Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article
In this weeks Teenage Kicks In our intrepid young writer Darragh Mullen looks to the future with Jermaine Beckford. Be nice still!
101 starts and 66 goals but for some reason the jury is still out for me!?
Wary that my first two articles on this site are slightly controversial I would first of all like it to be known that I don’t spend my whole time looking for problems or just attention for that matter!
Jermaine Beckfords start against Leyton Orient last Tuesday night was his 101′st for the club and I think it is safe to say that describing his time at Elland Road as influential is very much an understatement. Against Brighton last weekend he managed to nick his 66th goal for Leeds continuing to add to his already impressive stats. He was in the League 1 team of the year last season and has been the Clubs Fans Play of the Season for the last 2 seasons. I can’t understand then why then I still don’t rate him as highly as other Leeds fans seem to.
Of course we are all supposed to be concentrating on the here and now and I am a big believer of that but I suppose its probably only human that I keep wondering about our squad next season if or when we ever manage to get out of this league. Of course there is still a very long way to go yet this season first and alot of hard work is involved in getting out of this league, but I am trying to access current players and how they would get on at a higher level and of course Beckford is one who I can’t help but think of.
For the last 2 seasons I think it is safe to say that he has been our best player or at least our most valuable. His goals have saved us on countless occasions but for some reason I see him nothing more than a slightly above average Championship striker at best. Automatically I can tell that my argument could never be logical as the stats are going to clearly prove me wrong but I can’t help but feel that there is not much more life for Beckford outside of league 1 when we begin to play against stronger teams and stronger defences.
If I were to use the term flaw again, although it might not be the right phrase, one for Beckford would be that in general over the past 2 and a half seasons he has not been consistent away from home. In fairness the problem has not been so bad this season but he seems to get in this frame of mind where he gets frustrated and just doesn’t play well. His work rate drops and he just doesn’t seem interested. The funny thing is that more often than not he somehow nicks a goal from nothing. The same thing has traditionally happend in bigger games where Beckford just doesn’t show up with what we expect of him. The same thing where his work rate drops completely and he gets frustrated and seems uninterested. Well known examples of this will be any of the playoff games in recent years but there are plenty more examples to go by.
Another thing that makes me doubt him is his shot to goal ratio. This season he has scored 13 goals. That is a great tally so far but if you compare that to his shots and then to his shots on target. Beckford has taken the most shots out of any player in the league so far this season with 68 and 29 on target. Compare that then to Rickie Lambert who has scored 14 goals this season with just 54 shots and 23 on target. These statistics were similar last season also as Beckford took the most shots out of any player in League 1. Some might argue that a player who is constantly taking shots is a good thing but I would be worried that if he were a Championship player or perhaps playing for a poorer Premiership side then he is going to need to be much more clinical with his finishing.
Before people might point it out I realise that I am probably contradicting myself alot in this article. In general though I am not focusing on him as a player in general but if he were to be a Championship player or as said above perhaps a Premiership player. I am ready for him to prove me wrong on this one but I just do not rate him any higher then a slightly above average Championship player. Beckford is currently tearing this league apart but going on what I said above I don’t think he will be near as succesful in the Championship next season, with or without Leeds. When he begins to be man marked by players of Kisnorbo’s standard he is obviously going to find things more difficult and have to use more than just his pace to score alot of his goals.
When I began writing I was in an upbeat mood but as I contued to write I began to form a more pessimistic view and I am not sure why. I realise that living in Ireland I am not seeing him week in week out like most of you but I think I have given a pretty fair assesment of Beckford all be it a bit pessimistic. For me at the moment the positives far out weigh the negatives but at the moment I am not particularly confident of Beckfords standard in comparison to other leagues as you alrady know. I will readjust my opinion next season but for now I really do not believe that Beckford has what its needed to tear apart the Championship like he does in this league.
