Leon Clarke

[HillmortonBlade]

Jesus fucking Christ.

Did I miss the secret meeting where everyone got together and decided that our only consistant goalscorer in 4 years was now shit and shouldn't be on the pitch?

If you got the hotline, can you ring Wilder and tell him to change the system (??l) forthwith to suit Billy? Ta.

 

[Stafford Blade]

Well Sharp can't play that role so it's a case of Clarke or Sharp. So we might as well sell Sharp.

Better still stop playing this awful hoofball.

I agree hoofball is awful, direct football on the other hand can be very effective. "Nice" football doesn't get you very far in div 3 - with the exception of bristol city 2 or 3 seasons ago.

 

[Fraggle Blade]

Lets not try Done up front........lets try him at a different club, cos he's crap.
I'd be tempted to maybe give McNulty a go as i think he would be better at playing just behind Clarke.

 

[BigBed]

I say play Clarke, drop Sharp, play Done along side him, this would be more like the Deane/Agana partnership of the 90's.
I'd play that young Chapman on the right with Coutts inside him, Freeman behind, Duffy left with Fleck inside. Ok we lose the hight but already have a better starting berth.

 

[Stafford Blade]

Jesus fucking Christ.

Did I miss the secret meeting where everyone got together and decided that our only consistant goalscorer in 4 years was now shit and shouldn't be on the pitch?

So you were happy with Sharp's contribution last night?

 

[Stafford Blade]

I say play Clarke, drop Sharp, play Done along side him, this would be more like the Deane/Agana partnership of the 90's.
I'd play that young Chapman on the right with Coutts inside him, Freeman behind, Duffy left with Fleck inside. Ok we lose the hight but already have a better starting berth.

I actually said to the bloke next to me last night that Agana in his pomp would be ideal alongside Clarke

 

[Tyler Durden]

So you were happy with Sharp's contribution last night?

I'm happy with his 22 goals last season and the fact he has scored our only goal in the league thus far.
Happy enough not be getting the knives out just yet in any case.

 

[wizadry]

Jesus fucking Christ.

Did I miss the secret meeting where everyone got together and decided that our only consistant goalscorer in 4 years was now shit and shouldn't be on the pitch?

I honestly, and I'm being serious here, can't believe the people who've agreed with the OP. There's still no evidence yet to suggest that (i) there's negativity towards him and (ii) why Billy is an inferior footballer to Clarke.

 

[him behind you]

I don't think many are being negative about Clarke, just how obviously unsuited the striking partnership is

And how unsuited they are to this shit house style of play.

 

[BigBed]

Anything is worth a try, get him him on the phone!! £600pw and a parking space should swing it!

 

[Stafford Blade]

I honestly, and I'm being serious here, can't believe the people who've agreed with the OP. There's still no evidence yet to suggest that (i) there's negativity towards him and (ii) why Billy is an inferior footballer to Clarke.

Just read comments about him on other threads - not difficult

 

[Fraggle Blade]

I say play Clarke, drop Sharp, play Done along side him, this would be more like the Deane/Agana partnership of the 90's.
I'd play that young Chapman on the right with Coutts inside him, Freeman behind, Duffy left with Fleck inside. Ok we lose the hight but already have a better starting berth.

I think that is about as big an insult as you could ever give Tony agana....being compared to Done!!!
Agana had qulaity that Done can't even dream of obtaining.

 

[YES Blade]

I'm not so sure we are far apart on this YES, point being that fans have demanded a change from last season and welcomed the new managers plans of a more direct approach. He brought in Leon, changed the system (to fuck knows what) so we can't start being protective of the system does not sort Billy. Mores the pity.

But I do think Sharp suits a direct style of play. He is capable of holding the ball up and bringing pacey midfielders/strikers into play, add his finishing ability and we'd have a good asset to that system.

With no pace it doesn't work, Neil Shipperley was only successful because he had the likes of Webber, Kabba and Ifill in the team with him. Play Shipperley in this team in place of Sharp and he would be terrible.

Warnock knew the players required to play a direct system, Wilder at the moment doesn't appear to. When a direct system isn't working it turns into hoof.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Not been on here for a very long time. Surprised to see how much negativity there is towards Clarke on here. Last night he was our best performer, put himself about and won plenty of balls. His winning of balls leads me to one of the worst players last night.....captain fantastic. Several times, Clarke won a header and Sharp was about 30 yards away from the flick on. Sharp doesn't seem to have enough of a footballing brain to play with an effective target man. If one of them has to be dropped it certainly shouldn't be Clarke.

Agreed, Clarke provided everything you'd expect from a decent target man / leader of the line last night, won a decent percentage of his headers, those he didn't the opposing centre half put out for our throw or to our players (ie he took a lot of pressure off the rest of the team - last season in comparison opposing centre halves did what they wanted most of the time putting our team on the back foot most of the time) or held the ball up to bring other players in.

Agreed about Sharp, he was playing 10/15/20 yards to deep all night, they want a quick striker (Done or McNulty of the current lot perhaps) that play right on the shoulder of the opposing centre half and in the type of area of the park to fully exploit Clarke's excellent work. There was one play in the first half that totally highlighted this problem for me, the ball was played to Clarke in a sort of inside left position, who did brilliant to win the header, putting it into what would have been a great position for the other striker for a decent run on to goal (Deane used to do similar for Agana and Shipperley for Kabba or Webber) - where was Sharp 10/15 yards further back, and he was like that all night.

