Andreas Weimann

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Shearer doing his best to blind Ugo.

[Ron Manager]

Shearer always got his retaliation in first. As Keith Leonard used to say 'its the law of the jungle out there'. Centre forwards have to contend
with hulking physical centre halves whose aim is to stop the opposition centre forward scoring in any way they can.

Shearer could deal with this and score goals.

The Dirk Kuyt comparison is appropriate except Weimann is a goalscorer. Dirk Kuyt found that hard,

[Clampy]

Dirk Kuyt probably looked more at home out wide but otherwise yes, a very good comparison.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Weimann is one of the most determined forwards I have seen play. He doesnt give up, ever. I like that. I have a feeling next season he is going to surprise a lot of people.

[UK Redsox]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Shearer doing his best to blind Ugo.

I also remember Shearer kicking out at Bossie after he'd kicked the ball from hand

[paul_e]

Think i had forgotten how good Shearer was until i read TVs post. I think what generally gets forgotten is that, despite being seen as a geordie figurehead and toon legend, he arguably peaked at Blackburn, he had lost some of his agility and briliance by the time he went to newcastle.

As has been said on this forum re Bent also, modern strikers need more to their game than finishing alone, and it will be interesting to see whether Weiman can improve his all round game- his touch and decision making are sometimes poor.

Weimann's all round game/role in the team is fine because he's there to get at defenders and annoy them.  He's one of the hardest working forwards you'll ever see.  His touch is generally ok and that's largely confidence related so no worries with that and things like decision making, vision, etc all improve naturally with time.  He's still only 21 so he's got time on his side but his all round game is easily good enough to play wide in a 3 for a top half premier league side.

[Villafirst]

Mat Kendrick reporting in the B'ham Mail that Andi has a hip injury and will be out for about two weeks, which isn't too serious thankfully. Absolute prat the Wycombe player that 'crunched' into him with that challenge.

[DrGonzo]

  Taking stock during the break.  Of all our regular starters I have been more than a little disappointed with his start to the season.  The winner against City of course is a ray of sunshine in an other wise rather barren season for the young lad.  He has looked toothless and his finishing has been lamentable.  He drifts out of the game too much playing wide.  I think I'd rather see him through the middle whilst Benteke is out of the side and Kozak still finding his feet.  Thoughts chaps?

[eamonn]

I think he would rather play through the middle too and the longer he goes out-of-form on the wing, the more frustrated I think he'll get.
He's got a good attitude and perseverance but he should take note of Gabby and realise that there is always scope for cutting infield and getting shots away.

[Isa]

I'd certainly like to have seen him played as the main striker with Benteke out but evidently Lambert can only seem to play with a big guy up front.

[dekko]

I dont think its a coincidence that the only game this season where he has played through the middle, he scored a goal and won a free kick that we scored from.

[Damo70]

He has talent, works hard and did well in that position last season. He seems to have a bit of second season syndrome at the moment but he will be fine.

[supertom]

I think there's a place for Wiemann playing just off Kozak. It worked fairly well. I honestly think playing wide right, he looks like a square peg in a round hole. He filled in reasonably well last season but even so he had a lot of games where he was completely anonymous. His form was slipping in the last couple of months of last season.

When we're not playing 4-3-3, I'd like to see us switch to a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-2-3-1, and have Andy through the middle as the second striker behind Kojak.

Long term, if he continues being played on the right it's not going to be good for him. He could either be a potentially very good front man, or a mediocre wide man. We have options now, it's not needs must any more, so I don't understand why Andy still gets played out of position.

[eamonn]

Once Benteke is back though, how best would you accommodate Wiemann?

[Toronto Villa]

Once Benteke is back though, how best would you accommodate Wiemann?

you go back to what works and that is Gabby and Andi either side of Benteke.

Young players are going to have dips in form. We shouldn't be too harsh on any of them. He works hard and just needs a few goals to get him back on track. Gabby hasn't scored yet but isn't getting the same amount attention. Both will be better with the big man back in the side.