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Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]I expect he played so many premier league and international games to keep the crowd amused.[/quote] I''m not going to second guess the reasons why he played so many games in the prem or for England even when his form and performances were dire, but for me a striker needs to score goals, obviously contributing to them for a strike partner or other teammates is valuable, but the key factor is whether or not you can score when given the chance and Heskey repeatedly failed to do so when called upon.League Goals:96/97 - 10 goals - good return in an average Leicester side97/98 - As above98/99 - 6 goals - poor return99/00 - 10 goals - good return in an average Leicester side00/01 - 14 goals - good return01/02 - 9 goals - decent return but should have been higher with the team he was in02/03 - 6 goals - poor return03/04 - 7 goals - poor return04/05 - 10 goals - decent return05/06 - 4 goals - shocking return06/07 - 9 goals - decent return07/08 - 4 goals - shocking return08/09 - 5 goals - poor return09/10 - 3 goals - terrible return10/11 - 3 goals - poor return11/12 - 1 goal - deplorable return (and from 28 games as well!!!)As you can see, early doors he was pretty decent, but that was when he was driving at defenders and using his strength to great effect, as soon as he was ''developed'' into more of a target man his goal returns started to dry up and despite his strength he often seemed to fall over from minimal contact.Take his last 5 years in the prem, and the returns are horrible - 16 goals in 140 games, a 1 in 8.75 goal to game ratio, so at best that would equal 4 goals over a full league season and in no way it that a premiership quality level of return and I''d expect every single one of our strikers to comfortably beat this, and look technically better on the pitch whilst doing it.He may well be good at bringing a ball down or getting decent flicks on for a strike partner, but when HE''S the one with the chance, a seagull has more chance of bulging than the back of the net!

[quote]Are you a category one poster[:^)][/quote]I have no idea what you''re on about, so I can''t answer that one.

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[quote user="Norfolk Mustard"]So we could have Heskey & Owen up front then?!...[/quote]I''d rather have a bag of Levesons Potting Compost and a Traffic Cone up front.

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[quote user="Indy_Bones"][quote user="nutty nigel"]I expect he played so many premier league and international games to keep the crowd amused.[/quote] 
I''m not going to second guess the reasons why he played so many games in the prem or for England even when his form and performances were dire, but for me a striker needs to score goals, obviously contributing to them for a strike partner or other teammates is valuable, but the key factor is whether or not you can score when given the chance and Heskey repeatedly failed to do so when called upon.

League Goals:

96/97 - 10 goals - good return in an average Leicester side
97/98 - As above
98/99 - 6 goals - poor return
99/00 - 10 goals - good return in an average Leicester side
00/01 - 14 goals - good return
01/02 - 9 goals - decent return but should have been higher with the team he was in
02/03 - 6 goals - poor return
03/04 - 7 goals - poor return
04/05 - 10 goals - decent return
05/06 - 4 goals - shocking return
06/07 - 9 goals - decent return
07/08 - 4 goals - shocking return
08/09 - 5 goals - poor return
09/10 - 3 goals - terrible return
10/11 - 3 goals - poor return
11/12 - 1 goal - deplorable return (and from 28 games as well!!!)

As you can see, early doors he was pretty decent, but that was when he was driving at defenders and using his strength to great effect, as soon as he was ''developed'' into more of a target man his goal returns started to dry up and despite his strength he often seemed to fall over from minimal contact.

Take his last 5 years in the prem, and the returns are horrible - 16 goals in 140 games, a 1 in 8.75 goal to game ratio, so at best that would equal 4 goals over a full league season and in no way it that a premiership quality level of return and I''d expect every single one of our strikers to comfortably beat this, and look technically better on the pitch whilst doing it.

He may well be good at bringing a ball down or getting decent flicks on for a strike partner, but when HE''S the one with the chance, a seagull has more chance of bulging than the back of the net!

[quote]Are you a category one poster[:^)][/quote]
I have no idea what you''re on about, so I can''t answer that one.

[/quote]

 

A category one poster is one who''s opinion is valuable enough to close discussion. I think the original ones were Korean.

