Simon Church

[PieEater]

Tries hard but fails on the minimum requirement of a striker - to get bloody shots on target. If you don't test the keeper you may as well be a midfielder.

Maybe it will come over time, but we need goals now. Maybe Rasiak can take the pressure off him for a while until he finishes his shooting practice.

[Archie's penalty]

'There's only one Simon Church! There's only one Simon Church! Walking along - singing a song - walking in a Churchy wonderland!'

[rg6royal]

He got a goal yesterday, fair play to the lad.

[Ian Royal]

Church has turned my opinion about him on its head.

I couldn't see that he'd ever havea good scoring record based on the couple of bits and pieces I'd seen of him and his previous out on loan. But he's looked really good recently again from the bits and pieces I've seen. All that's missing is the finishing touch and I'm sure that's just a matter of confidence and time.

He already looks much more likely to score than Doyle did after Xmas and we already know what a good player Doyle was. I think he'll definitely get 10 goals this season providing he continues to play regularly and I could now see him breaking 15 just about.

Big player for us next season, which ever division we're in IMO.

[WoodleyRoyal]

do even better with a decent striker partnering him

[North Eaat royal]

do even better with a decent striker partnering him

spot on, put him with a half decent striker and he'll be banging them in for fun. He's got great movement, it's just atm rasiaks 50p head flick on's are hard to read. When he gets the ball he looks to hold it up and feed others in.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Church has turned my opinion about him on its head.

I couldn't see that he'd ever havea good scoring record based on the couple of bits and pieces I'd seen of him and his previous out on loan. But he's looked really good recently again from the bits and pieces I've seen. All that's missing is the finishing touch and I'm sure that's just a matter of confidence and time.

He already looks much more likely to score than Doyle did after Xmas and we already know what a good player Doyle was. I think he'll definitely get 10 goals this season providing he continues to play regularly and I could now see him breaking 15 just about.

Big player for us next season, which ever division we're in IMO.

Big plus 1.

Simon Church is the least of our worries. He's gonna be a good player imho....

[rhroyal]

I do take the point that he should hit the target more. However FFC pointed out that often he misses the target because he makes a real effort to put it beyond the keeper's reach, and he never seems to miss by much. Tbh crashing one off the underside of the bar is more unlucky than anything else.

[Royalee]

Rasiak's more effective than Church at the moment - strikers have to be able to shoot. That said, I like Church's movement and intelligence - perhaps if he spent some time working on his woeful finishing we might have a good player. In the mean time we need to bring in a striker urgently.

[facaldaqui]

I'm tempted to agree with rhroyal because Church's shots do look technically excellent and are coming so close. On the other hand, his care to put shots precisely beyond the keeper may actually be part of the problem. He might be better just concentrating on getting the shots on target for the moment: goakeepers don't catch everything in the rectangle.

[Terminal Boardom]

facaldaqui said

I'm tempted to agree with rhroyal because Church's shots do look technically excellent and are coming so close. On the other hand, his care to put shots precisely beyond the keeper may actually be part of the problem. He might be better just concentrating on getting the shots on target for the moment: goakeepers don't catch everything in the rectangle.

He needs to be more instinctive. This will come with experience. ATM, he is not 100% in knowing where the goal is.

Royalee said

In the mean time we need to bring in a striker urgently.

Just ain't gonna happen matey! SJM will say that we have Bignall and Rooney in reserve and that we should use them instead. And considering BR's previous, he is hardly going to turn aroud and say that they aren't good enough is he!

[66DD]

He got a goal yesterday, fair play to the lad.

He was trying to step over the ball as he thought that he was offside and couldn't react quickly enough (fortunately).

[Archie's penalty]

I'm tempted to agree with rhroyal because Church's shots do look technically excellent and are coming so close. On the other hand, his care to put shots precisely beyond the keeper may actually be part of the problem. He might be better just concentrating on getting the shots on target for the moment: goakeepers don't catch everything in the rectangle.

Did exactly that at Preston and that shot he hit instinctively against Leicester. He will come good.

[Ian Royal]

Rasiak's more effective than Church at the moment - strikers have to be able to shoot. That said, I like Church's movement and intelligence - perhaps if he spent some time working on his woeful finishing we might have a good player. In the mean time we need to bring in a striker urgently.

It's not woeful at all. Woeful is spooning it 20 feet over or endangering the corner flag. Church knows exactly what he's doing and where he's trying to put it, he's either not hitting it quite sweet enough or he's 6 - 12" out.

He's only really been consistently getting decent chances for three games and he's young and inexperienced. He'll start burying them soon as long as he can keep getting chances.

[Ian Royal]

He got a goal yesterday, fair play to the lad.

He was trying to step over the ball as he thought that he was offside and couldn't react quickly enough (fortunately).

That's the biggest load of rot I've read in ages. He was shifting his weight so he could tap the ball in and as he was doing it, it came on him a bit quicker than he could react and went in. He knew exactly what was going on, the ball just came on him a bit quicker than he could react, to make it an obvious goal.

[WoodleyRoyal]

He got a goal yesterday, fair play to the lad.

He was trying to step over the ball as he thought that he was offside and couldn't react quickly enough (fortunately).

In church we have a striker that has the potential to be a true homegrown great for the club, with people like you in the stands these players are being set up to fail, before they've barley kicked a ball.

[londinium]

I like the guy... shame he can't hit the target more often as we could have had a few more points in the bag from the Ipswich and Leicester games.

[Wycombe Royal]

Tbh crashing one off the underside of the bar is more unlucky than anything else.

If you are talking about the effort yesterday then I'm pretty sure the keeper got a touch to it and pushed it on to the bar.

His game has pretty much everything apart from the vital component of converting more of his chances. His ball control his good, he holds the ball up well, brings other players in to the game, has a good turn of pace, pretty good in the air and doesn't mind running the channels.

If you want a comparison then look no further than Kevin Doyle and he has the potential to be as good in my opinion......

[PEARCEY]

Tbh crashing one off the underside of the bar is more unlucky than anything else.

If you are talking about the effort yesterday then I'm pretty sure the keeper got a touch to it and pushed it on to the bar.

His game has pretty much everything apart from the vital component of converting more of his chances. His ball control his good, he holds the ball up well, brings other players in to the game, has a good turn of pace, pretty good in the air and doesn't mind running the channels.

If you want a comparison then look no further than Kevin Doyle and he has the potential to be as good in my opinion......

I agree with this. If he improves his finishing (and he needs to) we will have a good young striker with a really good attitude. Hope he makes the grade.

[Ian Royal]

First few games I saw Doyle he struggled to put away his chances. Came pretty good that season.