Ajose told he needs to do more to get a City chance
DESPITE being amongst the leading goalscorers in the whole of England this season, it seems strange to be talking of a dry spell at Exeter City. But having managed only three in their last five games, hitting the back of the net has been a slight issue for the Grecians in recent weeks.
Before that, Matt Taylor’s side had been in prolific form scoring 33 in the previous 11 matches. The loss to injury of Randell Williams has certainly played a part with the dynamic of Exeter’s attack changing and it is something they must overcome to get their promotion challenge back on track.
With Jake Taylor and Joel Randall picking up hamstring injuries, which looks set to rule them both of of Saturday’s clash with Stevenage, then Taylor’s options are becoming increasingly limited. But one man that many feel should be given a chance has been told he must do more if he wants to break into the starting XI.
Much was hoped of Nicky Ajose when he arrived at the club in the summer of 2019. But the move has been nothing short of a disaster. The 29-year-old former Manchester United youngster has failed to get anywhere near the high expectations of him with only two goals in 17 league appearances. Now, it seems, he is barely even training with his Exeter team-mates.
“Every player is part of my plans if they adjust themselves accordingly,” Taylor said. “Nicky’s not been unlucky, he had his injury and then couldn’t quite get himself going last season and his game has struggled.
“Let’s be honest, he was brought in for his dynamic movement and his threat against the opposition backline and we didn’t see that consistently enough last season. Then we made a conscious decision as a club to back the likes of MJ (Matt Jay) and Ben Seymour, hence why Nicky has fallen behind them.
“I can’t hold not scoring goals against this team. I know we are reacting to a 0-0 on Tuesday night and other results where I felt we could have scored more than one, but I can’t hold not scoring against this team and, if anything, we’ve conceded too many goals.
“Nicky is a player that, if he stays with us, we will use him as and when, but he has to get ahead of the likes of MJ and Ben Seymour and he is a different profile to (Ryan) Bowman and (Alex) Fisher.
“With the way that we’ve been playing, with pacy players, we need a physical presence at the top end of the pitch, so you can say he’s been unlucky, or not taken his opportunities when they have been presented.
“Another aspect is that he is barely training with us at the moment because we are training on the astro on a daily basis due to the weather and the state of the pitches and he doesn’t train on astroturf due to previous knee injuries.
“He is not comfortable on there but, sometimes, you have to catch a manager’s eye by training well and he is not having the opportunity to do that at the moment.”
Taylor has made no secret of his desire to boost his attacking options with a striker likely to join the club on loan at some point in this transfer window. This week, former City favourite Jayden Stockley was made available by Preston North End, which has led to plenty of wishful dreaming that a return to St James Park for a third time is posssible.
Taylor admits he would love to bring him ‘home’ and has held talks with Preston, but the finances involved make it impossible for the Grecians.
“We have to be realistic, but we have spoken to Preston and we couldn’t get close to what their wage demands would be, even for a loan fee, let alone a permanent and I think Jayden will either go to a club in League Two that can pay astronomical money, or he will go to a big League One club where there is finances,” Taylor said. “If not, he will stay in the Championship.
“He’s earnt that contract at Championship level and that is a different level to what we are at, I’m afraid. But we would all love to bring Jayden Stockley back.
“In terms of his career, I don’t want to see him play in League Two and I certainly don’t want to see him play in League Two unless it is with ourselves because he’s a player of a higher calibre and he’s earnt the right to play at a higher level.
“With Ched Evans going in at Preston, he has been made available but, as much as we would love to do that, we have to be realistic in terms of what we can achieve at Exeter City.”