Wesley Moraes - signed (confirmed)

[ChicagoLion]

The Jury is still out.

Do not like the going down looking for a free kick antics either.

Not sure that he is any better than Davis.

[KRS]

It’s still early days, but would have liked him to kick on and raise his game after his goal against Everton but he hasn’t so far. I hope he comes good but he needs support and the right supply to do so. I also don’t think his role as the loan striker in this formation suits him, so Dean may need to go back to the drawing board to address issues in midfield and up front.

[brian green]

For me he is the new Rudy Gestede without Rudy's excellent temperament.  A Billy Big Bollocks I fear.

[Bren'd]

He's scored one goal which he's taken well. He wasn't at his best v West Ham but then quite a few of the team were in that category. He needs to start showing that he can cope with the physicality of the Prem and to stay on his feet. It might help him if Jack could play closer to him.   

[chrisw1]

For me he is the new Rudy Gestede without Rudy's excellent temperament.  A Billy Big Bollocks I fear.

In what way is he a Billy Big Bollocks?

I've always had my doubts about him but think you're writing him off a bit early here Brian.

[brian green]

Lack of effort and body language primarily Chris.  I hope I am wrong but strongly suspect that I am not.

[chrisw1]

Lack of effort and body language primarily Chris.  I hope I am wrong but strongly suspect that I am not.

ok, I see what you're getting at.

I think he works pretty hard, but is cutting a bit of a frustrated figure.  As said, I'm still sceptical about him but have seen enough to give me some hope he'll come good.  I still think it was a really strange transfer for us to make though.  It's all very well gambling when you are looking to supplement a strong established squad, but betting the house on him when we had such a thin squad seemed an odd move to me.

[AsTallAsLions]

His body language and his antics under pressure have been appalling as far as I'm concerned. I appreciate it's never easy to lead the line by yourself and it's twice as difficult being brought into the richest league in the world as a promoted club's record signing, but he's failing the minimum requirements of the role at present:

Stay strong, receive the ball with back to goal, hold it up, bring teammates into the game. Goals are nice but tbh they're a bit of an added bonus from him given the way we're set up to play, I'd say his target is somewhere around 10 as opposed to the 20s.

He did well at the above criteria in the Everton game. But that's 1 game out of 5. He's cut a miserable figure in the rest, and he's not being asked to bang in hat-tricks. If you can't stay on your feet under slight pressure from your defender in this league, you'll get eaten for breakfast every time. Defenders must love him, knowing the refs will never blow for those.

[The Edge]

I thought he worked his nuts off against West Ham. He just isn't getting the ball in areas where he can be a goal threat. He was coming deep looking for the ball far too often for my liking. He was unlucky with the cross from Grealish the other night. He was too keen to attack the ball and got there a gnats cock too soon which meant the ball was fractionally behind him. But i'm not gonna knock him for that. I think we have a top player on our hands here and a few tweaks in the way we get the ball to him will eventually see him rattling the net on quite a regular basis. We're building a new team while playing against some top clubs. It will take time and i'm still massively confident we about the future down in good old B6.

[paul_e]

I have no issue with him coming deeper but it has to be something we've worked on and coincide with the wingers running in behind him  because it forces defenders to make decisions, as a centre back you either come out with him or you let him take a touch and bring other players into the game. As  defensive midfielder you either stick with the 8 who's looking to break into the box or you challenge the 9 who's moved into your 'area'. As a full back you either follow your winger and expect the guy in front of you to cover the opposition full back or you hold your position and ask the centre back to pick him up.

Watch Liverpool play, this is pretty much their entire attacking strategy and it works because sometimes the decisions made by the defenders don't work together and you create gaps, do that 3-4 times in a game and there are your chances to win it, without you having done anything particularly difficult.

[Oscar Arce]

I've watched Wesley very carefully in all the games he's played, his main problem is he just doesn't get anywhere near the box anywhere enough.
His general ball retention is not up to scratch (aside from one game) and he always wants to fall down if he gets any sort of a challenge.
He needs people to join him quicker, which isn't happening.
When crosses come in to the box he needs to be quicker and sharper, and needs to get in front of and across defenders, which hasn't happened very often.
He also seems languid in his style, I know he's a big man but he needs to move quicker once he's laid the ball off, he's often watching play once that happens.
Also his closing down from the front is non-existant, watch how many times other players are buzzing around whilst he is allowing defenders to progress with the ball.
All in all, of course the Jury's out and I hope I'm wrong, but I've seen centre forwards from Brian Greenhalgh, John Woodward and John Inglis onwards (and they were pretty dire, trust me) and he doesn't cut the mustard so far I'm afraid.

[levico]

Might be quite effective in the Championship (which is where we may be if we don’t sign new strikers in January). I think it’s safe to say that he’ll never score 20 PL goals in a season for us or any other club.

[PeterWithesShin]

Beneteke scored twice in his first dozen or so league games for us, Wesley may not make it but it's a bit early to be writing him off imo.

[danno]

Might be quite effective in the Championship (which is where we may be if we don’t sign new strikers in January). I think it’s safe to say that he’ll never score 20 PL goals in a season for us or any other club.

Is he meant to though?  I mean did Dion or Carew or Yorke or Benteke or Atkinson?
How many strikers even score 20 PL goals a season?  Kane Aguero Salah um...Vardy?

We play 4-3-3 so is Wesley meant to get most of our goals or are the wide forwards supposed to weigh in with their fare share too?  I can't see Liverpool giving Mane and Salah a free pass for not scoring in five games because Firmino is the number nine.

He's had five games, whether we're not creating enough for him, or whether he's not doing enough to get those chances is up for debate. It's probably both.

I expect him to get about ten goals this season, I'm crossing all fingers and toes that one of El Ghazi Trezegeut Jota Kodja. starts to weigh in with goals too, otherwise the 4-3-3 is a waste of time and we should play with two orthodox strikers instead.

Long post but my point is that El Ghazi has also only scored one, but isn't getting anywhere near as much criticism. We play with three forwards, it seems overly harsh to only castigate one for not scoring.   

[martyn ellis]

My own view is that he is skilful in tight situations, he holds the ball up well and he lays it off well. I also think he anticipates well (see goal against Everton and a cross from the left on Monday night when he moved in front of all the defenders and narrowly missed contact with the ball. And to anyone who thinks he's lazy, I just don't see it. On Monday he spent a lot of time closing down, harrying and generally making a nuisance of himself. If he'd scored that crashing header from Jack's cross on Monday, that would complete my assessment - just needs to improve in that department, but I think he'll get there.