Not a Jan fan

03 October 2009 17:55
Hull City 2-1 WiganSoccer Saturday analysisCharlie Nicholas admits he has never been a big fan of new Hull City striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. But even he had to concede that the Dutchman took his goal extremely well in Hull City's 2-1 win over Wigan. Vennegoor of Hesselink's 60th-minute strike was added to eight minutes later by Geovanni to steer the home side to victory and lift the pressure on manager Phil Brown. But although the goal and the win will give him confidence, Nicholas does not believe Vennegoor of Hesselink will become a prolific goalscorer this season. "It won't open the floodgates," Nicholas told Soccer Saturday. "I watched him a lot at Celtic and although it was a good header, the problem that Hesselink has is he always ends up wanting to scrap people and he forgets about the main asset, which is taking the ball in and linking players up. "If he forgets about that against the bigger teams he's a non-event. "But it was a good header and it gives him confidence. Maybe he can go on a run. "But if he concentrates on getting in the penalty box to score goals you have a different individual. He's got to focus on trying to get the ball down. "If he was to stay fit I would look at him getting six or seven Premier League goals." Game-changing Hull's other goalscorer, Geovanni, has also been criticised for failing to produce consistent performances. However, Nicholas says it doesn't matter if the Brazilian is ineffectual for 89 minutes, as long as he delivers one game-changing moment. He continued: "I'd rather have a player in my team who can change it with a pass or a cross than a guy who touches it 30 times and is busy and lively. "Give me that creative ability every time because that's what they don't have enough of, the teams that are struggling at the bottom. "Geovanni, at times today, was more than a runner who works his socks off. This guy is a creator, he can score goals. I would rather have someone who is inconsistent, but creative at the same time." Frustrating The result will be frustrating for Wigan manager Roberto Martinez after his side failed to follow up last week's famous win over Chelsea. Nicholas, though, does not believe Wigan played badly - but they were made to pay for some costly individual errors. "I don't think the manager will be saying they played poorly. For the second goal, both centre-backs were back to the slack side of things. "Daft mistakes are bringing themselves back into the pressure situation, but they didn't play badly. "It's one they'll probably think they should have got something from."

Source: SKY_Sports