No goals in a million years and it coincides with Whitts being dropped. I don't believe in coincidences. He only scored two, but was our main provider. His contribution hasn't been great this season, but the sad fact is that his contribution towards us scoring is better than anybody else's. His corners, free kicks and delivery are still the best at the club. Set pieces were our main scoring method, then we dropped Whitts (by popular request?).
Fair points Iggy. Trouble is before his break he looked tired and frightened to try anything other than short passes. Even his free kicks were not threatening. Perhaps he was worn out after being more or less a permanent fixture for 3 years and a few weeks off will have done him some good.
His assists were few and far between this season. I recall Kim and Mutch heading in free kicks from him v Man U & Liverpool and didn't he take corners for Campbell's goals v Man City both home and away (Cowie took one) but struggling to recall many more. He hasn't scored from a direct free kick since I believe Wolves in early part of last season. He is not unfortunately PL standard. He takes too long on the ball and is too slow on foot.
We've made lots of chances and missed them though. I agree Witts is as likely as anyone to make a chance, but where do you play him? As Nin says too slow for this league. If we're going to have a luxury player I think Zaha is more likely to do damage and can be played in a position of less defensive responsibility than Witts. I think on the whole we place less importance on set pieces since Ole took over (which is a mistake imo).
He's not even made the bench for three of our last four games. If it were as simple as bringing him back for the side to score goals, Solskjaer has missed a trick but somehow I don't think so. For all the undoubted skills he has in his armoury, the plain facts are that they've deserted him this season and his total lack of pace over the ground has added to that impression. His deadball stuff this season has been painfull to behold. If he was brought back and had a direct influence upon our ability to score as opposed to our inability without him, I'd be very surprised. This is far more to do with the lack of finite goalscorers at the club rather than the inability to supply them.
Whitts is now a spent force for us and will probably move on in the summer. He's very much a confidence player who needs the support of the fans and manager to get back his mojo. I don't think he figures in Ole's plans and following the disgraceful celebrations by sections of our so called support when he got subbed in the first half against Norwich he probably can't wait to make a fresh start elsewhere.
Bobbank - you're on the money there with each of your points pal. Agree about the ridiculous reaction by some when he got subbed before half time in that game - I bet that destroyed the guy. No player deserves that and I doubt any will improve because of it, but Whitts would have really taken it to heart. I can see Ole showing preference toward the two Norwegians in either of Whitts preferred positions - Eikrem for the more defensive role and Daehli for the more forward creative stuff. I thought Kimbo would be the natural heir to Whitts, but if anything, he's been as bad if not worse than him this season. Both those players need a confident side to play in and this season has been a far cry from that. Medel and Cala will have a huge influence these last ten games if we can accomodate them both on the pitch the same time - far more than the return of Whitts.
trouble with whitts is that in the PL he's coming up against people either as good as, or better, technically, and they are quicker and stronger too. thats why no club ever took a punt on him when he was in the championship. even though he was great for us in the championship, whenever talking about this with other fans i always said he'd just be a run of the mill player for a wigan or fulham if he left us when he was in the championship and i've sadly been proven right.... we werent scoring goals before, and we're still not. if you've been watching our games properly, you would have seen that in the past few games we've created more chances, our issue has been defending counter attacks and finishing chances. therefore i'd leave him out, we need something different tbh, a pedestrian midfielder who doesnt scrap is a luxury in a relegation battle......
