Hughton: “It won’t be a case of Shola walking straight back in.”
Posted on December 1st, 2009 | 19 Comments |
On the return of Ameobi, Hughton kicked off by giving a summary of his progress:
“Shola’s had a good week’s training.
“He’ll have another week, and it’ll be up to us when we feel it’s right.
But with a note of caution, he added:
“He’s been out for a long time, and we do have other options, and we have to make sure what we do is right for us and probably more so for him.”
“It won’t be a case of Shola walking straight back in, but we’re certainly not taking anything away from Shola in terms of the quality he’s got.
Of course, the back story to this is that despite Shola’s sparkling but brief run of form before his injury, struggling players such as Peter Lovenkrands starting to find lost pace and drive again with Mar-loan Harewood finally finding the onion bag twice after a longish spell without, and what some have perceived as a somewhat disinterested demeanor on the pitch at times. Big Andy Carroll has also chipped in with a towering presence and a few goals, and finally, goal virgin, Nile Ranger has made up for it a bit with some very useful contributions in terms of supporting the attack.
On how he delights in his dilemma, Hughton concluded with an old manager’s cliche:
“But the ideal situation is that because of the form of the team and the form of the strikers, the decision to bring him back in is a harder one to make. That’s the perfect scenario to have.”
I’d like to see Shola and Hare both on form upfront.
That’d be one hell of a strike force.