A bit of quality at the top of the pitch

[Keen Blade]

How many times have you heard CW say "we're good at going from A to B , but for tangible success , we need to be better in both boxes , where games are won + lost , especially at the top of the pitch".
I'm so fed up of hearing it + it's been crucial again today , by his own admission.
A quality striker was his stated priority in the summer.
Defeats like today's highlight that struggling on to January without one is going to cost us points we otherwise deserve.
Which is frustrating when we play such good football.
Our next home game reminds me that we murdered Brum at home last season but dropped 2 points.
How can we avoid a repeat ?
Is it possible to coach better finishing from experienced strikers ?
If not , I fear CW will ultimately get fed up of stating the bleeding obvious + move on , if not seriously backed in January.
Every Blade knows we are one quality striker away from being proper contenders for success.
And there's no bigger Blade than Kevin.

 

[LJBlade]

How many times have you heard CW say "we're good at going from A to B , but for tangible success , we need to be better in both boxes , where games are won + lost , especially at the top of the pitch".
I'm so fed up of hearing it + it's been crucial again today , by his own admission.
A quality striker was his stated priority in the summer.
Defeats like today's highlight that struggling on to January without one is going to cost us points we otherwise deserve.
Which is frustrating when we play such good football.
Our next home game reminds me that we murdered Brum at home last season but dropped 2 points.
How can we avoid a repeat ?
Is it possible to coach better finishing from experienced strikers ?
If not , I fear CW will ultimately get fed up of stating the bleeding obvious + move on , if not seriously backed in January.
Every Blade knows we are one quality striker away from being proper contenders for success.
And there's no bigger Blade than Kevin.

I’ve said it before but it seems I need to say it again, Wilder was happy with the budget he was given. If he was looking for players that didn’t fit into that budget then that’s his fault and he can’t be getting ‘fed up’ because of it.

 

[wizadry]

I’ve said it before but it seems I need to say it again, Wilder was happy with the budget he was given. If he was looking for players that didn’t fit into that budget then that’s his fault and he can’t be getting ‘fed up’ because of it.

Wilder said he was happy with the budget before the Brooks sale, he didn’t really say anything after it and the evidence suggests with the one free transfer and a loan signing up top that we haven’t spent enough in this department, your guess as to whose fault that is will be as good as mine.

We needed a defender of Egan’s ability so that needed spending but we also needed a quality striker and we should’ve had enough money to bring one in aswell as Egan.

McGoldrick is a good addition and Washington might prove to be but I still think we lack that real quality striker a club who wants automatic promotion should have.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Wilder said he was happy with the budget before the Brooks sale, he didn’t really say anything after it and the evidence suggests with the one free transfer and a loan signing up top that we haven’t spent enough in this department, your guess as to whose fault that is will be as good as mine.

We needed a defender of Egan’s ability so that needed spending but we also needed a quality striker and we should’ve had enough money to bring one in aswell as Egan.

McGoldrick is a good addition and Washington might prove to be but I still think we lack that real quality striker a club who wants automatic promotion should have.

Quality in the final third costs a disproportionate amount of £'s. We've incrementally improved the first 11 from last season, and with our financial constraints that has got to be admired. Unless the result of the current KM/HRH face-off is cash galore, then retention of the stars and incremental improvement is the best we can hope for for the next 3 transfer windows. If we couldn't find a suitable striker in the summer, I doubt we'll find one in the JTW, and we'll continue to go with what we've got and then make a decision on CE in the summer. As has been said before, we have a looming replacement issue with Sharp/Clarke/the great god Duffy that needs to be addressed, and what is troubling is that in those 3 players we have the majority of goals & assists of the team.

 

[Hartley Hare]

The striker you talk of is £10m+ with wages that would exceed the pay structure. We are not alone, with just about every club looking for that twenty goal a season centre forward.

Do you look to recruit that proven premier league player, perhaps out of favour, and in the autumn of their career? Alternatively, a young buck from the lower leagues with plenty to prove and prospects?

I am sure behind the scenes efforts have been made. Who are the candidates for January?

HH

 

[South Bucks]

We spent 4 million on Egan instead of a striker while Stearman sits on the bench and then go shopping for strikers at poundland with the crumbs left and it really showed 2nd half yesterday with our subs.
Our priorities are wrong, too defensively orientated and slow and lacking quality up front. We win when we move the ball quicker up front and are more offensive but didn't do that yesterday so paid the price.
Ref was an awful homer. We had a good pub crawl though.

 

[wizadry]

Quality in the final third costs a disproportionate amount of £'s. We've incrementally improved the first 11 from last season, and with our financial constraints that has got to be admired. Unless the result of the current KM/HRH face-off is cash galore, then retention of the stars and incremental improvement is the best we can hope for for the next 3 transfer windows. If we couldn't find a suitable striker in the summer, I doubt we'll find one in the JTW, and we'll continue to go with what we've got and then make a decision on CE in the summer. As has been said before, we have a looming replacement issue with Sharp/Clarke/the great god Duffy that needs to be addressed, and what is troubling is that in those 3 players we have the majority of goals & assists of the team.

