Donaldson Vs Graham

Today, we face a very lively Blackburn side that will be looking to get back to winning ways after a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of their bitter rivals Burnley last weekend. They drew a blank that day and will be hoping that their attack can produce the goods on what will surely be a cold day in Lancashire.

So lets see how the two teams strikers compare. On one hand we have Danny Graham and on the other, our very own, Clayton Donaldson. In Graham’s 7 appearances so far this season, he has 2 goals, so one every 4 games on average roughly. Clayton has 7 goals in 29 league appearances so far this season. This is also about 1 in every 4 games and so the two are fairly evenly matched but with Donaldson scoring on a more consistent basis as he has done it for a longer period of time.

I must say, in terms of a comparison, these two are as similar as you get. They both look as though they’re lucky; that they end up just getting on the end of things by chance. However, luck is made due to runs and clever positioning. Both these players read the game so well and are able to anticipate what others around them are going to do even before there are any triggers. Both have this almost natural gift in order to do that and therefore are very hard to mark. They get tap ins quite a lot but this is made by themselves and not just merely being in the right place by a miracle.

Graham and Donaldson also both like to hold the ball up and allow for runners to sweep through the middle and beyond the striker. In my opinion, I believe that Birmingham City will exploit this tactic better mainly due to the presence of Jon Toral. His partnership with Donaldson means that he is now in tune with what the striker is going to do and therefore is able to link up play. With Blackburn, Graham is a new addition and therefore hasn’t forged such relationship with his other attackers. Therefore, we have the advantage coming into the game.