His performaces over the last few games to me have made a significant difference to our season, not least winning a derby.
Both goalkeeper and striker are particularly vulnerable to their season being greatly influenced by poor performances by the rest of the team - Pickford has been helped by having a great duo in front of him whereas I don’t think the same can be said for those behind Dom.
Here is the team behind him when we were “getting something out of the centre forward at the club”
en.wikipedia.org
Compare that to our current squad - wouldn’t you agree that there is a significant decrease in the quality of service to said centre forward? And a significant stylistic difference in setup/play style that might play its part too?
I agree we need better cover for him/rotation options when he is off form, with luck Chermiti can be that. And I do think for at least part of this season Dom’s finishing hasn’t been as good as it was pre-injury.
However between the service we can provide them, our current finacial woes and basket-case ownership situation I think you might also be pretty disappointed in the performance of any Dom replacements too.