[hardtobeat]

Totally agree

We missed him at QPR and first half at Huddersfield

[Fritzl Palace]

We missed him at QPR and first half at Huddersfield

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I would challenge you and say, did we? Did we really? Just think of the away games prior to this good run of form away from home and BTA was up front in most, if not all, of them. Think back to Swansea away, Norwich away, tepid defeats where he failed to make any difference whatsoever with his lack of ability to control a football.

So, as I say, did we actually miss him or is this a common case of a footballer looking better by being injured for a few weeks so people forget his deficiencies

[DevonInStripes]

Up front has been on our weakest area season after season thanks to our poor recruitment. Thank goodness for BTA who has been the only striker, with any league experience ,available on a regular basis in the last 2 seasons .

[Dan]

BTA is there or thereabouts an average championship striker (with the potential to get better), which makes him by far our best striker. He was in a bit of lull before his injury, as much I think due to over reliance on him this season thanks to injuries elsewhere. I find it hard to see how anyone could possibly have watched Wallace struggling up front in recent weeks and genuinely thought BTA wouldn't be an improvement.

[MarkW]

Up front has been on our weakest area season after season thanks to our poor recruitment. Thank goodness for BTA who has been the only striker, with any league experience ,available on a regular basis in the last 2 seasons .

I'm not sure we could have foreseen both Maja and Dike being out with substantial injuries.

I have a lot of criticism for our recruitment but we have 3 centre forwards in a one-up-front system. Ordinarily that would plenty

[boinging_along]

BTA is there or thereabouts an average championship striker (with the potential to get better), which makes him by far our best striker. He was in a bit of lull before his injury, as much I think due to over reliance on him this season thanks to injuries elsewhere. I find it hard to see how anyone could possibly have watched Wallace struggling up front in recent weeks and genuinely thought BTA wouldn't be an improvement.

Personally, I think Wallace does a better job up front than BTA - he's certainly not any worse.  Jed is involved more, and it also means we get to play Fellows\Grady\Johnstone etc.  When BTA's main attribute is "he runs around a lot", then that's something Wallace certainly does.

[beechyboy90]

Wallace movement creates space of which MJ and Fellows really have benefited from.

[timdon]

I agree with both of the last 2 comments. Wallace makes a lot of intelligent runs which have created space for both Johnson and Fellows. BTA makes just as many runs but often not with the same amount of awareness of what is going on around him. Given our current good form, I'm not sure if I would reinstate him as I'd be loathe to drop any of Wallace, Fellows Or Johnston.

[Fritzl Palace]

We’ve won 3 and drawn 2 of the five without him. It’s not broken currently, no need to try and fix it

[ABaggie]

Without bta we’ve got players in the box that understand what runs to make. Definitely know need to change it.

[BalisPen]

Imagine the possibilities of he had a half decent striker to bury the chances we create, we'd be challenging for the top 2.

[JMullen95]

Imagine the possibilities of he had a half decent striker to bury the chances we create, we'd be challenging for the top 2.

With the exception of Southampton, I don’t think any team in the top 10 has a striker that has scored more than 15 goals this season.

[robnewbold]

So BTAs performance to date, given his experience , is pretty good, even though he could not hit a barn door from 2 yards on some occasions. Carlos has certainly gotten the best out of him.

[rajesh-wba]

We also need to remember that Thomas-Asante was predominantly played out wide on the left hand side at Salford. I believe we’ve never had the opportunity to play him there due to our injuries at centre forward - he’s in many ways stepped up to the plate and offered us a lot. Yes he could quite easily have scored 3 goals last night but he’s an instinctive striker rather than a striker who scores with finesse. The less time he has to think about what to do - invariably the outcome is better.

Apologies for wavering off topic - back to Carlos - I think he will tinker with a 3-4-2-1 now we have Phillips back.

It could be a formation we opt to play in the Away leg.

A win on Saturday may give him the opportunity to experiment with the final 3 games.

