Opinion: Che Should Start

I have many pet hates in football but none other than when a striker who has done absolutely nothing all game but pops up in the last minute to score a tap in, gets the ‘Man of the Match’ award. Maybe it is because I play as a defender for my own football team, but I still feel that it undermines players that have worked so hard for the full 90 minutes who just haven’t been in the position or it wasn’t their job to score.

But why am I telling you this? We all love a good moan but this is not the reason. I am writing this article to express my love for Che Adams. But I would like to highlight that this does not coincide with his match winning strike last weekend. I do rate strikers on goals yes, but I would still advocate that he started most games whether he had scored the match winning goal or not last week.

As I have mentioned previously, the striking options we have at the club now is far better than it has been for a good number of seasons. Not only do we have the quantity in order to rotate, we also have players who have different abilities and therefore can be utilised in different ways. Clayton has always had a lot of pressure on him to be the main goalscorer and to be fair to him, he has thrived under that but it does mean a chance for him to be rested and play without the expectations of a city on him.

Lukas as we know is a great goalscorer especially with his headers. It is brilliant that we have brought him in albeit on a short term basis for now. He has added this aerial threat to the team and when we have Cotterill and Maghoma firing on all cylinders, the goals will come from the big man. Partner either one of these two with Adams and we will score one or more goals a game.

Adams has the pace and movement that we have been craving at the club for years. He is one of those special talents that despite being stocky, he really can move when he has to and it is a nightmare for defenders to try and track. Not to mention his superb eye for goal and all in all, we have ourselves a very tidy striker indeed. What I would advocate is that he is the main focal point rather than Donaldson. He should be in the starting 11 wherever possible as he will cause chaos with his movement whilst our other two strikers can occupy the defenders with their height and strength.

Come Saturday, I would love to see Che start and I think if he does, there is a certain possibility that we will be able to win the game.