THE Matt Harrold thread

[mattytheshrimper]

i dont! what did she promise?

a bj to everyone on here if he bangs in a good few goals this season. :p

 

[Southend_Lady]

a bj to everyone on here if he bangs in a good few goals this season. :p

I did indeed, I said that if Matt Harrold has a good season then I will give everyone in the ground a bj - considering that would be quite a task I would not go offering it around if there was any likliness of having to actually carry it out!! I am quietly confident......:D

 

[Southend_Lady]

Blimey a few goals against Witham and people think Harold's a good player all of a sudden.

Spot on there - a few goals against some pretty dire opposition and everyone's getting the promotion decorations ready.

Yes its great that our strikers are scoring and gaining a bit of confidence, but surely, its an absolute given that they are going to score against such teams?

Lets face it, had they had failed to produce in the friendlies already played then there would be absolute uproar right now and everyone would be panicking about how this shower of sh!te is poosibly going to do anything for us next season. As it stands they have all knocked away a few goals and a decent amount between them, but I am not in anyway going to carried away right now. Until I see them knocking goals past the likes of Swansea, Notts Forest and Leeds etc, I wont be getting too excited.

 

[sufcintheprem]

Blimey a few goals against Witham and people think Harold's a good player all of a sudden.

This is how I feel.

Friendlies mean nothing in my eyes other than an indication of how new players might fit in to the team. It's nice to win them but I don't think anything of the result or the performance really.

All that said, I don't think Harrold was really good enough for the Championship but nor did he get a particularly good chance. Undoubtedly, he will do better in League One but it remains to be seen if he is clinical enough to show his worth as a regular goalscorer.

Still, I'll back him as I always have done. Same goes for Paynter and Foran.

 

[The General]

This is how I feel.

Friendlies mean nothing in my eyes other than an indication of how new players might fit in to the team. It's nice to win them but I don't think anything of the result or the performance really.

All that said, I don't think Harrold was really good enough for the Championship but nor did he get a particularly good chance. Undoubtedly, he will do better in League One but it remains to be seen if he is clinical enough to show his worth as a regular goalscorer.

Still, I'll back him as I always have done. Same goes for Paynter and Foran.

Oh sorry how many games have you been to!?

:guns: :flamer:

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

He is also a really nice bloke, who is desperate to do well for this club!

 

[Kris]

Obviously we shouldn't get over excited by Harrold's pre-season performances but at the same time five goals in one and a half matches - and various types of goals too - is pretty damn impressive. At the very least it's shut up all the moaners who supposedly wouldn't have him in their pub team. In particular, I notice Ashingdon Shrimper has been quiet recently...

 

[steveo]

Needless to say I'm not one of his biggest fans

This is just an example of the comments directed at Harrold but how many of our current others strikers did any better last season?

Hooper - Absolutely nothing

Paynter - lost the crowd from that first hopeful shot/cross/punt from the halfway line and never recovered.

Foran - Was absolutely hopeless- unable to get a shot on target.

Bradbury - Did he ever cause a defender a problem?

Not sure why Harrold is being singled out for so much debate and when you get comments like "Blimey a few goals against Witham and people think Harold's a good player all of a sudden", well the bloke can only score against the team he is playing. Blimey, what would it be like if he didnt score?

 

[Benji91]

Maybe he is scoring loads of goals against Witham, Wakering and Canvey because he has found his level. Personally i think he is no more than a conference striker. At L1 and Championship level he wont succeed because his movement off the ball is awful, and doesnt do enough in the air to warrant inclusion as a target man. He is far too easy for a good defender to defend against, he wont win much in the air, he hasnt got the pace to get in behind, and if you dont have one of those two at this level youll struggle. You cant even say he's a predetor in the box.

Seems a nice guy, and maybe in time he'll develop into a good L1 player, but for now, he's not the starting striker we need.

 

[JoshC]

Maybe he is scoring loads of goals against Witham, Wakering and Canvey because he has found his level. Personally i think he is no more than a conference striker. At L1 and Championship level he wont succeed because his movement off the ball is awful, and doesnt do enough in the air to warrant inclusion as a target man. He is far too easy for a good defender to defend against, he wont win much in the air, he hasnt got the pace to get in behind, and if you dont have one of those two at this level youll struggle. You cant even say he's a predetor in the box.

