RALPH Hasenhuttl is pleased with the form of Scotland international Che Adams but admits he is wary that goals must still come elsewhere, conceding: “You can never be sure, there is no guarantee as a striker.”
The 25-year-old frontman has only netted once in the Premier League this campaign, but he now has four in five matches for club and country in all competitions.
He will be buoyed by his adoption as Che McAdams by the Scottish faithful, repaying them with two crucial goals to secure a home seeded World Cup play-off in March 2022.
And, although not scoring in the most recent 1-0 win over Aston Villa, he had struck in back-to-back Saints games including an equaliser at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge in the EFL Cup and the superb winner at Watford.
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His finish against previous 100 per cent qualifying record holders Denmark in Scotland’s 2-0 win at Hampden Park was a calmer, more considered placement that Saints’ fans haven’t really been able to get accustomed to with the forward.
He himself said he has been in those areas and snatched at chances – a lot of his notches have been in spectacular fashion, sometimes moments after he had squandered a sitter.
“He's scored more difficult goals than this one,” Hasenhuttl said, assessing his Scotland strike, “it was a good finish but not outstanding. I know he can do this.
“When you're in good shape, and he is, this is something that they all have. They have a very good strike technique. They're all working hard (Saints’ strikers) and they're working hard for the team.
“The number of games that they will play now will help them to get better. Everyone needs games and I will try to give everyone the chance to perform. We have seen a lot of rotation this season, in nearly every position.”
Th Austrian added: “This will be the goal for the weeks ahead.”
With Norwich, bottom of the Premier League table, Adams will be targeting another chance to add to his Premier League goals tally – which now stands at just 14 goals in 74 games.
But Hasenhuttl has warned that nothing is guaranteed when it comes to goals.
“You can never be sure,” he said, “you can only work hard during the games and then get yourself into positions to score.
“He needs to learn from the clips and footage we'll show him and then just do his best. They need a good clinical finish, they need this.
“There is no guarantee as a striker. You can be in the very best shape and then miss three great chances in a row.
“Che had some moments where he scores the difficult ones and the easy ones he doesn’t.”
Hasenhuttl continued: “He is developing and we're happy that it's here. We're happy that our strikers are scoring.
“If they do not score, the tens must start to score and we are missing this a little bit, we need more goal threats from them.”
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