[tlms-p23]

Rewatched the goals from the weekend this morning and there's an argument for saying 2, maybe all 3 goals wouldn't have been scored without him.

Goal 1 - his goal - workrate more than skill but as someone else has said, Grant or Robinson don't score that goal

Goal 2 - the lay off to Townsend in the build up showed excellent awareness. Did the same for Rogic at Sunderland.

Goal 3 - Pure hold-up play of a target man to trap it, pin and spin the defender. Something we've missed for god knows how long.

Hopefully he can build his fitness, get a few more 90 mins in and we see him at full tilt in the final 10 games of the season

[The Black Pearl]

Good signs he is getting back close to fully firing, getting a full game will help is stamina and confidence.

[KYA]

Rewatched the goals from the weekend this morning and there's an argument for saying 2, maybe all 3 goals wouldn't have been scored without him.

Goal 1 - his goal - workrate more than skill but as someone else has said, Grant or Robinson don't score that goal

Goal 2 - the lay off to Townsend in the build up showed excellent awareness. Did the same for Rogic at Sunderland.

Goal 3 - Pure hold-up play of a target man to trap it, pin and spin the defender. Something we've missed for god knows how long.

Hopefully he can build his fitness, get a few more 90 mins in and we see him at full tilt in the final 10 games of the season

Also as the cross came over for No3 he did enough to block the last defender , as you say I think there's still plenty to come from Dike.

[Mikkyk]

He 'occupies' defenders as well.

Opposition defences are scared of his aerial threat, so for the third goal two of their backline tried to mark him. That leaves space for another attacker - which in this case was Townsend. This still requires the manager to coach that into the team and CC has done that. Under Bruce we would have one man in the box at best.

Good all round.

[WBArgo]

Rewatched the goals from the weekend this morning and there's an argument for saying 2, maybe all 3 goals wouldn't have been scored without him.

Goal 1 - his goal - workrate more than skill but as someone else has said, Grant or Robinson don't score that goal

Goal 2 - the lay off to Townsend in the build up showed excellent awareness. Did the same for Rogic at Sunderland.

Goal 3 - Pure hold-up play of a target man to trap it, pin and spin the defender. Something we've missed for god knows how long.

Hopefully he can build his fitness, get a few more 90 mins in and we see him at full tilt in the final 10 games of the season

This maybe a lazy comparison but so far, Dike has reminded me of Anichebe on a good day (for Anichebe that was roughly one in every 10 games or so).
Basically, he uses his strength really well and his back towards the opposition to lay-off other plays and spin them. At this level it's really effective and long may it continue. With the right coaching and attitude, he can only improve.

[Sted1990]

With him and BTA it feels like we have 2 real forwards! its been a long since we have been able to say that.
As for Robinson i would not have minded him coming off the bench for Swift/Rogic but he was unfairly written off after the 50/50 incident.

[johnny Cash]

I don’t want to write him off yet and tonight isn’t his fault but he’s certainly not a £7m striker.  I’m not sure he’s fit enough at the moment and he’s not particularly mobile. Could he do with trying to lose a bit of muscle mass in his lower body perhaps.

[baggie82]

I don’t want to write him off yet and tonight isn’t his fault but he’s certainly not a £7m striker.  I’m not sure he’s fit enough at the moment and he’s not particularly mobile. Could he do with trying to lose a bit of muscle mass in his lower body perhaps.

He was isolated for most of the second half after Burnley pushed us back into defending our own box with numerous crosses and corners. Missed option to sub him for BTA after an hour.

[Mikkyk]

I think that was his worst game so far - which is worrying as he should be getting better/fitter.

He won a minority of headers, didn't hold the ball up at all, wasn't quick enough to run onto balls and with his one big chance he fluffed his first touch.

Hopefully just a bad game and not a sign of things to come.

[beechyboy90]

He was isolated for most of the second half after Burnley pushed us back into defending our own box with numerous crosses and corners. Missed option to sub him for BTA after an hour.

BTA suspended still. Would have been better putting diangana or wallace.up top to run around and play on the shoulder. Dike was blowing

[gazberg]

Don't think he's ever going to be a 'baller' type of player but was knackered by 60th minute and could not bring Grant on in his role. We miss BTA badly for the ability to swop them.

[baggiebof]

I'll judge Dike at the end of the season, it takes time to regain proper fitness and sharpness after so long out. He is limited in terms of his ability to dribble and on the ball but has some big strengths that we need to play to.

