I'm sorry but he cannot play the lone front man. He is weak as piss. Barely ever wins the ball up front, too easily dispossessed. I've heard people on here saying his link up play is great. We'll I've yet to see it. Yes his finishing is sublime. He knows where the goal is but I can see why the top clubs don't go for him. He is given the excuse of he gets **** service, well Wickham got the same **** service and did really well. I'm not saying Fletcher is **** but he needs help up front and that help is blatantly Wickham. Fletcher and sess together are unable to make anything stick up front. We need to be able to hit a big man as our midfield can't pass for ****. Now Mcclean is as thick a footballer as I have seen. He can only run with his head down. He cannot pass for toffee and the amount of possession he loses is unreal. He never gives up to his credit. Solution drop Mcclean and play sess on the wing. On a plus note I have been really impressed with Wickham today and Campbell when he came on. Think he gives us an option of pace on the right We were again a shambles for the first 20 minutes. Gifted them two goals before we even made a tackle.. I'm losing patience with Marty's team selections. Away to Southampton another massive game. We should be going two up top against them. Wickham fully deserves his chance. I don't expect miracles from him but it's obvious to me we need his strength and power. I await some abuse.
No abuse from me mate, I couldn't rate Fletch much higher, but he absolutely isn't a lone striker, the reason you have mentioned, he simply isn't strong enough. His passing is neat and tidy, but that isn't link play, link play is winning, holding and bringing others in, and your right, Connor will win a lot more than Fletch in the air, and he is strong as a bison. Nice to see Frazier get a goal, even if it was in vain, and I thought yet again Sessegnon proved that he is the man, I still find it absolutely bewildering that some think he is a problem.
To be fair to Fletcher (and I'm not his biggest fan) he is feeding on scraps and, is carrying an injury. I agree he should be played as a two but, do we go short and quick to get the knock downs or use Whickham as the target man for Fletcher to get the knock downs?
Ill score as many as Wickham this year there lies your problem. We don't have a good enough central midfield to play 4-4-2 either. Fletcher is first name on the team sheet even if he's only 50% fit.
It gives the option for both mate, we punt it as it stands anyway, at Sesegnon, who's 2 ft 3. Why can't Whickham get goals with a run, he's smashing them in for fun in the ressies, and already in his brief appearances this season his development from last year is clearly substantial.
No matter what we think, and I agree it needs to be Fletcher and Wickham upfront, Sess on the wing, although I'm not against playing him in midfielder alongside Cattts. MON's tactics are 4-5-1 and won't be changing. He will find the players to fill the positions, rather than change tactics.
Tony, look at the service he gets, I can’t work it out perhaps someone on here can help me. He gets balls played to his head which only a performing seal could control, whereas Connor Wickham gets them played to his chest and feet allowing him to control the ball then bring others into the game. Wickham definitely looks a player in the limited time he has been on the park this season.
What good's a sea lion when we need a performing seal!!!!! The reason Wickham wins them is he is good at it and far stronger than fletcher. Why Marty can't see how much Wickham would help fletcher is beyond me?
I like Fletch but I do agree that he is not the man to play the target man role to hold the ball up to bring the others into play. Someone told me that we have been watching Anderlecht on a regular basis and the player most likely that we are there to watch is M'Bokani now I have seen the lad live and he is an absolute beast, imagine Kenwyne Jones with work rate but who can actually kick a ball properly would love to see the lad here, he would be like a human battering ram upfront but he is far more than that, he can bring others into play, decent in the air, pacy and good with his feet.
Mons, you misunderstand my thinking on sessegnon and yes, he is absolutely the fundamental problem at Sunderland. Yes he is a decent player but where does he play? He isn't disciplined enough to play centre midfielder and doesn't work hard enough for me to play there. He is only effective out wide but seemingly doesn't want to play there. He isn't a natural goalscorer and will struggle to get 10 goals imo. He isn't a striker yet occupies one of the striking positions, which means Wickham doesn't play. I've watched Connor now for the part 3 games he has played and tbh, he looks terrific to me as the targetman. Fletcher is a far better striker than sessegnon and would be perfect playing the sessegnon position imo. He would get more chances and is our best finisher. My point is simple. Persisting in playing him as a 2nd striker and using Fletcher as the lone striker and we will struggle as we have been. Our midfielder is one of the worst in the league but maybe sessegnon would give it more. Johnson, larsson, vaughan, gardener, mcclean and Colback are much of a muchness and slow, predictable and embarrassing in their lack of creativity. Especially disappointed in Johnson. PS - our defence looked shambolic at times yesterday but 2nd half we rallied and did ourselves justice. Please Martin and Santa, bring us 3 or 4 new faces next month. Desperately yours, Cest.
Sess isn't the problem, there's room for him in the team, the problem is where we are playing him. Whether he likes it or not, i'd put him out wide in place of McClean, he'd do more dmage coming in from the wings than he is right now as the second striker.
So long as we persist in playing him as a striker, to the exclusion of two proper strikers, then he absolutely is the main problem. Our midfielder are not the best admittedly but they also have no outlet or target to hit when going forward with sessegnon playing behind Fletcher and more often than not, they are forced backwards. Sessegnon goes missing for large periods of the games for me too. Him and Johnson are two great hide and seek players imo. If he wouldn't play out wide I would sell him to the highest bidder and use the money to buy suitable replacements that fit those positions.
I agree, where he is playing now isn't working, it never has, even when Gyan played up front, Sess isn't a front man and never will be. Put him out wide and i'm thinking forward here and hoping we buy a couple of decent midfeilders in January, and i think he will come good. If he doesn't want to play there then he isn't the sort of player that we need so get rid. I didn't hear Gardener, Colback, Bardsley or Larsson complain when played out of position, if he's refusing to play for the cause then he has to go.
I won't disagree with anyone that Sess is being played in the wrong place, that's down to the manager, not Sess. To say Sess doesn't work hard enough is a bit baffling, he is one of, often the, biggest grafter in the team, as well as being the most creative, and the best natural footballer by an absolute mile. He may struggle for 10, but then he's on 3, he said himself last season 'I am no a forward..' and was adored by PSG fans when he played there, he was used as an attacking central midfielder at the top of a diamond in a 4-4-2. Look at yesterdat, the goal is a prime example, a Sess run from deep (where he SHOULD be played to collect ball with room to run into..) he hits a swerving shot that De Gea can only parry, we get a corner from nothing, the corner comes in, Sess runs his nuts off, at 0-3, to keep it in, then puts it on a plate for Frazier. Sess MAY be a problem in the wrong position, but he is DEFINITELY the solution in the right one. Well, the solution to the front 6, **** knows what we do about a pack of defenders that are abstract ****e (bar Rose)
