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I want to keep this thread free of morality and his conviction etc.
Talk of him playing for Wales. Is he any better than what we already have? He had a purple patch a few years ago but was always on the decline [IMO]
A lot of Sheff utd want him back, let's be honest we only have vokes and hrk as out and out strikers would maybe try him in a friendly but would the faw allow him to be picked
Having just watched Joe Allen scoring a brace for Stoke on MOTD I reckon we should play him up front for Wales.
Who would play in midfield to take his place ?
He was badly missed against Georgia .
If Coleman thinks he is good enough then he should bring him back!!
Church won 9 caps last season, playing a grand total of 144 minutes. He made 1 start in the Ukraine. His average playing time as substitute is 10 minutes, 22 seconds.
Church would be barely missed in terms of his appearances, which, in terms of use, he's there for the last few minutes to give someone a rest.
Evans would be the same, just competition for a bench warmer at best.
Broken down, his goal ratio in the Championship is 0.24, where he hasn't played a game at that level for 5 years (though not because of his footballing ability). His goal ratio in League 1 is 0.77. That suggests to me where his level is - not quite good enough in the Championship but easily good enough for League 1.
If he is able to force his way into the Championship and score more regularly than he did before then we can ask the question of him being a part of the Wales set up. At present I think he's behind the likes of Bradshaw and rightly so.
Ahead of Bradshaw?
I don't see Ched Evans as a forward likely to start making a claim for a regular place. I'd sooner a youngster get the experience. Toshack's blooding of young players has helped us get where we are. Evans might well be better than Church, yes I'd just about go along with that as the season progresses and Evans gets back into the swing of things. But for me, it's highly unlikely he'll ever be better than our 3rd choice forward. His career stats don't suggest he's likely to ever threaten the forwards we currently have and I think it would be wrong to deny younger players a go for someone in that position.
I don't really know about Bradshaw as I've never really seen him play.
However I think Evans was a much better player than Church before he went to prison, whether the stats proved that or not as a player he was clearly better. Whether he still is remains to be seen, but I'd prefer a player who's scoring goals and in his peak rather than blooding a youngster for the future. Football is about now. Toshack might get some credit but the reality is that it's more down to having a few brilliant players, and not anything to do with a handful of international games donkeys years ago.
I don't expect to see Ched Evans in the Wales squad. He was better than Church and may be still, but that's hardly a ringing endorsement as Church is not good enough anyway.
The fact that Church makes our squad regularly just shows how short of strikers we are.
Evans is (was) not better than Vokes or HRK so I would prefer to keep them and, as suggested already, add a couple of promising youngsters.
Chatter about him ""coming" to Cardiff in January ?