Wickham Taking It In His Stride
Friday, 18th Mar 2011 08:49

Boss Paul Jewell says young striker Connor Wickham is up there with The King’s Speech and Colin Firth when it comes to award nominations but believes the youngster has been taking all the plaudits he has received in his stride. The 17-year-old is on the shortlist for the Young Player and Apprentice of the Year gongs at the Football League Awards in London on Sunday.

Jewell said: “He’ll probably get a BAFTA as well! He’s in for that many awards that I lose track - Young Player of the Year, Apprentice of the Year, Chef of the Year, everything. It’s a lot for him to take on but I think he takes it in his stride and he’s a very level-headed lad.”

Despite employing the England U21 international out wide rather than in his preferred central role, Jewell says he was disappointed that Wickham didn’t get his name on the scoresheet during Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Watford: “He will be a striker eventually.

“There were one or two he should have got on the end of on Tuesday. I think the one that Andy Drury put in in the second half and the one that came off the post, they were chances that if Connor’s got that belief, he scores, and goals change games.

“In the last three home games we’ve conceded the first goal and were then chasing the game and haven’t looked like creating too many opportunities for all the possession we’ve had.”

Jewell has said in the past that he prefers a 4-4-2 formation but believes the current set-up with a single central striker suits the players he’s got and is also the approach currently taken by most other sides at this level: “That’s what I said when I first came, but I did also say that I’m starting to be able to be flexible with [the formation] because there aren’t too many teams that play a straight 4-4-2 now.

“4-4-2 is the formation that I’ve had success with in the past, but I think that the moment the formation that suits us with the make-up that we’ve got is 4-3-3.”

The Blues boss is happy with his side’s possession but feels they need to make more of it: “I think we keep the ball enough. I think we probably keep the ball a bit too much at times without going forward.

“We don’t get the ball in behind teams enough with quality. We don’t get enough men in the box at times.

“We’ve got good footballers in midfield. Jimmy Bullard, Grant Leadbitter and Andy Drury can all deal with the ball, we’ve got footballers in there that can keep it, but sometimes maybe the runs from the strikers aren’t clever enough.

“We don’t get the ball forward with enough quality at times. Look at their second goal on Tuesday. I think the crowd are shouting ‘Ole’ — pass, pass, pass, pass — but it didn’t go anywhere, we lost the ball in midfield and all of a sudden we’re 2-0 down."

Jewell says he knows what has to change in his squad: “I’m not knocking the players, they’ve been terrific, but I just think, to be brutally honest, this team needs more desire, belief and confidence in certain areas — desire to score goals, desire to stop goals, desire to stop crosses, desire to work hard without the ball.

“The players are working hard, there’s no doubt about that, but I just think we’re lacking that belief. When things are going against us, that’s when you’ve got to really dig in and you find out.

“At the moment, as we have been all season, we’ve just been a little weak at times and we’ve got to change that.

“We need at least one goalscorer," he continued. "We need good energy throughout the team, we lack a bit of pace in the team, so we’ve got to get more pace.

"We’ve got to get more aggression, we’ve got to get more desire where it matters in both boxes, and those are the areas that we’re going to be targeting in the summer."

Photo: Action Images

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Ipswich1994 added 09:09 - Mar 18 Good young Talent but feel hes not good enough for our division he doesnt fit in our team well and would do well at huddersfield in the league below along with the mighty jordan rhodes
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SouperJim added 09:16 - Mar 18 obvious, 2/10 for the jordan rhodes comment
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MAVERICK added 09:30 - Mar 18 Jordan Who
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Ipswich1994 added 09:41 - Mar 18 Jordan rhodes silly billy
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BYRNE_16 added 09:42 - Mar 18 Sorry but he has not set the world alight for Me.
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Ipswich1994 added 09:44 - Mar 18 He is at the mighty terriers and has scored 18 goals this season and was injured for a month he has scored more than scotland and priskin put together
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BlueBoots added 09:45 - Mar 18

"We need good energy throughout the team, we lack a bit of pace in the team, so we've got to get more pace."

If Jewell is saying this, I can't understand why he hasn't given a start to 2 of the only players in the squad with energy and pace (Peters and O'Connor)?

