Simon Church

[andrew1957]

Church is not a target man like Long has played this season. He is a striker to play off the target man - or might potentially play in the hole. The problem is that he has not looked effective playing with Long or played well in the Gylfi role when given the few chances he has had. Hunt has gelled with Long much better in recent weeks - hence our improving form. What Church has done well is coming off the bench and scoring important goals - so barring injuries giving him more starting opportunities - that is his best chance to impress this season.

Does that mean Church is a bad player - absolutely not. He is a young player who can get much better. Only time will tell.

[PieEater]

The point of the original post was that he's become a worse player than he was last season, I saw the highlights of last years 2-3 win at West Brom and Church was doing everything that he can't do now, like beat a man and pick a pass.

He may have learnt the offside rule though.

[Avon Royal]

Great - let the Hobnob "motivation" squad get stuck into Church so that he can be helped in the same way Long was.

[brendywendy]

hes th enew boo boy.

i look forward to his inevitable turn around, surge in form, and return to being a fans favourite, cos it happens whenever the eedjits decide someone needs the motivational booing

[muddyfeet]

Great - let the Hobnob "motivation" squad get stuck into Church so that he can be helped in the same way Long was.

This wasn't the point of the post, I actually like him as a player and he has gd potential but he doesn't look the same player as last season

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Simon Church would make the first team of many Championship sides. The reason he does not at RFC is because BM likes to keep things steady, BM is very much in the SC school of management, not making changes for changes sake, but keeping faith with his players, Church is there in the 18 almost every game, so is right in with the chance to make his contribution when needed.

[Snowball]

Great - let the Hobnob "motivation" squad get stuck into Church so that he can be helped in the same way Long was.

This wasn't the point of the post, I actually like him as a player and he has gd potential but he doesn't look the same player as last season

Have to agree with this. Something is not quite right there.

After 12 goals in 27 (15) = say 30 x 90s last season, a 20 goal full season 201-11 seemed quite possible with a year's more maturity.

I worry tho' if he's moved to 4th choice. Can he keep his confidence then or will he want a move?

[gazzer, loyal royal]

He had about 10 minutes yesterday, when his teammates were more interested in seeing the game out rather than picking up another goal.

Church does score vital goals. Hull and Ipswich spring to mind.

This he has done, no denying it, but when talking about Church, and back from the thread games, Chruch has the knack of also failing to convert guilt edge chances in games where the next goal was crucial. I know Long has done this, but Long brings so much more with his all round game than Church does.

[muddyfeet]

Not right again today. Watching them warming up he just looked very lacking in confidence and almost a bit demoralised. Long spent a long time talking to him - looked like he was trying to big him up.

Poor touch today and off side too many times

Doesn't help with some mongs on twitter giving him abuse. Really want him to have a good game but it's just not happening at the mo

[Ian Royal]

Give it time. One game in the side low on confidence is not going to solve anything immediately. 4 or 5 to play himself into some sort of form might. We don't have much in the way of obviously better options. Manset can stay benched to get minutes and warm himself up to Championship speed and fitness.

I'd like to see him get at least the next two games, if he's still not looking great and Hunt is fit then he can always come back into the side... but ideally I'd like to see him get a bit more of a run than that.

[Royalee]

Why's he even got Twitter? He's shit so nobody will care what he posts, at least Noel Hunt's fairly amusing and is a reasonable player.

[muddyfeet]

Give it time. One game in the side low on confidence is not going to solve anything immediately. 4 or 5 to play himself into some sort of form might. We don't have much in the way of obviously better options. Manset can stay benched to get minutes and warm himself up to Championship speed and fitness.

I'd like to see him get at least the next two games, if he's still not looking great and Hunt is fit then he can always come back into the side... but ideally I'd like to see him get a bit more of a run than that.

Always thought he needed and deserved a run of games, much like Long when he wasn't scoring, not sure he's going to get them though

[Ian Royal]

Depends on Hunt's fitness really by the looks of things. If Hunt gets fit he'll almost certainly come back into the side as that was working (to a certain extent). If Hunt stays out, then Church'll most likely get his run of games whilst Manset is brought fully up to speed.

[leon]

If i was him I would be worrying - he's going to struggle to get a game up against Hunt and Manset on the scene now

[Super Royals]

Really thought Church would step up this season, he had a very promising first season and an ok goal tally and looked to have the best pre season out of all our strikers. However at the moment he looks poor, yes he has scored some imp goals as a sub but his overall performances have been below par. What's happened?

He hasn't been given a fair chance this season, with the signing of Manset I don't think he is going to get another chance this season. I think he will be sold at the end of the season.

[PieEater]

I think he has been given a fair chance and totally failed to take it, he is playing worse than last year. What does he actually add to the team when he's not on form? When Long wasn't scoring he at least worked his socks off, won headers and linked up play. Church adds sweet fa.

[Snowball]

He must have thought he would get more starts, but foind himeslef out of the time when we were playing just one striker and behind Hunt in the pecking order when we started playing two. In truth he hasn't had many opportunities to shine this year.

TWENTY-SEVEN APPEARANCES 11 (16) 1,179 Minutes

That's about twice Shane Long's first season 5 (10) 565 Minutes

That's more minutes than Long had in the whole of the season 2006-07 12 (12) 1,110 Minutes

More than in the whole of 2007-08 10 (21) 1,011 Minutes

[Snowball]

Something is "wrong" at the moment with Church

He IS a good, capable player with a good goals per minute ratio
but he's carrying a niggle, or has totally lost confidence, or has
off the field issues. ATM he really looks poor.

I believe if he got a brace of goals in a game and forced McDermot to pick him in the next
two he might go wild but at the moment, if you didn't know what he managed last season
you'd think he was a player from a lower league and out of his depth

[andrew1957]

I have no doubt that Church has a lot of potential but it is very clear to see that he is desperately lacking in confidence at the moment. I am not sure why but he has not pushed on as much as we had hoped this season.

I think he would benefit from a month on loan to a League 1 or 2 club at the moment to get some goals/confidence but in reality we don't have enough players to let him go.

Manset will take the rest of this season to get up to speed and Brett Williams is hardly likely to step up this season either so we need Church. Let's hope he gets some confidence from somewhere soon. Perhaps he will score a couple against Stevenage.

[muddyfeet]

Hopefully he'll score against STevenage if he doesn't his confidence will take more of a beating. I hate the attitude of some of our mong fan base giving him abuse on twitter, it's hardly going to increase his confidence is it and it's just pointless