Andre Gray: Success or Failure?

Arriving at Brentford at the beginning of last season for 500k from Luton Town, Andre Gray was intended to serve as a back up for Scott Hogan. However, due to Hogan's injury (which now looks set to rule him out until April 2016) Gray was thrust immediately into the spotlight as our primary striker. Gray's form has divided opinion amongst both supporters and the media. Whilst some argue that his 17 goals in his first season in the Championship was a fantastic effort, others have pointed to crucial misses at vital points in the season and claimed that, had we had a more established and prolific striker, we may have even been able to launch an attack on the two automatic promotion places. So, was Andre Gray a success or failure in his first season at Brentford?

Success

Many would point to the sheer number of goals that Andre Gray has scored to justify his success this season. His 17 goals in the Championship amounted to two more than our primary striker last year, Clayton Donaldson (who ammassed 15 for Birmingham City), and indeed ties with £11million man Ross McCormack who also scored 17 for that team from down the Thames. Not a bad return for a player who was playing against teams such as Braintree and Welling last year, as opposed to Watford and Middlesbrough - both of which he scored against this term.

Another indicator of Andre's success in the season goneby is the high demand for the 23-year old. In Queen's Park Rangers lies a recently relegated Premier League club who clearly believe that Gray has the potential to see lead their front line in their bid to bounce back to the top division immediately. QPR reportedly want to freshen up their side by signing young and hungry players and they feel that Gray striker would make the ideal addition.

Finally, one only has to look at the quality of goals that he has scored this season to realise that he is a player capable of gracing the Premier League one day. His audacious chip against Cardiff showed cool finesse, whilst his power and pace was too much for Watford to bear as he smashed home the first goals of the game in our 2-1 defeat at Griffing Park. His goal of the season, however, must have been the brilliant finish against Wolves when he spun three defenders before lashing into the bottom corner from just inside the box.

Failure

Despite his excellent goal scoring record, many have argued that Gray needs to improve significantly in sme aspects of his game in order to maintain hisposition as first choice striker. Heading is one of these, and I can't remember Gray scoring a single header last season. Our weakness in the air has been well-documented, and with one of the smallest sides in the division we need to make sure that we take our aerial chances when they do come our way. Gray has been guilty of missing simple headers on a few occasion. Against Derby at home (a game we triumphed 2-1 in the end) Gray was awarded a free header, unmarked, but only managed to strike the post from six yards out. Similarly in the dying minutes at Wolves he struck the woodwork with a header that really should have seen us draw level. Many have suggested that a more established target man should be brought in to add diversity to our attacking options.

More worryingly though is Gray's tendency to miss vital chances in crucial games. His composure sometimes seems to desert him at the crucial moment in big matches. At the iPro he let Derby off the hook several times with close-range misses which he really should have scored, and ended up costing us two crucial points which meant that we only scraped ahead of the Rams on the final day of the season (cheers Reading!). The first play-off semi-final leg also saw Gray blaze over from eight yards out - although to his credit he redeemed himself with an excellent finish later on in the game. Perhaps the biggest of Gray's blunders occurred against Fulham, when he managed to scoop over from inside the six yard box with the empty goal gaping. Again, we could have been punished had Fulham brought the game back to 2-2 following a nervy few minutes at 2-1.

Verdict

Overall, however, it has been an excellent season for Andre Gray. Following Chris Long's injury he lacked any meaningful support and was forced to play every game week-in, week-out. Brentford's lack of depth as a whole was a cause for concern towards the end of the season as performances started to slip, particularly at home. Understandably, no one felt the strain more than Gray.

Despite this his grit and determination shone throughout. His goal against Middlesbrough, where he hunted down a seemingly lost cause before slotting in from a tight angle, was a testament to both his determination, pace and raw talent. Hopefully there is a lot more to come from Gray next season.

#gray #championship #brentford #luton #mccormack #fulham #donaldson