November -

[SwissBlade]

I can finally see some light at the end of the seemingly endless number of Ched threads, with people getting back to debating football again!

A few seasons ago, once we were into February, I argued that February wasn’t where you wanted to be clawing points back on teams. If we get to February and we’re still struggling to chase down teams above us, then we’re in trouble. I’ve thought for a long time it’s the second quarter of the season where you really need to step up. This season, looking at the league fixtures only for November, we’ve got a hell of a month. I don’t think it’s exactly where we will win or lose the season, but I think if we have a decent enough month, then we’ll give ourselves some breathing space later in the season.

From Sat 1st Nov to Tues 2nd December we have the following

Barnsley home – Local rival – Draw
Doncaster away – Local rival – Win
Oldham home – 6th – Win
Notts County home – 3rd – Draw
MK Dons home – 7th – Win

Good news is that most of the games are home games and Bristol City, Peterborough and Preston don’t exactly have it easy either as they have to play each other.

The up side of all this is that during December, we should be able to pick up plenty of points. I’ve been optimistic in my predictions above, but we could be looking at a draw with MK Dons. If we came away from this run of games with 9 points or more then it’ll be a good month.

Kenilworth we’re ready for that goal scorer now, but I’m still not sure whether he’s someone we bring in or we persevere with what we’ve got. The options are:

Bring in someone new – Still a gamble, its either a player returning from injury or it’s an out of favour player. If it’s the latter then O’Grady would be my pick.
Continue with the same system – Jose is getting a lot of stick following Saturday, but it seems to create chances even if Baxter himself isn’t exactly at his creative best, personally I like to see him in Midfield. So perhaps if Wallace misses games Jose can drop into Midfield alongside Doyle. Scoogs seems to be getting into the box a lot more and Murphy is creating plenty. I think JCR still has to pick up some slack and support more
Higdon – Can play the lone striker role, but I think he’s less mobile than Baxter, so Baxter would be my preference in a 4-5-1/ 4-3-3
McNults – Seems to be the fans choice, but can he play that lone role well enough? We know he’s got an eye for a poachers goal, but is that at the expense of holding the ball up and bringing in players like Murphy.

(obviously this comes from seeing limited games myself and also picking up on the reports and opinions of trusted forum sources)

 

[blade.i.am]

Two local derbies where the opposition will want to get one over on us, a returning ex striker (forte) and ex player now a manager (derry) ditto and a team that beat Man U 4-0. Yep, nine points would be ok

 

[stringjunior]

Its a big month for sure and will really test the squad. A good month and the fans might just start believing again. A poor month and we're all doomed. Probably.

We could do with Brian Deane making his 4th comeback....

 

[judge]

November will be like every other month between now and may , we will garner enough points to stay around the top 6
Some will be happy with this and will talk of us going on a run and how we are improving and gelling and that clough is jose van gaal

Others like me will see the top two teams cruising to promotion without much Interference from the rest of the division and wonder if we will regret having such a poor recruitment and scouting policy

 

[SwissBlade]

November will be like every other month between now and may , we will garner enough points to stay around the top 6
Some will be happy with this and will talk of us going on a run and how we are improving and gelling and that clough is jose van gaal

Others like me will see the top two teams cruising to promotion without much Interference from the rest of the division and wonder if we will regret having such a poor recruitment and scouting policy

It must be truly miserable to be you.

 

[judge]

It must be truly miserable to be you.

Frustrating yes , miserable no

 

[Punk Blade]

McNults – Seems to be the fans choice, but can he play that lone role well enough? We know he’s got an eye for a poachers goal, but is that at the expense of holding the ball up and bringing in players like Murphy.

From what I've seen of them all, I don't see how McNulty can be a worse option as the lone striker. I've always thought that the most important thing for a lone striker is movement - having to make an effort for every ball as there isn't someone to help out, chasing lost causes, chasing down defenders, offering a variety of options for the midfield/defence as an outlet. McNulty gives you so much more movement than Baxter and Higdon. I think Higdon works ok as a target if he has someone close enough to pick up the scraps (evidenced by Murphy's goal against Gillingham) so would only use him with two up; he's just far too immobile otherwise. Baxter is ok in the false 9 position, but he prefers the ball to feet deeper so he can turn and look to play in one of the wide men or a midfield runner (most likely Scougall). I don't have a problem with Baxter in this position, but of the three McNulty is definitely the most dynamic.

