Washington: Judge me on goal return under Jacko

In current squad he's a vital component but he's not good enough to be in the 1st 11 of a promotion seeking side IMO.

Sillybilly said:

Ok mate. Will do. You’ve been bang average!  A good honest trier but conversion rate is poor. 

I wonder what BWP's conversion rate was at this level. I can't find any stats on that for 11/12, I think we cared less then, but he scored 22 goals in 42 games including a long, frustrating barren spell. He also used to blorp a lot of his shots into the keeper's shins when through on goal, quite a lot like Washington does. Washington has 10 goals in 23 appearances playing up front, which if you were being generous and said he'd manage to replicate across a season would be 20 goals in 46, which isn't too different to BWP's. People seemed to like him though. One interesting difference is that Washington has 2 assists this season, BWP had 9 which surprised me. I remember he linked up well with Paul Hayes but other than that he was part of a team that actually scored goals all through it. I think Conor would have looked great in that 11/12 team to be honest, and probably would have looked just as bad at Championship level as BWP did. It's amazing the way perceptions change though, we remember BWP as a great goalscorer for us despite the 12 consecutive league games (plus one he was dropped for) where he didn't score. It's not like he didn't have chances in those games, he missed them all. But then we won 7 and lost 1 of those games so we didn't feel it the same. This current team is so bad at generating goals that every chance Washington misses is 50-100% of the chances we get all game and people turn on him. I don't think it's likely he'd hit 20 goals this season if he'd played this way all along but it's interesting how harsh people are to Washington as a striker a promotion team can't possibly go up with and how we wish we had a player like BWP. I think we'd hate BWP in this team the same as we do the rest of them

10 goals in 23 matches is a decent return under JJ BUT the stat that matters is how many chances does he convert; against Lincoln he had 4 chances and took none. It cost Charlton the three points or at least a point if he had taken just one of those chances.
In another home game we won 2-0 he scored both goals from 3 chances.

It was patently clear( to JJ and me!) that Conor needed to play more central in a two, which would not only help Jayden but would increase his own goal returns. The player who plays alongside Stockley or Aneke in a Two up front should be scoring a goal every 2 games. Chuks was excellent with a goal every 101 minutes even if that was from the bench because of an "issue" before his short time in the Midlands. 

No problem with Washington being offered a new contract as long as he realises he on the bench if he doesn't do what all strikers are paid to do, score. He does get into some really good positions but his finishing goes from the sublime ( chipping the keeper from Mac assist) to the ridiculous (the myriad of missed chances against Lincoln).

Catch 22 for Charlton is if Kanu stepped up and scored a few in August he would be gone before the window shuts as was the case with Mason Burstow, who scored a few early goals and bizarrely was signed by the ex champions of Europe despite being so raw he can't start for a mid table League 1 side. (Correct decision by JJ)

Funny old game.

Scoham said:

Hope we keep him as a squad player on a 1 or 2 year deal.

No reason not to give him two years to be honest. 

carly burn said:

Good squad member. Not a centre forward for me. Works hard though.

What is he then? He’s not a winger and has a respectable goalscoring record - we’ve had a lot worse up front, plenty of non-scoring strikers.

Sign him up. Quality professional who has brilliant movement for this level and does score. If he was more prolific he’d still be in the championship 

If Conor was a more ruthless finisher, or at least more confident and efficient in one-on-one situations he would be playing much higher up the football pyramid.
He earned his big move to QPR on the basis of his all round game and then failed to score enough goals.
We should be making much more of his movement and intelligent running.
I'd love to keep him on as one of our pool of strikers because he offers something different.
But we badly need a clinical finisher imo

MuttleyCAFC said:

When we play teams that try to press high, he is particularly useful as he is somebody who can get behind them. He is IMO less effective against teams that play deeper, but he is worth a place in the squad as he is decent for the level and provides options.

That's one of the reasons why him and Stockley are probably better than the sum of the parts as a pair.  If you defend too deep to stop Washington running in behind Stockley is winning headers on the edge of the area, or even worse that gray area where "should the keeper come for it? ". 

You want to play a high line against Stockley and a deeper one against Washington. 

if derby keep hold of  Rooney there will be players willing to take pay cuts to play under him at derby, we are just one of many ex prem clubs in the third division and we should be keeping hold of players like Washington before they are snapped up elsewhere. 

When Washington doesn't play, we rarely win. His conversion rate may not be great, but many of his chances are created by him, and his goals per game ratio is decent. His running and work rate causes the opposition problems most games and creates space for others. I can understand others frustration with his conversion rate, but I think we will be hard pushed to find an upgrade on him. If I was picking the team he would start every game without doubt. He is not a squad player in my opinion, but a definite starter. We need to offer him a good new contract asap or he will be off (and not replaced by better).

If we don't sign any new strikers then that will tell you everything you need to know about how seriously we're going after promotion.

Can't fault his work rate but he should be kept to come on against tired defenders late on