Lyle Foster

[ClaretPete001]

How did you know he doesn't fit in with Parker' style of play ? The bugger is always injured.

Because I've watched the games where he played like Preston and I think he won a single challenge with his back to goal and we created a good chance. Other than that defenders bested him every time.

My memory is faulty but I've seen little evidence of much physical presence in the box or heading ability or the ability to lead a line.

He was fantastic against Luton where they played a more open game and didn't park the bus because as a newly promoted side I think they considered they should be in with a chance to win the game. And he ran onto balls and did well but teams are parking the bus, which means we need a different kind of player.

Ultimately, I'm just An Other big mouth on a forum but that's just my opinion.

[warksclaret]

The delusion with Foster on here is crazy, the man who can do no wrong in the eyes of some. We forked out £9m on this fella 2 years ago and we’ve had about 5 good performances yet some will still continue making excuse after excuse for him.

Like how many more poor performances do you want to see from him before you stop with the excuses? He was atrocious in his first 6 months whilst playing for the runaway league leaders.

If we want to beat many of these teams we are drawing with, we need to move on-we cannot rely on him. He may well come good and remain injury free, and then he will contribute by adding to the competition. Sadly at present there is no competition for the starting place of striker

[bfcjg]

Should we recall Obafami when we can ? Let's face it he offers more and that's saying something.

[BurnleyFC]

We probably shouldn’t have loaned Obafemi out, given the dearth of options in that position, but I’m not convinced he’s a better option than Foster.

Flemming isn’t a better option in that position, either.

[Row x]

Because I've watched the games where he played like Preston and I think he won a single challenge with his back to goal and we created a good chance. Other than that defenders bested him every time.

My memory is faulty but I've seen little evidence of much physical presence in the box or heading ability or the ability to lead a line.

He was fantastic against Luton where they played a more open game and didn't park the bus because as a newly promoted side I think they considered they should be in with a chance to win the game. And he ran onto balls and did well but teams are parking the bus, which means we need a different kind of player.

Ultimately, I'm just An Other big mouth on a forum but that's just my opinion.

Heading ability against rovers was pretty good, but he had the service, more balls like that and you wouldn't be mentioning it

[Row x]

Should we recall Obafami when we can ? Let's face it he offers more and that's saying something.

I've seen nothing when he's played for us that would warrant a recall...how many goals has he scored?

[bfcjg]

I've seen nothing when he's played for us that would warrant a recall...how many goals has he scored?

He's more likely to score on the pitch then a player on the treatment bench.

[ClaretPete001]

Heading ability against rovers was pretty good, but he had the service, more balls like that and you wouldn't be mentioning it

He was stood by himself 8 yards out against Rovers even I could have headed that one goal wards.

If you can see an aerial threat in the box provided by Foster then so be it.

[ClaretPete001]

I've seen nothing when he's played for us that would warrant a recall...how many goals has he scored?

Unless my eyes deceive me more than Lyle Foster this season and in a team third from bottom.

[Row x]

He was stood by himself 8 yards out against Rovers even I could have headed that one goal wards.

If you can see an aerial threat in the box provided by Foster then so be it.

When he got the service, yes he was a threat, can you tell me a headed chance he's missed, or do you not realise strikers need good crosses to have good heading chances?

[Row x]

Unless my eyes deceive me more than Lyle Foster this season.

Your eyes are deceiving you

[ClaretPete001]

When he got the service, yes he was a threat, can you tell me a headed chance he's missed, or do you not realise strikers need good crosses to have good heading chances?

An argument from no evidence is not an argument. He doesn't miss headed chances because he isn't an aerial threat in the box.

I think Chris Wood would be more of an aerial threat in the box with the same crosses but that's just my opinion

[ClaretPete001]

Your eyes are deceiving you

He's scored 2 in 10, while Foster has scored 1 in 8. And that is for a team that was third bottom this morning and who had scored less goals than us.

