Joe Gelhardt has had his critics since coming in on loan from Leeds and Luke O’Nien isn’t standing for it, so if you’ve got any complaints you have to go through him first. Luke thinks Joe has done great with what he’s been tasked to do all alone.
MORE THAN GOALS
“Ok strikers are judged on goals but he brings way more than that. I think he’s been brilliant. I watch him, even when I play I watch him, I think his body position, the way he’s willing to receive it. You have to remember he’s an isolated man. The way we are playing we’re not as close to the goal maybe when you are playing off a big guy. We are further away from goal so he has to graft harder, he’s got to get the ball and hold it up.”
BIG FAN
“Me personally, I’m a big fan of him. I think he’s brilliant and the goals will come for him. We have to work harder to dominate the ball further up the pitch so he’s closer to the goal because he’s doing so much work from deep.”
FIGHT ON HIS BEHALF
“I know a few people give him stick saying he’s not scoring but they can come to me and argue that because I think he’s brilliant. I think it’s different to when I first joined and I think where we are is really positive. We are in the top half of the Championship, we have young players making their introduction on a big stage, like one of the biggest stages in England and in football. Not many people have the privilege of playing in front of 35,000 people.”
BIG STEP UP
“To make your entrance on a stage like this, I don’t think people appreciate how hard that is. I did it with more than 100 league games under my belt and struggled. These kids are coming in without that experience and sometimes stepping out is a win for them. They are going to learn and develop. Take Abdoullah Ba for example, the other day he gave the ball away a couple of times and then got an assist. That is some character to do that. He is only going to grow.”
HOPE THEY CONTINUE GROWING
“Edouard Michut is putting in some really good performances and he has come a long way. These are their first starts in the Football League and you have got to remember how difficult that is. I look at that and say fair play to them. That’s some character to step out and do what they are doing when the judgement is high and there is a lot of pressure. I look at those guys and hope they carry on playing, developing, learning and making mistakes. That’s how you learn.”
