Fulham's all-time record goalscorer Gordon Davies has urged supporters to remain patient with young striker Gonzalo Garcia, drawing comparisons between the Spaniard's difficult start and his own early struggles at the club.
Despite taking seven points from a possible nine in their last three games, Fulham's attack remains a concern. Garcia, signed from Real Madrid, has scored just once in the Premier League and now tops the list of the division's biggest underperformers for expected goals (xG), according to stats from Opta, which show he should have 2.98 goals more than he has scored.
Similarities with Davies' own start
Davies, whose 178 goals for Fulham is a club record, sees clear parallels between Garcia and himself when he arrived at Craven Cottage.
"Gonzalo Garcia is 22 years of age, started life off as a winger, and has now been pushed into the centre-forward position," Davies told Standard Sport. "All of those details relate to myself. I was 22 when I joined Fulham; I used to be a winger; I was moved to centre-forward. I didn't do badly, even though I started off very similar to him."
He added: "Fulham fans must keep giving him the applause, keep behind him even if he misses chances. I'd always had the ability to score goals, and I look at Garcia and he is the nearest thing that I've seen to my playing style and position."
Advice for the young striker
Davies believes Garcia is a natural goalscorer who needs to position himself better in the box.
"I think he is a natural goalscorer. He will score goals. He's got the pace to beat players, as well," Davies said. "Here's what advice I would give to him if I was sitting down with him. It happened in the Villa game: he gets out wide or is drawn out wide to receive a ball, will play a short pass or two or three, still be involved when the ball is wide, and then when the ball comes into the box he's not in the box. I would turn round to him and say: get the ball wide to another white shirt, then forget about the ball."
"Make the run, get into the box, and then you're there when the ball finally comes in. I think he will do well for us, but we need to get him in the danger areas and get him the service."
Faith in the Fulham faithful
The 71-year-old, who scored on his full league debut at Blackpool, recalled his own slow start and credited the Fulham crowd for sticking with him.
"Garcia scored on his Premier League debut — the nice header against Chelsea — and I scored on his full league debut away at Blackpool. But for at least my first six months at Fulham, I was missing a lot of chances. Scoring a few, but I was missing a lot," Davies said.
"And fair play to the Fulham crowd — they stuck with me. They could see I was a willing runner, chasing lost causes. They could see the potential; at least I was getting those chances. I owe everything I achieved in my career to Fulham. They could have easily turned on me. If it wasn't for the Fulham faithful, my Fulham career could have been very short-lived."
Davies believes Garcia's work rate is evident but wants him to focus more on the danger area. With Rodrigo Muniz not performing to the required standard, the pressure falls on Garcia, but Davies expects him to deliver.
"They can see that Garcia works his socks off, not only going forward but tracking back. He's got a very big heart, is willing to work, but what I would say to him: work harder in the danger area," Davies said. "The pressure is on him and unfortunately [Rodrigo] Muniz isn't playing at the standard Fulham want, so it's as if it is all down to him. But I think Garcia will score quite a few goals for us this season. We are going to give somebody a good hiding in the next month."
