The enigma that is Didsy

[Guesty]

He scored at Tottenham. Didn't miss any chances v manu. Yesterday Came within a gnats nadger with a great header on less than a half a chance. Hit the target with two others but goal keeper well positioned. What about the screaming sitter that grealish of England missed ? Thank god that wasn't Didsy. Focusssing on this misses the wonderful reality that after a tricky 10 game start United have found a strike partnership that is tearing a new one in prem defences. Hat trick for Didsy v geordies.

He missed an absolute sitter against Manchester United! Great save for De Gea, but Didsy should have given him no chance.

 

[lakedistblade]

Guesty Now you mention it.......( but I stand by the rest of it - and he did hit the target )

 

[pesch the mini genius]

Dennis Bergkamp. Remember him? He's in the conversation of best forwards to EVER play in the Premier League.

The year Arsenal won the league without losing a single game, he scored just 4 goals.

this ^^
for me we wouldnt be in the PL or on this number of points this season without Didsy
He is our Bergkamp , he is such a classy , fantastic link up man and a absolute joy to watch and one of our best players i have seen who is a key part of our best footballing team I have ever seen
virtually every single forward move has him involved at some stage , his passing , link up play and running off the ball is excellent (moose's goal vs man u a perfect example) and thats not even touching on his work rate which is also fantastic

he will score at some stage and then get a few more but he is so so important to us for his whole game
i cannot understand how anyone can contemplate trying to replace him ( ok he is not getting any younger so do need to in the next 2-4 years !) because unless you have 50-70 mill stuffed down your sofa you will not find anyone better for that role imo

 

[DazBlade88]

Do we think perhaps (and sorry if someone has made the same point) he's just too relaxed? I refuse to believe that the man who is so incredible on the ball and has such a good level of composure, does not have the ability to pop it in from 6 yards repeatedly.

Flight a difficult ball to him on the edge of the box with two men all over him, and he'll bring it down, twist the oppo inside out and lay it off with ease. Move him towards goal with an easy header he only has to put slightly to the left of the keeper for a goal and he'll put it down the middle. Genuinely odd.

I think it's a case of losing composure in front of goal because of a lack of confidence. You can see it's visibly affecting him, and even when he does score it's getting ruled out by a nonsensical decision.

I can see it being a scenario where one goes in and then he goes on a bit of a run like last season.

 

[Revolution]

Dennis Bergkamp. Remember him? He's in the conversation of best forwards to EVER play in the Premier League.

The year Arsenal won the league without losing a single game, he scored just 4 goals.

Thierry Henry? Remember him? He scored 30 the same season.

And Robert Pires got 14 for good measure.

Apples and Oranges.

 

[Revolution]

At the moment it doesn't matter as we are still picking up points, but if McGoldrick continues not to score and we start to lose games, Wilder will drop him. He did the same last season.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Its such a shame that today he has missed chance/s because perhaps we could have won. Not having a pop by any stretch of the imagination because I love to watch him play. He has attributes that other players don't have and glides round the pitch. But for gods sake Didsy give us blooming goal please!

He must be very frustrated as he does hit the target more often than not and that is what strikers are told to do . Blockes and saves seem to be the order of the day with Didzie , just keep hitting the target the goals will come.

 

[Guesty]

Guesty Now you mention it.......( but I stand by the rest of it - and he did hit the target )

He did hit the target, yes. I actually wonder if that's part of it, like McGoldrick thinks hitting it at the 'keeper means it'll be on target, so that's what he does. Most of his misses are on target, but often at a goalkeeperwho is slightly out of position (Leeds last season is a good example).

 

[Akinbiyi]

He’s great at hitting the centre of the goal. Normally does it to great effect. Most of his shots are on target and normally straight at the keeper - if he could just put them either side even slightly it would make the world of difference

Anyone who doesn’t think that chance against Man United is an absolute sitter is deluded btw

 

[FleaPitBlade]

Thierry Henry? Remember him? He scored 30 the same season.

And Robert Pires got 14 for good measure.

Apples and Oranges.

Well, yeah.... But there are similarities. Bergkamp made that team tick, just like Didsy does ours.
The point being that a forward doesn't necessarily need to be scoring himself as long as he's making an overall positive impact.

 

[Kanye]

Thierry Henry? Remember him? He scored 30 the same season.

And Robert Pires got 14 for good measure.

Apples and Oranges.

You've completely missed his point.

 

[anglian blade]

McGoldrick has rarely scored at a rate of more than 1 goal in 4 or 5 games and I don't think he should be compared with an out and out striker. I would regard our formation as being McGoldrick as more a 10, linking the play with Mousset as a lone striker.