We'd also see better from Clarke in the box if our wingers and full backs put in decent crosses, they could at least put it in the general direction of Clarke to give him half a chance.

 

[him behind you]

Because we now have a new manager who plays a different style, and playing a big lad up top is part of that style. Sharp needs to adapt his game. I reckon Done would relish playing alongside a ball winner like Clarke.

Can't dispute Sharp's record last season, but he was poor last night and he needs to improve quickly.

Fuck me. Clarke is shit as a target man. If that's the style we're going with then the manager has signed the wrong player to do it with as well as giving him the wrong partner to do it with. Play the ball to Clark feet and we'll see a decent player.

 

[Stafford Blade]

Agreed, Clarke provided everything you'd expect from a decent target man / leader of the line last night, won a decent percentage of his headers, those he didn't the opposing centre half put out for our throw or to our players (ie he took a lot of pressure off the rest of the team - last season in comparison opposing centre halves did what they wanted most of the time putting our team on the back foot most of the time) or held the ball up to bring other players in.

Agreed about Sharp, he was playing 10/15/20 yards to deep all night, they want a quick striker (Done or McNulty of the current lot perhaps) that play right on the shoulder of the opposing centre half and in the type of area of the park to fully exploit Clarke's excellent work. There was one play in the first half that totally highlighted this problem for me, the ball was played to Clarke in a sort of inside left position, who did brilliant to win the header, putting it into what would have been a great position for the other striker for a decent run on to goal (Deane used to do similar for Agana and Shipperley for Kabba or Webber) - where was Sharp 10/15 yards further back, and he was like that all night.

We'd also see better from Clarke in the box if our wingers and full backs put in decent crosses, they could at least put it in the general direction of Clarke to give him half a chance.

Couldn't agree more with that.

 

[Stafford Blade]

Fuck me. Clarke is shit as a target man. If that's the style we're going with then the manager has signed the wrong player to do it with as well as giving him the wrong partner to do it with. Play the ball to Clark feet and we'll see a decent player.

For someone who is shit target man, he won a hell of a lot of balls

 

[wizadry]

Just read comments about him on other threads - not difficult

There's too many threads to catch up with but I've read a lot of them and haven't seen any that leads me to think there's negativity towards Clarke, that's why I'm asking you SB.

 

[Fraggle Blade]

Agreed about Sharp, he was playing 10/15/20 yards to deep all night, they want a quick striker (Done or McNulty of the current lot perhaps) that play right on the shoulder of the opposing centre half and in the type of area of the park to fully exploit Clarke's excellent work..

Sharp playing deep tho is what he's expected to do when playing behind Clarke.
We need balls into Clarke that he can control then hold up or play back...not balls at head height where he flicks on to nobody.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

For someone who is shit target man, he won a hell of a lot of balls

Look at you, with your stating facts in a discussion...

 

[Stafford Blade]

There's too many threads to catch up with but I've read a lot of them and haven't seen any that leads me to think there's negativity towards Clarke, that's why I'm asking you SB.

We"ve obviously read different threads

 

[Finn Keane o' Balmaqueen]

No attempts on goal last night.

That's none for Clarke.
None for Billy.
None for everyone.

These "new" tactics we're employing.

So we should drop Billy, play Big Harv alone and which chickens feeding off him?

Billy, PNE... if they sell Garner. Don't fuckin' hesitate.

 

[Stafford Blade]

Sharp playing deep tho is what he's expected to do when playing behind Clarke.
We need balls into Clarke that he can control then hold up or play back...not balls at head height where he flicks on to nobody.

Sharp should getting on the end of what Clarke wins

 

[Stafford Blade]

Look at you, with your stating facts in a discussion...

Soz!

 

[him behind you]

For someone who is shit target man, he won a hell of a lot of balls

Flick ons to no one. It's not just his partner who needs to read flicks, the real target men know when and in which direction to send it. Oh, and he was up against fuck all last night but won very few (despite putting himself about) on Saturday.

 

[YES Blade]

For someone who is shit target man, he won a hell of a lot of balls

He won headers that the majority of the time went to Southend's defence, so who cares? He's just giving the ball away.

A target man should be used to receive the ball to feet, hold up the ball and bring players into play, Clarke didn't do that at all.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Sharp playing deep tho is what he's expected to do when playing behind Clarke.
We need balls into Clarke that he can control then hold up or play back...not balls at head height where he flicks on to nobody.

Totally disagree with that pal, thought the idea was for strikers to score goals, Sharp isn't going to score many thirty yards from the opposition penalty area - he's supposed to be a striker not a midfield player. Play Done or McNulty up front, the type of forwards who will take advantage of Clarke's excellent work and heading ability.

 

[him behind you]

Sharp should getting on the end of what Clarke wins

Or was Clark just flicking it into space? I'm not knocking him but the easiest part of that plan is to jump and win a header. The guy who has to get onto the end of it has a third of the pitch to choose from to guess where it's going. You can't play it with one playing off him. As I keep saying, it needs wide men and or midfield players getting there as well.

 

[YES Blade]

Sharp should getting on the end of what Clarke wins

Do you really think that Sharp is capable of doing that?

 

[Stafford Blade]

He won headers that the majority of the time went to Southend's defence, so who cares? He's just giving the ball away.

A target man should be used to receive the ball to feet, hold up the ball and bring players into play, Clarke didn't do that at all.

Should be used like that, but most balls were drilled at his head. And he did very well to win plenty of them. As his partner, it is Sharp's responsibility to be running on anticipating flick ons