Asamoah Gyan and the Loan Striker State


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Steve Bruce has talked up the performances of Asamoah Gyan and, in particular, his adaptability to the role of solitary striker.

He makes it sound almost like something we’d planned all along.

Bruce told the official club site Gyan – not, incidentally, the same Asamoah mentioned in reports about interest from Manchester City (that’s the Udinese player Kwadwo Asamoah) – was “ideally suited” to the way he is currently being played:

“I think he enjoys it because he’s played there all his life – with his national team, with Rennes and with Udinese before that. He’s not unaccustomed to it and I believe he’s played very, very well.”

First of all, hats off to Asamoah, who has scored 10 goals and set up a few for teammates.

But the absences of Danny Welbeck and Fraizer Campbell with injuries mean that the abrupt loss of Darren Bent – good business though it was – has left us in a pickle.

Yes, playing Stéphane Sessegnon or Kieran Richardson in a more forward role might well start to work.

But these are surely emergency measures. What happens in the event, hardly beyond imagination, of Gyan being hurt or suspended? We play with no recognised striker?

We just hope it does not take a demoralising slide down the table to get the club to accept what many supporters believe to be, beyond reasonable doubt, the case: that it was an extraordinary gamble to allow the transfer window to shut without bringing in an attacker.



Monsieur Salut

5 thoughts on “Asamoah Gyan and the Loan Striker State”

  1. Talking of Warhurst’s dual roles , didn’t we sometimes times use Dave Watson, who was a fanatstic centre half ,as a more than useful striker? Also Rod Belfitt….who wasn’t nowhere near as good as Watson in either position.

  2. Should not have sold Bent. Completely weakened the side and wrecked another promising season.

    What is it with Sunderland and going into freefall in february as well?

  3. Step forward Ryan Noble …. your time may be now!
    It might be good idea to give the kid a start against Arsenal alongside Gyan and play him for an hour or so, so he can get some experience under his belt for when the inevitable does happen and our last remaining striker gets hurt. I am old enough to remember when we blooded Rowell, Arnott and Elliot and almost avoided the drop. Actually now that I think of it I am old enough to recall a young Bobby Kerr being given his chance and taking it very well. Sometimes youngsters can make an impact because they play without fear..which is no bad thing.

  4. Great appraisal of Warhurst, BB

    But I have to say that I never expected to see these words written in this order:

    Surely keeping Healy would have been a sensible move

  5. It’s a complete nonsense Salut. Even a striker who is a complete plank is better to have than a midfield player who is playing completely out of position. The Richardson role has worked in part because of the element of suprise for the opposition although Richardson has chipped in with many more goals than we might have expected. It can, or should only be a temporary measure. The problem arises when the manager asks a player (or the player in question starts to try and think like a forward). The best part of 29 years ago, the very versatile Paul Warhurst was asked to play as a striker in an emergency for Sheff Wed. Warhurst had played as a centre back and in midfield. He took to the task of leading the attack with such alacrity that he was rewarded with an England call up as a striker. He did exceptionally well when assuming the role as a makeshift forward but when he appeared to be taking it as a serious position change the goals stopped coming. His short lived success was largely as a result of NOT doing what a striker typically would do. His runs would be early or later than they should have been. He woulk take up different positions for corners and would shoot when he was expected to pass etc. It was all about the element of surprise. We don’t appear to have a Warhurst type player and it chills the blood to think that something might cause us to lose Gyan. It’s a completely ridiculous and unnecessary situation. Surely keeping Healy would have been a sensible move.

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