Simpson is more of a midfielder IMO. He doesn't have that deadly edge in front of goal but his hold-up play and link-up play with the other team members is brilliant. He always seem to be too deep to really have an affect on the game when he receives the ball.
I've been impressed with Simpson, he's more of a second striker than an out-an-out goalscorer.... so to criticise his scoring record is a bit harsh, IMO. Though it'd be nice if he could get a few more every now and again. INTERESTING FACT: Jay Simpson is the joint-third highest assister in The Championship
I know I've posted this twice today, but in an attempt partly to get views and partly to contribute to the thread... [NSFW][video=youtube;fJI3M2tRMm4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fJI3M2tRMm4[/video][/NSFW]
I dont rate simpson at all. His shot to goal ratio is terrible and he will be lucky to get 10 goals a season. Koren has just as many LEAGUE goals as simspon has. Yet Simpson works hard, he is reasonably fast, he holds up the ball well, he is a decent paser. Simpson does everything well except put it in the back of the net. Simspon has 7 assists so far and that is a really good number for this point in the season. As much as I dislike simpson I find it hard to say he isnt probably our best bet up front. What we need is a Simpson who can score.
Simpson's asissts and hold-up play can't be questioned, he's one of the best we've had in years at that. He hasn't scored enough in recent weeks but as I always say, there's nothing wrong with his shooting, when he gets in good positions with time he gives the keeper no chance, the issue (just like with Prossy) seems to be getting him into those positions. Last week I was goiong on about how he can get on the end of all these crosses if we played him but he obviously didn't do that yesterday. He was always in the box but surrounded by defenders and Koren was nowhere, although he did pop up in a great position for the 1st goal. I'm convinced there's nothing wrong with Simpson's finishing at all and judging this on goal ratios alone. The only thing I can suggest that would improve our cross-conversion rate short of bringing in a new striker is that more men still need to get in the box and this has been the case for years. Only Meyler made any surging late runs to join the strikers yesterday and that meant he was the one getting the chances. Simpson makes some clever runs but it was him against the entire defence on most of the crosses yesterday and they just knocked it away with ease.
The issue for me with Simpson is his greed! There are many times in many games that he does the hard bit of holding the ball up or beating a man and could lay the ball off to a team-mate but instead, he tries to beat another man or takes a shot from outside the area (which he doesn't seem to be able to do).
