Strikers

[Blade58]

Zero pace, Wilder not spending enough, Wilder spending too much, every signing "unproven", Kops about to fall down.

fk me, that's about it in a nutshell, especially about the kop

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Say it 'ain't so Joe.....

Constant repetition doesn't make it true though, does it?

We don't need some 19 year old Arsenal made of chocolate wanker on £15k per week.

Remember the trick Spurs pulled when Kyle Walker was having a storming season. 31st Jan and the bastards pulled him back to rot in their reserves.

That cos we upset em though isn't it?

 

[Reedy1889]

Well that's that then, we are f*cked. We're going straight back down.

 

[Jehovah]

I think our strikeforce is as reasonably good as it's going to be for what we can afford. I don't see any point bringing anyone else in now unless it was a proven championship striker, which would cost us upwards of about 5 million, which we can't afford.

 

[Chicken with no head]

Mmmm ched v Jordan Rhodes
Well last time against each other to me ched pissed all over him, this time cheds something to prove..:.:::
Gonna be good to see who comes out on top

 

[Hodgyman]

Zero pace, Wilder not spending enough, Wilder spending too much, every signing "unproven", Kops about to fall down.

You forgot to mention that the Desso plastic grass needs cutting

 

[Iceybabey]

If both fit, Clarke and Sharp will be our starting front two against Brentford.

That is all.

 

[FTPE]

Mmmm ched v Jordan Rhodes
Well last time against each other to me ched pissed all over him, this time cheds something to prove..:.:::
Gonna be good to see who comes out on top

If by last time you mean 11/12 season, Rhodes got 5 or 6 more goals than Ched. I think Rhodes finished on 36 goals in the league.
I don't think Rhodes is a bad player, he's just not worth a fraction of what the pigs pay him.
I bet Ched and Sharp don't finish 5 goals behind him this season!

 

[loyalblade95]

feeling confident about our strikers for next season. Billy has proved himself in the championship many times, Clarke is our most lethal finisher so he'll be fine, Lavery is young but has sored some decent goals in the championship for the pigs in previous years, Hanson may not score many but we didn't really play to his strengths last season but his height and strength will be useful, if Ched can get 100% fit he will get a few I'm sure, we have good enough players to create the chances and good players to finish them, another striker or winger would be nice though give us another option up top

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

If we play any of our strikers in a two they will be a handful for defences in the Championship. I don't think any of them will score 20-25 but they will easily manage more than that between them. We have plenty of fire power for what we need.

 

[itsinyerblood]

It will certainly be interesting to see who settles into the best partnership this season.

Dismiss Lavery at your peril, he'll have something to prove, as will Clarke, and given that Evans is a shoe-in for some I guess the only certainty is that Sharp is guaranteed a starting place, at least to begin the season. Any idea of Brooks being a first team starter is far removed from reality, but I'm sure Wilder will ensure he gets opportunities to impress, and if he does? Well that's exactly the type of problem Wilder will welcome. As for Hanson, probably best if he's referred to as The Judge as the best I think he can hope for is a place on the bench.

Putting aside that we're now in the Championship, we look far stronger than this time last season. Matt Done became a regular partner for Sharp, and against the howls from those who thought they knew the manager's job better than Wilder, Done continued to play as a useful foil for Sharp. Inevitably, as Wilder got his feet under his desk, changes were made that contributed to our ongoing consistency, so little wonder that the team altered as players were tried, some succeeding, other's not able to convince that they had a future at the club.

I think we'll be ok. We have a midfield that's mobile, there's variety there to give our forwards a range of passes and opportunities that will suit whatever combination is chosen to play. How we cope with teams whose midfield's will match, and sometimes better ours, well, that's one of the intriguing puzzles we have to look forward to. Wilder knows that moving up a division brings with it a set of problems that are unavoidable. Which begs the question, who wants to avoid playing against better quality opposition, not us I'll wager. This season promises many things, so it's down to the players to learn quickly and make sure that last season's laurels are put well and truly behind us. There's a lot of really interesting games ahead of us, now that we're finally able to look forward it will show whether we have any cause for optimism once the season is under way.

 

[Chicken with no head]

If by last time you mean 11/12 season, Rhodes got 5 or 6 more goals than Ched. I think Rhodes finished on 36 goals in the league.
I don't think Rhodes is a bad player, he's just not worth a fraction of what the pigs pay him.
I bet Ched and Sharp don't finish 5 goals behind him this season!

Don't forget Ched missed the end of the season for some reason
We'll see about any one of them being 5 goals behind at the end of the season

 

[Liaminho9]

Let's not forget the only person who mentioned Stearman was close to signing also alluded to 1 more Striker - a 19 year old Belgium. Could be our wildcard?

 

[Woodwardfan]

The strike force is fine but if one leaves and is improved upon, then all well and good.

Our midfield will score goals as well and so will our wing backs.

We have goals all over the pitch and on a very strong bench. This squad is improving beyond recogniton from twelve months ago. Add Holmes and Leonard and we will have quality and strength in depth. There will be Chapman and/or Riley type loan signings yet, more's the pity because we have quality young players already.

Then Wilder has been promised significant cash in January if he needs it.

 

[Bladesway]

Not enough fire power here, Sharp will be hit and miss at Championship, Clarke never really cut it there, Hanson not good enough for L1, Ched is not going to be the same player, Lavery will be an excellent no.10. We need more fire power but we don't seem to be linked with anyone. My biggest concern.

