Leroy Lita

What do you want from a forward goals or running around? if it's running around Dagnall would have probably been a better option.

 

Seen him play a few games recently where he's worked hard, battled well against players much bigger than him and held the ball up. But he never looks like scoring. You could argue we're not creating the chances for him, but we seem to create them for everyone else. Lita doesn't appear to get in the right positions.

I don't think he's crap, but we've probably got better options.

 

With a team that doesn't play to his strengths then he is always going to struggle.

 

Goals.

All im saying is dont right Lita off yet.

If he's not selected again then thats fair enough.

Sam Winnall scored 1 in 12. He missed countless chances too.

I still believe Lita could easily go on a similar goalscoring run that Sam did.

 

I'd probably be more confident if he was missing chances at least that would mean his positional sense was good. I hope he comes good his best days seem a long way behind him though at this point and can't see him being in the team when Winnall returns.

 

I've said it before, said it in the blog recently, I don't believe he suits us or vice versa, and he's only been involved recently because we've lost Winnall and others.

 

That was the one that sprung to my mind. It was the kind of chance that, had it been someone else missing it, we'd have all agreed that it was a shame that it didn't fall to Lita, as he'd have stuck it in. It was certainly the first inkling that he wasn't going to be the important addition to the team that I thought he was.

 

I'd get shut along with Hemmings, Brown, M'Voto & Treacy.

Even when he does ok like against Boro in the first half, he fades badly in the second.

He's a 29 year old man that plays like someone 10 years older.

 

It worries me that he doesn't seem to get any chance on goal at all. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time for Winnall simply because he kept getting in the right position a d getting the chances and eventually he started to take them. Lita however just doesn't get in these positions, I can't remember the last time he had an effort on goal.

 

Never looks like scoring. I don't think I've actually seen him have a shot this season. More to the point I don't think I've seen him in the penalty area. He does a lot of aimless running around which gives the impression that he's a hard worker but he's not actually achieving anything as he's about 10 yards away from the nearest man. I think he's had his day. You'd have thought that an experienced striker like Leroy would be just the answer in a season like this one, but he's been put to shame by players who are 10 to 15 years his junior.

 

You're confusing effort with aimless running around. He does lots of running but stops if he gets within 5 yards of another player as though a forcefield is preventing him from putting a tackle in.

 

Football is not a sentimental game. Although 'only' 30, Lita has no more running in him. If he is producing anything in training (a different environment) then he is demonstrably unable to reproduce it in matches. A very experienced (and respected) former player told me two months ago "the boy has gone".

Would have been a great signing 2-3 years ago, but this gamble has failed and we should cut our losses.

 

No I'm not.

 

I don't get Leroy Lita. Poachers don't usually lose the knack of ghosting into goal scoring opportunities. We came to the conclusion on Saturday that the hunger has gone, and although not exactly tossing it off, he's getting there.

 

It's easy to argue that he's a useful/potentially useful member of the squad, from what I've seen. It's a lot more difficult to argue that he's a key member who deserves one of the highest salaries at the club (I'm assuming he'll be there or thereabouts).

I'm not sure we can afford to be paying strikers top whack to just do their best and put a shift in, while we wait for them to start scoring. It's one thing with Kane Hemmings, but quite another when it comes to Lita. It's for that reason that I'd keep the former but lose Leroy.

 

I think that pretty much nails it.

 

Leroy has more experience then the rest of the squad put together.

Waring talked about him in his post match interview after scoring on his debut saying that he helped him settle in, learnt from him in training and basically told him what to do on the pitch on Saturday. We simply can not let Leroy go at this stage.

Also agree with a lot of comments that he has had a helpless task for large parts of the season.