Patson Daka

[It'sblueupnorth]

4 hours ago, FoxesWalk said:

Daka has played something like 35 mins on average for those 130 appearances, I’d imagine Matty played close to 90 mins on average in all of his.
 

Daka is shite but so are these comparisons. 
 

edit:

Matty scored a prem goal every 772 mins.

Daka scored a prem goal every 300 mins. 
Vardy is 183 mins per prem goal for reference, and Akinbiyi is 387 mins per prem goal. So Daka is at least better in terms of scoring rate than one of our worst ever Prem strikers 🤣 

Still crap numbers for a even a bit part striker (and Daka is bit part, I don’t recall him getting a regular run of games except for under Maresca for about 8 games in the Championship), but his scoring rate is far better than even one of our highest scoring defenders ever (who did also play up front sometimes, and took a few pens on occasion… if memory serves me correctly)

Have you heard yourself, you’ve put goal per minute stats in comparing him to a centre half 😂😂

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

Why are people excusing or letting Daka off the hook? Absolutely terrible footballer - no brain, instinct, too lightweight, can’t hit a barn door etc, no presence whatsoever, no goal threat. He’s often can’t do the basics like make a simple pass. You can argue all day long he needs a strike partner, or he hasn’t had a run of games - but ask yourself why 5-6 managers have never fancied him? I’d love someone to tell me what he’s good at? I don’t care if he smiles or is a nice bloke - he’s a key part of why we’re going down to League One.
 

Watford away last weekend sums his time here up. But the ridiculous thing is, if the alternative is Ayew, I would start with Daka.

 

Bleak.

 

 

[Winstonthedog]

9 hours ago, shen said:

But that's not true though, he absolutely has instinct. In recent games he's fashioned opportunities out of nothing really (i.e. anticipating defenders missing interceptions, closing down goalkeepers etc). He's just not sharp enough to take these chances, but he absolutely has instinct. 

 

Most of his career goals are instinctive finishes.

Can't see it myself ...  if he had that much instinct his goals tally would be a lot higher, the only defenders I've witness missing interceptions are playing for us, most goalkeepers are good with their feet so he is unlikely to get the better of them ... and then factor in the amount of time he spends on his arse 

[shen]

1 hour ago, Winstonthedog said:

Can't see it myself ...  if he had that much instinct his goals tally would be a lot higher, the only defenders I've witness missing interceptions are playing for us, most goalkeepers are good with their feet so he is unlikely to get the better of them ... and then factor in the amount of time he spends on his arse 

Can't help you there 

[Freddy]

1 hour ago, Winstonthedog said:

Can't see it myself ...  if he had that much instinct his goals tally would be a lot higher, the only defenders I've witness missing interceptions are playing for us, most goalkeepers are good with their feet so he is unlikely to get the better of them ... and then factor in the amount of time he spends on his arse 

Daka instinctively runs hard putting pressure on any back line he's up against and that stretches the game but he his touch and ability don't match the work rate. Personally like his attitude but he's isn't an instinctive finisher like Vards. 

[filbertway]

Yeah I'd argue his brain and instinct are decent enough, hence why he was a bagsman in the Austrian league. Clearly he thrives on confidence though as he looks like he's never played football when it comes time to actually interact with the ball.

 

It's a low bar, but actually seeing a striker make strikers runs and be in a position where strikers should be is much more preferable to watching Ayew do anything, but be a striker.

 

So unless you take a punt on Mukasa in the striker role, we could dip down and maybe look at Hutchinson.

 

As long as either of those can do the basics of a striker in terms of work rate and positioning, then either would be an upgrade as there's evidence of them being able to control, pass and shoot.

[shen]

7 hours ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

Why are people excusing or letting Daka off the hook? Absolutely terrible footballer - no brain, instinct, too lightweight, can’t hit a barn door etc, no presence whatsoever, no goal threat. He’s often can’t do the basics like make a simple pass. You can argue all day long he needs a strike partner, or he hasn’t had a run of games - but ask yourself why 5-6 managers have never fancied him? I’d love someone to tell me what he’s good at? I don’t care if he smiles or is a nice bloke - he’s a key part of why we’re going down to League One.
 