........and what’s even more concerning is the fact we won’t get a single penny for any one of the three players you mention so we’ll have to fund that from somewhere.

 

[BettingBlade]

Depending on how Ched gets on I’d seriously consider getting him back in the first team in January.

He seems to have started okay at Fleetwood and hopefully with more games he’s back to somewhere near his best. If we can get him anything close to what he was like that League One season he’s easily our best striker.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

The striker you talk of is £10m+ with wages that would exceed the pay structure. We are not alone, with just about every club looking for that twenty goal a season centre forward.

Do you look to recruit that proven premier league player, perhaps out of favour, and in the autumn of their career? Alternatively, a young buck from the lower leagues with plenty to prove and prospects?

I am sure behind the scenes efforts have been made. Who are the candidates for January?

HH

Using proper computer game logic and having never seen any of them kick a ball I'd say we should go on a cheeky scouting mission for the following players:

Macauley Bonne (22 yrs old). Leyton Orient. 27 goals in 55 games.
Jayden Stockley (25 yrs old). Exeter City. 25 goals in 52 games.
Ronan Curtis (22 yrs old). Portsmouth. 5 goals in 7 games.

I'm also torn on Jason Cummings at Peterborough (I appreciate he's on loan from Forest), there's certainly a good footballer in him somewhere, but he seem a bit of a prick.

 

[Weasel]

[QUOTE="South Bucks, post: 1806633, member: 17650"We win when we move the ball quicker[/QUOTE]

Nearly nailed it pal. We don't always win when we move the ball quicker and play with greater tempo, we we sure as hell always look a damned site better and a more dangerous side.

 

[Stretch]

We spent 4 million on Egan instead of a striker while Stearman sits on the bench and then go shopping for strikers at poundland with the crumbs left and it really showed 2nd half yesterday with our subs.
Our priorities are wrong, too defensively orientated and slow and lacking quality up front. We win when we move the ball quicker up front and are more offensive but didn't do that yesterday so paid the price.
Ref was an awful homer. We had a good pub crawl though.

You may have a point BUT as I have said repeatedly on here, towards the end of last season folk were frothing at the mouth on this forum for us to sort the defence out and stop conceding soft goals, oh and to get a decent replacement in for Coutts. They were the priorities and I don't recall too many people complaining about our strikers, unless I have just had a memory black out? Which is possible.

 

[Weasel]

Strengthening the back line this summer was just as important (if not more so) than the forward line.

We gave far too many soft goals away last season and we always looked like we would concede if put under any sort of pressure. CW did what he needed to do and would have sorted the forward line out to if silly money wasn't being asked. He will get that put right too in the next window or two.

 

[LJBlade]

Wilder said he was happy with the budget before the Brooks sale, he didn’t really say anything after it and the evidence suggests with the one free transfer and a loan signing up top that we haven’t spent enough in this department, your guess as to whose fault that is will be as good as mine.

We needed a defender of Egan’s ability so that needed spending but we also needed a quality striker and we should’ve had enough money to bring one in aswell as Egan.

McGoldrick is a good addition and Washington might prove to be but I still think we lack that real quality striker a club who wants automatic promotion should have.

What is your definition of ‘enough’?

 

[Tom Bott]

Why was this thread not started after the Villa and Bolton games ?

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

He's been saying it since before the last January transfer window, it was our number one priority back then.

 

[wizadry]

What is your definition of ‘enough’?

‘Enough’ was probably the wrong word as I think the calibre of player brought in isn’t good enough for a promotion chasing team, we haven’t brought the right quality of player in regardless of the fee was more my point and you usually have to spend something to achieve this, although there are cases where much isn’t needed, Leon being one of them.

 

[LJBlade]

‘Enough’ was probably the wrong word as I think the calibre of player brought in isn’t good enough for a promotion chasing team, we haven’t brought the right quality of player in regardless of the fee was more my point and you usually have to spend something to achieve this, although there are cases where much isn’t needed, Leon being one of them.

As it stands we’re the 4th highest scorers in the division so far so we can’t be too far away. If we had scraped a 1-0 win yesterday this thread wouldn’t have been written.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Not too many days ago there were a lot on here waxing lyrical about how excellent were when we smashed 4 past Aston Villa, now we don't have any quality up front again. I'm hoping that as Wilder isn't a petulant 12 year old he doesn't go from "I love it here" to "fuck this I'm resigning" on a weekly basis.

The instant gratification required by some fans is ridculous, give Wilder (and the Chairman/men) a few more windows to strengthen and I'm pretty sure he'll be fine.

 

[JackSUFC]

Don’t like to repeat excuses we’ve heard a million times before but Wilder did all he could do to get Waghorn and Hogan in. Not his fault Derby blew us out the water and Villa’s average wage is about £300k a week.

Also what if we’d have spent £7m+ on Waghorn for him to be as poor as he’s been so far for Derby? Meltdown and shoes off on here.

 

[wizadry]

As it stands we’re the 4th highest scorers in the division so far so we can’t be too far away. If we had scraped a 1-0 win yesterday this thread wouldn’t have been written.