 

[gordoncharles]

It is fucking criminal he wasted 5 years of his career at Ipswich chasing aimless hoofs down the flanks under Barnsley Mick when he is such a complete footballer,

Don't be unfair. I'm sure he put a shift in.

 

[Revolution]

Well, yeah.... But there are similarities. Bergkamp made that team tick, just like Didsy does ours.
The point being that a forward doesn't necessarily need to be scoring himself as long as he's making an overall positive impact.

If someone else is picking up the slack, yes.

But this is a re-hash of an old argument. "It doesn't matter that Monty doesn't score or create" "it doesn't matter that Reed/Scougall/Flynn/Coutts never scores" and so on.

It does matter, because if you play 2 up top and one of them never scores, your other player better be a goal machine, or you aren't going to win many games. Someone has to score, or you'll go down.

We have 5 big games coming up. All of these games are winnable, against teams that are having poorer seasons than we are. After that we have a very tough set of fixtures. We need to get points now. If one of our two strikers goes completely scoreless in these 5 games, that may be a big problem.

I would leave McGoldrick where he is for the present as he holds the ball up better than anyone else bar Mousset, and his movement off the ball is excellent, but one assist and no goals in 11 games is not a good record, however nice he has been to watch, and he needs to improve on that if we are to stay up.

 

[Revolution]

You've completely missed his point.

No I haven't.

 

[jono_t2000]

We can't afford to drop Didzy at the moment like everyone has said as we are massively better for him in the team. However...

If he continues to miss chances then opponents will pick up on him being the weaker finisher which means not having to track him so often or be as tight on him and can double up on Moose instead.

So I do think he needs to start scoring otherwise the things he is great at will slowly but surely become more and more redundant.

 

[Kanye]

No I haven't.

He said that Bergkamp had only scored 4, implying that a team can still be successful, even if one of their strikers contributes in ways other than goals.

You mentioned 2 players that had scored goals in that same Arsenal team - why? All it does is serves his argument: it doesn't matter which players are scoring, providing the team is successful.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

McGoldrick has rarely scored at a rate of more than 1 goal in 4 or 5 games and I don't think he should be compared with an out and out striker. I would regard our formation as being McGoldrick as more a 10, linking the play with Mousset as a lone striker.

I keep telling everybody this. But some just don't want to listen. When Wilder gets his new striker and starts deploying McGoldrick BEHIND that striker as a number 10, which is his best role, then everyone will agree. They will also call Wilder a genius for doing it, when in truth, the genius is me!

(Actually no, scrub that. You don't become a genius for being able to spot the bleedin' obvious!).

 

[Revolution]

He said that Bergkamp had only scored 4, implying that a team can still be successful, even if one of their strikers contributes in ways other than goals.

You mentioned 2 players that had scored goals in that same Arsenal team - why? All it does is serves his argument: it doesn't matter which players are scoring, providing the team is successful.

True, but my point is someone has to score. If Mousset stops scoring, who will pick up the slack? We don't have Thierry Henry or Robert Pires. It's a gigantic strawman.

It's a silly argument anyway. I'm sure Wilder understands the point. His previous behaviour shows he does. He dropped Done in 2016-7 even when when we were winning because Done wasn't scoring enough. He dropped Clarke last season in the same situation. He did it this season with Callum Robinson - people have short memories.

He'll do the same with McGoldrick sooner or later if he doesn't deliver.

 

[FleaPitBlade]

True, but my point is someone has to score. If Mousset stops scoring, who will pick up the slack? We don't have Thierry Henry or Robert Pires. It's a gigantic strawman.

It's a silly argument anyway. I'm sure Wilder understands the point. His previous behaviour shows he does. He dropped Done in 2016-7 even when when we were winning because Done wasn't scoring enough. He dropped Clarke last season in the same situation. He did it this season with Callum Robinson - people have short memories.

He'll do the same with McGoldrick sooner or later if he doesn't deliver.

Of course he's not immune. But right now, Moussett is scoring. And Lunny and Fleck are chipping in. All of which has coincided with Didsy coming back from his injury.

It's not as black and white as 'he has to score or he's out on his ear'.

He's a joy to watch and it is absolutely, glaringly and undeniably obvious that he is our talisman. He's involved, in some way or another, in most of what we do well in open play.

Another straw man argument: If he regularly scored more of these chances than he didn't, he'd probably have spent the preceding 10 years knocking around the Champions League sides. He wouldn't be playing for us. We have the accept that, unless were throwing tens and tens of millions that our players will have weaknesses in their game. That's fine. It's the sum of the parts that matters, not what each individual can or cannot do. That's what's got us where we are.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

I keep telling everybody this. But some just don't want to listen. When Wilder gets his new striker and starts deploying McGoldrick BEHIND that striker as a number 10, which is his best role, then everyone will agree. They will also call Wilder a genius for doing it, when in truth, the genius is me!