Watford away last weekend sums his time here up. But the ridiculous thing is, if the alternative is Ayew, I would start with Daka.

 

Bleak.

 

 

Who in here is excusing Daka or letting him off the hook? He's been very poor for us on the whole, but as usual, some always have to paint a much worse picture than what reality suggests. 
I could just as well ask why you, like a few others in here, insist he has "no instinct". The guy has built his career on being a fast and instinctive striker, rather than smart, strong or technical. 

 

He's wildly inconsistent and has been poor far more often than he hasn't, but it's ridiculous to suggest hasn't shown ability or isn't a goal threat.

I personally think his goal against Ipswich was a well-taken strike. He then follows that up with missing gilt-edged opportunities against Watford just when one had gained a little hope.

I would suggest we have a bigger problem of not creating enough chances (which we haven't done for a long time now, i.e. 3-4 years).

Is this down to Daka? In part probably, but we already started showed worrying signs of lack of service to Vardy in our first relegation season. Remember then how people were questioning our greatest ever striker as well saying he was finished?

 

TLDR; I think Daka has been very poor for us, but I also think the reasons why he has failed are a bit more nuanced than "he's a terrible footballer".

[Winstonthedog]

8 hours ago, Freddy said:

Daka instinctively runs hard putting pressure on any back line he's up against and that stretches the game but he his touch and ability don't match the work rate. Personally like his attitude but he's isn't an instinctive finisher like Vards. 

Reasons not to play him far outweigh playing him .... Andy Cole was a decent player in a good team but for every 5 decent chances he would only take one .... I dare to think what Dakas ratio is .... attitude and hard running are great attributes... but its goals we need 

[foxile5]

16 hours ago, sm1 said:

Looking at his record, in the last 2 seasons at Salzburg he averaged over 30 goals a season, scoring 61 in total. That's elite numbers, in fact he got 11 goals in his 1st season with us, but he's never looked like getting close to those numbers. One thing I've noticed is he always seems to be hiding behind CBs as opposed to finding space. Against Watford Ricky crosses the ball which flashes across the goal. It would've been an easy tap in for someone standing closer to the goal line, but where's Daka. He's hiding behind 2 CBs near the penalty spot. Surely a striker should be finding space, not having to be told that by coaches. Even the most basic aspects of scoring goals has deserted him.

That’s something Akinbiyi used to do towards the end.

 

When they were in possession he’d run around like his life depended on it; he wanted to show the fans that he was up for it.

 

But when we had the ball he hid behind or next to a defender because he was actually terrified that he would find himself in space and running towards goal. He was terrified of missing so he hid in plain sight. That’s what is going on here.

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

4 hours ago, shen said:

Who in here is excusing Daka or letting him off the hook? He's been very poor for us on the whole, but as usual, some always have to paint a much worse picture than what reality suggests. 
I could just as well ask why you, like a few others in here, insist he has "no instinct". The guy has built his career on being a fast and instinctive striker, rather than smart, strong or technical. 

 

He's wildly inconsistent and has been poor far more often than he hasn't, but it's ridiculous to suggest hasn't shown ability or isn't a goal threat.

I personally think his goal against Ipswich was a well-taken strike. He then follows that up with missing gilt-edged opportunities against Watford just when one had gained a little hope.

I would suggest we have a bigger problem of not creating enough chances (which we haven't done for a long time now, i.e. 3-4 years).

Is this down to Daka? In part probably, but we already started showed worrying signs of lack of service to Vardy in our first relegation season. Remember then how people were questioning our greatest ever striker as well saying he was finished?

 

TLDR; I think Daka has been very poor for us, but I also think the reasons why he has failed are a bit more nuanced than "he's a terrible footballer".

You’re right - the goal at Ipswich was a rare well taken goal.
 

You’re right - we don’t create much.

 

Was it the Southampton game recently where he looked very good (relative to other performances?).

 

But I’m afraid to say you’re wrong - he’s a terrible footballer! How do I judge that? When he can’t make a simple 5 yard pass and wildly inconsistent. Yes to some extent how shit we are doesn’t help - but also need to acknowledge he is part of that shitness.

[don_danbury]

i can forget the 23m because he seems like a nice guy and scored 4 goals against some russian side. 

