Connolly and Balogun

[Hicktonville]

He really doesn't. Billy Sharp has 262 career goals and a further 74 assists, in 638 matches.
Connolly has 9 in 64 matches, with 3 assists.

Balogun has at least been a bit unlucky hitting the woodwork twice.
Connolly could play for the rest of the season and not score again, he just doesn't look like it. One massively deflected goal in 609 Championship minutes for us.

Hello Indeedido, thanks for your response,we used to have these sort of debates in the pub a long time before all this technology stuff, it may say new member against me but in reality that is about as far from the truth as it can get. I'm from the Gibson era, not Ben, not Steve, but Ian and he knew how to put them away even on glue pot pitches while getting kicked from pillar to post, tough little Scot.
I have looked at the Forum for years but very rarely comment but thought my observation on CW was worth a few lines.
That said I think you got hold of the wrong end of the stick or perhaps I did not write it succinctly enough to get my point across. I was not comparing player performance, I was comparing the player styles and I do think CW is to some extent building a side (and system) comparable with his Sheff.Unt. tenure, trust this clarifies my post. UTB

 

[Centralscrutinizer]

Connollys scored 6 in 56 senior team appearances,Balougen 0 in 11.
Can't think why they're not scoring for us every week

Especially when you bear in mind that, in recent times, strikers always seem to get worse when they come to Boro

 

[BoroMart]

That said I think you got hold of the wrong end of the stick or perhaps I did not write it succinctly enough to get my point across. I was not comparing player performance, I was comparing the player styles and I do think CW is to some extent building a side (and system) comparable with his Sheff.Unt. tenure, trust this clarifies my post. UTB

Reminds me of Paul Dickov, short, angry, hard working, another player who didn't score enough but was an absolute menace to defenders

 

[fassy]

They’re not bad players, never goal scoring strikers though. Don’t seem to get into the right positions and snatch when they do get a chance. Clear why they aren’t getting game time at parent clubs.

Next season our forward recruiting has to be spot on, or we will dominate games and ultimately fall short again.

 

[gravy173]

They’re not bad players, never goal scoring strikers though. Don’t seem to get into the right positions and snatch when they do get a chance. Clear why they aren’t getting game time at parent clubs.

Next season our forward recruiting has to be spot on, or we will dominate games and ultimately fall short again.

Sign Bamford back when Leeds go down and we go up - sorted

 

[BoroMart]

They’re not bad players, never goal scoring strikers though. Don’t seem to get into the right positions and snatch when they do get a chance. Clear why they aren’t getting game time at parent clubs.

Next season our forward recruiting has to be spot on, or we will dominate games and ultimately fall short again.

I think eventually they will be goal scorers, they're just both pretty raw. They're only 20 and 21. Look at Nmecha now compared to the kid who was with us. They're both way ahead of where Nmecha was he got 18 goals for anderlecht last year, and has 6 in the Bundesliga and is a full german internaional now.

I guess the problem is we signed two young players when it might have been better to sign one young and one experienced to help him learn quicker.

I think the lack of goals is playing on both of them, so yes they are snatching. But I also think the same can be said of Sporar, and to a lesser extent Watmore.

 

[UTB 1953]

Sign Bamford back when Leeds go down and we go up - sorted

Yes, and watch him on the sick list for six months. No thanks.

 

[festa5]

I think eventually they will be goal scorers, they're just both pretty raw. They're only 20 and 21. Look at Nmecha now compared to the kid who was with us. They're both way ahead of where Nmecha was he got 18 goals for anderlecht last year, and has 6 in the Bundesliga and is a full german internaional now.

I guess the problem is we signed two young players when it might have been better to sign one young and one experienced to help him learn quicker.

I think the lack of goals is playing on both of them, so yes they are snatching. But I also think the same can be said of Sporar, and to a lesser extent Watmore.

Yep. I know it's an extreme example but look at Kane's record during his loan spells as a youngster.

Now there's no guarantees of course, but sometimes it just takes a while to click for a striker. If the attitude is right, they're working hard in training, there's every chance that work eventually starts to pay off in front of goal. They're also both fairly new to the system and won't have had much time on the training ground due to how frequent matches are.

Be interesting to see if we're back in for either in the summer. That'll tell you a lot about how Wilder sees it.

 

[indeedido]

Be interesting to see if we're back in for either in the summer. That'll tell you a lot about how Wilder sees it.

I will be gutted if Wilder goes back for Connolly. But he doesn't have a good track record with strikers really, at least at Sheff U.

Reminds me of Paul Dickov, short, angry, hard working, another player who didn't score enough but was an absolute menace to defenders

I get that and he was awful too. He'd be the last thing I'd want as a Boro striker. At least Dickov was hard working, I really don't see that in Connolly.

 

[BoroMart]

Connolly is clearly hard working, probably the hardest working of our forwards. You can't seriously levy that at him even if you don't think he's any good. He's none stop closing defenders down. In the energy stakes Connolly > Watmore > Balogun > Sporar > Coburn

I'll forgive Coburn though as he's not built up that level of stamina still being a teenager and he has a bigger frame to move around the pitch than the other 4, he'll naturally improve that side of his game.

 

[Johngannonsunderpants]

Connoly battles for direct and long balls and at times does OK to hold onto it, what I've noticed is there are times where could easily drop off and receive the ball to feet where you would think he would be very strong, however he doesn't do it.

