Name: Robert Dennis Latchford
Nickname: "The Latch"



Country: England
Club: Everton F.C.
Position: *CF
Side: LF/BS
Age: 25-28 years (18/01/1951)
Era: 1976-1979

Height: 183 cm
Weight: 80 kg

Attack: 89
Defence: 35
Balance: 90
Stamina: 81
Top Speed: 80
Acceleration: 83
Response: 91
Agility: 76
Dribble Accuracy: 75
Dribble Speed: 75
Short Pass Accuracy: 76
Short Pass Speed: 73
Long Pass Accuracy: 68
Long Pass Speed: 73
Shot Accuracy: 91
Shot Power: 87
Shot Technique: 87
Free Kick Accuracy: 62
Curling: 69
Header: 93
Jump: 86
Technique: 78
Aggression: 88
Mentality: 85
Goalkeeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 80

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition: 8
Weak Foot Accuracy: 7
Weak Foot Frequency: 5
Consistency: 7
Growth type: Standard/Lasting

CARDS:
S03 - 1-on-1 Finish
S05 - 1-touch Play
P13 - Goal Poacher

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Positioning - Reaction - Scoring - 1-on-1 Scoring - 1-touch Pass

Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Attack-Minded
______________________________________________________________

Name: Robert Dennis Latchford
Nickname: "The Latch"



Country: England
Club: Birmingham City F.C.
Position: *CF
Side: LF/BS
Age: 21-23 years (18/01/1951)
Era: 1972-1974

Height: 183 cm
Weight: 77 kg

Attack: 86
Defence: 35
Balance: 87
Stamina: 81
Top Speed: 81
Acceleration: 83
Response: 89
Agility: 78
Dribble Accuracy: 74
Dribble Speed: 74
Short Pass Accuracy: 73
Short Pass Speed: 73
Long Pass Accuracy: 66
Long Pass Speed: 73
Shot Accuracy: 88
Shot Power: 87
Shot Technique: 87
Free Kick Accuracy: 60
Curling: 69
Header: 92
Jump: 86
Technique: 76
Aggression: 85
Mentality: 83
Goalkeeper Skills: 50
Team Work: 76

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition: 6
Weak Foot Accuracy: 7
Weak Foot Frequency: 5
Consistency: 6
Growth type: Early/Lasting

CARDS:
S03 - 1-on-1 Finish
P13 - Goal Poacher

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Positioning - Reaction - Scoring - 1-on-1 Scoring

Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Attack-Minded

INFO:
Latchford was the complete centre-forward, able to score or create chances for teammates using either of his feet or his head. Despite his size, he was very fast over short distances, a quality he used to his advantage when scoring many of his goals. Great goal scorer, but was so much more - good link-up play, good at holding the ball, and good at creating chances for other players. The burly six-footer possessed the uncanny ability to hang in the air to meet a cross - never better exemplified than in scoring the winning goal in the 1977 League Cup semi-final at Bolton. But diving headers were his speciality. Excelling particularly in the air, he was capable of scoring from anywhere. He had a striker's instinct for finding dangerous positions and his touch and ground-skills enabled him to make telling lay-offs for colleagues.

Born in Birmingham, he was transferred from Birmingham City to Everton for £350,000, a British transfer record at the time. At Everton, Latchford was the top scorer for six successive seasons. He scored 30 goals in the 1977–78 season, winning a £10,000 prize offered by a national newspaper for the first footballer to reach that number in a single season. During the mid-seventies, Latchford was widely considered one of the top English forwards of his generation. The closest he came to a winner's medal at Everton was as a finalist in the League Cup in 1977. A goal poacher supreme, many of Latchford's goals for Everton came from close range. Latchford made 268 appearances (3 as substitute) for Everton scoring 138 goals. After a guest stint in Australia for Brisbane Lions in 1981, scoring 4 goals in as many appearances, Latchford left Everton for Swansea, newly promoted to the top tier of English football, scoring a hat-trick on his debut for the Swans. He scored 35 goals in 87 league appearances during his three years at Swansea, meaning that - as at Everton - he averaged a goal nearly every other game. Latchford later also played for Dutch club NAC Breda (15 Appearances – 13 Goals), Newport County and finally Merthyr Tydfil before retiring as a player in 1987.

During his time at Everton, he was the club's leading post Second World War goalscorer with 138 goals, a record he held until 1989 when Graeme Sharp exceeded Latchford's tally. By the time Latchford left Everton, only Dixie Dean (pre Second World War) had scored more goals for the club in history.

