Does anybody join me in being so much more confident when he's on the pitch?

I know it goes without saying how much I rate the guy, but it's his presence that makes us so much better.
He seems to instill confidence throughout the whole team. We've missed him.

Also notice how there's been little to no credit given to him for his goal today and it's mainly been about what Everton did wrong? He danced around the back of the Everton defence purposely to get away from their individual defenders and made it look like they really didn't know what was going on. He was superb.

It was nice movement for his goal but let's be honest Everton are a shambles defensively which is weird considering their gaffer.

I think Ashley took the credit today.

Goobs wrote:It was nice movement for his goal but let's be honest Everton are a shambles defensively which is weird considering their gaffer.

But that's the point I'm trying to make. He still manages to get in and score a goal, regardless.

At Leeds he was always the sort of player who would find a way - he'd find a way to get on the end of a pass and score a goal. This isn't just about Everton's defending, it's about how he plays. He could go missing for 80 minutes but still pop up and score the winner. That's how he is. But when you watch him closely, his movement is really intelligent.

He has great movement which our other strikers typically lack...Ashley get the credit today as it was the more striking goal and has been playing up front for the last ten games...and fair enough...Chris Woods touch is also on another level...he is just coming back in however wish he had a look in last week..

No not any more confident. I'm more confident when we have the 4 chaps at the back together again.

Wood brings something a bit different to Barnes and Vokes.

Wood is a goal scorer, I think if he had played up top all season and been fit, he would be on 10-12 potentially by now. I don’t think he is particularly gifted with the ball at his feet, but he has the knack of being in the right place at the right time and is strong in the air.

We will see the best of him next season.

Agree with that jedi. He gwts in behind defenders too. Something else we have missed whilst hes been out.

I even think he might have got 15 easily if he'd been fit all season

He will score plenty next season, I'm confident of that.

A full pre-season with us, Brady and Defour returning to supply him and hopefully a quality, creative number 10 to link up with.

Just wonder what the hand gesture after scoring ? I am hoping it is kissing the New Zealand fern and not something that will cost us/him

pureclaret wrote:Just wonder what the hand gesture after scoring ? I am hoping it is kissing the New Zealand fern and not something that will cost us/him

What gesture did he make with his hands,and I wonder why Barnes did his looking through binoculars I thought?

I am a big fan too.The way we are set up goal scoring chances are at a minimum so you need to be taking them. With the games we have left we could brave 442 with both Barnes and Wood starting, and be on the front foot

Barnes was something to do wjth being driven in by Westy yesterday he said on Sky

He looks good with Barnes, they link up really well.

pureclaret wrote:Just wonder what the hand gesture after scoring ? I am hoping it is kissing the New Zealand fern and not something that will cost us/him

I always thought he makes a number 9 symbol with his fingers, which is the number he wears for NZ?

Chris Wood finds space in the box, he backs off and arrives late rather than standing next to a defender and trying to jump.

pureclaret wrote:Just wonder what the hand gesture after scoring ? I am hoping it is kissing the New Zealand fern and not something that will cost us/him

I took it to be exactly the same as you. I ain't saying.
If he was, who was it directed at. Surely not the crowd.....

Barnes has to be the most improved player in the prem.

I actually thought he was off the pace today, understandably after so much time out. Closing down from the front wasn't good enough, but sure he will get better and better the more he plays.

wickdkewlclaret wrote:I actually thought he was off the pace today, understandably after so much time out. Closing down from the front wasn't good enough, but sure he will get better and better the more he plays.

Maybe so - but offensively he caused them all sorts of problems and allowed us to get a better foothold behind them and higher up the pitch. We've missed that.

I just felt better once Hendrick was off. I don't care who they'd have put on but THAT made me feel instantly better yesterday.

FactualFrank wrote:Does anybody join me in being so much more confident when he's on the pitch?

I know it goes without saying how much I rate the guy, but it's his presence that makes us so much better.
He seems to instill confidence throughout the whole team. We've missed him.

Also notice how there's been little to no credit given to him for his goal today and it's mainly been about what Everton did wrong? He danced around the back of the Everton defence purposely to get away from their individual defenders and made it look like they really didn't know what was going on. He was superb.

Yes you’re right Frank
At the time you assume they’d just left him and there is still an argument that regardless of his movement they should have been trying to track him, as he’s a 6ft 3 Centre Forward, but from his perspective he made the movement they lost him and he bagged the winner..
Did what it says on the big Centre Forward tin.
Excellent movement to find the space and great execution.
The same is true of the blame on Pickford, what about credit to the Claret occupying him.

He was greatly helped by Williams being totally distracted from him by Lennon who was stood in acres of space further out. Williams was repeatedly looking at Lennon and forgot to keep an eye on Wood who eased away from him.

Steve1956 wrote:What gesture did he make with his hands,and I wonder why Barnes did his looking through binoculars I thought?

Barnes explained that Westwood, picked him up in the morning and was peering through Barnes letterbox as Barnes was not ready when he arrived.
The gesture by Woods was a strange one but I am happy that it was not anything that could cause problems

I was just on the BBC site looking at the top scorers.
Chris Wood is now on the list with 8 goals at 147 minutes per goal which makes him the 6th most prolific in the Premier league in terms of minutes per goal. Impressive!

chekhov wrote:I was just on the BBC site looking at the top scorers.
Chris Wood is now on the list with 8 goals at 147 minutes per goal which makes him the 6th most prolific in the Premier league in terms of minutes per goal. Impressive!

Even when he has a quiet game he seems to be a threat. Sign of a top striker.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Even when he has a quiet game he seems to be a threat. Sign of a top striker.

It certainly is.

I don't think that he'll ever get 15 goals in a season for us in the Premier League like, but I have to laugh at when we signed him for all that money and me thinking that we were just getting an expensive Sam Vokes clone.

It's great to be wrong.

I'm not on Facebook, but a work mate showed me a post of a Leeds utd fan mocking Wood when he signed for us by saying if he scored 10 goals in the premier league this season then he would have WOOD tattoo on his fore head! He's up to 8 now so the tattoo is getting nearer the wood head..

claretdj wrote:I'm not on Facebook, but a work mate showed me a post of a Leeds utd fan mocking Wood when he signed for us by saying if he scored 10 goals in the premier league this season then he would have WOOD tattoo on his fore head! He's up to 8 now so the tattoo is getting nearer the wood head..

It's alright, unless your mate agreed to get a tattoo as well the "bet" doesn't count.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Sign of a top striker.

Absolutely.

Take his second at West Ham. As soon as JBG hammered it at goal, Wood had already set off
running at goal for a possible rebound. Which of course he got and tucked away.
So many players just stand there admiring the original shot.

And he'll get better. Top signing.

Reminds me of Kane

I had my doubts..took his goal well today and at west ham gonna be a good un!

Claret82 wrote:Reminds me of Kane

Can't he speak?