Seems a nice guy, and maybe in time he'll develop into a good L1 player, but for now, he's not the starting striker we need.

if scoring goals means that he has found his level then what does that say for the other strikers? are they not good enough for conference level? the championship was too high for him at his age but he is capable of goals in league which is proven and why not let him get older and see what happens.

 

[steveo]

if scoring goals means that he has found his level then what does that say for the other strikers?

Spot on. If Harrold is Conference where does that put Paynter?

 

[Kris]

Maybe he is scoring loads of goals against Witham, Wakering and Canvey because he has found his level. Personally i think he is no more than a conference striker. At L1 and Championship level he wont succeed because his movement off the ball is awful, and doesnt do enough in the air to warrant inclusion as a target man. He is far too easy for a good defender to defend against, he wont win much in the air, he hasnt got the pace to get in behind, and if you dont have one of those two at this level youll struggle. You cant even say he's a predetor in the box.

Seems a nice guy, and maybe in time he'll develop into a good L1 player, but for now, he's not the starting striker we need.

Two more goals tonight. Looks like his level is rising. ;)

 

[Benji91]

Two more goals tonight. Looks like his level is rising. ;)

Okay, we'll say l2/conference...

I still stand by what i say. he gets more service as we play the weaker teams. The sign of a good striker is to make the chances on his own. To quote Southend Lady, when he starts banging in the goals against the stronger teams in L1 ill start to sit up and take notice.

 

[Benji91]

Spot on. If Harrold is Conference where does that put Paynter?

In my personal opinion, id rate paynter above harrold. He has proved he can score at this this level with port vale, and if you watch him he has a better footballing brain than harrold. I'd be very happy to be proved wrong, but one swallow doesnt make a summer, paynter has scored the goals at this level, harrold hasnt.

If they both bang in 30 i'd be very happy

 

[Pubey]

In my personal opinion, id rate paynter above harrold. He has proved he can score at this this level with port vale, and if you watch him he has a better footballing brain than harrold. I'd be very happy to be proved wrong, but one swallow doesnt make a summer, paynter has scored the goals at this level, harrold hasnt.

If they both bang in 30 i'd be very happy

agreed.. paynter is much more proven and has a much more rounded game. harrolds weakness is his link-up play and footballing brain IMO

 

[steveo]

if you watch him he has a better footballing brain than harrold.

He has? I dodnt spot it when he played for us but hopefully he has come back as a far better player. Would be good to get two good strikers without splashing all the Freddy money

 

[mattytheshrimper]

Two more goals tonight. Looks like his level is rising. ;)

doesn't at all actually. he had a crap game missing hat full of chances, scored a pen and header on the goal line

 

[JoshC]

To quote Southend Lady, when he starts banging in the goals against the stronger teams in L1 ill start to sit up and take notice.

he scored 9 goals in a season for a struggling yeovil when he was alot younger, give the guy a chance to fail at this level before getting on his back. we have 7 forwards:
Harrold 7
Paynter 2
Bradders 3
Mac 1
Hoops 1
Foran 0
Ademeno 0
some figures may be wrong but what there shows that we souldn't start with harrold?:flamer:

 

[Benji91]

if scoring goals means that he has found his level then what does that say for the other strikers? are they not good enough for conference level? the championship was too high for him at his age but he is capable of goals in league which is proven and why not let him get older and see what happens.

At this stage of the season it means nothing - everyone is finding their feet. He is obviously in form, but as i say chances are more against weaker oppo. Think of it this way, crouch scored a hat trick against jamaica... does that mean if we had rooney and owen fit id play crouch and one of those 2 against brazil in a world cup final.... no way.

im not saying paynter, bradbury, hooper, foran, macdonald are in the same bracket as rooney and owen, but in my personal opinion i know id prefer a couple of those up front ahead of harrold.

im not going to go out and boo the guy, i just dont think he is ready just yet....

 

[Benji91]

he scored 9 goals in a season for a struggling yeovil when he was alot younger, give the guy a chance to fail at this level before getting on his back. we have 7 forwards:
Harrold 7
Paynter 2
Bradders 3
Mac 1
Hoops 1
Foran 0
Ademeno 0
some figures may be wrong but what there shows that we souldn't start with harrold?:flamer:

Im not on the guys back at all - football is all about personal opinions, and in mine, we have better options up front - as i said, id love it if he scores 30 this season and proves me and others wrong