Latchford played 12 times for England, scoring 5 goals. He made his debut against Italy on November 16, 1977 and the game against Austria on June 13, 1979 was to be his last international match. From then on, the then national coach Ron Greenwood preferred Paul Mariner from Ipswich Town.

I watched some of his videos and also read about him, I would give you the following notes.

Could you explain your suggestions? "I watched some videos and read about him" isn't very explanatory.

well, some videos I watched of the games, he didn't seem to deserve 83 in STA, because he was more of an area player, much less 44 in DEF, he didn't seem to be a very technical player either, he had a good initial pass and gave few assists , not so robust to win 92 in BAL, even though he is considered a strong player in the body, he also did not score a very high median to deserve orange values ​​in HEA and SA, high yellow values ​​for him is ok in my opinion, I think these values are more important to him even if he was named one of the best players of his generation, I think he would have played more international games because he had these values.

What has the amount of caps to do with stats? If you don't know the player, then don't comment on him but most importantly don't make up things. Latchford only gained few caps because both Don Revie and Ron Greenwood prefered other players for England's attack (or to be more precise: The third guy to be there behind Keegan and Channon).
And it's not just that: We're speaking about a player who produced tons of goals while playing for pretty average teams. If he would have played for Everton in the 60s or especially the 80s (with Steven and Sheedy on the wings), then he certainly would have amassed even more goals.

I'm not inventing anything, I just gave some suggestions, I didn't say that everything there is perfect, it's just ideas to be discussed about this player, I think that's why the forum exists, and at no time did I despise this player, and yes I read a lot about it and I watched some videos, I also think it was less fast than these values ​​that are there

The thing about Latch was that in this specific era of British football, as Gurke said, managers were often going with more mobile players to combine with Keegan. So we would have Channon, Trevor Francis and Woodcock, while on the other hand a more classic type of strikers would be Stuart Pearson and Mariner - where we can agree that Bob was a much better player.. Now we could discuss Everton's lack of European football or some major successes (being in the famous 1977 League Cup final with 2 replays and a 3rd place in 1979 isn't much, but also Gordon Lee wasn't much of a manager..), but without doubt in these particular 3 years he was among the best strikers in England (Channon and Macdonald were already in decline, Trevor Francis was up an coming but reached his peak in Nott Forrest, Woodcock still young too, perhaps David Johnson or Frank Worthington could be mentioned too but i don't think they can be compared with Bob - only Andy Gray can be in the discussion)
He was delivering constantly and literally from everywhere:

76/77 - 50app/25gls total
77/78 - 46app/32gls total - first player to reach 30 goals in a season
78/79 - 44app/20gls total

Everton's top scorer for 6 seasons straight, when he left Everton, only Dixie Dean scored more goals for the club in history. I totally agree with Gurkenjoe that he would dominate even more if he was a part of the legendary teams of the 60s and 80s, I must admit I was pretty impressed by his ability - after all I posted in the spoiler all the footage i watched and found, as I do for each player, so everyone can see the same stuff..

Thanks for the suggestions, there are some valid points there - Now, what I might agree on, his DEF and BAL could be decreased, although i must admit that i haven't seen him go down in duels - we are talking about the tough era of English footbal when every team had 2 burly butchers in the back Shearer, who was almost identical height and weight is at 90 so maybe BAL can go down to 90 too, i don't think he is inferior in this area.

For STA, he was an area player but also he was the #1 go to player when initiating attack, thanks to his strength and back play, so for 90mins he was battling for the ball and running almost up to the center to fight with the defenders and distribute it to the wingers or midfielders. He wasn't running away from duels or from the ball. Perhaps I was impressed a bit more due to the 2 replays and extra time in the 1977 League Cup final, so STA could go down to 81.

HEA and SA are high because it was his main weapon and it's something he was on an elite level at the time. Shearer is at 95/94 for these, Bettega 97/91, Krankl at 87/95, Hurst 93/89, Dixie Dean who we mentioned is at 97/92..
Then we've got Crespo 93/92, Vieri 95/92, i mean Rush has HEA 90, SA 94, Batistuta 91/93
So I don't know if it should go down. Don't know if ATT should be reduced, but perhaps ST can go down for a point or two. LPA as well.

Regarding TEC, DA and DS, it's true that he wasn't a very technical player. He was good at holding up the ball (a trait that again enabled wingers and creative midfielders to get into a fine attacking position). Latch wasn't losing the ball so often, he would also deliver well on this. We can maybe agree that TEC and DA can go down to 79 and 75, and DS to 75.

