Ollie Watkins

[paul_e]

Why would that be a punt? He played there far more he played wide for the last couple of years, he's pretty strong with his back to goal and his highlights show him getting on the ball a lot more in central areas than he has for us.

If the plan, when he signed, wasn't for him to be able to play across the front then we didn't scout him very well.

[PaulWinch again]

Well it looks like he basically has one good season in his career to date, and whilst I appreciate stats are not everything, there’s little to suggest he’s going to be a prolific goal scorer. I hope he will be, but if we’ve banked on him becoming a good centre forward I would say it’s a bit of a punt.

[TCFKAE2]

And I would be very surprised if they didn't buy Guessand with the plan of him being trained up as a centre forward.

I think Guessand could do a job there - likely same goal return as Ollie at the moment but could hold up the ball and release to midfield runners (like Strand Larson did on Sunday); worth a punt in the Europa League if there's a "dead rubber" game at the end.

[Chris Smith]

Well it looks like he basically has one good season in his career to date, and whilst I appreciate stats are not everything, there’s little to suggest he’s going to be a prolific goal scorer. I hope he will be, but if we’ve banked on him becoming a good centre forward I would say it’s a bit of a punt.

He wouldn’t be the first player to improve under Emery’s coaching.

[Mister E]

And I would be very surprised if they didn't buy Guessand with the plan of him being trained up as a centre forward.

that's the point I was going to make. I think the big problem this season has been that Sancho and the French lump have not currently delivered what was expected of them, meaning others having to play when Emery may have wanted to rest them.

[aj2k77]

If Emery managed to turn Guessand in to a decent centre forward then that would be his proof of miracles and he would need an official Sainthood.

[brontebilly]

And I would be very surprised if they didn't buy Guessand with the plan of him being trained up as a centre forward.

Yet he hasn't played a minute up front as of yet. Id say Malen has somewhat accidentally found himself the backup to Watkins. Wasn't working for him out wide and I'm not sure him leading the line will work for us against most PL teams.

[Dave]

And I would be very surprised if they didn't buy Guessand with the plan of him being trained up as a centre forward.

Yet he hasn't played a minute up front as of yet. Id say Malen has somewhat accidentally found himself the backup to Watkins. Wasn't working for him out wide and I'm not sure him leading the line will work for us against most PL teams.

I wouldn't say it's accidental. Loads of us said in the summer that Malen was going to be our striker if Watkins wasn't playing.

What with him being a striker and all. And us not owning any others.

[LeeB]

Yeah, this assumption Malen is a wide player when he's not.

[john e]

Malan is the best finisher we have at the club the moment, and has a few goals to his name
For me, he has all the credentials for a Center forward

But how many league games has he started over Watkins very few, considering Watkins has what we now believe is a a long-term injury and struggling for form up until recently he’s been trotting out every game which is obviously doing him no good whatsoever

[brontebilly]

Yeah, this assumption Malen is a wide player when he's not.

What is he then? He's not a direct replacement for Watkins anyway. Second striker perhaps and does give us that option against weaker opposition - Leeds, Burnley.

[Dave]

Yeah, this assumption Malen is a wide player when he's not.

What is he then? He's not a direct replacement for Watkins anyway. Second striker perhaps and does give us that option against weaker opposition - Leeds, Burnley.

He's a striker. The one outstanding season in his career was at PSV when he was a centre-forward with Madueke and Gakpo supporting him. He got 27 goals as a 21 year old playing mainly through the middle.

That season was enough to make Dortmund want him as their eventual Haaland replacement, but then they kept on buying more and more other potential Haaland replacements (Haller, Modeste, Adeyemi, Fullkrug, Beier, Guirassy) so he never really got to play through the middle for them and was shunted wide. And wasn't particularly good there, just like most strikers aren't great if you stick them out wide just to accommodate them in the team.

So it's not a massive surprise that he hasn't looked particularly impressive for us playing wide, but has done a perfectly capable job when asked to play centrally.

[Drummond]

Emery has said he wanted to find out exactly what Malen's best position was. I think he's good but not great. Watkins gives us far more energy and work rate, and defending from the front. Which is what Emery likes. If we can find a way to play then as complementary strikers that would be ideal, and Guessand strikes me as a back up for Malen.

We have a very narrow team and are in need of some width z we just don't have any players who are natural wingers with pace.

[Bosco81]

Malen is a good home striker, when teams sit back a bit and the likes of Rogers and McGinn can get up and support him.

He's not at his best away from home as a centre forward where he's got to hold the ball up, and wait for others to get up to him.

Wherever he is, he is a great impact sub coming in off the right.

We just don't seem to have a fully functioning centre forward at present, whether that's Watkins, Malen or Guissand, I'd find it a stretch to think Guissand is the answer, but there's got to be more to him than being a defensive right winger, so we just need to trust Unai to work his magic.

[brontebilly]

Yeah, this assumption Malen is a wide player when he's not.

What is he then? He's not a direct replacement for Watkins anyway. Second striker perhaps and does give us that option against weaker opposition - Leeds, Burnley.

So it's not a massive surprise that he hasn't looked particularly impressive for us playing wide, but has done a perfectly capable job when asked to play centrally.

My argument is he hasn't been perfectly capable up top against any reasonable defence, ignoring cannon fodder like MTA and YBB. His back to goal play is non existent, in comparison to Watkins say v Fulham and Man City. Definitely has his uses as seen granted against 2 weak PL teams in Burnley and Leeds. Let's see how it goes later but if he leads the line I expect it will be more of the same.