Foster

[Silkyskills1]

How's it fair. He's been excellent since coming in against Reading.

He hasn't been excellent since the Reading game. Anyone watching that game and game since know that. He's been here two years now and from his first game under Kompany I have willed him to put the ball in the net; I've supported him through problems he had unconnected with football and again willed him since his return after a lengthy injury to put the ball in the net. He's not a left sided player; he looks uncomfortable there and he's not a centre forward because he doesn't score anywhere near enough goals. I just don't think he is up to the minimum required standard and his performance today underlined a lack of skill and confidence needed in the Championship.

[KRBFC]

He's not being shoehorn into the team..he's playing as a left inside forward to give us a goal threat from the left which is exactly what he does.

How is that exactly what he does? What goal threat? Where is this goal threat he offers? He’s got 2 goals in 30 appearances at this level. How can you possibly say he offers a goal threat?

[what_no_pies]

I mentioned the Joelinton thing. It's a serious suggestion. We signed him as a raw player with potential to become a PL striker knowing we needed to help him realise that potential. It's just not happened for one reason or another. He has the sort of attributes that probably got him ahead of his peers at lower level, particularly pace & powerful running with the ball. These may have influenced him playing further up the field. We've seen enough to be fairly sure he lacks the composure and clinical nature of a real goalscorer and it's becoming increasingly apparent that he's not going to learn that, not for at this level anyway.

In addition to his obvious work ethic he might well have the same ingredients to drop further back into a midfield berth and still do well.

Loads of parallels with Joelinton. Surprising to me that strikers that don't prove to be free scoring don't drop back down the pitch more often given lower level football has a tendency to just stick the best players up front.

Worth a look in training at the very least. And would free up a spot for one of our other talented wingers to try and get more involved.

[Stonehouse]

Foster has played about half the minutes that Anthony has played. In that time they both have 3 assists, Anthony has 2 more goals.

So the stats don't really back you up there. It's pretty clear that given a full season Foster would score more than Anthony.

The defensive argument is absolutely fair, Anthony is excellent at that but with the defenders we have we shouldn't need him to spend half his time as an auxiliary wing back. I'd much prefer to play a winger like Edwards, let him cheat slightly defensively and maybe concede a few more goals. I'm sure we'd win more games.

The stats are pretty equal but they don’t show that perhaps Anthony could have created twice as many chances as Foster but whoever got on the end of them missed.

[Rileybobs]

I mentioned the Joelinton thing. It's a serious suggestion. We signed him as a raw player with potential to become a PL striker knowing we needed to help him realise that potential. It's just not happened for one reason or another. He has the sort of attributes that probably got him ahead of his peers at lower level, particularly pace & powerful running with the ball. These may have influenced him playing further up the field. We've seen enough to be fairly sure he lacks the composure and clinical nature of a real goalscorer and it's becoming increasingly apparent that he's not going to learn that, not for at this level anyway.

In addition to his obvious work ethic he might well have the same ingredients to drop further back into a midfield berth and still do well.

Loads of parallels with Joelinton. Surprising to me that strikers that don't prove to be free scoring don't drop back down the pitch more often given lower level football has a tendency to just stick the best players up front.

Worth a look in training at the very least. And would free up a spot for one of our other talented wingers to try and get more involved.

What attributes have you seen that make you think he could be a good midfielder? It’s a really bad suggestion.

[warksclaret]

He hasn't been excellent since the Reading game. Anyone watching that game and game since know that. He's been here two years now and from his first game under Kompany I have willed him to put the ball in the net; I've supported him through problems he had unconnected with football and again willed him since his return after a lengthy injury to put the ball in the net. He's not a left sided player; he looks uncomfortable there and he's not a centre forward because he doesn't score anywhere near enough goals. I just don't think he is up to the minimum required standard and his performance today underlined a lack of skill and confidence needed in the Championship.

You highlight confidence with Foster and I absolutely agree. He shows huge pain when he misses an easy goal, showing great guilt and shame.I saw it after both misses yesterday and at FT the camera panned to him in the dug-out and you could read his expression that he had lost us two extra points. Numerous strikers just shrug off the disappointment of missing a goal. Its a big job for the backroom staff to reinstate his belief as I know first hand , if you have struggled mentally for long periods, disappointments such as these can set you back. I would bench him next game and bring him on in the game, resting Fleming. It will take the pressure off the lad. This giving Scotty the chance to start Edwards

[Bacchus]

I don't really see a centre forward in Foster, certainly not in this system. We started the season with him up top and he just ended up playing with his back to goal and grappling with centre backs, largely unsuccessfully.

Most people recognise that his biggest strength is as a powerful ball carrier, and I think playing from a wider position suits him better. He does get us up the pitch, and with his pace and physicality he offers a good outlet for the long diagonal ball. It's clear though that he needs to add more goal threat from that position - he's never going to be a tricky winger creating chances for others so he needs to offer something different in terms of end product and I'm not sure he's doing enough right now.

[TsarBomba]

Foster is a bit of a conundrum, and the bottom line is we now haven’t got the games left to keep persevering and accepting poor performances.

He’s not the answer up top as he needs far more chances to score than we create, and he doesn’t do enough out wide to justify a starting spot over the players we have available.

[Socrates]

He looks to me like he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders and his confidence is shot to bits when it comes to putting the ball away.

There have been a few times where he has passed up shooting chances and the camera panned to him at the end of the game on the bench and he looked disconsolate - like he knew that he should have won the game for us.

I do feel for the bloke. I’d maybe like to see him taken out of the firing line for a bit.

[ralph8]

I feel sorry for Foster - in an ideal world we would get him firing on a regular basis and becomes a valuable asset.
Given the parachute money etc we don't have time to accommodate a non scoring striker over a long run of games - It will cost the club a hell of a lot of money in the long term.
Noticed Blackburn signed a striker who could not do anything right for the first half of the season - benched for a while- he is now on fire and scored a decent goal against Preston.

[Bada Bing]

Look at Foster's stats, he's only scored 7 in the 54 league games played. The missed chances at Deepdale isn't down to poor form, it's a lack of quality in front of goal. He isn't a Championship level striker. He's decent on the left wing, but all our other wingers are better than him.

[Andreshotboots]

To my Lyle is turning into a bit of a Lucas Jutkiwicz for us.

You like the lad, he gives his all, you really really want him to succeed, but it just doesn't seem to be happening for him..

[Bada Bing]

Lukas Jutkiewicz didn't cost £10 million though.

[jlup1980]

The chances he's missed over the last couple of weeks should be enough for SP to realise he's not the answer to our goalscoring issues. He's shown in moments that he could be a useful player, but those moments have been too few and far between, and at some point you have to accept that he's not suddenly going to turn into a world beater.

The fact that I'd rather a big chance fall to anyone else than him says it all. He's meant to be the best striker we have, VK made noises about him being the best player at the club full stop... in reality he's far from that and continues to provide very little end product. So, no more excuses about confidence, or taking him out of the firing line (he's only been back in the team a month), and please no more mentions of brilliant performances from 12-18 months ago.

I said at the start of the season that he wouldn't score 10 goals if he played every minute of every game. I stand by that, with all the evidence pointing very much in my favour might I add. It wasn't said with malice then, and it isn't said with malice now. Some players aren't good enough. Lyle is one of them.

Going forward we can't afford anymore draws. It's time to start Edwards and take a few more risks. The play-offs are already all but assured. It's win or bust for automatic promotion.