I think Foster is a far better player but Obafemi would at least offer more options up front.

[Row x]

An argument from no evidence is not an argument. He doesn't miss headed chances because he isn't an aerial threat in the box.

I think Chris Wood would be more of an aerial threat in the box with the same crosses but that's just my opinion

Which crosses?

[Blyclaret]

I didn't like Foster as a striker when we signed him first. And ive not seen anything from him since to change my mind. Purely from a football perspective hes not good enough.

[hoosier-daddy]

I've seen nothing when he's played for us that would warrant a recall...how many goals has he scored?

Apparently can't be recalled anyway.

[IanMcL]

In my view a strange way of looking at it. It's optional from the start he could refuse to accept a call up. The whole idea is it's meant to be about patriotism a sense of a cause the word duty implies all of this. Why does anybody need paying if somebody's accepting a choice of their own free will! We are signing international players accepting the risk that goes with it.

Because the registration and pay contract (his job) is with the club. The club is obliged to risk their talent in international matches and regularly players return injured and yet still need paying.

[Jakubclaret]

Because the registration and pay contract (his job) is with the club. The club is obliged to risk their talent in international matches and regularly players return injured and yet still need paying.

It's a risk attached you can't run with the hare & hunt with the hounds.

[Jakubclaret]

Because the registration and pay contract (his job) is with the club. The club is obliged to risk their talent in international matches and regularly players return injured and yet still need paying.

From the club point of view I get it but we are deciding to go down that route & LF in this case is deciding to as well. Pushing forward some sort of a compensation claim when aware of a player international status & potential inclination of a players wishes towards is far gone. You can't have the best of both worlds. Things need to change on a full front. A long list of excuses seem to be readily available regarding LF rather than he needs to go.

[boatshed bill]

From the club point of view I get it but we are deciding to go down that route & LF in this case is deciding to as well. Pushing forward some sort of a compensation claim when aware of a player international status & potential inclination of a players wishes towards is far gone. You can't have the best of both worlds. Things need to change on a full front. A long list of excuses seem to be readily available regarding LF rather than he needs to go.

Does there come a point when, if he's available for country but not club, he could be seen as not fit for purpose?
should I ask Pushpinpussy?

[Jakubclaret]

Does there come a point when, if he's available for country but not club, he could be seen as not fit for purpose?
should I ask Pushpinpussy?

It's been years counting the players as much use as a chocolate fireguard & he'd surely feature that's not a negative it's been a while since any fighters or anybody busting a gut. By & large you are going back to the dyche days & earlier when anybody give a flying.

[watsonsclarets]

The best position I have seen Lyle in was as a left inside forward playing in a front three with Dorgeles_Nene as a withdrawn striker. This allowed him to receive facing goal and run at goal at Westerlo.

he is a strong powerful runner, not a back-to-goal type and never has been.

[Roosterbooster]

The best position I have seen Lyle in was as a left inside forward playing in a front three with Dorgeles_Nene as a withdrawn striker. This allowed him to receive facing goal and run at goal at Westerlo.

he is a strong powerful runner, not a back-to-goal type and never has been.

Agree

I do wonder if he'd work well as a left inside forward with Flemming as the false 9/10. It'd be interesting to see Luca on the right as a front 3. It would also need Pires as the LB, and Roberts to get forwards

[claretspice]

The best position I have seen Lyle in was as a left inside forward playing in a front three with Dorgeles_Nene as a withdrawn striker. This allowed him to receive facing goal and run at goal at Westerlo.

he is a strong powerful runner, not a back-to-goal type and never has been.

Agree entirely. He may become more a number of 9 but he's not there yet and it doesn't play to his strengths.

They're at completely different levels of course but then parallel would be Henry at Arsenal. He became a centre forward when he was paired with Bergkamp, who could be the team's focal point and freed up Henry to take up the spaces that worked for him as an individual. Aubemayang was of a similar ilk.

