Incredibly silly given his goal scoring record this season, but looking beyond that I do think it’s time Simms got the nod from the start in the next game.
Simms xG per 90 is best in the league, his recent sub appearances have all been positive and he has offered more in those short spells than Wright had in the larger part of the games. Simms also just looks bang up for it whereas with Wright I sometimes get the feeling he is holding back for fear of getting injured and missing out on the World Cup. If that’s the case the best thing we can do is put him on the bench and make it clear that unless he ups both his work rate and his output back to the levels he was showing earlier in the season he isn’t going to be picked for club or country. If it’s a choice between Wright not scoring and Simms not scoring, I’d pick Simms for his wider role in the team, as we saw against Stoke. Wright isn’t even contesting that flick-on never mind winning it.
Thing is, this is just what you’re going to get with Wright. He blows both hotter and colder than most forwards in this division and that’s super frustrating and I was one of those calling for him to be sold in the summer, but I think you’d be mad to do that now in January - even if we did bring in another forward.