Problem is we don't have many options upfront without him. Simmo & Proschwitz put a shift in but never come near scoring.
I agree we dont have much without him but we will have even less if he gets a hamstring pull or something. Putting people in before they are fully fit is the kind of thing that causes injuries. I am not saying dont play him, but coming off the bench in the 70th or so and then starting on saturday is a safer plan than expecting him to go so many games playing 90 min.
True. I'm sure Bruce will have had him properly assessed after saturday. It's about time we had abit of luck with our striking options.
It is crazy that all this time we have been saying all we needed was someone to make the runs into the box and they would score. Then this guy shows up who has never played in England, hasnt played much in over a year and low and behold 2 games and 2 goals. I really hope the likes of Simpson and Pro are taking notice.
He's only played 1.5 games I'd start him this game as I think it will be quite tough then rest him against Bolton and/or Birmingham ready for Palace
As I said before, the point is that it never does come off. It's always an embarrassing little fluff that just trickles wide. We've got players who are meant to be much less skillful than Koren who can shoot better than him. Meyler's goals against Milwall and even Evans against Leeds were proper finishes, Koren is supposed to be an attacking midfielder yet he never shoots like that. He used to score the odd long-ranger which was nice but it's been ages. His time on the pitch has been pointless for about 2 months now. If it was one of the players everyone loves to hate who'd done that people would be raging about it, but because it's Koren and he has been quite good for us we have to ignore it?
2 misses for you to come to that conclusion Have you seen some of Meylers and Evans god awful attempts at scoring? Derby last Tuesday a prime example for Meyler, 1-1 just after they score, ball fell to him outside the box, no defender nearby had all the time in the world to control and smash it, instead lashed at it in a panic and the ball nearly cleared the KC roof. Koren was about 40 yards out with a now-or-never chance to lob it over the keeper and went for it. You need to come down from cloud 9, our strikers aren't going to finish like Van Persie, our midfielders aren't going to play like Messi and our defenders aren't going to defend like Zayatte, no matter how much you wish they all would, these are championship players not potential champions league winners. Put some lead in your shoes.
Gedo IS fit, he just isn't match fit. Yeah they haven't played a game for 10 months but they've definitely trained! I don't think we have to worry about playing him, only the fact he may not last the full game.
That's my point, Meyler and Evans are crap on the ball yet they've still scored decent goals with proper shooting. For ages, Koren has only scored tap-ins, which certainly isn't a bad thing that he's scored them (and like you say, certain other players wouldn't be in that position to do so) but a player in his position and of his supposed class should really be able to shoot in the general direction of the goal. Lately his shots from mid-distance have been utterly shocking. He tried another long-ranger at Brighton which just trickled toward the corner flag. If someone like Evans did it I'd just sigh and think "Well it is Evans after all." But Koren is there to bring a bit of class to the side, he isn't a grafter like the other lads he's a playmaker, yet he doesn't make any plays so what is the point? He's miles off the player he was last season and earlier this season. I know playing up front isn't ideal for him, but it shouldn't affect his basic passing and shooting to the point that he doesn't look any more skillful than the aforementioned grafters. For the reputation Koren has, he should be scoring from the edge of the area when he gets the space. In fact **** that, he should be finding the space and turning, unlocking defences with pinpoint through balls and attracting defenders' attention. We haven't unlocked a defence in about 18 months. This season we've been even worse than before in terms of attacking down the middle, goals from set pieces and crosses have made up for it which is great, but the amount of goals coming from attacks down the middle of the pitch has been pathetic and Koren is supposedly the man to create from the middle.
Which takes me back to a post I aimed at you the other day, that while koren is the front line, who is he supposed to pass to when everyone's behind him? He can drop deep all he likes but he drops deep to collect then has to move the ball forward, he's not dropping back and staying back whilst others make runs in front of him. I'd blame Bruce for the lack of creativity we've seen from koren lately, but at the same time you can't blame him, as I feel he's had no choice because koren seemed to be our only attacking player capable of finding any dangerous position at all AND be able to get a shot on target, which showed and paid off when koren quite literally carried us through December when we were absent Aluko.
I know what you mean, but an attacking midfielder should be able to shoot even if they are playing a few yards further forward than normal. It just pisses me off that every other team seems to be able to shoot properly when you see them on FLS and our entire team are just completely incompetent in front of goal. It really isn't a difficult thing, it's not like my standards are really high. If I end up watching the lower leagues on FLS there are still strikers in League 2 who can shoot properly. Why can't our players? It's a bit unfair of me to take it out on Koren in particular I know but it's just the reputation he has that makes me bit more critical of him. A bit like Fryatt last season I suppose.
Stockdale Chester Hobbs Bruce Elmo Meyler Evans Quinn Brady Gedo Simpson Judging by SB's comments we won't be seeing Fathi tomorrow night. The midfield will have a long night against Murphy and co so I wouldn't mind seeing Evans in there.
Despite what I've said above I wouldn't mind seeing him in midfield with Meyler playing the defensive role, but I can't see that happening. With Koren at the moment it seems to be up front or not at all.
Outside chance I reckon, I'd like it to be honest. I'm a big Cairney fan. Evans and Fathi probably both more likely.
