Is It Time For McGoldrick To Sling His Hook?

You either love him or loathe him and more recently I have to say that the latter is more often true.

David McGoldrick is a very gifted footballer but seems to lack a football brain. How else can we explain some of his horrendous decision making on Sunday and, if there was one person most culpable for this hugely disappointing defeat, it was surely him!

He has lots of natural talent but seemed overly concerned with his own performances and not the team’s. Against Norwich, he tried shots from ridiculous positions, when there were lots more options and then missed the target with a header when completely unmarked!

A succession of misplaced passes and a distinct lack of pace, made him look very pedestrian when he lost possession, and in the second half he twisted his neck to get his head on a ball that he put wide, when behind him was Joe Garner in a much better position to head home. Garner was clearly frustrated with his strike partner and put his hands up in despair.

Before Daryl Murphy started scoring prolifically, there was one season when McGoldrick top scored but then, a series of injuries has meant that up until now, his appearances have been limited.

The game against The Canaries though was his tenth in a row but he is still a player that baffles to deceive. He is not good enough for the Premier League and even the Irish would have to be very hard pressed to consider him for the playoffs – let alone the World Cup finals, I would have thought.

You can probably read into this that he is not, nor never will be, one of my favourite players. Yes, he has talent but he is profligate with it and too many times he wants to take on the world when there are much better scoring opportunities around him.

His contract is up shortly and on this occasion I think Town are wise not to rush into giving him another one. He said, ‘I have not been offered anything by the club yet but if that changes then obviously I`ve got to look at it. My family are back in Nottingham, so I have to think about that. I`m 29 now and have probably got one or maybe two contracts ahead of me before I`m in the real world, as they say!’ And that is his problem. He does not live in the real world and his erratic performances reflect it.

I know some of you will think I am being unfairly harsh on a player who has been a loyal servant to the club for some years now, but the mistake we made, was not to sell him off to Leicester for the 7 million pounds they were offering at the time.

At 29 and coming on 30 it is sad to have to say that his best days are probably behind him and let’s face it, he was more of a shooting star than a superstar, when all things are considered.

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich