by Marky Mark » Tue Jul 19, 2022 10:30 am
I think he's just a victim of a change in circumstances going off around him - if you look at the first few matches of last season he was up front with Hawkins, with Oates just behind and I think that's what Hawkins and Johnson were signed to be: a big target man and a goal poacher running off him. Then he lost a bit of form, was on the bench and then we had the whole injury and suspension problems in the bad run, and the team ended up having to look and play differently without him with Hawkins at the back and Oates running the channels up front, then he got injured when the side were breaking records. In amidst all of this Oates' played himself into being a more out and out striker, when it felt like he was signed to rival Lapslie for the role of just behind the strikers (I think I remember NC mentioning something about Oates rivalling Lapslie and the surprise when Oates started in place of Lapslie v's Bristol Rovers).
The other thing about Danny is that he's a goal poacher, and those types of players tend to have runs of scoring when they're always in the right place at the right time, and runs of not scoring when they're just off it and it looks awful. It's never felt like he's had a long enough run in the side to get a rhythm going, but it's neither his fault nor the teams - the team just doesn't play to his style anymore. Good luck to him.
"Football is a game of opinions, and very little knowledge"