 

[Bruce]

Yep. I know it's an extreme example but look at Kane's record during his loan spells as a youngster.

according to Transfermarkt Kane played 18 times for Leyton Orient in League 1, scoring 5 (10/11) then 22 times for Milwall in the Championship (played 22, 7 goals, 2 assists). That's roughly similar to Bamford's loans at MK Dons and Derby before we picked him up.

Balogun may come good but it feels like it's going to take another 1-2 loan spells after this one to do so and we aren't in a position to carry someone. (11 games, 545 minutes, 0 goals, 2 assists).

 

[WensleydaleRed]

Speaking of his size, he needs to grow some longer legs, it's amazing when you see him stood next to a regular sized person how small he actually is!

According to Google he’s 5ft9 but whenever I’ve seen him on the pitch he looks about 5ft5. Anyone know tall he actually is?

 

[BoroMart]

Connoly battles for direct and long balls and at times does OK to hold onto it, what I've noticed is there are times where could easily drop off and receive the ball to feet where you would think he would be very strong, however he doesn't do it.

agreed, that is something he has to learn, but I guess having a rooky partner who drops every time limits his ability to learn that one

 

[BoroMart]

according to Transfermarkt Kane played 18 times for Leyton Orient in League 1, scoring 5 (10/11) then 22 times for Milwall in the Championship (played 22, 7 goals, 2 assists). That's roughly similar to Bamford's loans at MK Dons and Derby before we picked him up.

Balogun may come good but it feels like it's going to take another 1-2 loan spells after this one to do so and we aren't in a position to carry someone. (11 games, 545 minutes, 0 goals, 2 assists).

For me he is an impact sub at the moment.

I think Connolly and Watmore are too similar.

So I'm guessing Sporar + Connolly/Watmore should be our usual pair

 

[coluka]

Connolly is an enigma. A non scoring striker, we seem to attract them. I see his qualities as being pacy, energetic he runs around a lot and will battle to hold the ball up, but he isn’t very effective at it, but tbf the 2nd half v Luton was an improvement.

His negatives are his size, seems greedy and doesn’t look a team player to me as when there are players in decent positions he tries to do it all himself. He snatches when shooting, skies his shots too frequently. He may look good in training, but in a game I am not seeing him as a starter. He might be useful as an impact sub v tired defenders, in this league anyway. I can’t believe he is 5’9” more like 5’7”.

Balogan clearly has ability hearing his backstory. He needs the experience, I think he is finding the step up a steep learning curve. He has to start scoring. He looks to me like a striker suited to a 433 coming in from the left of a front 3, not in a 352. He looks a little out of his depth yet. It might click but he lacks physicality imho, especially against big strapping CB’s.

I have noticed a few times when we go long to either of those 2, they both seem to struggle to control and hold the ball up versus championship defenders. Sporar and Watmore do it better, but none of our strikers really want a hoofed high ball. They all seem to like a through ball to run onto like Sporars goal away at Forest for example.

I still see Sprorar and Watmore as the best 2 starters out of the 4, I get the argument about Watmore from the bench but on balance I do prefer him to start and try to get the first goal rather than be looking to recover a deficit.

 

[BoroMart]

I have noticed a few times when we go long to either of those 2, they both seem to struggle to control and hold the ball up versus championship defenders. Sporar and Watmore do it better, but none of our strikers really want a hoofed high ball. They all seem to like a through ball to run onto like Sporars goal away at Forest for example.

agree with most of that. I think the holding the ball up thing is a struggle for all our players.

-Sporar is just generally very poor at it
-Watmore is good at getting his body in a position to protect the ball and roll the defender, but that's a tough one to pull off regularly.
-Connolly is good at stopping the defender getting a clean header, and has decent feet and strength/balance for controlling under pressure.
-Balogun, if it's played to his feet is pretty good when he gets the first touch right.
-Coburn, still lacking a bit of meat on his bones to control with his feet or chest.

Of course Uche was good at holding it up, but couldn't run, was like 10 men when we didn't have possession.

 

[festa5]

agree with most of that. I think the holding the ball up thing is a struggle for all our players.

-Sporar is just generally very poor at it
-Watmore is good at getting his body in a position to protect the ball and roll the defender, but that's a tough one to pull off regularly.
-Connolly is good at stopping the defender getting a clean header, and has decent feet and strength/balance for controlling under pressure.
-Balogun, if it's played to his feet is pretty good when he gets the first touch right.
-Coburn, still lacking a bit of meat on his bones to control with his feet or chest.

Of course Uche was good at holding it up, but couldn't run, was like 10 men when we didn't have possession.

Think it's worth bearing in mind as good as we have been we're still a work in progress. My guess is Wilder ultimately wants us to play in a way where the forwards don't have to hold up the ball up, certainly not from high balls. He certainly doesn't seem interested in strikers who play that way.

That doesn't mean they can't all improve, or indeed are good enough. But if the system works as it should they shouldn't need to be able hold the ball up and play with their back to goal. They need to be able to press, run in behind and drop short to get it into feet (and find space in the box and score goals ideally).

If our strikers keep finding themselves trying to battle with centre halves then it's probably because we're not quite executing our game plan perfectly. I don't think any of them are really in the team to do that.

 

[BoroMart]

@festa5 absolutely. he likes to get wingbacks high and at least one CB up the pitch, if you do that, you never need to play long balls to a CF. You need your CFs to move a lot though and have a decent touch and play with their heads up. I'd say all the 4 forwards do that to some degree.