he has been with us for two months now, has been given few chances to show his stuff. yesterday he gets his first proper goals ( the other i think was an own goal) he gets the goals when rickie goes off. so just wondering, is he fitter? fits into the team better? how did he and rickie play together? should he be played with rickie or be considered a sub for rickie? not knocking the guy as i think he will get goals and poacher in the box is something we have been lacking for years
He has improved his game, got leaner, and settled into our style of play. His goals were very well taken, but he needs to improve his touch.
His fits into our usual style of play much better than Lee does, though still not as well as Connolly does. But then again, he's more of a goalscorer than Connolly is.
By his own admission, he wasn't as fit as he might be, when he was transferred, and he certainly wasn't Saints fit. From official photos, one can tell that he's slowly becoming a wee bit leaner, for example, yesterday he wasn't carrying the same level of fat around his middle, or his upper arms. He's still a tad chubby in relation to the rest of the squad, but I'm sure that will come off. Next season I expect to see an extremely svelte Sharp. Then he'll be ready for the Premier League.
Definately leaner round the middle, but will never be a skinny lad as he's quite muscular around the legs and has wide shoulders. I expect they've been working on his cardiovascular fitness as well...if it was just a matter of being leaner, Twiggy would have been a world beater
I understand the Lambert injury is not serious but I was encouraged with Sharp up top on his own with Lallana & De Ridder just behind. Agree on sharp that his 1st touch and control was not always dependable, but he proved that he is a goal scorer which is great at any level
I thought he was brilliant yesterday. His movement was good and bought others into the attack very well was already impressed before his goals.
Just seen highlights on Player. Billy missed a couple he probably should have put away, but the important thing is that he got himself in the position to score. Another day he'd have scored more. Will be an asset to Saints, though I still like the liveliness of Tadanari. But in the PL we will need all the strikers we can get, so both will be accommodated.
He doesn't fit the team more than Connolly, no, but I'd rather see Sharp score just because he's better. It doesn't matter so much if they fit the system provided they do a job, and Sharp definitely can do, as he showed yesterday. Though, his 50p header between his two goals was appalling!
Some people expect us to sign robots with an on/off switch of perfection, it takes time and effort to get players to match what the longer term players are already up to. I doubt that there is a team in the Championship with a better fitness regime than us, as I said elsewhere, Puncheon and Falque were being put through their paces long before the game started yesterday and neither appear to pass the test, hence not on the bench. Sharp is a natural goalscorer and will get his fair share of success but will have to keep it up as there are so many options, and also some games where his particular style wouldn't work, leave it to NA to work it out, but keep positive about everything. Remember we can't possibly win every time, but I bet we will have a good try at doing so.
