Well Rhodes really did contribute to be fair to him (and also Farke!). Initial plan was to

play him at 9 and Pukki at 10, but after the first game or two it was clear Pukki should be 9, and Rhodes the closer.

And he closed a lot of tight games for us with his hold up play. That's a little underrated. With his historical goalscoring reputation (rightly or wrongly), teams were also a little wary of overcommitting to him in those situations which also allowed us to get out of our own half under pressure. He played 36 games that season. In the meantime he did chip in with 6 goals or so. I think without him that year we probably don't get promoted.

If you then fast forward to signings we made to replace that role - Drmic, Hugill, Barnes - over the years only maybe Barnes on occasion provided even half what Rhodes did.

Posted By: Legacy Fan, Jul 8, 10:51:49