by Snowflake Royal »
07 Jan 2019 23:22
biff True. Then he's perfect for 1 up front, some very good link up play to bring in wingers. But we have donkeys on the wing that wont get anywhere near him to help. Lumping to Meite is a mugs game, he's a proper clodhopper in comparison, no nuance to his game.
Loader is too inexperienced, too small and too shot shy to be a good option to lead the line on his own in a relegation battle at this point in time.
Just as a quick comparison (and this is in no way saying he's rubbish, not good enough, or not worth giving game time), here's his shooting record compared to our other strikers
Shots per game
Meite - 2.9
Baldock - 1.3
Bodvarsson - 1.3
Loader - 1.2
McNulty - 0.8
Shots on target per game
Meite 1.2
Bodvarsson - 0.8
Baldock - 0.6
Loader - 0.4
McNulty - 0.3
% on target
Bodvarsson - 62%
Baldock - 46%
Meite - 41%
McNulty - 38%
Loader - 33%
Goals per game
Bodvarsson - 0.9
Meite - 0.3
Baldock - 0.3
McNulty - 0.2
Loader - 0
On top of that, he's dispossessed marginally less than Meite, but more than the others. His first touch is better than their's with the exception of McNulty who is marginally better. I mean, really we need better than any of them, given Bod is a perma crock who had a purple patch and Meite is a bit of a raw lump who had a purple patch. But I'd go with Bod or Meite over Loader to lead the line in a heartbeat, and I'd have more confidence in McNulty or Baldock scoring too.
And we need goals. Loader isn't bringing them.
He needs to be around the squad and pick up games here and there, but we don't want to put too much pressure on and we certainly don't want to put a monkey on his back about scoring by risking him going on a long barren spell in a losing team whilst asking him to carry the weight of goalscoring duty.