I just wondered when we decided last years 30 goal striker won't cut it?

 

[Bladesway]

Create chances and our strikers will score

Thank fuck someone understands how it works.

 

[blade67]

in fairness to the OP, who's taken a bit of stick here, there is evidence that goals could be a problem.

Sharp's recent championship record is 21 goals in 3 seasons before he joined the blades. I'm sue if he's fit, he'll score in bursts with a couple of lean spells mixed in, but it's very unlikely that he'll get 20.
Since 2010, Clarke has scored 4 goals in 45 Championship appearances and I'd not expect much more than that.
Lavery has 6 in 34 Championship appearances. I'd expect him to better that as he's improved and matured since then.
Hanson is a 10 goals a season League 1 player with no Championship experience at all. He'll be an impact sub who may notch a few.
Ched is the big IF. Again his goal scoring record in the Championship is average but you'd guess that if fit and in a team providing chances he'll score a few.

Overall I'd say they are likely to score no more than 25-35 goals between them. The good news is that 4 of the teams in the top half scored 60 or less in total last year, so high scoring isn't always necessary.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Agree about the concern with the strikers.
We have a few unknown quantities with high potential.
So if you want to be negative then it is possible they could all struggle
But Wilder seems to know how to get the best out of players
So I'm really looking forward to how they cope in the Championship.

Sharp is the only one that is tried and tested at Championship level.
However Sharp is unusual in that he's a bit slow, no physicality, no tricks so he needs setting up with the ball played to his feet but when he gets a chance he invariably scores. He's an out and out finisher. If our midfield are able to thread precision balls to Sharp he'll be a success next season. If the midfield lose their creativity then Sharp will struggle.

Clarke is a bit of an enigma, some in the game think he's a wasted talent and should have a better career.
Quite unpredictable and capable of scoring goals from nothing but needs to be in the mood.

Lavery has loads of pace and ability but hasn't really done it anywhere yet.
He's getting to this age where he needs to show what he's got, next season could be a big year for him.

Hanson is probably the least unpredictable of the lot. We know what we've got and how he'll play.
Some don't rate him but against certain team he's a great tactical option to have.
At the moment we need him because he brings something different to the attacking options.

Ched is the joker in the pack. He has the potential to be our best striker but he also has the potential to be
our worse striker. He's an experiemental buy and anything could happen regards his form next season.
But due to the low price paid then he's definitely a risk worth taking.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I think another wide player with some pace who can get around the back of defences and open them up would probably be as good a signing as any tbh. I wonder if we are still considering that Mackay-Stevens bloke from Celtic? He's certainly got the talent, whether he can apply it consistently I really don't know.

One of the best I've seen in that role, in recent years, was the lad Martin Samuelson, on loan at Peterboro from West Ham. I don't know what's happened to him but I gather he went on loan to Blackburn after that and didn't get any playing time - which seems a bit strange - and he's now back at West Ham again. Still only young (20) and bags of potential I'd say.

 

[Houso]

Let's not forget the only person who mentioned Stearman was close to signing also alluded to 1 more Striker - a 19 year old Belgium. Could be our wildcard?

Who what where? Not sure I like the idea of any forrens in our squad.

 

[Liaminho9]

I think another wide player with some pace who can get around the back of defences and open them up would probably be as good a signing as any tbh. I wonder if we are still considering that Mackay-Stevens bloke from Celtic? He's certainly got the talent, whether he can apply it consistently I really don't know.

One of the best I've seen in that role, in recent years, was the lad Martin Samuelson, on loan at Peterboro from West Ham. I don't know what's happened to him but I gather he went on loan to Blackburn after that and didn't get any playing time - which seems a bit strange - and he's now back at West Ham again. Still only young (20) and bags of potential I'd say.

Close to joining Aberdeen on loan from what i've seen online.

Agree about Samuelson though, looks a very tidy player. Would West Ham even consider us an option though?

 

[Liaminho9]

Who what where? Not sure I like the idea of any forrens in our squad.

It was mentioned here: https://s24su.com/forum/index.php?threads/transfers.55868/

 

[raul]

Who what where? Not sure I like the idea of any forrens in our squad.

Visited your emporium the other day Houso and was a bit taken aback tbh. Your post above explains it though.

 

[Houso]

Visited your emporium the other day Houso and was a bit taken aback tbh. Your post above explains it though.

Listen, with constant EDL and Britain First marches in the town centre, I had to adapt.

Retail can be a nazi... I mean nasty business sometimes, but it's never been better.

 

[Mario1889]

The forward line is my main concern as going into this season there aren't many goals at this level in our strikers.

We all know Sharp won't have any trouble scoring goals but if we were to lose him for any length of time to injury then where would that leave us?

Clarke has failed at this level with QPR, Wolves, Charlton and the Wendies, Lavery didn't have a great goal record while playing for the Wendies at this level, Evans only bagged 9 league goals the last time he played at this level (and we're still to see in full how such a long time out of the game has affected him) and I just don't think Hanson will hack it at this level.

If we could sign just one more player, for me it has to be a striker with a track record at this level, even if it does mean pushing the boat out financially.

Just to throw a name out there, I see Newcastle have made Darryl Murphy available for transfer. Would it be worth a cheeky bid? Knocking on a bit but he'd score plenty in this Blades team.