sussex_guy2k2
Well-known member
- Jun 6, 2014
- 3,941
No, it's what you're seeing. Most people disagree. Staristics disagree. I disagree. To say he's no better than O'Grady or League One standard is an absolute disgrace and the biggest misjudgment of character I've seen on here for a long time. You're now comparing him to Baldock, another completely different type of player. Make your mind up FFS!
I think therein lies the problem for most people. They don't know what he brings to the team. With Baldock, whether you think he is as good as Hemed or not (and it is totally subjective), he brings specific qualities to the team i.e. pace in behind, flair, movement. With O'Grady, whether you think he's worse than Hemed or not (and again, it is totally subjective), he brought specific qualities to the team i.e. an ability in the air which I'm yet to see from Hemed, good link up play and an excellent first touch that meant our other attackers could look for him and knew the ball would stick. Whether you think CMS is/was as good as Hemed or not (and again, it is totally subjective), he brought specific qualities to the team i.e. pace and movement. All three undoubtedly have weaknesses, but all three also have those strengths which can be integrated into a team.
Compare that to Hemed and I'm still not sure what he brings to the side now that the goals have dried up. He works hard(ish) but I think the other 3 worked as hard as he does currently. His hold up play is not very good, he doesn't ever appear to win much in the air, he lacks mobility, he lacks flair, he lacks pace, and if you watch his movement, it is basically non-existent (and I have watched the guy very closely in games because I really am trying so hard to like him, but these are things I've seen with my own eyes and they're not generally positives).
Which then brings us back to the statistics which you're using to back up your argument - he's bagged just a tad better than 1 in 4 (that's including penalties - and his strike rate is getting worse as the season progresses). That just isn't enough to hold him up as a potential striking solution for us at the moment (nor do the other 3 aforementioned strikers have a good strike rate over the last two years when playing for us, albeit Baldock played a large portion of that wide left). So the question then becomes, if his strike rate isn't that great (albeit it is slightly better than the other players'), does he bring enough to the team outside of the few goals he gets to justify his inclusion? Whether you like it or not, it's a reasonable question to ask and I can see exactly why a lot of people think he doesn't justify his position at the moment. I can also see why people are comparing him to those three (very different) players - they're simply unsure what he brings to the team now that the goals have dried up.
As I said in my previous post, it may be a confidence issue with him. Maybe he'll go on a little run and all of a sudden he'll become a much more rounded, effective player and it'll be obvious where he fits in, but at the moment it simply isn't obvious. Maybe Hughton needs to work on building his confidence back up, maybe he needs to rejig the team to create better chances for him or to play to (whatever) his strengths (are). But at the moment, it simply isn't working with him up top and the last few home games (and games on TV) we've looked like we're playing with 10 men because he just isn't adding anything to the side. Hopefully Hughton will have solutions up his sleeve to either Hemed's confidence or his goal issue.