[aboing]

Dike - hes a lumux and grady is a fairy not intersdted in being here

[wba_1996]

I don’t want to write him off yet and tonight isn’t his fault but he’s certainly not a £7m striker.  I’m not sure he’s fit enough at the moment and he’s not particularly mobile. Could he do with trying to lose a bit of muscle mass in his lower body perhaps.

He is. A top Championship striker nowadays costs upwards of £20m, look at Watkins, Maupay, etc. Blackburn want £15m for Brereton Diaz and he's only got 6 months left.

Think the issue we have is that we chuck large portions of our very limited funds on 1 or 2 players and pad the squad out with freebies. Then fans expect those players to perform like £20m players when, in football terms, £7m is nothing.

We paid for potential with Dike, he has very good physical attributes but he's very raw, we need to remember he's younger than BTA. If we want the finished product whilst in this league with our financial situation then we go for someone like Scott Hogan, probably outscores Dike and BTA in this team but I'd prefer us to have one eye on the future.

[Atomic]

We do have to be a bit patient with Dike. It's frustrating, but we do. He's coming back after two bad injuries. It takes time to get proper sharpness back.

We've seen what he's about though. He's good in the air, very powerful, can pin defenders  can be a right handful. The only thing that has surprised me with him is his lack of pace, I expected him to be "expolsive" but actually he's quite slow.

There's a player in there though and he's still young and developing.

[Manc Baggie]

I think that was his worst game so far - which is worrying as he should be getting better/fitter.

He won a minority of headers, didn't hold the ball up at all, wasn't quick enough to run onto balls and with his one big chance he fluffed his first touch.

Hopefully just a bad game and not a sign of things to come.

I agree with this, I was surprised at how poor his touch was & for someone who looks like a heavyweight boxer, he was out muscled almost the whole game.
He looks like he is carrying too much muscle weight to me. You don’t see many good players with that much bulk.

[costa blanca baggie]

I agree with this, I was surprised at how poor his touch was & for someone who looks like a heavyweight boxer, he was out muscled almost the whole game.
He looks like he is carrying too much muscle weight to me. You don’t see many good players with that much bulk.

I agree. In the box, weight means something. Running… it’s a hinderance.

[boinging_along]

He looks like a player who has missed a season and half.

[albion59]

Just not good enough. I have said all along he would not be the answer. Assante is the man we need going forward. He is going to be a  special player for us.

[Hunnington Baggie]

Just not good enough. I have said all along he would not be the answer. Assante is the man we need going forward. He is going to be a  special player for us.

I actually think  Dike's doing perfectly fine in the context of how long he was injured. Against BTA, both of them are statistically similar so far under Carlos with similar minutes on the pitch (Dike has 45 mins more but that's due to BTA being unavailable rather than favouritism). totally agree with others that Dike's done after an hour but again, not surprising given the layoff he's had.

[Baggiee_Boyy_Benn]

Jesus Christ have a day off you lot.

From bottom to 6th in 12 games or so.

Dike scored last week and had major involvement in the other 2, so 3 contributions.

1 dim performance against one of the better teams the championship has seen when they had the ball almost the whole game.

Calm Down.

[TheBaggieMan]

Daryl Dike isn’t a naturally gifted footballer which I think is obvious.
Also, his lack of pace is of concern as is his tendency to get bullied off the ball given his bulk.  That said, he try’s and does score and seems a nice guy but, he’s not the saviour that everyone on here hoped he would be.

[Luke.jones12345]

Give the bloke a rest ,after Luton everyone was giving him praise etc,one bad game a week later he’s no good ,the man has had a year without any football still getting himself up to fitness and he’s had one bad game ,not the end of the world !

[Blowee]

Give the bloke a rest ,after Luton everyone was giving him praise etc,one bad game a week later he’s no good ,the man has had a year without any football still getting himself up to fitness and he’s had one bad game ,not the end of the world !

I’m not sure that I’d necessarily say he had a bad game. His first touch wasn’t great and he made a couple of poor decisions but he was playing very deep. If that’s how he was told to play to keep the shape of the team then he’s just following instructions. For me we lost last night because we gave Burnley a lot of respect by playing so deeply without looking to attack them. It might have come off and we’d be claiming a great win but it’s hard to withstand the waves of pressure we were under in the second half.

[TheBaggieMan]

I’m not sure that I’d necessarily say he had a bad game. His first touch wasn’t great and he made a couple of poor decisions but he was playing very deep. If that’s how he was told to play to keep the shape of the team then he’s just following instructions. For me we lost last night because we gave Burnley a lot of respect by playing so deeply without looking to attack them. It might have come off and we’d be claiming a great win but it’s hard to withstand the waves of pressure we were under in the second half.

It were like the Alamo and the Zulu’s attacking Rorkes Drift!