[KYA]

Asante gives his best you can't argue with that but he's not even in the top 20 in the division for goals and assists underlining the great job Carlos has done to keep the team ticking over.

[Albertbaggie]

With the exception of Southampton, I don’t think any team in the top 10 has a striker that has scored more than 15 goals this season.

But most of those teams have two players, in some cases three, with more goals than our leading scorer, according to the BBC.

[timdon]

With the exception of Southampton, I don’t think any team in the top 10 has a striker that has scored more than 15 goals this season.

Ridiculous comment. Are Leeds not in the top 10?
Why did you make your comment about 15 goals, rather than the 12 that would have exceeded the tally of BTA? Because it suited your argument maybe? If you had made your comment in relation to 12 goals (the number that exceeded BTA/s total) the answer would be all but 2 of the other clubs in the top 10 have someone !!

[DevonInStripes]

Without BTA this season we would really up against it striker wise . Not one other recognised striker has scored more than one goal  this season for us so far .

[Mikkyk]

He does miss chances, and it is bloody frustrating at times because you think he could get so many more goals than he does.

However he does get himself in the right position to have the chances in the first place - I don't think we have anyone else at the club who does that.

His movement for the first against Rotherham was very good.

[lewisant]

I don’t think he was ever bought to be first choice number 9 - I certainly appreciate just how much he’s filled in while others have been injured. I would prefer others were there and that he had a chance to play wide in front 3 but he’s not had the chance.

But where he has had to fill in he’s tried incredibly hard for the club and the ROI is excellent.

[luke.jones1234]

Without BTA this season we would really up against it striker wise . Not one other recognised striker has scored more than one goal  this season for us so far .

Yeah because they have all been injured

[SmethDan]

Yeah because they have all been injured

Which is pretty much the point he's making. We've been carried rather than hindered by a former League Two wide forward being tasked to lead the line with little or no back up or respite. For reference this is the highest goals per game season of his career to date and at a higher level.

He's awkward and raw as opposed to poor. His decision making and finishing can be infuriating at times but no one can fault his effort and application. Without him and in the absence of others I doubt we'd be in the the playoff spots.

I'd rather see a Brandon Thomas Asante type apply himself as opposed to a recognised centre forward in the form of a Kenneth Zohore or a Jordan Hugill sauntering around with a thumb up their bum looking a mile off the pace every day of the week and especially on a match day.

[gazberg]

CLearly our 3rd choice striker who has to play most of the time due to injuries. Bargain at 300k.

I don't disagree with any criticisms of him in terms of his technique etc but in terms of value for money one of the best signings of the Lai era.

[caravanc58]

He's 25, top scorer in his first year here and likely to repeat it this year, goal of the season last season against Stoke, he's played in over 80% of our games playing a role he wasn't intended to do due to injuries to other forwards.
For £300k.
We've had to shop at Poundland because of our finances and this chaps been a bargain.

[luke.jones1234]

Which is pretty much the point he's making. We've been carried rather than hindered by a former League Two wide forward being tasked to lead the line with little or no back up or respite. For reference this is the highest goals per game season of his career to date and at a higher level.

He's awkward and raw as opposed to poor. His decision making and finishing can be infuriating at times but no one can fault his effort and application. Without him and in the absence of others I doubt we'd be in the the playoff spots.

I'd rather see a Brandon Thomas Asante type apply himself as opposed to a recognised centre forward in the form of a Kenneth Zohore or a Jordan Hugill sauntering around with a thumb up their bum looking a mile off the pace every day of the week and especially on a match day.

 Listen he hasn’t “carried”us at all ,let’s not use dramatic phrases ,if you remember when he was injured we were unbeaten and still scored a lot of goals,300k ,80million or free ,in my eyes he’s a very poor player,and I would put good money on it any of our youngsters (ie faal ,Malcolm) if they played as many times as assante this season they wouldent have been far off his goal tally and assists