Jewell doesn't seem to want to make too many changes from match-to-match, but there are plenty of younger players in the squad who could have come in, freshened things up (particularly when we've been playing Saturday / Tuesday nearly every week) and probably shown a lot more enthusiasm...

Ipswich1994 added 09:47 - Mar 18 DU DU DU DU SUPER WICKHAMM!
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MAVERICK added 09:47 - Mar 18 Sounds a good buy then
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Ipswich1994 added 09:50 - Mar 18 Hope Wickham Scores Against Scunny Put his chances of winning this award up
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floridaboy added 09:57 - Mar 18 I hope he scores as well and wins the award on Sunday. Then his price will rise a few million and we can cash in during the summer and get in a couple of experienced strikers who know where the back of the net is and are not afraid of getting hurt in the process!
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Vic added 10:00 - Mar 18

I love the way that he's saying pretty much all the same things that Keane used to say! He speaks of passion, desire, aggression, belief, confidence, etc, etc.

Isn't it interesting that two managers with completely different characters find exactly the same problems with the team. Suggests to me that the basic problems are not with the management or systems but the players themselves.

itfc4eva added 10:04 - Mar 18 great player.
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brandonlee added 10:20 - Mar 18 We play a 4-3-3. Are you kidding???? Come on Paul play the 4-4-2 that has brought you so much success. So what if everyone else plays 4-3-3. WE CLEARLY DONT AND WEEK AFTER WEEK WE HAVE A LONE STRIKER!!!!!! THE ONLY FORMATION I HAVE SEEN FROM YOU IS 4-5-1!!!!
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ernie added 10:30 - Mar 18

has not set the world alight this season to be honest. what exactly has Wickham done this season apart from the hattrick? He's not even a 15 goal striker at this level yet- if we get an offer for above 2 million in the summer we'd be lucky-although he's got the potential to vastly improve. Anyone else who thinks otherwise or that he is worth 10-15m dream on and have a look at the Portsmouth, Reading and Watford games again. He regularly misses excellent chances in the box and has no idea where he should be running off the ball or where anyone else is running to..still has a lot to learn imho and shows no more promise than Dyer when he was coming through at 17

itfc1981 added 11:30 - Mar 18 I dont know if its been mentioned before, but Jordan Rhodes is a good player. Perhaps we could get him on an exchange deal? Simon Clegg going the other way (no innuendo intended).
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TractorRoyNo1 added 11:32 - Mar 18 kid is being totally wasted at left mid-field, stick him up front with either of the others and see IF he can score a few before the end of this sad season, at least another gong may put another zillion on his price tag
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TractorRoyNo1 added 11:37 - Mar 18 still not sure if Rhodes can do it at this level, but believe it was stupid to sell him, just to make room for wickham, should have gone out on year long loan - however i do rate the bullard-hairstyle who plays for Peterbro, we should snap him up from under the grubby noses of the scummers NOW!
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TractorRoyNo1 added 11:40 - Mar 18 BTW - nothing wrong with 4-5-1 Vengers Vankers, Barcelona, Man Utd etc seem to make it work - ahhhh but they have a fast, intelligent goal scoring forward and we have a choice of 'bluey 'or 'crazy'
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itfc1981 added 11:46 - Mar 18 ^^ or lazy or Fatty as they are otherwise known!
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StowTractorBoy added 12:01 - Mar 18

Some very harsh comments on here about Wickham. The lad is 17 for heavens sake and has far excelled his years. Just back and not knock him as he will be top player and certainly worth more than 2 million. That figure is joke. Finally stop harking on about Rhodes the player wanted to leave fact so whats the point of keeping someone who does not want to be here. You may see how good Rhodes is next season if Hudders are promoted and I hope they do so we get some more dosh.

blue_em_away added 12:30 - Mar 18 ^^^^^^^^ Totaly agree. ernie.... you know nothing dude!!
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BlueVelvet added 12:36 - Mar 18 Get more pace by moving Edwards up and putting on Jamie Peters and get a good striker, play 4-4-2 with Wickham up front and a new striker and you'll find the goals start flowing
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