Now, his speed is a delicate thing. He had a fine quickness for his size, especially in the area. Maybe Interista can help with this. He was very fast over short distances, and this should be reflected in TS, however is quickness in the area reflected more in ACC for strikers? I've noticed that strikers such as Bettega, Crespo, Batistuta, Shearer, (all abovementioned) but also the type of Gerd Muller and Inzaghi - they all have higher ACC than TS. But if we talk just about pure ACC, he is probably below 80 indeed.

Last question - what are the reasons for lowering TW and MEN?

You couldn't have written a better explanation. You explained all the reasons behind your choices for the stats very well.




I must say that I don't know much about Latchford. Anyway, I always have troubles rating TS and ACC. I usually rate ACC higher than TS whenever I see a player who starts running and shows some bursts of speed while on the run, even if short ones. I mean, that's the correct meaning of acceleration. The explanation given in-game by Konami has always been unclear, much like most of the other stats. That said, if he was the kind of big man who shows pace despite his size, I don't think that TS 83 is too high.

extremely perfect explanations, as I said, I didn't observe everything about him, I commented that I saw some games and read some texts, I also didn't say that his work is bad, far from it, I just gave ''suggestions'' about him, because I have him created on my PES12 so I wanted to share my notes and ideas.
maybe I mistranslated what I wrote, but I said he was one of the best, I just thought that some very high points he played in the second division, but his comparisons are pretty consistent.
I would give him a BAL of 90 and an STA of 79-80, no more.
SA and HEAD will also decrease some points (they are at your discretion, the player is yours)
about the speed, I think maximum 80 in TS and ACC 77-79.
About MEN and TW maybe a few points would drop, I tend to put low attackers with a high rate of SA or DA, they tend to be more individualistic in terms of dribbling and scoring goals, maybe I have underestimated that in him, thanks for the placements.

Second Division? Everton finished 3rd place and 4th place in First Division in 1977-78 and 1978-79 respectively.

Yes, skilled dribblers are usually individualistic (that's not always the case) but I can't see why you put those in the conversation. Latchford isn't portrayed as a skilled dribbler in this set. So, why less MEN and TW?

He was deceptively quick on short distances (which means despite being tall and bulky). He was a goal poacher whose specialty was the diving header, even though he had the ability to hang in the air to meet a cross.
This is a summary of his description in Everton's website. Of course Kolektivitet watched several games, but the set corresponds to how the club describes him.

IMO we can compare him to someone like Les Ferdinand, they had similar styles and a very similar scoring record (in the top division, 169 goals/403 appearances for Ferdinand and 168 goals/384 appearances for Latchford). I think Latchford was a very good striker, but I'd only give out such a combination of orange values to a truly world class striker. His stats are too close to someone like Lofthouse, who is clearly in a tier (or several tiers) above him in any discussion of great English strikers. I actually think Graeme Sharp was a better striker than Latchford, of course Latchford was more of a penalty box player and Sharp more of a target man with a complete set of skills but things like ATT, SPA and STA look a bit high here if we compare them to each other.

I also find it odd that it's been mentioned several times that he was fast over short distances, but here he has TS>ACC and only 80 for ACC. I guess that's what the high RES is for but the difference between TS and ACC still seems weird to me. To be honest I never found that this type of striker really needs any high TS stat as they're never going to use it, they're either playing with their back to goal or waiting in the box for a cross, not running into open space.

I believe what Kolektivitet proposed in his first reply should work then, maybe with the addition of a lower SPA and a switch between TS and ACC or something like that.

General update.


Thanks guys, I've went over the set again, taking into account also Stuart's note on Les Ferdinand and Lofthouse, that was very helpful as well. I think that the total scoring records are useful but we're also looking at a 3-year span in this case when he was considered a top scorer in one of the strongest leagues at the time, if not the strongest since from 77-82 only English teams won the European Cup..

Now the only thing with his slightly higher SPA is that he could really distribute the pass, especially when he had wingers with a bit higher quality, who could make a difference, such as Dave Thomas in Everton and Coppel in the NT. He also used it for 1-2 plays to get into position. That's also one of the reasons why I wouldn't look at him as a penalty box player only, I mean his response in the box was superb, but he was really a complete striker. I rewatched the clips and so I've switched TS and ACC, I think it makes sense. I've noticed again that when he would start his run, he wouldn't be caught by defenders so easily, even with the ball at his feet. Overall, I would guess this is a more accurate set for Latch.

Added Birmingham set