Chuba Akpom is he the best striker in this league?? Well.....

J

jehodgson

Active member
(or is it Chris willock...)

Please note the question mark in the title of this thread, as despite being impressed with his recent good performances of course I don't believe it is true, BUT, I was looking at the top scorers in the championship on the bbc website, ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/championship/top-scorers ) and the comparative stats are amazingly complimentary when you take into account how much he has played.

So....6 goals scored and the highest is 9, but
goals per 90 0.76, ranked 1st,
minutes per goal 119 ranked 2nd (only by 2 minutes to chris willock) ,
Goal conversion ranked 2nd only to chris Willock again.
Shot accuracy is only 14th though... (Willock is top with an incredible 83%!)

I was surprised though at all of this... Thought someone else needed to see it!
I have been impressed with his work rate and hold up play, and also some of his passing in the last few games, but his finishing seems woeful at times to me. However, those stats are very good....
 
The biggest thing for me is that we've been scratching around for a decent striker for a couple of years, when we actually had one that we'd sent out on loan.

I know it's not always as simple as that, but you have to ask the question a to why this happened, when we've wasted money bringing others in.

He seems like a humble guy too, which makes his success all the better for me.
 
Signs are Carrick could be the right manager for him too.

Granted he was going well even before Carrick, but having someone who wants their forwards to be able to express themselves will help.


Given he's come through the Arsenal academy, having a manager with a similar big club "grounding" will potentially help him too. More likely they'll be on the same page etc.
 
Agreed.. His attitude and general manner seem really good, so I am very pleased for him, as well as for us, that he is doing better now.
 
Jonny Ingbar said:
The biggest thing for me is that we've been scratching around for a decent striker for a couple of years, when we actually had one that we'd sent out on loan.

I know it's not always as simple as that, but you have to ask the question a to why this happened, when we've wasted money bringing others in.

He seems like a humble guy too, which makes his success all the better for me.
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It seems clear to me that he needs to play with a partner, he struggled to play the lone striker role the managers favoured - as many do sadly.
I absolutely agree he comes across as a humble fella.
I'd absolutely love him to become a proper club legend. 20 league goals this season would set him on his way and he might just get that.
 
Jonny Ingbar said:
The biggest thing for me is that we've been scratching around for a decent striker for a couple of years, when we actually had one that we'd sent out on loan.

I know it's not always as simple as that, but you have to ask the question a to why this happened, when we've wasted money bringing others in.

He seems like a humble guy too, which makes his success all the better for me.
Click to expand...

Yep his personality is definitely a bonus.

Looked like he didn't celebrate much, presumably because Hull are a former club.

I don't really care much either way if former players celebrate or not (as long as it's not OTT), but does show he's got a respectful nature. It's not like he's Hull legend or anything either.
 
Where is Ikpeazu now?

He seemed like another asset that Wilder ignored and misused. Wilder was a millstone, dragging the club down.

If Ikpeazu and Akpom had been in the starting side last season, instead of Connolly and that other guy*, Boro would have been in the play offs.

can't even remember his name now.
 
He's played well but missed a couple of sitters. He's playing more a of a foil than a blade role though. If we can get Forss up and running as a fox in the box, but with the off the ball workrate of Connelly then we might start to move up the table. Where Chuba struggles is the finish when he has time to think, making runs off the shoulder, and handling the back to goal against powerful CBs. His new role takes most of those problems away.
 
indeedido said:
It seems clear to me that he needs to play with a partner, he struggled to play the lone striker role the managers favoured - as many do sadly.
I absolutely agree he comes across as a humble fella.
I'd absolutely love him to become a proper club legend. 20 league goals this season would set him on his way and he might just get that.
Click to expand...
Yep, he's not suited to the lone striker role, which makes his signing even more questionable, given Warnock played that way.

Wilder was right to bring him back in, but why it took him so long to realise its questionable.
 
Jonny Ingbar said:
Yep, he's not suited to the lone striker role, which makes his signing even more questionable, given Warnock played that way.

Wilder was right to bring him back in, but why it took him so long to realise its questionable.
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Definitely questionable. You would think any new coach would give every player a clean slate on taking over with a view to making their own judgement (as Mowbray did with Emnes and Bennett).

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance and I'm not sure Wilder is on the right side of it. He wrote off Akpom very quickly. Certainly too quickly to have assessed him properly.
 
At least Balogun you could see in flashes his ability. Connolly....I think you could have stuck the 2022 version of Michael Ricketts up front and he would have been more effective.

In answer to your question, Chuba is clearly now the best striker in the world.
 
festa5 said:
Definitely questionable. You would think any new coach would give every player a clean slate on taking over with a view to making their own judgement (as Mowbray did with Emnes and Bennett).

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance and I'm not sure Wilder is on the right side of it. He wrote off Akpom very quickly. Certainly too quickly to have assessed him properly.
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It's not always a reliable gauge to judge managers from their public persona of course, but after an impressive start I became less enthused by him as time went by.

I can imagine that players found him difficult and abrasive the more time went by and the more results went against them.

I think I've filed Wilder under "what could have been".
 
festa5 said:
You would think any new coach would give every player a clean slate on taking over with a view to making their own judgement
Click to expand...
This is exactly right. As a manager, why would you turn up at a new club with a fixed and inflexible idea already planted in your head as to how the team is going to play? Surely the very minimum is to look at the players, try to work out what their best formation is, then try it, then tweak it, then tweak it again, then have a rethink if it's not going well.

I've had a long held belief that the very worst people to employ as football managers are ex-players. Most of them are uneducated, most of them are thick as castle doors, and they just perpetuate the muddled thinking that they themselves experienced as players. I don't know what they think they are seeing when they watch the players in training, or in a match. Like the other night, Riley McGree was wandering around like a lost soul, kept slipping on the wet grass, kept giving the ball away, was always in the wrong place, always making the wrong decision when he had the ball, and slowed the attack down when he was in possession.

Carrick left McGree on for 80 odd minutes. Didn't suggest changing his boots even (as far as I know). Did he think things were magically going to improve? Hull were so woeful that it didn't matter, but against a better team it could have been disastrous.

It would be really interesting to see someone like Clive Woodward in a football manager role. Things would be different.
 
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