[Clever Fox]

We've simply got to put someone else up top, And I don't mean Ayew. 

If we are going to get the Wins we need. 

I'd move Okoli up top and pay Lasselles Nelson or Vesty  at CB. 

Okoli is Stong, aggressive, and good in the Air. He'd put defenders under pressure and win some headers in the Box. Unlike what's happening now, with nothing up top. 

[blueharmie]

Just needs time to settle in.

 

An absolute weapon on his day.

[The Doctor]

On 24/03/2026 at 14:39, Les-TA-Jon said:

He could be a model pro, but he could equally just be happy with the stupid contract that he knows he wouldn't get anywhere else.

I'd say the point is more that to be an elite striker you need to be, to a certain degree, arrogant, to believe your own hype, that you are the best and should be playing every minute. Daka doesn't, he tries hard but doesn't have that self belief which means that misses like at leeds in Feb 24 or probably last Saturday absolutely kill his confidence. Now, this was Vardy in 2013 as well, the difference is not about work put in by the player off the pitch, it's that when vardy lost his self belief and considering quitting, he had a top class man manager building him up with the sports psychology network that manager had implemented for marginal gains. Daka hasn't had a Nigel Pearson, he's had Gucci belt rodgers throwing players under the bus to save his own skin, and Cooper/RvN/Cifuentes, all of whom were basically inept at every aspect of their job

[CrazyKopCorner]

21 hours ago, filbertway said:

Yeah I'd argue his brain and instinct are decent enough, hence why he was a bagsman in the Austrian league. Clearly he thrives on confidence though as he looks like he's never played football when it comes time to actually interact with the ball.

 

It's a low bar, but actually seeing a striker make strikers runs and be in a position where strikers should be is much more preferable to watching Ayew do anything, but be a striker.

 

So unless you take a punt on Mukasa in the striker role, we could dip down and maybe look at Hutchinson.

 

As long as either of those can do the basics of a striker in terms of work rate and positioning, then either would be an upgrade as there's evidence of them being able to control, pass and shoot.

Yes his instincts not too bad - The goal at Ipswich is an example of a good finish. 

 

When he does have time to thing he invariably ****s it up. 

 

I thought he'd learn a lot from Vardy but he seemed to be in total awe of him and has gone massively backwards 

 

Pound for Pound one of the worst signings of all time and that takes some doing 

[shen]

56 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

I'd say the point is more that to be an elite striker you need to be, to a certain degree, arrogant, to believe your own hype, that you are the best and should be playing every minute. Daka doesn't, he tries hard but doesn't have that self belief which means that misses like at leeds in Feb 24 or probably last Saturday absolutely kill his confidence. Now, this was Vardy in 2013 as well, the difference is not about work put in by the player off the pitch, it's that when vardy lost his self belief and considering quitting, he had a top class man manager building him up with the sports psychology network that manager had implemented for marginal gains. Daka hasn't had a Nigel Pearson, he's had Gucci belt rodgers throwing players under the bus to save his own skin, and Cooper/RvN/Cifuentes, all of whom were basically inept at every aspect of their job

Yeah, that does make some sense. It could well be a problem with the head rather than raw ability. 

[The Doctor]

4 hours ago, shen said:

Yeah, that does make some sense. It could well be a problem with the head rather than raw ability. 

I think it partly is but also is partly the culture within the club. ok the Austrian bundesliga is not the best division in the world but you don't spend time in the red bull system without at least having decent technical ability. The amount of players that have regressed here and then thrived upon leaving points to a deeper issue than just the player themselves 

[LCFCCHRIS]

We're at a point where playing a under 21 or an under 18s lad couldn't be that much different. Daka offers little so surely it's time to take the chance. 

Seems naive maybe, but Daka has proved he isn't going to do anything. 

