Who is Barnsley's best current first-team striker?

The best finisher at the club is Adam Phillips followed by DKD. Would only class the first 4 as strikers of which Humphries is probably the best all rounder.

 

I think Humphrys lost a lot of trust from the manager with his 'effort' in the Leyton Orient debacle. And I find it hard to argue against that, I think it showed exactly why a guy who clearly has talent, is struggling to really make an impact even with us. He doesn't work hard enough, often enough. I really would like to see how effective he could be though playing off a real striker.

Votes for Pines are absurd. Fair enough if he'd played up front for a few 5-10 min cameos, but not without seeing him try. I agree given the paucity of options I'd have probably tried it by now if I were Clarke, but until he does then the only reason to vote for him here is to denigrate the others.

 

It is. If he played up top for more than 10 minutes he'd be found out very quick. Struggles to even control the ball, let alone anything else. It's just daft.

 

I think Humphrys flatters to deceive. He does the odd step over and says a few good comments in the press. But he always holds onto the ball too long and misses just as many (if not more) than Watters. As YT pointed out he’s more of a winger/wide forward than an out and out striker. I like him but he was definitely a panic buy we didn’t need.
I also felt he gave up in the Orient defeat and hasn’t quite looked as up for it in some games since. Particularly when he should be trying to get his place back.
I think he’s a good impact sub to have on your bench to change things.

 

League scorers.

 

I'm not convinced that working hard at being a good striker can make you a good striker, unfortunately. If you're not a good striker at his age, it's unlikely that you will become one. I know this sounds a bit defeatist, but that's the way it seems to be.

 

I don't agree that Watters' overall game is better than Humphrys'. Humphrys is tough and has good ball control and dribbling ability. So far he's only got four goals, apparently, but three pretty memorable ones, I would say - his last minute header which won the game at Burton, his great run from the halfway line and excellent finish at Cambridge and a cracking strike against Rotherham.

 

Yeah, I deliberately only included the 4 first-team players listed as forwards in the initial set of options, but then once I started adding other players that people requested I realised it rather muddied the already muddied waters between wingers and out-and-out strikers, as @YT pointed out, and once I started including midfielders those waters got muddier still. My bad. In my defence, I know very little about football.

 

I answered the question thinking that if one chance fell to anyone in the box who would I want on the end of it.
Of anyone I’d rather it be DKD but using the criteria of out and out strikers then I would change my answer to Humphrys on the basis of the same thoughts above. Watters can lead the line but given a chance he has to think about he doesn’t show enough composure.

 

The idea of playing Pines up top is crackers. We don't need a target man.

Watters is our best because when he plays we play better. I can't be arsed to check the stats but I reckon they'll be decent with him in v without.

He's a lesser version of Marley Watkins who helped better players do better.

We do need two though. But we've needed two strikers for about 25 years.

 

Tricky one this as in the way the question worded the best finisher is dkd but i don't think he's a striker. The player that suits our style best at the moment is Watters but we all saw his weaknesses yesterday.

 

Interesting that Humphrys who is a 1-5 goal scorer has double the votes to Watters who is a 1-4.

 

Stats and perception innit. He's scored a couple of beauties but not done much else. He's a luxury player who imho is rightly on the bench.

 

Humphrys hasn’t scored in 12 hours of football. Not since mid-November. He’s had more minutes than every other forward barring DKD. And has missed more ‘big chances’ than Watters. Even Saturday, he’s sent a header a foot wide from a foot out.
I’ve also lost count of the times he has failed to beat a man when square on. Head must think he’s Ronaldo. My eyes say he’s more Kevin Donovan.

And yet the majority on the bbs think he’s our best striker. No wonder we can’t have nice things.

He’s better than Cosgrove, mind. 22 times he’s took to the pitch this season. Averaging out at 45 minutes per appearance. With one goal to show for it. On August 17th.

Watters isn’t great. But he’s the best we’ve got.

I think Doug O’Kane pointed out a worthwhile stat yesterday too. This is a defensive one: when Earl and Roberts start together, we’ve won five of 17. When they don’t start together, we’ve won seven of nine (Star Trek reference there too, which is nice).

I love stats. Because there’s no bias.

 

I love stats. Because there’s no bias......Lies, damned lies, and statistics springs to mind.

 

Get that. But it doesn't take any context into account. More games early on in season, maybe better teams, maybe the players they're playing with not fit yet etc.

It's like the Spurs not winning the 20 games with Bale playing wasn't his fault but was attributed to him.

 

Agreed.

I love stats and I love context. I suppose it’s about finding a middle ground.

 

Maybe I'm not the only one.