Joshua King

SlowDownDerek said:
Yeah I take a similar view with Parker's alleged sitting on narrow lead tactics. Eventually it will probably fail but you can't ignore all the times it's been successful when that happens. Neither tactic does anything for my nerves though.

Dom doesn't come across like he takes any aspect of his game for granted so I'm sure he'll be working on his pen technique regularly too.
Click to expand...
His nightmare will be the keeper that stands still, fronts him out and guesses the right way….. which I would imagine now he has done it twice most goalkeeper coaches will be advising!
 
Neil Dawson said:
His nightmare will be the keeper that stands still, fronts him out and guesses the right way….. which I would imagine now he has done it twice most goalkeeper coaches will be advising!
Click to expand...

I'm sure Matt LeTissier had a plan B for that and had a spot he could hit if the keeper didn't move by a certain point.
 
DJ said:
As I’ve already posted in depth about Wilson’s form that season recently I’ll skip over it.

In regards to King that season. There were a couple of reasons why he didn’t play as a 9 to replace Wilson. Firstly he was needed in wide positions where we were lacking options, especially options with pace.

Secondly, he was injured a lot during 2020.
Click to expand...

Yes, he was needed on the left as Fraser had mentally checked out. King was also injured lots. I remember that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ
SlowDownDerek said:
Josh played down the middle loads since 2016/17 and he was very inconsistent when he did. He also looked disinterested in 2019/20 after he didn't get his dream move to sit on Man United's bench. He was as much a waste of space as Fraser from that point on.

The unprovable plan B is always a 100% success for the Captain Hindsights on here but Josh King wasn't going to save our season no matter where he played.
Click to expand...

I think this is an argument had multiple times. I don't think King was disinterested after the United move failed. He almost immediately got injured playing for Norway and was out for a semi long stretch (5-6 weeks I think) and got injured and was out for about a month again later I recall. Hamstring issues. King also scored a few times when not injured and also had goals disallowed. He grafted though that season. The season after relegation I think he had checked out mentally but the club had also said they were going to sell him and there was that long-drawn out limbo period where neither he nor the club covered themselves in glory by all accounts...

Would we have got relegated with him as a number 9? Well it's a non question because he was injured a lot when our form really nose dived, so wasn't an option. I'm not sure King is/was a better 9 than Wilson. Can see why Eddie wanted to play them both.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: DJ
Gloria Hunter said:
I think this is an argument had multiple times. I don't think King was disinterested after the United move failed. He almost immediately got injured playing for Norway and was out for a semi long stretch (5-6 weeks I think) and got injured and was out for about a month again later I recall. Hamstring issues. King also scored a few times when not injured and also had goals disallowed. He grafted though that season. The season after relegation I think he had checked out mentally but the club had also said they were going to sell him and there was that long-draen out limbo period where neither he nor the club covered themselves in glory by all accounts...
Click to expand...

Doesn't really suggest we got relegated because he wasn't played centrally though does it?
 
SlowDownDerek said:
Doesn't really suggest we got relegated because he wasn't played centrally though does it?
Click to expand...

I agree. I don't think King as number 9 had he not been injured would have saved us. Our delivery was awful. Midfield players weren't coming forward and we were giving the ball away all the time. I think there is a lot we still don't know going on behind the scenes in our relegation season. Maybe it'll all come out one day.
 
CherryBare said:
The biggest single factor to our relegation was injuries. A fit king, wilson and danjuma would have kept us up.
Wilson had zero service that year, if we had harry kane up front he'd have struggled to score. I'm a massive fan of josh king, but I still think with wilson fit, he plays out wide.
Click to expand...

Morale as well. Possibly partly due to injuries but something was very wrong within that dressing room.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ
CherryBare said:
The biggest single factor to our relegation was injuries. A fit king, wilson and danjuma would have kept us up.
Wilson had zero service that year, if we had harry kane up front he'd have struggled to score. I'm a massive fan of josh king, but I still think with wilson fit, he plays out wide.
Click to expand...

Difficult to argue that fewer injury problems wouldn't have got us that point we needed. Still, something was seriously wrong in that dressing room - the two key periods was the series of six pointers in early 2020 that they just didn't show up for and then the pathetic return from lockdown. A team that deserved relegation unfortunately, despite the fact that Villa were even worse.
 
Last edited:
CherryBare said:
The biggest single factor to our relegation was injuries. A fit king, wilson and danjuma would have kept us up.
Wilson had zero service that year, if we had harry kane up front he'd have struggled to score. I'm a massive fan of josh king, but I still think with wilson fit, he plays out wide.
Click to expand...
That has always been my take too. Throw in Kelly and Brooks, neither played a game until restart and for me possibly the biggest loss for weeks and weks was Ake.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ
Another question is would Wilson and Kingy get booed if they play against us at the Vitality Stadium? I guess so by some but I hope the applause would be louder because I think on the whole over their time with us, they did well. Do I hope Fraser gets applause, less so because I think his attitude was pretty clear and he didn't even want to try to help keep us up.
 
Gloria Hunter said:
Another question is would Wilson and Kingy get booed if they play against us at the Vitality Stadium? I guess so by some but I hope the applause would be louder because I think on the whole over their time with us, they did well. Do I hope Fraser gets applause, less so because I think his attitude was pretty clear and he didn't even want to try to help keep us up.
Click to expand...
We clapped Surridge on to the pitch at Stoke so I’d like to think if we are using that as a yardstick Wilson and King would get 10,000 of us in the car park for their arrival!!
 
Neil Dawson said:
Back to the do pens count argument which I’m sure has a thread of its own somewhere that DJ is probably looking for to merge as we speak.

Best chalk two goals off Dom then and he is not as prolific as we think….ooh there’s a thread on that too

This is a thread merge nightmare for admin now…:grinning:
Click to expand...

So if you had a striker that scored 0 goals from open play but 15 from penalties, versus a striker that scored 15 from open play but 0 from penalties you'd treat them in the same vein or as prolific as each other?
 
Neil Dawson said:
We clapped Surridge on to the pitch at Stoke so I’d like to think if we are using that as a yardstick Wilson and King would get 10,000 of us in the car park for their arrival!!
Click to expand...
Wilson would be relieved very warmly indeed by the majority. King would not and I think we all know why.
 
Neil Dawson said:
There were many reasons for playing him on the wing in his time here…not disputing that. Also when he was central he was behind Wilson where he was stifled. His best position is playing as the lead central striker. He signed for us because Eddie promised him that’s where he’d play. When he had one consistent spell there he looked better than Wilson in my opinion and it’s proven statistically. He only ever played sporadically as the lead striker on the last man after that.

That’s also where he played when getting a hat trick in the top flight this weekend so people saying he hasn’t done it for years is completely mystifying
Click to expand...
I’m sorry but his best position most definitely was not as a central striker. He is nowhere near enough of a consistent goal threat to play in that position. His best assets were his pace and dribbling, he was by far most effective out on the wing. Even during his purple patch his conversion rate was so astronomically high that it could never be maintained. Good centre forwards have a knack of getting into goal scoring positions, he just wasn’t a natural number nine in the same way that Callum was.
 
CherryBare said:
The biggest single factor to our relegation was injuries. A fit king, wilson and danjuma would have kept us up.
Wilson had zero service that year, if we had harry kane up front he'd have struggled to score. I'm a massive fan of josh king, but I still think with wilson fit, he plays out wide.
Click to expand...

spot on, would love to see some stats about what percentage of our squad were injured that season

why everyone's getting their knickers in a twist about the wilson/king positional thing is beyond me
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;