There was one American goalscorer in the EFL Championship’s Boxing Day slate.
Patrick Agyemang scored his sixth goal of the season in Derby County’s 1-1 road draw with Birmingham City. The U.S. men’s national team striker continued his positive run in John Eustace’s starting lineup, stepping up again for the injured Carlton Morris.
Agyemang did what he does best in the 27th minute to propel the visitors in front at St. Andrews. Rhian Brewster’s cross was headed home by Agyemang, giving the former Charlotte FC man his fourth goal in his past three appearances.
He remains second on the club’s scoring ranks this season.
However, the Rams’ lead wouldn’t last past the 64th minute as Jack Robinson equalized for the hosts to make it 1-1.
Both teams finished with 10-men on the field, with Agyemang playing 85 minutes on the afternoon.
Rams boss John Eustace praised Agyemang’s continued improvement this season while also admitting his excitement for his team’s collective work rate.
“It’s a group effort,” he said postmatch. “Patrick’s really finding his feet now in the Championship. You know, the connection between him, Brereton and Rhian is certainly something that is exciting. We’ve had to find a different way to play and to build, but I’m absolutely delighted.”
11th place Derby County will next travel to Leicester City on Monday before hosting Middlesbrough on New Year’s Day.
“2tone, the point is you shouldn’t get all excited about “the pace” a striker is on.”
JR,
Just to second that, the candidates for #9 position have pretty much sorted themselves out at this point.
Josh has not been terrible and his scoreless streak, including his time under Pochettino seems to me to be more about bad luck but there seems to be something about Josh that does not exactly mesh with how the USMNT plays.
If they pick four strikers here are our four best recently;
Flo 23 caps, 8 goals a goal every 2.875 games
Pepi 34 caps, 13 goals a goal every 2.61 games
Wright 20 caps, 7 goals a goal every 2.857 games
Agyemang 12 caps, 5 goals a goal every 2.4 games
Flo is the best all around soccer player and probably the best all around #9,
Pepi is the closest thing to a lock for scoring as a second half sub as anyone I’ve seen in a very long time.
Haji is a better winger than the other
Patrick seems to have that intangible disruptive element that Pochettino values.
I think they go with three strikers. Pulisic is our most dangerous player, our best goal scorer and is most likely to going to be our leading goal scorer.
All things being equal, I suspect Flo, Pepi and Haji are the picks.
I’m not concerned about Haji’s dry spell; he has time sort it out and a promotion battle to motivate him. Patrick could be useful and this team knows how to use him but Haji knows how to lead the line and is just a better player.
The way Agyemang is on the rise and Wright is on the decline wont be surprised to see Agyemang on the March friendly roster. Agyemang on pace for 15 plus goals.
Remember when you had Haji on pace for 30+? Unless you’re talking Kane, Lewandowskie, or Haaland strikers go thru streaks. Two months until Poch is submitting his roster. Look back two months to October Balo was scoring every 3 or 4 matches, Haji was on fire, Pepi was just returning from injury, and Sarge had dramatically cooled. Big Pat was just getting his feet wet after surgery. By late February odds are those 5 will be in different forms than they are today.
I stated he was on pace fioe 30 and I stipulated if he stayed healthy and in form. Which he was out injured for a month and hasn’t stayed in form. Sargent has never been consistent. Balo is on 5 league goals and looks on pace for around 12 to 15. Big Pat looks to be on pace for around 15. Pepi is on pace for around 16 to 18 goals. Wright is streaky, so wont be surprised if he hits another streak at some point.
My bad Balogon is on 4 league goals which puts him anywhere from 8 to 12 goals at the end of the season with the pace of his goal scoring.
Wright was on pace for 25 plus. Now he isnt.
2tone, the point is you shouldn’t get all excited about “the pace” a striker is on. If you went back 3 weeks Pat’s pace is a goal every 5 matches. That’s why you shouldn’t get too excited about hot streaks. Sargent was “on pace” for 58 goals going into the September window, did virtually nothing for 60 minutes vs South Korea and has scored once since. Maybe Pat will continue his pace until March or maybe he won’t score again until then. That’s why managers don’t put too much stock in how someone did over a three week period against struggling teams.