[IanMcL]

The best position I have seen Lyle in was as a left inside forward playing in a front three with Dorgeles_Nene as a withdrawn striker. This allowed him to receive facing goal and run at goal at Westerlo.

he is a strong powerful runner, not a back-to-goal type and never has been.

Andre Gray.
Agreed

[IanMcL]

It's a risk attached you can't run with the hare & hunt with the hounds.

My question relates to all international players. I put it forward as FIFa are trying to do a Eufa and create more and more football tournaments, requiring clubs all over the world, to release their stars and pray for a safe return.

FIFA we're an administrative organisation, set up to ensure the game is the same the world over. Expansion is more recent and most recently, this idea that they can set up structures which demand player release, for things other than the World Cup.

When you add Eufa doing the same thing, the players are playing as many matches out of their club league as they are for their club. Fifa should be stopped, in my opinion and Eufa curtailed.

[claretspice]

Andre Gray.
Agreed

Yes, of all the players we've had in recent years that's probably the best parallel. He was much more someone whp naturally played inside the width of the area, but the comparison is that Gray never looked quite right when asked to wrestle with centre backs or link with his back to goal. He didnt have the tools for it. He needed Vokes or similar to play off him.

[Tricky Trevor]

Just so glad you got your degree in English Literature before universities stopped doing them.
Wordsmith extraordinaire.

Succinct, to the point, and correct. What’s not to like.

[IanMcL]

Yes, of all the players we've had in recent years that's probably the best parallel. Gray never looked quite right when asked to wrestle with centre backs or link with his back to goal. He didnt have the tools for it. He needed Vokes or similar to play off him.

His trip to Watford proved that. Put on weight. Lifting weights to body build and ended up half paced and unwieldy.

For us - ball through, headed in, or over the top and he was the man.

[BigGaz]

The best position I have seen Lyle in was as a left inside forward playing in a front three with Dorgeles_Nene as a withdrawn striker. This allowed him to receive facing goal and run at goal at Westerlo.

he is a strong powerful runner, not a back-to-goal type and never has been.

It's either this or modify our playing style in such a way that we're looking to thread him in as I feel he is quite composed running onto the few 1v1s we've created for him.

[Quicknick]

Canterbury has sadly started the rot.

Surely they do degrees in English? Are you saying that you can't study literature there? Thanks for replying.

[bfcjg]

Surely they do degrees in English? Are you saying that you can't study literature there? Thanks for replying.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rg15kzxwqo
Just literature.

[KRBFC]

Surely we’ve seen enough by now to know he’s completely out of his depth at this level.

The most ineffective non threatening forward I have seen play for us in a long long while. Technically I think he’s a League Two standard player, almost laughable to see him start trying fancy flicks in the first half.

[123EasyasBFC]

Surely we’ve seen enough by now to know he’s completely out of his depth at this level.

The most ineffective non threatening forward I have seen play for us in a long long while. Technically I think he’s a League Two standard player, almost laughable to see him start trying fancy flicks in the first half.

I don’t agree with everything you are saying but the first half performance from him was laughable, his first 4 passages of play, he gave the ball away. Humphreys did excellent against James and boygle to say foster wasn’t helping at all

[Lew200100]

Can’t understand why he didn’t take him off after 30 minutes he wasn’t the least bit interested in going forward or tracking his man. He couldn’t hold a ball up , tackle , track his man( looked like he couldn’t be arsed). Hannibal is a bit crazy but he puts a shift in Foster is very frustrating to watch no effort and from me you get a 3 for tonight’s inept performance.

[Vegas Claret]

The fact we can all name the ONE game where he was superb is a problem. Big few months coming up for him imho but it's quite difficult for strikers in our team tbh.

[fidelcastro]

The fact we can all name the ONE game where he was superb is a problem. Big few months coming up for him imho but it's quite difficult for strikers in our team tbh.

I remember the experts on here stating that playing him on the left would be the making of him because he had a good game at Reading.

[JohnDearyMe]

He's been here for 2 years now and is still to convince, to put it mildly.

