Leon Clarke

[Bruce Wayne]

Hero to zero, sums his career up. Garbage today and has been since he got a cushy new deal.

 

[Iceybabey]

Ahhh, the new deal cliché.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Ahhh, the new deal cliché.

Done fuck all since he signed it.

 

[Superblades]

No confidence at all. Can’t see him scoring at the min.

 

[Harry's Game]

Should have come off instead of Sharp. Crazy substitution

 

[DronnieBlade]

You woz warned.

UTB

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

I'd still stay he contributed more than sharp despite the horror miss.

 

[Iceybabey]

Done fuck all since he signed it.

He probably thought yeah fuck this I'm not scoring anymore goals now iv signed this contract, fuck being the main man up top and having my name sung by the fans. I reckon a lot his running is just for decoration.

 

[raimond]

The contract thing's followed him round all his career, and that purple patch of scoring was always going to end, bit unlucky they co-incided so neatly.
In fairness, he was poor for a while but I thought he was back to himself v QPR and put a shift in today (though that header off the line was D'Jaffo-esque.

Still, the alternative's Donaldson so be careful what you wish for

 

[sufcboy95]

Missed a sitter. Fluffed at the pass back. Then just stood and watched the ball go across the box.
Abysmal

 

[Chali 2na]

The problem is a lack of viable options up front: If Clarke and Sharp aren't firing, who do you play?

Wilson looks selfish and ineffective.
Donaldson looks woefully short of composure.
Evans is obviously a mile away from fitness.

Your only shout is Brooks when he's fit enough to start, but his appearance today proved that he lacks consistency (Like most young players.)

 

[Small Mendonca]

I noticed today how much all most of our strikers seem to ball watch (I'd exclude Sharp from this). I also don't think any of them work hard enough off of the ball. It can make such a difference pressing from the front to force errors and close down options. I know our strikers are getting on a bit and they can't run all game but there are times when the ball is feet away from them, they react slowly and amble towards it, rather than close it down quickly. We desperately need some pace up top.

 

[Bladesman]

Terrible performance today from him.

 

[ThatJa]

Should have come off instead of Sharp. Crazy substitution

Shouldn't have come straight into the side after injury, Brooks didn't.

 

[Harry's Game]

After how well Duffy, Sharp and Brooks linked up on Tuesday I couldn’t understand why we didn’t want to have a look at that again.

 

[tomtheblade]

Genuinely think we should have kept Sharp on until the end, he's a goalscorer but has the ability to provide a class touch or pass out of nowhere to get us something, as we saw on Tuesday.

 

[Boxer Blade]

Its rare for Wilder to take Clarke off, playing well or not.

 

[sheffielder]

Need to see it back, but how the fuck did he miss that in the first half

 

[ljk]

I posit that Leon Clarke only enjoyed the thrill of scoring every week, leading his team up the league and being worshipped by tens of thousands of people in order to STEAL a new deal from us.

Now his greed has been satiated, he's gone back to working really hard but not getting the goals in frustrating 0-0 draws, which he prefers.

 

[andy m]

Name a better striker that we can sign for a couple of hundred thousand

 

[Bruce Wayne]

He probably thought yeah fuck this I'm not scoring anymore goals now iv signed this contract, fuck being the main man up top and having my name sung by the fans. I reckon a lot his running is just for decoration.

He's doing a damn good impression of what you sarcastically say.

 

[Champagneblade]

Given the circumstances of both players, I’d have been inclined to start Brooks and replace him on the hour with Clarke.

It’s hard for Brooks to turn it on as sub always and 60 mins would have been a good stretch for him.

30 mins would have just eased Clarke back into it.

For those wondering why Billy gets hooked instead of Leon, for me it’s because he doesn’t have an outstanding attribute outside of scoring.

If it’s not happening for either then Leon offers you some height and slightly more pace.

As was mentioned above though their poor recent form highlights the lack of quality depth in this area.

Vs Fulham, Sharp had a glorious headed chance early on to give us the lead but failed to even hit the target. Donaldson missed a gilt-edged chance to put us level - a minute later we were 2 down. Both would have increased the chance of a vital point. When Wilson hit the post vs Ipswich, Sharp had time to control the ball and pick his spot but he volleyed over. An extra 2 points in a turgid game. Yesterday Leon contrived to miss from 2 yards.

I’m not blaming anyone, they are what they are - strikers coming up fron League One or strikers in their career twighlight, but over the past three matches that’s 4 or 5 points gone begging due to a lack of quality in front of goal. You simply cannot miss them at this level if you hope to achieve.

 

[Shoes_On]

He's so obviously low on confidence, the last thing any of us should be doing is slating him

 

[JOEYDEE]

He's been out for weeks. .give him a chance! !!

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

Perhaps Leon just had a purple patch (like a lot of average strikers do at one point in their career), and he has gone back to the L1 standard he is naturally at?

Seems to be missing any chance he gets now and looks a bit lumbering. His performance yesterday was awful.

 

[blade62]

Genuinely think we should have kept Sharp on until the end, he's a goalscorer but has the ability to provide a class touch or pass out of nowhere to get us something, as we saw on Tuesday.

It was quite obvious, looking at his body language, that Billy was angry for being taken off. No eye contact or acknowledgement between him and CW as he walked off and brushed past him. Hope this isn’t the beginning of the end for the skipper.

 

[Fanny magnet]

Given the circumstances of both players, I’d have been inclined to start Brooks and replace him on the hour with Clarke.

It’s hard for Brooks to turn it on as sub always and 60 mins would have been a good stretch for him.

30 mins would have just eased Clarke back into it.

For those wondering why Billy gets hooked instead of Leon, for me it’s because he doesn’t have an outstanding attribute outside of scoring.

If it’s not happening for either then Leon offers you some height and slightly more pace.

As was mentioned above though their poor recent form highlights the lack of quality depth in this area.

Vs Fulham, Sharp had a glorious headed chance early on to give us the lead but failed to even hit the target. Donaldson missed a gilt-edged chance to put us level - a minute later we were 2 down. Both would have increased the chance of a vital point. When Wilson hit the post vs Ipswich, Sharp had time to control the ball and pick his spot but he volleyed over. An extra 2 points in a turgid game. Yesterday Leon contrived to miss from 2 yards.

I’m not blaming anyone, they are what they are - strikers coming up fron League One or strikers in their career twighlight, but over the past three matches that’s 4 or 5 points gone begging due to a lack of quality in front of goal. You simply cannot miss them at this level if you hope to achieve.

The go fishing in the last half dozen games from the four or five different strikers has been abysmal

 

[Champagneblade]

15 goals in the Championship on the back of 9 in 27 last season in league one and for 125,000. Add in a brace at Hillsborough and the kid owes us nothing.

He deserves all our support to get through this lean spell.

He may well have a few important goals left in him this season yet.

 

[Sharp as a blade]

He looks like a player lacking in confidence to me.

Yesterday he seemed to shy away from receiving the ball and didn't attack crosses with the agression that he was doing during his goalscoring run.

It was summed up when he was put through on goal, took an extra touch and turned back to lay off Duffy.

When he was on fire he would have hit that across the keeper first time. Yesterday he looked afraid of missing.

 

[Esablade]

He’s the best all round striker we have....until we sign someone better in the summer he’ll keep playing when fit.