(Actually no, scrub that. You don't become a genius for being able to spot the bleedin' obvious!).

Apologies, as I've not read the whole thread, but who is being dropped from Midfield in order to create this number 10 role?

 

[ZoneManWilf]

True, but my point is someone has to score. If Mousset stops scoring, who will pick up the slack? We don't have Thierry Henry or Robert Pires. It's a gigantic strawman.

It's a silly argument anyway. I'm sure Wilder understands the point. His previous behaviour shows he does. He dropped Done in 2016-7 even when when we were winning because Done wasn't scoring enough. He dropped Clarke last season in the same situation. He did it this season with Callum Robinson - people have short memories.

He'll do the same with McGoldrick sooner or later if he doesn't deliver.

McGoldrick is delivering, he makes the team tick, crucial to our pattern of play. It is frustrating that he has missed chances but his worth to the team totally outweighs that at the moment.

As others have said, with him in the team we are creating so much more, the goals of Fleck and Mousse recently are not a coincidence.

Comparing McGoldrick and what he brings to the team vs Matt Done!? Do me a favour.

 

[benn5712]

Get Didsy to a hypnotist.

Hypnotists all fully booked up. Chansiri has them at the sty.

 

[blademark]

Apologies, as I've not read the whole thread, but who is being dropped from Midfield in order to create this number 10 role?

The only possible player to drop would be Lunny, as he is the player that has replaced the number 10 this season. It's a fine balance, we could sacrifice some goals against for goals scored. Ideally Didzy would just score a decent percentage of thestonewall chances he gets, and then we, and Wilder, wouldn't need to have these conversations.

 

[freddyp]

Didsy playing and scoring we’re in the top 4. Didsy not playing we’re nearer bottom 4. Didsy playing and not scoring, we’re 7th. Play Didsy.

 

[Kanye]

True, but my point is someone has to score. If Mousset stops scoring, who will pick up the slack? We don't have Thierry Henry or Robert Pires. It's a gigantic strawman.

It's a silly argument anyway. I'm sure Wilder understands the point. His previous behaviour shows he does. He dropped Done in 2016-7 even when when we were winning because Done wasn't scoring enough. He dropped Clarke last season in the same situation. He did it this season with Callum Robinson - people have short memories.

He'll do the same with McGoldrick sooner or later if he doesn't deliver.

You're comparisons of McGoldrick and players like Clarke and Done do not help your argument. It's not even nearly a like for like situation.

And rather than assuming what Wilder thinks, why don't you just listen to his interviews and find out what he actually thinks? Both he and Norwood would strongly contest the idea that McGoldrick isn't "delivering"

And as for who scores if Mousset isn't in the team? I'd assume a combination of Mousset's deputy, and the rest of the team. Over 3 quarters of our goals have been scored by players other than Mousset. One thing for sure is that we create more chances and look more dangerous when Didzy is in the team, whoever has the job of filling Mousset's boots would likely prefer to play alongside McGoldrick than without him.

 

[SUFCinks]

Didzy is technically our best player. My fav to watch and his link up play and ability to hold the ball and set up opportunities is why hes in the team. If he scores more goals than bonus but hes vital to how we play and our current success.

I recon he will get a brace at newcastle and finish the season on 6/7+ goals

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

The only possible player to drop would be Lunny, as he is the player that has replaced the number 10 this season. It's a fine balance, we could sacrifice some goals against for goals scored. Ideally Didzy would just score a decent percentage of thestonewall chances he gets, and then we, and Wilder, wouldn't need to have these conversations.

I'd agree, but I don't think we can sacrifice the defensive cover Lunny gives us, not until we've upgraded other players to compensate.
What's actually needed is an upgrade on Didzy, which given he's 32 isn't exactly news, but it's going to take some finding, and it isn't going to be someone who fits in this season. I think given the way we play within our system, we're going to bring players in who are unlikely to make an immediate impact, but who will come into reckoning in their second season. I think McBurnie, Freeman and Robinson will be stronger contributors after a longer settling in period and Didzy's ultimate replacement would be the same.

 

[guancheblade]

If McGoldrick could score goals consistently he wouldn't be playing for us, as simple as that. He's the most technically gifted player in our squad for me and what he brings to the style we play is as valuable as any chances he misses. Look how we struggled to create when he was out earlier in the season

Forget that, look how we struggle when he steps off the pitch! We need a like for like understudy ASAP.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Apologies, as I've not read the whole thread, but who is being dropped from Midfield in order to create this number 10 role?

It’s a bloody question that FB. You couldn’t say anyone needs dropping at the moment because they are all playing well and deserve to keep a shirt. It will have to be natural selection, Darwin style.