I know I am going to get a huge amount of stick for this, but I still think Caleb Folan can do a job for us. The season we went up he was brilliant as an impact sub and I think when he is fit that Nigel should still consider him for a position on the bench as he is a more than capable squad player. I just get the impression that he needs some confidence and we will see a completely different player. I am not for a moment stating that he should get a starting place as I believe that everyone who crosses that white line should have to earn it, but I just reckon he could still do a job he was great in the championship before and showed he could still score in the prem. I know that was in the past, but I reckon he should be given the chance when fit. Thoughts?
He scored 3 goals in the Premier League, one open goal, one which deflected off him. Even the other one was pretty lucky. Still, you can't deny his ability from our promotion season. If he wasn't so injury prone (usually for stupid reasons like a dead leg) then maybe he could play a part. However, he won't have chance to earn a first team place before getting injured again.
Why should you get stick ajbm when you make good sense .As I have posted elsewhere he did a vital job in getting us promoted. None of our other forwards have shown in the slightest an improvement on him. They have not played never mind scored in the premier league.He is brave but been desperately unlucky with injuries because he is the only forward we have who will tackle and put his head and foot in.If Pearson is playing Brownie with him then he is cutting off his nose to spite his face.
lets play a game. Lets make the near ideal forward for the championship. He needs to be Fast- Check He needs to be tall- 6 foot 2 check it would help to have played in the top flight against great defences-check He needs to be well built-Check It would help if he was an international- Check He needs to be a hard worker and put a shift in- Check He needs to be able to finish- erm.. The man has pretty much all you could ask for attribute wise for a footballer at this level but his head is not with it. there is a reason he has only scored (according to wikipedia) 19 league goals in his career and he is 28 years of age.
Mark you have summed up the big fella pretty well except for last item....Folan has scored nearly double the number of league goals you quote ie 32 goals...and as for finishing when did you last see him miss on the scale of Simpson, Fryatt and Barmby?
his touch is atrocious, i think thats one of his biggest problems, and hes poor in the air, playing on the last man, other than always being offside he's quite good. remember that lob against coventry?
how about a really, really big stick off a giant redwood ? he has a very poor game much more often than not the one time I thought he was excellent was in the season opener at Stamford Bridge a year or two ago when we played 4-5-1 he just made himself a handful, holding it up without getting anywhere near the goal, exactly what he'd been asked to do but we're not playing Chelsea and we shouldn't be lining up to play like that alas, in the Championship, we need someone with more pace, more skill, a better touch, who understands the offside rule and who knows when and where to stick it in the back of the net imho, Folan doesn't fit the bill
Can we throw in the amount of chances each of them cost us by being stood at least a yard offside for no apparent reason?
He has got all the attributes but doesn't do it on the pitch. Looks like he and Pearson dont see eye to eye- e.g.- ringing Pearson up on the morning of the game saying he was too tired to play. How long has he been out for now, haven't heard anything about him? He did well in promotion season but since that he has been pretty rubbish apart from winner v Fulham
I dont actually think his finishing is that bad. He can take chances when he gets them..........usually, but having listed these attributes lets list some more of folans strengths Bravery- Non existent Positional awareness- Non existent Influence- Non existent Jumping- Non existent Heading ability- Non existent Concentration- Non existent Need I go on?
I think we could do with a big target man still, but Folans not the answer, unless he suddenly wakes up and realises he's a big bloke and plays accordingly to his strengths.
Folan is built like a pedigree race horse and plays like a donkey from Blackpool beach!! He will never wear the City shirt again. End of!!
I guess we can all play "Let's have a dig at Caleb" but the hard facts are that some players have got it and some players haven't. Caleb hasn't although to be fair to the bloke he was born offside. We could also say the same about Simpson and Altidore who, like the late Rock Hudson, looked the part but weren't. We still need a 'star striker' for mine and are well short of a "play-off" side but we look like consolidating in mid-table.
No. That's the whole problem. He doesn't stikc his head or face in there. He's a complete and utter jessie. He does have certain strengths but his bravery is just ridiculous. He'd have been in tears if he'd had to play against them dirty buggers last night. You can't defend his injury record, it's ridiculous how many times now has he had a small niggling injury, and then been out for 3-4 months. He's worse than Jimmy Bullard for christ's sake!
