Am I the only one who thinks he's been a bit crap since the restart?
Obviously he's had an amazing first season in the first team but yeah underwhelmed by his performances over the last few games
165 minutes, 8 shots, 2 on target, 2 key passes, 69 passes attempted at 93% (!) accuracy.
He's not pulled up any trees, but those are solid numbers. With a bit of luck he could have easily got a couple of goals. In 165 minutes of football, that wouldn't represent a bad return. There's still time left in the season to shift the average back the other way.
Looking at his ridiculous passing accuracy for an inside forward, I'm going to guess that his coaches are telling him to keep possession whenever he can and only shoot when space in the box opens up. I think the priority is not to take too many risks that won't result in his team earning a corner or the opposition being forced into a block. Some of his touches and dribbles have been incredible in their own right, too.
Yup agree. His maturity and game intelligence is what sets him apart from the likes of your Chongs/James.
Forget his youth games where he had pace, power and skill. He hasn't been able to showcase most of that because the men's pro game is a completely different level playing field.
As such, it's good to see that he isn't trying to take on players, or be (overly) greedy and is comfortable listening to instructions. It's wise because he would lose the ball more often than not and he wouldn't be effective.
Currently as it stands, his one elite attribute (in relation to the men's game) is his ability to find space in the penalty box and his shooting accuracy/technique. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have the chances (to be playing at 9), physique or is getting the focus of our playing style to get anywhere near there.
So in reality, he's a player on the pitch with a developing body with no discernible athletic advantage playing 20-50 yards away from goal.
I don't think our lack of attacking patterns helps him (or anyone in the squad to be fair) but he's doing as 'well' as you can hope for.