Bradley Fink started his first league match for Wycombe Wanderers last night in the Chairboys narrow 0-1 loss to struggling Plymouth Argyle.
Much has been made of the tall striker in his time since joining from Swiss club FC Basel, including from head coach Michael Duff who lamented the strikers inability to get “into enough goal-scoring areas”.
Yet this assessment feels harsh on the 22-year-old, who’s played just 150 minutes in the league, largely off the bench in the dying embers of games where much is asked yet little time is given.
Fink has previously proven he knows where the net is. He scored 26 times for Borussia Dortmund U19s in just 28 games, but a pattern in his career since then is being used largely as a squad option rather than as the main starter.
While Cauley Woodrow has been promising as a striker for Wycombe, especially in his link-up play, his two goals for the Chairboys in the league are hardly unenviable (and matched by Jamie Mullins and Jack Grimmer for example).
Woodrow has largely remained a constant for Duff in the league, yet his 0.44 expected goals per 90 pale in comparison to Fink’s 0.77 expected goals per 90, while Woodrow also manages less shots per game (2.71 for Woodrow compared to Fink’s 3.6 per game).
Perhaps one source for his limited lack of gametime could be down to attitude issues, yet this in of itself is a catch-22. A lack of starts and being thrown in towards the end of games with little time to make a genuine impact is unlikely to shake any frustration on behalf of the Swiss striker.
Any chances given to Fink have also emerged in cup games where almost the entire team has been rotated rather than leading it’s strongest lineup, such as against Gillingham in the Vertu Trophy (where Fink scored) or Northampton in the Carabao Cup, where the team as a whole underperformed.
Perhaps Wycombe have been spoiled by the talented Richard Kone, who memorably scored on his debut against West Ham U21s, but it’s also worth remembering he would only go on to score three more times in the league in the 2023/24 season, with it taking Kone months to adapt to professional football.
Fink looks most comfortable playing on the shoulder of the defender, yet the wingers and fullbacks around the forward rarely found the right pass or cross to Fink. Part of this is down to Bradley finding the right space, but part was due to many of Wycombe’s players such as Dan Harvie, Sam Bell and Fred Onyedinma having poorer games than usual.
While he was withdrawn at the 55th minute for Wycombe, this actually helped Plymouth as center-backs no longer had to worry about the long ball to Fink that could bypass it’s midfield, while Woodrow would go on to play as the nine, and would fluff his lines with a massive miss in the last minutes of the game.
It’s important Fink is given more, fairer, opportunities to prove himself this season, especially given that Wycombe’s other strikers are either on loan in Woodrow and Donnell McNeilly, or are the clubs youth prospects such as Cameron Stones and Jahiem Dotse (and while both are promising, neither are ready for senior football).
While he is under delivering at present, we risk getting into a spiral of negativity and short term bench appearances which will only serve to erode Fink’s development and confidence, all while slowly ticking down until our other strikers leave the club. We need Fink bedded in as a genuine option before then.
