Is Adam Idah actually one of our better ever strikers?

[lake district canary 4,823]

6 goals and counting, in only 8 starts and 10 sub appearances of an average of around 15 minutes a game.

That winning goal yesterday will have done him a power of good and with Sargent not ready to come back yet, he has the chance to really kick on. 

Great to see his passion and determination too.

Go Adam!

 

[Thirsty Lizard 3,215]

The answer to your question is "No, not yet, but he definitely has the potential to be". 

[Iwans Big Toe 382]

Drinkle, Deehan, Channon, Holt, Fleck, Sutton, Ashton, Pukki, Roberts, Earnshaw, Robins, Ekoku, Hunt, Gavin, Allcock, Vinall, Davies, Varco, Macdougall, Hucks. Hell even players like Ward and Jerome are ahead of him in this argument. 

He's a long way off being the worst to play for us, but equally as far from being in the company of the aforementioned. Doing a decent job for us this season and I've never been one of his detractors, let's see what happens for the rest of the year.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Iwans Big Toe

[The Real Buh 3,765]

I know you don’t like that he’s got stick but I’m afraid it is perfectly justified

When he’s started, some of his play has been, frankly, embarrassing.

Love a super-sub but that’s not really a proper and sustainable way to run a football team.

[Danke bitte 1,154]

I’m not quite sure why the extremity in thinking about Idah. He’s neither great nor terrible. He’ll probably get better over the next few seasons, as you’d expect. He’ll leave to minimum fuss and go on to do well (whatever that means) elsewhere. Whilst he’s with us long may he thrive but he’s one i’ll file under Carlton Morris. 

[Capt. Pants 5,005]

6 minutes ago, The Real Buh said:

I know you don’t like that he’s got stick but I’m afraid it is perfectly justified

When he’s started, some of his play has been, frankly, embarrassing.

Love a super-sub but that’s not really a proper and sustainable way to run a football team.

Disagree with you there. Having a quality bench and using subs in a strategic way is absolutely the way to run a football team.

It also reflects where we are in the league as I think Wagner has got more wrong than right!

[TheGunnShow 7,376]

11 minutes ago, The Real Buh said:

I know you don’t like that he’s got stick but I’m afraid it is perfectly justified

When he’s started, some of his play has been, frankly, embarrassing.

Love a super-sub but that’s not really a proper and sustainable way to run a football team.

On the contrary, the more effective weapons we have, the better - a supersub only has to be one of them. Manchester United did very well out of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but he wasn't the only attacking weapon they had.

What is unsustainable is relying on supersubs.

[The Real Buh 3,765]

26 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

On the contrary, the more effective weapons we have, the better - a supersub only has to be one of them. Manchester United did very well out of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but he wasn't the only attacking weapon they had.

What is unsustainable is relying on supersubs.

This is the point

A last minute winner isn’t something you strategise on a whiteboard.

Wagner is dog with a chemistry set, he’s got no idea what’s going on but he’s excited.

[TheGunnShow 7,376]

2 minutes ago, The Real Buh said:

This is the point

A last minute winner isn’t something you strategise on a whiteboard.

Wagner is dog with a chemistry set, he’s got no idea what’s going on but he’s excited.

The "dog with a chemistry set" made me chuckle, but don't forget that Sargent's still out, Barnes is working his way back to full match fitness, same can be said for Hanley, and Rowe's been off the boil a bit after a blistering start. And we're still not quite sure where Sainz or indeed even Nunez fit in all this.

You don't make last-minute winners part of your strategy, but you should be looking at how you can change the game from the bench. This time Wagner got a substitution to work. After we've had justifiable concerns about his Sadim touch from the bench, this time it worked to perfection so after being critical of his changes before, he deserves some credit for that one.

Said for a long time that Hernandez should be thrown on from off the bench as his brand of chaos is potentially better harnessed against tiring full-backs, and it's looking increasingly like Idah's going to be similar against tiring centre-halves. He's never going to match Sargent's work rate (although you'd hope Barnes scares the bejabbers out of him on occasion and gives him some home truths borne from experience).

I really do think we look a completely different team with Sargent and Barnes up top.

[Danke bitte 1,154]

36 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

The "dog with a chemistry set" made me chuckle, but don't forget that Sargent's still out, Barnes is working his way back to full match fitness, same can be said for Hanley, and Rowe's been off the boil a bit after a blistering start. And we're still not quite sure where Sainz or indeed even Nunez fit in all this.

You don't make last-minute winners part of your strategy, but you should be looking at how you can change the game from the bench. This time Wagner got a substitution to work. After we've had justifiable concerns about his Sadim touch from the bench, this time it worked to perfection so after being critical of his changes before, he deserves some credit for that one.

