How do Sheffield United solve a problem like Tom Cannon?
Tom Cannon cost quite a lot of money but has yet to show his worth in that respect, so what do Sheffield United need to do to fix that?
It wasn't his fault, in that nothing seemed to work, especially in the first half, but Wednesday night's defeat for Sheffield United to Blackburn Rovers reopened a question around Tom Cannon and where he fits in.
Or perhaps, which players need to be around him to get the best from a striker who arrived at Bramall Lane 15 months ago with a hefty price tag hanging around his neck and has yet to really show on a consistent basis why United shelled out for him.
Evidently, it is going to need a different midfield that started and turned in such a turgid performance against Rovers if Cannon is to at least get the chance to thrive, but it's not just that aspect.
The 23-year-old scored 12 goals last season but only one of them came in a United shirt, the rest for Stoke City before Chris Wilder snapped him up in an attempt to secure a top-two place. Previous to that he struggled at Leicester, scoring just two league goals in the Championship but the eight goals in half a season on loan at Preston the season before, which earned him that move, again showed what he is capable of at this level.
That, it could be argued, points to his mentality, or more specifically, his ability to work in an environment where expectations are so high.
At Leicester, they had just come down into the Championship and simply had to get back up straight away. At United he was also at a club looking to bounce back and in a great position to do so at the time of his arrival. The demands on a team who had been in and out of the top flight in recent years haven't gone away and rightly so.
Conversely, at both Preston and Stoke, hope rather than expectancy had been the underlying feeling there and, though only he will know the answer to this, perhaps that is what best suits him. It could be merely coincidence but he would be far from the first to be that way.
Regardless of that, given the fact that if United were to try and sell him they would have to cut their losses considerably, it would appear as though he is going to be at the club next season unless they manage to agree a loan deal.
The pressure remains then to get something close to consistency from a player whose cost is weighing heavily.
Putting him alongside Patrick Bamford doesn't appear to work well enough, though one could argue that the partnership hasn't been given opportunity to show it. Bamford is United's best forward by a stretch so has to play when he's fit, but sometimes with Cannon alongside him, his own game changes. Where normally the former Leeds United man might hold up the ball more and wait for runners coming from midfield, certainly on Wednesday night, he was too often trying to turn the ball quickly to Cannon in a congested space.
But the team that started against Blackburn didn't help the Blades forward. There was no one like Callum O'Hare - he and Brooks were arguably missed most - nipping back into the middle of the park to stitch the play together, leaving the defence and Jairo Riedewald to excruciatingly pass the ball between themselves while looking for movement somewhere... anywhere.
Creativity was almost non-existent; Tahith Chong was so wedded to the right hand side that he might as well have been ordering a Subway up the road and as a result, Ki-Jana Hoever, who despite that had a decent game overall, didn't know whether he was coming or going at times. And again, the lack of movement in the middle meant there were precious few chances to get the ball into wider areas.
It changed after the break with the addition of Sydie Peck and Ollie Arblaster who offered a bit more dynamism and front-foot play from the midfield and Gus Hamer was on the ball more, aligned to a switch in the system. Cannon, to his credit did well to provide an assist for Harrison Burrows making a run into the six yard box.
However, Cannon's overall contribution was fleeting, though it should be pointed out that his six shots on goal on Wednesday were far more than his average of around a couple.
After all this time we are all still waiting to see him truly at his best and it seems like so much else might need to change around him to allow him to be a constant threat.
United can't afford to carry players next season and the return of Ryan One from his successful loan spell at Lincoln City adds further danger to a regular place in the side.
Work can be done during the summer to get things to gel to a point where the Republic of Ireland international can be a key figure in the squad, if that is what Wilder wants. Perhaps that's with a change in the system so as to put him in the best positions to score, though he did miss a sitter early on against Blackburn.
Or maybe, in spite of all of the above - and maybe the early miss, which could be put down to rustiness points to this - the answer is very simple, that he just needs to be settled in the team. To play regularly and be allowed to have quiet games but know that he will have the opportunity again the next time around to make up for it.
In fairness to Cannon, he hasn’t always benefitted from that opportunity in the way that some others have.
As things stand, though, it's another issue - on a very long list - that the coaching staff have to deal with in a hugely important upcoming pre-season. There doesn’t appear to be an easy answer.