 

Little over three years ago, in the middle of that horrible period of Heskey''s career, Martin O''Neill paid 3.5 million for him. But I doubt O''Neill could ever make category one on the Pink Un.

 

I judge each player on their contribution to the team and the team on points won, goals scored and goals conceded. In that order. The order which determines league positions. The simplistic view that a forward should be judged on goals scored and a goalkeeper judged on goals conceded just doesn''t make sense to me. I have often seen a forward get MOM without scoring and a ''keeper getting MOM after conceding 4 or 5.

 

 

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[quote user="Morisons Prozac"]I kind of want him but at the same time I don''t[/quote]If it helps, I feel the same about the fat one from Little Mix.

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Ask most strikers that have played with Heskey and they all say what a great player he is to play alongside.

As LDC said, in terms of contribution to the team Heskey has been very good over the years. His job has been to put the ball on a plate for other players and they love him for it.

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[quote user="Bury Yellow"]Indy dear boy,you were wather howwible about CMS too. You do have stwident views don''t you. Not at all attwactive[/quote]I would suggest that ''Strident'' is a tad strong, and I''d err more towards ''Firmly vocal with reasoned justification''.

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some of you are seriously deluded, he is an atrocious player with about as much pace as a slug.

Its alright banging on about what he has done in the past but he''s 34 now, he would offer us about as much as peter thorn with one leg.

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[quote user="Howson is now"]His job has been to put the ball on a plate for other players and they love him for it.[/quote]Of course they do because he makes them look good!ANY

good striker wants decent supply, so having a guy alongside you who

usually does nothing more than bring balls down or flick them on is an

attractive proposition for a strike partner, but the problem lies in the

situations where the strike partner ISN''T there to flick onto, or where

the situation is such that taking the shot yourself is the much better

proposition, and this is where Heskey comes up badly short.Of

course it''s not as simple as saying the guy who scores the most is the

best striker, or the keeper who keeps more clean sheets is the best, but

in general there are attributes and requirements for every position

that are key factors in assessing a players ability. You

wouldn''t say a keeper was world class simply because they could pass the

ball well along the floor when necessary, nor if they were highly adept

at taking free kicks a''la Chilavert, instead you judge them on things

such as how good they are at shot stopping, dealing with balls in the

air, handling 1v1 situations and communicating with their defenders.Similarly,

you don''t describe a striker as world class based on them just being

good at flicks and knock downs, you want to know that when they get a

chance that they''ll put it in the back of the net, that defenders will

struggle to handle them either through skill, pace or strength and that

even when the pressure is highest - they''ll come through.Heskey

has confidence problems, can''t finish for toffee these days and doesn''t

give an opposing defender any sense of fear or caution in dealing with

him. I''d much rather use Moro if we want a target man, as at least he

can finish, has more pace and aerial ability than Heskey and doesn''t

fall over if the defender breathes near him (despite Heskey being built

like a WW2 tank).Anyway, that''s me done on the topic, I don''t

rate the guy as a footballer and in this situation that''s all I''m

bothered about, as him being a ''nice guy'' doesn''t help us when we need

someone to make an impact on the pitch (and I don''t mean by him toppling

to the floor either).

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Maybe Heskey''s not a striker at all. Maybe he''s a forward. Or are they one and the same thing?

 

I personally don''t think all forwards are strikers...

 

 

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Totally agree Indy. Was just trying to back up what some people had said about his contribution.

I don''t want him here, I''ve lost track of the amount of times I''ve said "Heskey never scores" in my life.

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[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Norfolk Mustard"]So we could have Heskey & Owen up front then?!...[/quote]

I''d rather have a bag of Levesons Potting Compost and a Traffic Cone up front.
[/quote]

I wasn''t advocating Heskey & Owen was in any way desirable!...

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I''m not going to bother digging it up, but I remember last season when we played Villa how people were raving about Heskey, saying he was the best player on the pitch, no wonder he has been a regular in the premiership for so many years even though he doesn''t score much etc etc.

