"It's like having Drogba" - Claim made on player Bristol City signed from QPR | OneFootball

Sinclair Armstrong is starting to get to grips with the Robins after his summer transfer.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Bristol City's start to the season has been relatively inconsistent, with two back-to-back 3-0 defeats undoing a lot of early hard work.

However, the Robins had a fantastic summer transfer window, in which they revolutionised their squad after years of mid-table finishes in the Championship.

One player to make the move to Ashton Gate was Sinclair Armstrong, who joined Bristol City from Queens Park Rangers for a reported £2.5 million in July, and he has already made an impact for his new club.

The 20-year-old has appeared in all five of City's Championship games so far this season, but has only registered one goal.

Nevertheless, with chances coming at him left, right and centre, it's only a matter of time until Armstrong starts firing in the goals consistently.

Armstrong's style of play is beneficial to Bristol City

The young striker arrived at Bristol City off the back of a largely poor season in terms of goal output for QPR, with Armstrong finding the back of the net just three times in the second tier in 2023/24.

But, with his pace and strength, he is already proving to be a handful for defenders in the Championship, and should perhaps have more goals to his name than he currently has.

The Irishman will be hoping that he can become more prolific in the coming months, with the pressure starting to mount at Ashton Gate following a poor few weeks.

Yet, Football League World's Bristol City Fan Pundit, Tom Sandy, believes that he can recover and start finding the back of the net on a more consistent basis soon.

When asked whether he has been impressed by Armstrong so far, and whether he can reach the 15 goal mark this season, Tom told FLW: "I have been a massive fan of Sinclair Armstrong since he became a Bristol City player. I mean, obviously, he's very raw, and his finishing could definitely be improved upon.

"He's missed a lot of big chances, but the big chances he’s having the keepers have done well. He hasn't been high and wide, he's keeping his shots low, keeping them on target. He just hasn't quite had the Midas touch, some would say, but I've been very impressed with him," he began.

"Whether he's going to have 15–20 goals this season, I'm not sure. I think I'd be happy if he hits over 10. But the way he links up play and the way he drags chances out of nowhere; he's so physical, he's so strong, and he's so fast, that he can make chances all by himself.

"He's got a very similar profile to Antoine Semenyo, who obviously excelled in the Championship, and is now excelling in the Premier League. Obviously, he's a wider player than Sinclair who plays through the middle, but I think he's fantastic, and I think he's had a larger impact on games than he's been given credit for.

"I think he's had a larger impact on games than Fally Mayulu has had during his time at Bristol City. Obviously, he has scored two goals for us, two fantastic goals, but when he doesn't have those chances, and he doesn't score the fantastic goals, he can be a passenger in the game.

"It's difficult if he's isolated up there to create anything because he’s a tight link-up kind of player. So, in games where we've not been as dominant as we’d like to have been so far this season, Armstrong has been the perfect player for that. He can do all the link-up play, but we can lump the ball up to him, and he can hold it up. He can win the ball back, and he'll press fantastically."

Tom continued: "I think having him up front, it’s like having Drogba back when Mourinho would deploy him and Chelsea would just play hoof ball to him.

"It would push the defence back and back because they didn't want this guy around them and in behind them, they didn't want this guy being physical on them. It helps the whole team to wrestle up the pitch because the defence drops so much deeper.

"That's how I see his role in the team right now and that's why I'm such a big fan of him. I wouldn’t say he’s been underwhelming in any way. Whether he’ll score 15–20 goals, I'm not sure, but I'm certainly happy with how he's been."

Armstrong must start converting chances

It can be said that a lot of hard work from strikers does come off the ball, but that does not give them a free pass to keep passing up opportunities to find the back of the net.

Armstrong has done a lot of good in linking up the midfield to the attacking third, but has passed up multiple chances to add to his goal tally.

In Bristol City's 3-0 loss to Derby County before the international break, the 20-year-old had three shots that were stopped by Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, the Rams' goalkeeper. However, he did not make the Swede work too hard to make the saves.

If he can start to challenge goalkeepers more, then he will start to prove that he is worth his reportedly high transfer fee. Otherwise, supporters may start to grow more and more frustrated.