Signed to be the striker to fire us to promotion, Matt Godden, in scoring in almost all of the key games against our promotion rivals last season, did just that. The importance of those goals went someway to overriding what had otherwise been an inconsistent and patchy campaign from Godden, which saw at least two notable dry patches. Godden’s occasional struggles in front of goals perhaps highlighted that we weren’t exactly a free-flowing attacking unit that could put chances after chance on a plate for the centre-forward, but it tempers the confidence in him being our main man in attack as we step up the Championship.
Due to the quality and number of creative midfielders we’ve played at one time, the last thing we’ve needed from Godden is for him to deviate too far from the shoulder of the last defender and it’s been a sign of the team playing poorly when Godden has dropped deeper. As such, the focus with Godden has been on his ability to get into goalscoring positions and his finishing. In comparison to the other strikers in our squad, Godden is probably the best at those two things, however, there’s still the sense that he could have scored at least five or six goals more than he did last season if he’d had the composure of a truly top-level striker.
For someone who has been the hero of a promotion-winning season, Matt Godden heads into this season with something to prove and, depending on if we add competition in attack, his starting position in the side not fully guaranteed. While his streaky form could make him a difficult player to rely upon, having someone whose confidence can peak as much as it can trough could be useful this season if it can somehow be timed to maximum impact and we have other attacking options who can contribute goals while Godden is going through a dry spell. The question mark against Godden is whether he is reliable enough to be the main man in attack in the Championship, but that is not to say that he doesn’t have an important role to play this season.
Sideways Sammy 