Matt Derbyshire

Nearly everytime he came off the bench he hit the net, had a raw deal under allardyce, i wonder why? Maybe because his not 6 foot 6 and built like an heavyweight boxer.

Or because he's rubbish every time he plays 90 minutes? Good luck to him though, super-sub in the prem could turn into goalscorer in the championship. He's almost identical to Gallagher but slightly better in my opinion, Gally hasn't exactly set the division alight at Leicester so have to see out Derbyshire does.

You could argue more than him being 6'6" that he didn't contribute enough to the team.

For all the credit I've been known to give Sam, stats only tell you so much. Derbyshire wouldn't win many headers, run many miles, put in any tackles etc etc etc. As far as I was concerned though, he knew how to find a yard and finish.

Sam got the best from KD and he never got ten in a season, he upset enough folk that the others would all pop up with enough. For me though, I don't mind a lazy striker so much, save your energy for when a ball breaks 15 yards out. Be first to it and hit the net.

Win!

Finishing is obviously the best attribute to have as a striker and I agree Derbyshire was right up there in that. However I do think you need to offer a bit of something else as well (which I think might be what you're saying Pie).

McCarthy is a good example of this for me. He went from being our best player in his first season to arguably our worst in the following seasons before (much to most fans relief) he was sold. His superb finishing never changed during that time, but his movement became non-existent, he seemed to lose a yard of pace, there was no desire to get ahead of defenders and his seriously good skill/first touch went from being productive and useful to being an occasional ineffective party trick.

Derbyshire has always had McCarthy's finishing but doesn't have much else apart from massive effort and desire. Hence when he comes on as sub and defenders are tired and unused to how he moves and the runs he makes, he's a massive handful. If he plays from the start though they quickly size him up while they're still fresh and then when both players begin to tire and the game opens up, they know exactly how to deal with him.

Fair assessment. Benni MacNuggetts too.

I was about to suggest that his was Billy big balls that meant a lack of desire, which wasn't the case with Matty - you covered that off though.

I was still a little surprised when Matty went (unless he really wanted to). Seemed happy at Rovers and we've since to spend 2m on a forward that's done anything better.

See what I've done here - bad move Big Sam...

This was, 1 of many things that annoyed me about big Sam, i think i remember him not even kicking a ball under sam and he was through the door before sam could even get the hot seat warm.
In my opinion derbyshire was a better finisher than even benni.
Would of loved to see what would have happened if big Sam got to rovers when tugay was 35 because i honestly believe he would of sent him through the door like he did at the end.

Yeah I agree. As I said I think he's great as a substitute and specialist super-subs are a bit of a luxury at clubs like Rovers cause most players who are that lethal when given a good chance don't tend to like regularly sitting on the bench. As you said though he seemed happy with how things were. Personally I suspect a big bust-up between him and Sam over not running the ball into the corner against City (where Sturridge equalised). Definitely a blow in hindsight though, he's a very handy player to have in the squad.

Tugay. I miss Tugay.

Don't worry super keith, we have goulan and his magic boots.

Don't have our top scorer of last year though. SK sent him onwards. He knew where the back of the net was too. Didn't stop him being largely ineffective for us in SK's Total Football system.