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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
When giving his predictions for this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures, Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas had some strong opinions on what he thinks Ralph Hasenhuttl should do with misfiring striker Che Adams.
The 23-year-old – signed from Birmingham in a deal worth £15m – is yet to score a goal for his new club, and has also failed to even register an assist for the Saints in his six Premier League appearances so far.
Hasenhuttl may presumably be disappointed by his big-money signing’s impact so far, and Nicholas’ suggestion for what the Austrian should do with Adams is probably the right one.
What did he say?
When tipping Spurs for a 2-0 win, Nicholas said: “Che Adams is struggling and Ralph Hasenhuttl will want to play him, but I would leave him out and play Nathan Redmond higher up, flooding the midfield in the process.
“There will be moaning and groaning but Tottenham will get the result. They could do with a goal in the first 20 minutes to calm things down.”
Hasenhuttl probably should drop Adams
Similar to the way in which Jurgen Klopp opted to bed Fabinho and Andy Robertson in upon their moves to Liverpool – as The Times details – Adams may benefit from being taken out of the firing line by Hasenhuttl.
The striker – who scored 22 Championship goals last season – is playing Premier League football for the first time in his career with a lot of expectation on his shoulders following the £15m move.
If the former RB Leipzig boss had no other options, then fair enough: go ahead and play Adams.
However, Hasenhuttl has Danny Ings, Nathan Redmond, Shane Long and Michael Obafemi to choose from up top, so he should in no way be relying on Adams to deliver the goods just six games into his Premier League career.
Nicholas is right – Adams should be dropped.
He is still relatively young, finds himself in unfamiliar surroundings and just isn’t getting that slice of luck some strikers need – his thumping effort that came off the post against Sheffield United reinforces this.
Some time out of the firing line would do him good.