[Fox92]

5 hours ago, The Doctor said:

I'd say the point is more that to be an elite striker you need to be, to a certain degree, arrogant, to believe your own hype, that you are the best and should be playing every minute. Daka doesn't, he tries hard but doesn't have that self belief which means that misses like at leeds in Feb 24 or probably last Saturday absolutely kill his confidence. Now, this was Vardy in 2013 as well, the difference is not about work put in by the player off the pitch, it's that when vardy lost his self belief and considering quitting, he had a top class man manager building him up with the sports psychology network that manager had implemented for marginal gains. Daka hasn't had a Nigel Pearson, he's had Gucci belt rodgers throwing players under the bus to save his own skin, and Cooper/RvN/Cifuentes, all of whom were basically inept at every aspect of their job

You don't become a player like Vardy without putting everything in yourself too. Pearson told him to not quit, and probably did build his confidence up, but that alone doesn't turn you into a better player. I hate Vardy being compared to shit players with comments like "this was Vardy once". Daka has been through enough managers here, different styles and different personalities, and nothing has changed with him.

[The Doctor]

8 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

You don't become a player like Vardy without putting everything in yourself too. Pearson told him to not quit, and probably did build his confidence up, but that alone doesn't turn you into a better player. I hate Vardy being compared to shit players with comments like "this was Vardy once". Daka has been through enough managers here, different styles and different personalities, and nothing has changed with him.

you watch Vardys Fleetwood games, the ability was there. What he was lacking in that first season was belief and self-confidence 

[Stadt]

He seems to get more of the brunt for the club completely declining in every aspect, it's difficult for a player to go against the grain when everybody around is worse.

 

In his first PL season he made 23 apps, started 13 games, scored 5, made 3 assists. Reasonably good record.

 

Started 13 league games the following season, 4 G, 4 A

 

Last Championship season, started 15 games, 7 G, 5 A 

 

Last PL season, 6 starts, 1 G, 0 A.

 

This season he's on 16 starts, 3 G, 3 A - so not very good at all but who has been bar James and Fatawu?

 

He's bereft of confidence and has an eye on the door because his contract is expiring, the circumstances aren't very good and he seems to get it in the neck more so than Mavididi, Winks, Vestergaard etc. He's a striker and they're more visible but playing in a shit team with shit managers isn't going to have him scoring a goal every other game.

 

I can't wait of for the sorry episode to be over and neither can he - probably.

Edited 26 March by Stadt

[shen]

37 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

I think it partly is but also is partly the culture within the club. ok the Austrian bundesliga is not the best division in the world but you don't spend time in the red bull system without at least having decent technical ability. The amount of players that have regressed here and then thrived upon leaving points to a deeper issue than just the player themselves 

Is that list truly that long though? Can't really think of that many besides Kramaric, Perez and youth rejects like Bassey.

 

I don't necessarily disagree the culture here today is bad, but others have thrived or performed consistently at the club in that same period (Fofana, Maddison, Tielemans, Vardy, KDH, Hermansen, James). I would imagine he hasn't been coached well or maybe just has never really fit in with the squad, playing style or English football in general.

 

18 minutes ago, LCFCCHRIS said:

We're at a point where playing a under 21 or an under 18s lad couldn't be that much different. Daka offers little so surely it's time to take the chance. 

Seems naive maybe, but Daka has proved he isn't going to do anything. 

We don't have a lot of options really and throwing a completely unproven youth player into the senior team that performs as badly as this would likely only set back said kid. Monga has regressed, Page is out of the picture, Aluko warms the bench at best, Evans is forgotten. Unless the talent is exceptional and the mentality is strong, I'd strongly advise against promoting anyone now. If we do go down, then we may be forced to fast track more youngsters anyway.
 

 

[MGLCFC]

20 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

you watch Vardys Fleetwood games, the ability was there. What he was lacking in that first season was belief and self-confidence 

Not necessarily trying to defend Daka, but you watch Daka's Salzburg games and the ability was there (at a higher level than Fleetwood). Perhaps Daka's lost all confidence and self belief too.

[Richmondfox]

5 hours ago, MGLCFC said:

Not necessarily trying to defend Daka, but you watch Daka's Salzburg games and the ability was there (at a higher level than Fleetwood). Perhaps Daka's lost all confidence and self belief too.

I think it was more a purple patch and he has shown his true ability the last 4 years.  A bit like when you pull a stunner in a night club and no one can understand how it happened, and never happens again. 

[Sly]

If you saw this video and we were being linked to him this summer, you’d be very happy.

 

it just hasn’t happened for him here. He’s a shadow of the player he was when he arrived.