You’re right we’re not far off, we’re just a quality striker away from being top of the tree and that’s sort of the point.

Oh, and I’d still be saying it after a 1-0 win because I think it’s pretty obvious we’re still short of genuine quality up there.

 

[SwissBlade]

How many times have you heard CW say "we're good at going from A to B , but for tangible success , we need to be better in both boxes , where games are won + lost , especially at the top of the pitch".
I'm so fed up of hearing it + it's been crucial again today , by his own admission.
A quality striker was his stated priority in the summer.
Defeats like today's highlight that struggling on to January without one is going to cost us points we otherwise deserve.
Which is frustrating when we play such good football.
Our next home game reminds me that we murdered Brum at home last season but dropped 2 points.
How can we avoid a repeat ?
Is it possible to coach better finishing from experienced strikers ?
If not , I fear CW will ultimately get fed up of stating the bleeding obvious + move on , if not seriously backed in January.
Every Blade knows we are one quality striker away from being proper contenders for success.
And there's no bigger Blade than Kevin.

I don’t think Wilder has ever just referred to strikers in this comment about being better in the final third, doing the last bit. But I get your point about strikers being important.

The game came down to them taking a chance in our box, putting the ball into the right area. Their goal was a speculative flick header, which we didn’t challenge well enough and it went in, whether he meant it or not, he kept it on target and we didn’t have anyone on that far post. Fair enough, we could’ve done better

The chances we created, i’ll need to look back again for detail, but mostly the clearer chances seemed to come from set pieces. Norwood once again put some cracking balls in and the stand out chance fell to McGoldrick at the back post heading narrowly wide. Would a £5 million bury that every time? Unlikely. Would McG bury that at if it fell to him again, undoubtedly. We had other chances mainly from set pieces - McG, Egan, JOC and Lundstram all being in the box to get on the end of them, so whilst that elusive top quality striker isn’t here yet, we are creating.

I don’t think we were wasteful yesterday, however we could’ve done better, it just didn’t happen.

I think what we need is a player capable of changing a game, effectively this is Johnson, Washington, Woodburn from the bench as they all offer that difference from Sharp, Duffy, McGoldrick.

Do we have enough? We had plenty against Villa and Bolton, but not quite enough against Bristol C and Swansea, way off against Boro.

Over the season I’d be surprised if the new signings don’t give us much more than what we had last year, however if the right player comes available in jan then we’d welcome them... that said they need to better than Rhodes, Waghorn, Madine or that £5 m lad they had up top yesterday...

 

[LJBlade]

You’re right we’re not far off, we’re just a quality striker away from being top of the tree and that’s sort of the point.

Oh, and I’d still be saying it after a 1-0 win because I think it’s pretty obvious we’re still short of genuine quality up there.

Was it obvious after we put 4 past Villa or 3 past Bolton? I don’t recall many people claiming we lacked quality after those games.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

Are people expecting us to win every game this season ?. A one nil loss to a decent Bristol City side is nothing to be ashamed about and, although I didn't go, it sounded like we put in a decent performance. As has been pointed out the Bolton/Villa performances should tell us we don't have much to worry about.

 

[wizadry]

Was it obvious after we put 4 past Villa or 3 past Bolton? I don’t recall many people claiming we lacked quality after those games.

When you’re creating that many chances and playing that well you should score a few goals, when you have spells where you’re not at your best then that striker of genuine quality is the one that will get you those 1-0 wins and this is where we’ll perhaps fall short and the point of the whole thread.

 

[essexblade73]

Ok can those saying we wasted 4m on Egan and should have spent it on a striker pls name one that we could have bought with that amount that would improve us and would score goals at this level.

 

[essexblade73]

Not too many days ago there were a lot on here waxing lyrical about how excellent were when we smashed 4 past Aston Villa, now we don't have any quality up front again. I'm hoping that as Wilder isn't a petulant 12 year old he doesn't go from "I love it here" to "fuck this I'm resigning" on a weekly basis.

The instant gratification required by some fans is ridculous, give Wilder (and the Chairman/men) a few more windows to strengthen and I'm pretty sure he'll be fine.

dunno how they deal with life's everyday dissapointments.

 

[Grappler]

We played well up to the final third, and their keeper had a decent game. Their defenders were big and strong. They scored with a fluke goal. If we play like that all season, creating chances, we will win more than we lose.

UTB.

 

[RammyBlade]

We played well up to the final third, and their keeper had a decent game. Their defenders were big and strong. They scored with a fluke goal. If we play like that all season, creating chances, we will win more than we lose.

UTB.

I said the same to my mate after the match - sometimes these matches happen where the play is superb but the strikers are off form and a fluke goal is conceded. As long as we keep up that sort of performance we will be up there challenging

 

[8lade]

I don’t think we were wasteful yesterday, however we could’ve done better, it just didn’t happen.

I agree, at Villa everything seemed to fly in, some days it happens some days it doesn't.

 

[veganblade]

Only striker so far in this division who looks to have real individual quality is Dwight Gayle IMO.

In terms of 'championship pedigree, summer signings; Grabban, Waghorn, Marriot, Bamford (now injured) not showing miles better quality so far...