I agree, there nothing ive seen of the lad that gives me any cause or reason for concern, the lads was rusty last night..so what !!! Hes still not fully fit and still developing. I am in no doubt he has the ability and will come good
Normally you can convince me Biffa, I'm afraid not this time. Do I want him to succeed, yep should we give him time, yep. But only because of the money spent imho. If he hadn't cost so much I think we would all be unanimous and say he should be loaned out to learn his trade.
To simplify it, if Wickham hadn't made such a pig's ear of trying to make too many touches when having the chance on goal last evening (during extra-time), we may now be out of the cup.
I think it's all well and good to say the lad needs a run in a few games rather than 20 mins here and there, but let's face it, he is not going to get that with us, we just can't afford to have a non performing striker or one "learning their trade" in the team. We are not Utd, City, or Chelsea etc. We need players for now, not the future. Very poor buy in my opinion, but now he is here lets make the most of it. Send him out on loan for a year.
I've also not seen anything encouraging from the lad. I hope he does suceed and proves us all wrong but he is looking like an expensive flop so far!
I'm an Ipswich fan and have been following his progress since he first signed for Ipswich. Wickham in my eyes left Ipswich at the wrong time, he left when he was just finding his feet in the championship. I think he has the potential to be great, but to put it nicely most of the time he was crap. I think the best thing for him would be to loan him out for the rest of the season. As lets face it he's not going to be the player to replace Bent this season.
i need convincing also i've seen nothing in his game worth getting excited for. Seems to lack many basics needed to be a good striker
I saw enough in the Villa game to make me think the lad has talent. He had plenty of years ahead of him to learn his craft & I think once his confidence/fitness picks up he will be fine. I would use Catts as an example of what an unfit & nervous player looks like.
I did not say he was good overall, only that he did a few nice moves during the game, which makes me believe he will come good given match practice and fitness. He needs to play a few more games in the reserves, and maybe a loan out (maybe back to Ipswitch?) until he finds his fitness and confidence again.
I think you lot over spent big time on him but it seems to be the norm when buiying young english centre forwards and the carroll sale hiked his price up even more. he has time on his side but to put it into context £8m could've bought you papiss cisse...
To simplify it even more, if Wickham wasn't there, someone else who can control the ball may have been and scored themselves.
Given that we signed him on a 4 year deal - could have sent him on loan last window (didn`t dare given injuries etc) but wouldn`t want to send him out for a full year next season and then have him for only 12 months before we sell him on to avoid him walking away!
CONNOR WICKHAM has been invited to play a bigger role in Martin O'Neill's Sunderland revolution - by undergoing an intensive course of one-to-one coaching. The 18-year-old will again be on the bench today for the in-form Black Cats’ home game against Arsenal, one of the clubs who coveted him during his Ipswich days. It was former Sunderland boss Steve Bruce who won the race for his signature but Wickham has played a peripheral role since arriving. He has found the net just once and in recent weeks has struggled to regain his sharpness following a knee injury. But O’Neill is well aware of the England Under-21 striker’s potential and will take him under his wing to ensure he fulfils it. “Connor requires what I would consider a prop- er bit of attention be- cause he’s such a young lad,” said O’Neill, whose side also face the Gunners in the FA Cup next Saturday. “He needs more time to develop and afternoons when we’ll be working on his technique. “He wants to improve and is certainly not snubbing it. “We’ve done a little bit with him but he’s a work in progress. “When I arrived, he had been out for five weeks and I had to ask him to play (against Blackburn) when Nicklas Bendtner failed a fitness test and I was delighted with him for 75 minutes. He’s had another injury since and he’s taken a bit of time to recover but he’s very young and he’s willing.” O’Neill is likely to rely on the nucleus of the side taken to extra-time by Middlesbrough in their midweek FA Cup fourth- round replay and is confident fatigue won’t be a factor today. “In ideal circumstances, we’d have preferred not to have had extra-time but we weren’t able to win in 90 minutes so it’s our own fault,” he said. “It was tiring the other night but we go into this game in a great frame of mind.” O’Neill and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger have had some touchline spats over the years but the Irishman insists they buried the hatchet a long time ago and he’ll happily invited his rival for a post-match drink. Not that he thinks Wenger will accept. He said: “I don’t think Arsene has ever taken up my offer and I’ve absolutely no problem with that. “It’s there if he wants it but having a drink after- wards is obviously more a British habit.”
Thank God this talented young English international has Sunderland supporters behind him at this stage in his career....You could think of some other clubs where in the same circumstances he could be ruined.....