I would be pleased to have him here.

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Funny, I saw him score a good goal against Brazil in a World Cup Quarter Final Match against Brazil.

But then again Danny Mills played in that match too.

OTBC

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[quote user="Howson is now"]Totally agree Indy. Was just trying to back up what some people had said about his contribution.

I don''t want him here, I''ve lost track of the amount of times I''ve said "Heskey never scores" in my life.[/quote]I think the point of view some have is (and I have up to a point), Heskey isn''t necessarily a scorer but a provider. I remember some years back I worked with this chef who was a Wolves supporter who used to rave about Steve Bull. I know Steve Bull used to score bucket loads, but this chef used to say the number of goals he used to create was enormous too.  Simply by holding up balls laying them off. And running into space taking defenders with him to create gaps. I think this is the type of play that Heskey has been good at. And why he was rated as a top forward.

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If he is fit, and the wages can fit into our guidlines, i would have him here in a heartbeat.

Forget about his scoring record, thats not where his strength is.

He creates chances for others by the truck load.

He is a good player, and could be perfect for the likes of holt and morro to play alongside.

And its not like we are bubbeling over with strikers as it is anyway.

Like someone mentioned, he could do a Dion Dublin for us.

Sign him up i say !

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[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]Funny, I saw him score a good goal against Brazil in a World Cup Quarter Final Match against Brazil.[/quote]Under those circumstances, I''d have been astounded if he''d scored a good goal against anyone else.

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He can be Wilbraham Mk.2 :)

Why not get him TBH to be a good team you always need options in attack and I think he would be a good contributor to the team when called upon

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[quote user="chris_sabian"]I''m not going to bother digging it up, but I remember last season when we played Villa how people were raving about Heskey, saying he was the best player on the pitch, no wonder he has been a regular in the premiership for so many years even though he doesn''t score much etc etc.

I would be pleased to have him here.[/quote]

Agbonlahor was the best player on the pitch.

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Haven''t read all the posts on this thread but am guessing the reaction to the rumour hasn''t gone down well.

I think we will struggle for goals this season. A lot is depending on what Harry Kane can do because the strikers we have here now won''t score many, in my opinion.

So why bring Heskey in? A striker that never scores. If we sign him it will be a joke. He''s looking for a last pay day, we are not a charity, we literally don''t need him. Wasn''t he in talks with several Championship clubs last month? Why have we entered the fray?

Please don''t sign him, Chris.

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[quote user="whoareyou"]His lack of goalscoring is a bit of a myth. He is in the top 20 all time Premier League goalscorers.[/quote]It''s not a myth at all, it''s simply that he''s played in the prem for close to 15 years and even an average return over that length of time can put you up there.111 goals in the Prem over 15 years equates to 7.4 goals per season, but the majority of those goals were scored in the early stages of his career at Leicester and Liverpool which is 8 years ago, and since then he''s struggled to get anywhere close to strong returns. I posted the actual stats up earlier in the thread if you want to check it yourself.16 goals in the last 5 seasons tells me all I need to know about Heskey as an option NOW, not 8 or 12 years ago, but NOW, and NOW he simply isn''t good enough.

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[quote user="Indy_Bones"][quote user="whoareyou"]His lack of goalscoring is a bit of a myth.

He is in the top 20 all time Premier League goalscorers.[/quote]
It''s not a myth at all, it''s simply that he''s played in the prem for close to 15 years and even an average return over that length of time can put you up there.

111 goals in the Prem over 15 years equates to 7.4 goals per season, but the majority of those goals were scored in the early stages of his career at Leicester and Liverpool which is 8 years ago, and since then he''s struggled to get anywhere close to strong returns. I posted the actual stats up earlier in the thread if you want to check it yourself.

16 goals in the last 5 seasons tells me all I need to know about Heskey as an option NOW, not 8 or 12 years ago, but NOW, and NOW he simply isn''t good enough.
[/quote]

 

 

Have to agree,  Heskey is not a player we would want.  He was effective as a support striker in the past - but surely past his best now anyway.  

 

 

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