A fifteen / twenty goal a season forward is unlikely with the way we set up. However, a bare minimum should be that they can hold the ball up and hold opposition defenders off, bring others into play, run the channels and get in the box when it matters.

I’ve seen nothing of that from Benteke after patiently hoping he’ll get some kind of form back. Let’s be honest he’s always been lazy for us but forgiven when he’s scored goals.

Against Brighton he was diabolical for 70 minutes, and one of the reasons we struggled. For a big bloke he’s as weak as piss.

Wickham has done all of the above in a couple of sub appearances albeit not against the best opposition and despite not being at thepeak of fitness.

He’s not necessarily the answer but shown enough to suggest he shouldn’t be dismissed so quickly and can bring us a decent alternative or plan B when we need.

We create enough opportunities, it has been the problem that too many of them have been wasted just like Wickham's goal against Norwich, we have had so many balls running across penalty boxes with not a sausage in sight that I've lost count to be honest.

Because of the nature of the injury that kept him out for most of the period he was missing, and the time it takes to get up to speed, after. Everyone is guessing. He still isn’t up to speed , that shows. 90 minutes Saturday , might bring him closer. But the signs are not bad he won’t stick every chance away, but already he shows every sign that it’s in his game to get on the end of those balls across the box that have been missed out on so often this season in particular. As RR said his all round game is decent he just needs his fitness.
And that’s the real problem. Will he get it and keep a it?

15-20 goal striker in the premier league is a myth for clubs like Palace, created by pundits from sky and the rest with their boring old cliches. Look at the last few seasons, the only consistent players to hit 20+ goals were Kane, Salah, Mane, Auba and Aguero. 15+ were achieved by Lukaku, Sterling I.e top 6 club players and occasionally on a one of you get the odd mid table club tlike Wilson for Bournemouth.

Wickham can score goals when fit, so will Ayew as he’s proving this season. Hopefully wickham can stay fit and we’ll have two strikers with very different attributes that can both chip in with a few more goals.

Living up to one of my nicknames 'Statto' outside of HOL (!), I have conducted some research and discovered the following :

2019/20 1 goal from 5 apps
2018/19 1 goal from 8 apps
2017/18 Possibly missed whole season as no stats available
2016/17 3 goals from 10 apps
2015/16 6 goals from 24 apps
2014/15 6 goals from 40 apps
2013/14 15 goals from 34 apps
2012/13 2 goals from 23 apps
2011/12 1 goal from 19 apps
2010/11 9 goals from 41 apps
2009/10 6 goals from 29 apps
2008/09 0 goals from 2 apps

I have no information as to how many starts he made amongst the apps I have listed.

Edited by Willo (04 Jan 2020 9.26am)

The point is that Wickham can't really be judged until he's properly fit. That means free from injury and fully match ready.

At the moment he is free from injury.

He needs games on a regular basis and I don't think he will get that with Palace because we can't afford the luxury of starting him every week while he is still so rusty.

The obvious answer is to loan him for the rest of the season in the hope that he comes back in the summer in the right physical condition to be considered for a starting place.

I think it all depends on what we do this transfer window.

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