Said for a long time that Hernandez should be thrown on from off the bench as his brand of chaos is potentially better harnessed against tiring full-backs, and it's looking increasingly like Idah's going to be similar against tiring centre-halves. He's never going to match Sargent's work rate (although you'd hope Barnes scares the bejabbers out of him on occasion and gives him some home truths borne from experience).

I really do think we look a completely different team with Sargent and Barnes up top.

Bottom line is we were lacking strength in depth when the season started, I think we were all a little nervy about injuries and then they came in thick and fast. It’s also testament to a lack of Plan B so that’s why Wagner is still a no from me - we look back at Farke’s last Championship tilt and that injury fallow period and we still managed to eek out some results. 

[TheGunnShow 7,376]

5 minutes ago, Danke bitte said:

Bottom line is we were lacking strength in depth when the season started, I think we were all a little nervy about injuries and then they came in thick and fast. It’s also testament to a lack of Plan B so that’s why Wagner is still a no from me - we look back at Farke’s last Championship tilt and that injury fallow period and we still managed to eek out some results. 

Essentially agree, but Buendia was a key part of it. Farke's record with and without Buendia was quite telling too.

[cambridgeshire canary 7,797]

Hes big but not strong. Tall but can't head balls. Athletic but not fast. 

 

Hes quite the perplexing mystery. Its clear he has the attributes to be a good striker yet more often than not they just don't seem to work out, bar a good goal here or here.

 

Is he the worst striker we have ever had? No. Is he he one of the best strikers we have had? No.

[Danke bitte 1,154]

13 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Essentially agree, but Buendia was a key part of it. Farke's record with and without Buendia was quite telling too.

Pretty sure when we lost at Luton and played Stiepermann up top we were without Emi through suspension… but memory is hazy. I was trying desperately to maintain my sanity with everyone else whilst BoJo had us locked down..

[Danke bitte 1,154]

5 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Hes big but not strong. Tall but can't head balls. Athletic but not fast. 

 

Hes quite the perplexing mystery. Its clear he has the attributes to be a good striker yet more often than not they just don't seem to work out, bar a good goal here or here.

 

Is he the worst striker we have ever had? No. Is he he one of the best strikers we have had? No.

Nothing perplexing about it. He’s just average and might get a little bit better eventually but he doesn’t warrant any extreme tag. He just is.

[NewNestCarrow 290]

9 hours ago, The Real Buh said:

I know you don’t like that he’s got stick but I’m afraid it is perfectly justified

When he’s started, some of his play has been, frankly, embarrassing.

Love a super-sub but that’s not really a proper and sustainable way to run a football team.

I'd rank his performance as a striker much better than some of the posters on this forum.

[NewNestCarrow 290]

9 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

On the contrary, the more effective weapons we have, the better - a supersub only has to be one of them. Manchester United did very well out of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but he wasn't the only attacking weapon they had.

What is unsustainable is relying on supersubs.

4 goals by a supersub, with only 2 results materially affected. That's hardly being reliant. 

[hogesar 10,761]

Certainly a couple of posters (you can tell from the likes on this thread alone) who were absolutely gutted it was Idah who netted the last minute winner.

Hes been decent this season.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,215]

8 minutes ago, NewNestCarrow said:

4 goals by a supersub, with only 2 results materially affected. That's hardly being reliant. 

3 - last minute winners against Hull and Bristol City - and very late winner against Cardiff. 

[NewNestCarrow 290]

1 minute ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

3 - last minute winners against Hull and Bristol City - and very late winner against Cardiff. 

Indeed. My mishtake.

Still hardly Pukki-reliant-territory.

[NewNestCarrow 290]

6 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Certainly a couple of posters (you can tell from the likes on this thread alone) who were absolutely gutted it was Idah who netted the last minute winner.

Hes been decent this season.

I mean this hardly needs saying, but some fans just love to offer immediate & cast-iron condemnations of players abilities, as if they don't have the capacity to develop & improve.

[Robert N. LiM 6,274]

Two things about the Idah debate that get my goat:

1) people using his long contract as a reason to bash him, when it's a complete irrelevance. It makes perfect sense to tie a young player down to a long deal;: it gives us control over his future, regardless of whether he turns out to be a star or not.

2) People who quote his goals-to-games ratio without acknowledging that the vast proportion of his appearances have been off the bench.

 

Still no idea whether he'll become the player we hope he will, but he does seem to be getting better, and the potential is there. Hope we can all get behind him.