Nathan Jones has asked fans to trust him that Danny Hylton is Championship quality and that the striker will prove ‘keyboard warriors’ wrong amid recent online criticism about his performances.
The forward has started the last two 2-0 defeats to Stoke and Millwall, after top scorer James Collins tested positive for Coronavirus and will not be available until the Nottingham Forest game on Wednesday.
Hylton – who suffered a long knee injury, only returning in January – is yet to score in the Championship, though he was only given two cameo appearances before Jones returned for a second spell in charge during lockdown.
And there have been comments online from some sections of supporters that the forward doesn’t have the quality for the division.
Jones, who handed Hylton a new two-year at the end of last season, said: “I don’t know what people are saying about Danny, I don’t read social media, but people need to remember what Danny Hylton has done for this club, first and foremost.
“So, he’s bought himself a little bit of respect, a hell of a lot of respect, because, trust me, when I came into this football club, there wasn’t the calibre of player of Danny Hylton in this football club.
“He was a catalyst for us to do superbly well, people have short, short memories. I understand that as it’s all the here and now, society now is, ‘I want, I want, I want’, the here and now.
“Danny Hylton has done wonderful for this football club, right now, he hasn’t played for a long time, got injured, did not play, wasn’t put in, so now he’s playing catch-up.
“When he gets rhythm, Danny Hylton is a Championship striker, trust me on that one, we haven’t made many wrong decisions here, so when people are giving him a bit, that’s fine, strikers need that, but Danny Hylton has done enough for this club to earn the respect of people.
“So give him a bit of slack because he will come good and when he does, the keyboard warriors can then pipe down.”
I really hope NJ is right and that with a goal or two he’ll be back to his best. He must be doing it in training as NJ wouldn’t have made the comments. My theory is that DH bullied the life out of lower league defenders (which was great) but Championship defenders just won’t have it. The two year deal does look quite generous
NJ’s absolutely right on this one. Danny deserves his chance at Championship level. Give him the service and he’ll show you the quality.
Still think NJ wrong about Kioso though. With his pace and energy he’d have given Millwall something to think about on Tuesday.