Gunnerblog

Ready Or Not: Jay Simpson

108 guns July 23rd, 2010

Hello all, and welcome to the latest installment of Ready Or Not - a look at striker Jay Simpson.  A couple of pre-season goals against Barnet brought him back in to contention, but having since been left out of the squad for Austria, things look a little bleak for Jay.

Simpson burst on to the scene with a couple of Carling Cup goals against West Brom - a team he went on to join on loan, as he spent half the 08/09 battling relegation from the Premier League.

Last year, he left West Brom but still joined them in The Championship, joining the turbulent scenes at QPR.  I spoke to Clive Whittingham from QPR site Loftforwords to see how he got on.

How big an impact did Jay Simpson make at QPR?

Well he was our top scorer with 13 goals, so that’s a considerable impact in its own right, and without those goals we’d have been in deep trouble at the bottom of the league - we flirted with relegation after Christmas as it was. Like the rest of the team he peaked when Jim Magilton was in charge around September/October time when the team was scoring for fun (12 goals in three games in seven days at one point). At that stage he was playing as a lone striker with support from Taarabt, Routledge and Buzsaky which is a pretty awesome line up as Championship attacks go.

Sadly for us Magilton couldn’t stop messing with a winning side, and completely lost the plot whenever we lost, which resulted in a dramatic dip in form, Magilton allegedly headbutting Akos Buzsaky and getting the sack. After that we were never really the same with Oaul Hart’s awful long ball football, Mick Harford’s all round cluelessness and Neil Warnock then trying to steady the ship and keep us up. Simpson scored consistently until Warnock was appointed and then for whatever reason couldn’t hit the target at all.

He didn’t score in his last 16 or 17 matches for us and looked a player very low on confidence by the end of the season. He went through on the keeper in the last match against Newcastle and hit the ball straight at Tim Krul when earlier in the year chances like that were easy for him. In his defence we did flog Routledge in January and he was top of the assists chart, and we were somewhat less successful and attacking once Magilton left - in fact we were in freefall for three months of the season.

What are his main strengths and weaknesses as a player?

Well for two thirds of the season his finishing was spot on, and he was a threat whenever the ball dropped in the penalty area. That waned as the season went on though. He’s not very quick, but his touch is sound and he holds the ball well and brings others into play. Not the bravest.

What is his best position?

He played his best football for us as a lone striker. QPR never really had a partner to play with him last season so I don’t know what he’d be like playing off a target man, although there was a suggestion that that would improve him. Hart and Harford (being idiots) both tried him out wide, as I believe West Brom did the season before, and he’s certainly not a winger by any stretch of the imagination.

Which top flight players does he remind you of?

Hard to say because I just don’t think he’s good enough for the top flight. In height and looks he’s a bit like Agbonlahor, but about half as quick. His hold up and lay game is a bit Kevin Davies like - but nowhere near as good, and he’s not as good in the air. I suppose Martyn Waghorn at Sunderland is the nearest comparison - similar age, on the cusp of the first team, regularly loaned out to lower leagues, not quite clear whether he’s a top end Championship striker or bottom end Premiership player but in both cases I’d suggest the former.

Do you think he could be an Arsenal player?

No. He seems like a nice lad and an honest player, he’s certainly got ability but I’m not convinced he’s good enpough for Arsenal, or the Premiership at all, and at 21 I’m not convinced he will ever become so. The QPR fans are split on whether we’d even want him back, although I’m certainly in the ‘yes please’ camp on that one. He just doesn’t have enough pace to play in the Premiership for me. In the Championship he’d get into double figures most season just through the amount of mistakes and balls dropping in the penalty area, but you don’t get that in the Premiership. I can see him doing reasonably well at somewhere like QPR, Leicester, Swansea, Palace - but not Arsenal.

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There you have it.  A fairly clear verdict from Clive - but do you agree?

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