Chuba Akpom…

Diego said:
He was doing well prior to Carrick coming in but since Carrick has moved him deeper he’s become an all round menace and the complete footballer. Best player I have seen play for us in a good while. Hats off to Chuba and the coaching team for making it happen
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Yes Diego he was doing well prior to Carrick but for some reason or other, his qualities were going mostly unnoticed or ignored….

Warnock‘s hoofball was never to play to his strengths;

Even the club itself didn’t recognize the player it had and as others have said were probably looking to cut “losses”.

But luckily for us, he wasn’t returned to Greece prior to Wilder just happening to stumble upon him after the club and his own personal summer transfer targets failed to materialize.

Then along comes Michael Carrick. Phew👍👍👍
 
h_m_boro said:
That's exactly what I'm hoping.

Unfortunately PL clubs have more money than sense, and are very gung-ho in spaffing £20m+. And if a £50/60/70k week contract is dangled in front of you ......😬😬
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It's definitely a risk, but 3 players scored 22 goals last season for clubs that weren't promoted, and all 3 are still at their current clubs.

Ben Brereton-Diaz
Joël Piroe
Andreas Weimann

So you could maybe take encouragement from that.

With 16 games left, and his current scoring form, Akpom could well go beyond 22 and I hope he does, and his all round play is excellent right now.

I'd be more surprised if clubs weren't looking at him.

The fact that it's his first really successful season in his career at 27 might work in our favour should we not go up.

But hopefully it's a moot point and we manage to get back to the promised land.
 
newyddion said:
100% this! He came back from Greece with the intention of not letting his career slide away.. he upped his game and had massively turned it up a notch if the pitch.

When at Arsenal he was tipped for big big things and whilst not doing anything wrong I think he allowed his career to just happen a little bit.

He’s not suddenly just become a good player, it was always there.. he’s just put everything into place, the penny has dropped and he’s putting the extra work in mentally instead of just going through the motions.

Hats off. A huge effort required to get to where he is right now. Hopefully he can continue it with us next season.. in the premier league!!
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Agreed chap.
Michael Carrick commended the way Chuba does his "homework" - studying videos of other players and working out new techniques and ways to work the ball. Chuba himself says he makes the effort to improve his game after formal training. He wants to be the best he can. It may be that Michael Carrick and his coaches are the ones with the magic key to unlock Chuba`s talents. He may crumble in a less caring cut-throat club?
 
Diego said:
He was doing well prior to Carrick coming in but since Carrick has moved him deeper he’s become an all round menace and the complete footballer. Best player I have seen play for us in a good while. Hats off to Chuba and the coaching team for making it happen
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Exactly that, the change in role has allowed him space away from physical CBs it’s allowed him to receive the ball to feet and use his technical ability, not rely on physically competing with 6 foot 4 meathead CBs.

It’s allowed him to turn and play towards goal. Chuba isn’t really strong or really quick so asking him to hold it up and run in behind will always have limited success.

Yes he played well under wilder as a 9, but he’s gone up a notch as a 10 using his technical ability to play with his head up and link play, while arriving later into the box unmarked
 
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BoroMart said:
Exactly that, the change in role has allowed him space away from physical CBs it’s allowed him to receive the ball to feet and use his technical ability, not rely on physically competing with 6 foot 4 meathead CBs.

It’s allowed him to turn and play towards goal. China isn’t really strong or really quick so asking him to hold it up and run in behind will always have limited success.

Yes he played well under wilder as a 9, but he’s gone up a notch as a 10 using his technical ability to play with his head up and link play, while arriving later into the box unmarked
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Spot on!
 
He enjoys coming from a midfield position which he didn't get with Warnock.

I also think he has better creative players with him this season, such as Giles, McGree, Archer.
 
nice to have a striker that smiles after taking shots but does not pizz everyone off with that smile
 
I think there are a few things. First 2-3 games under Warnock he played up front in a 2 with Britt and scored twice. We forget that he looked really good in those first games. Warnock then dropped Britt and put Chuba up front as a lone striker and his confidence went. He also had a new child around then and there were some reports that he was struggling a bit with tiredness.

When Wilder bought him back he played him up front in a 2 because that's the only way Wilder knows. Suddenly Chuba looked like a world-beater again. Notably he scored twice against Sheff Utd when playing alongside Forss. Unfortunately for Wilder, Akpom get injured and didn't get back until Wilder's last game.

Basically, if you pair him with a fast, direct partner (Forss, Archer) Akpom scores for fun. If you pair him with someone less mobile (Muniz, Crooks) he is ok but his goals drop off. If you play him as a lone target man he will work for the team but you're getting very few goals out of him.

It's almost ludicrously obvious now you can look back at it. Thing is, because he is strong and can win battles with rugged defenders, it looks like he ought to be able to play the lone striker role.

The one thing Carrick has done is to drop him back a bit and give him some freedom to drift wide. Sounds like a crazy thing to do but it works like a dream for him because he tends to start an attack then finish it.

90% of this comes from Chuba never giving up and always working hard but the missing piece of the puzzle was discovering his best position.
 
Bruce said:
...because he tends to start an attack then finish it.
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This

Watch his second goal against Blackpool for a perfect illustration, you'd struggle to see a more perfect interplay at this or a higher level, sublime.
 
Hes the only player I`ve seen for a while assisting himself to score a goal!
Manages to receive the ball, then it goes up in the air surrounded by bodies, an he scores a header as its coming back down!
[see Watford]
1675683234016.png
Dextrous football from our 🚂🚂
 
I think if you played him up front in a number 9 role on his own, he would still be smashing it. You just have to look at his goalscoring form throughout his career. He is getting in positions he just did not 2 years ago.
 
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