly negative view of his performance rather than a positive comment pointing out the player has an obvious weakness.
I hope he does well but also hope the club are considering various options and are in no rush to offer him a longer deal - there will be players out there with similar strengths who could be better signings in the longer term. It’s up to Wickham to prove he’s a better bet than any of them over the remaining games.3 -
I liked the look of him - looked confident, knew what he was doing and willing to try a few things - a big lad up top - exactly what we've needed above anything else for ages - looks like he could do with running a few pounds off but no surprises there - looks a very promising addition to me3
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CW clearly miles off anything like fit but he bought in to what was required of him put himself about albeit slowly and made his telling contribution
Savagely showed up Ladapo for the cynical grifter he is: he’s much fitter than CW has played recently yet in his 13 minute cameo never broke into a run made one solitary challenge drifting about to no actual effect
He needed to be chasing defenders protecting our slender lead but he chose not to
Shameful and idiotic in equal measure
If FL gave an atom of a shit we wouldn’t have needed to sign CW2 -
Thought he looked decent in his time on the pitch. Could be an asset over the remaining few weeks of the season. No need to expend too much of your energies considering whether we’ll sign him up for next season, there will be myriad factors that will influence that.2
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He's played one game.PaddyP17 said:I didn't think he looked at all match ready. There were some GREAT touches including the flick on for the third, and a moment where he did one of their CBs with his feet to play a probing ball, but he looked quite lethargic and not able to help out defensively at points. But he's a good footballer and you can tell he has great instincts.
Jury still well out for me.2 -
20 mins of itUEAAddick said:
He's played one game.PaddyP17 said:I didn't think he looked at all match ready. There were some GREAT touches including the flick on for the third, and a moment where he did one of their CBs with his feet to play a probing ball, but he looked quite lethargic and not able to help out defensively at points. But he's a good footballer and you can tell he has great instincts.
Jury still well out for me.0 -
I mean, this is my point and why the jury is still out!UEAAddick said:
He's played one game.PaddyP17 said:I didn't think he looked at all match ready. There were some GREAT touches including the flick on for the third, and a moment where he did one of their CBs with his feet to play a probing ball, but he looked quite lethargic and not able to help out defensively at points. But he's a good footballer and you can tell he has great instincts.
Jury still well out for me.
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Yes, he’s just played twenty minutes, and I don’t agree at all with the assessment ‘Wickham did look like he hadn't played for a while’. I was expecting him to look rusty, bu he really didn’t. But clearly he’ll get (even) sharper (and fitter) with more minutes, and that for me, is an exciting prospect.
I don’t think we know if he’s injury prone, or just been unlucky with injuries, do we? Obviously we have to hope he’s not another Chuks.3 -
I really liked the fact he was big and strong and could hold the ball up really well, looks like the perfect parner for May. You can also see he has a proper footballing brain, something a lot of league 1 players lack. If he can stay fit he would be a very good addition for next season, but I am sure that is a big if.1