[Murger]

He’s just not up to it is he? Either as a striker or on the left, he’s just ineffective.

[Vegas Claret]

I remember the experts on here stating that playing him on the left would be the making of him because he had a good game at Reading.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

He was dreadful last night and largely has been for the time he’s been with us. Not sure I get the Andre Gray comparison as it’s clear to see he won’t even score half of the goals Gray did.

[jojomk1]

He is certainly not good enough to play out wide left
He hadn't got a clue where Bogle was in the first half and then just spent most of the second (presume on the instructions of Parker) virtually man marking him
His facial expressions showed he was struggling to play in this way and he just hasn't got the skills for this role
Go back to the first game of the season at Luton and his great run down the middle from our pen area to theirs to create the goal for another Burnley player who I can't remember
He is a central striker and nothing else
He has to start at No 9 with Flemming behind
But this negative manager won't allow that to happen

[BurnleyFC]

He was shite last night, but this system, at least at home, isn’t set up for attacking players. Certainly not strikers.

[Woodleyclaret]

Bogle was DLs only goal threat and Lyle did and excellent job keeping him quiet. Josh Laurent had one of his poorest games though and did disappoint but the game plan was not to loose
Its frustrating but SP is a percentage manager who looks at the bigger picture.Winning promotion was the brief nobody suggested it would be pretty. The conundrum is do we entertain and stay down or glean the average 2 point per game and get promotion?

[Shaggy]

He’s a frustrating player. He has good physical attributes, however there is limited skill with him. Not only does he lack the technical skill he doesn’t have the mentality to play at this level either. There’s a lack of effort and malaise followed by extreme effort and aggression at the wrong times.

It reminds me of schoolboy football where everyone runs after the ball and forgets which position they are in.

[Dyched]

Koleosho is crap but this guy? My, my, he’s a different level of crap.

[RVclaret]

Lyle worked very hard last night, Bogle has been a key player for Leeds and you could see anytime he got forward early on, Bogle was finding space on the counter. The system was more 4–4-2 than the 4-3-3 its been in recent times, this meant he was playing a more orthodox left midfield role than left forward, like at Reading and Plymouth. I’d say it’s worth persevering with for a bit longer, with a slightly kinder set of fixtures around the corner.

[jlup1980]

He's had half a dozen good games in two years. He's clearly not good enough. That doesn't mean I don't want him to succeed, though, and his recent performances versus Reading and Plymouth were encouraging and gave me hope, but I think it highlighted his true level - bottom end Championship / League One. Someone quoted his run versus Luton further up the thread. That was amazing, but it only proves that he's a player of moments, and you need more than that in a promotion push.

You'll never get consistency out of Lyle, he's either not mentally strong enough or doesn't have the footballing intelligence to do that. I don't mean any offence by that comment, I genuinely think it's true. His head dropped early on last night, and you just can't do that. All players make mistakes, but you have to keep showing for the ball and "go again". At the very least you do your job for the team. He went missing from about minute 15 to half time last night - a proper hide and seek job. Surely Koleosho or Hannibal can offer more?

[Rileybobs]

As good as that run was against Luton, let’s not forget it started with him losing possession very cheaply on the half way line and chasing back to win the ball back.

I’m not going to be overly critical of his lack of attacking threat last night because that was more to do with the setup. But he was an absolute liability in the first half last night and was lucky not to be taken off after half an hour. He looked like a fish out of water, gave Humphries absolutely no support and Bogle a free rein. Esteve was having to shift to left back to cover and this left a completely unmarked midfield runner to attack the massive gap in our box on more than one occasion.

He was decent against Plymouth and this role may work against the weakest sides, but last night this turned out to be the wrong selection.

[agreenwood]

He struggled last night, but was no worse than Flemming, Anthony, Brownhill, Laurent or Sarmiento when he came on.

It was a bad night for anyone in claret and blue charged with making us an attacking force in the game.