You get a bit of everything with McNulty - not as big or strong as Higdon but he'll challenge in the air where Baxter won't. Not as technically gifted as Baxter (not that Baxter has shown too much of that lately), but he can drop deep and join in the build up play where Higdon simply doesn't have the ability. But he'll worry defenders and be alive to every opportunity - the goal poacher in him - which you don't really get from Baxter or Higdon.

I would use Baxter behind or alongside a main striker, I'd use Higdon as part of a front two (if at all, still don't rate him), meaning that as far as strikers go, for now, McNulty goes in first for me. Maybe play one of the others alongside him or Baxter behind, or maybe just the one, but the first striker at the moment is McNulty in my opinion.

If we can find someone with physical presence and a bit of pace to partner him then we're away.

 

[sitwell]

I would just go with Mcnulty in place of Baxter for the time being ,don't forget he and Scougall know each other inside out. I would also rotate JCR and Flynn. But this is dependant on injuries and suspensions ,Basham is now suspended ,Macarthy cup tied and maybe back to Palace and Wallace doesn't look like he has 3 straight games in him,never mind 5. But we do have a good squad ,better equipped than most.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

I don't like derbies from a points view overall as the form book has a tendency to go out of the window with them. The defence is still a concern if Paddy goes back to Palace ( when is the loan period due to end?). Butler did us a favour at the w/e by what I have read - kept their defence together. Hope he isn't allowed to play against us under the loan terms. I'd definitely start Baxter against his old club but make MM the 1st choice striker. Baxter is more effective in midfield for me but I reckon we will see a fair few false no 9's in November.

 

[SotonBlade]

I'll give you one thing judge you're consistent!

 

[Kenilworth]

From what I've seen of them all, I don't see how McNulty can be a worse option as the lone striker. I've always thought that the most important thing for a lone striker is movement - having to make an effort for every ball as there isn't someone to help out, chasing lost causes, chasing down defenders, offering a variety of options for the midfield/defence as an outlet. McNulty gives you so much more movement than Baxter and Higdon. I think Higdon works ok as a target if he has someone close enough to pick up the scraps (evidenced by Murphy's goal against Gillingham) so would only use him with two up; he's just far too immobile otherwise. Baxter is ok in the false 9 position, but he prefers the ball to feet deeper so he can turn and look to play in one of the wide men or a midfield runner (most likely Scougall). I don't have a problem with Baxter in this position, but of the three McNulty is definitely the most dynamic.

You get a bit of everything with McNulty - not as big or strong as Higdon but he'll challenge in the air where Baxter won't. Not as technically gifted as Baxter (not that Baxter has shown too much of that lately), but he can drop deep and join in the build up play where Higdon simply doesn't have the ability. But he'll worry defenders and be alive to every opportunity - the goal poacher in him - which you don't really get from Baxter or Higdon.

I would use Baxter behind or alongside a main striker, I'd use Higdon as part of a front two (if at all, still don't rate him), meaning that as far as strikers go, for now, McNulty goes in first for me. Maybe play one of the others alongside him or Baxter behind, or maybe just the one, but the first striker at the moment is McNulty in my opinion.

If we can find someone with physical presence and a bit of pace to partner him then we're away.

And therein lies the problem - all options have pros and cons and cancel each other out or accentuate the individual short comings.
We need a quality striker (someone with pace) to make us tick so there is no debate as to who should be first choice.
It's pie in the sky but someone like Callum Wilson is the sort we need.

I have my doubts that:
a) we will offer terms attractive enough to such a player and their club to tempt them to move
b) they will accept a position that they may not be first choice for, every week
c) we are even looking at that calibre of player at all

McNuts gets my vote because he has that sniffer instinct that the others don't and will get you a goal out of nothing (first vs Yeovil e.g.)
BUT - he cannot be effective 100% of the time - strikers aren't - so you need to have something that can change it - we just don't have enough options in this part of the pitch for my liking.


BTW really chuffed to see that Murphy has found his Mojo again and that Scougs is getting into the positions to score again - they are two big, big players for us but we need to address the striker issue in order to be challenging for the top two places with real conviction.

PS - Seriously, Ched can waltz off into the background now - there must be better options that aren't going to rip this club apart, surely.

 

[Bladesman]

We could do with winning all of those games if we want to go up automatically.

 

[Tynemouth Blade]

I think that we'll beat the Dingles and draw with Oldham!

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

"November will be like every other month between now and may , we will garner enough points to stay around the top 6
Some will be happy with this and will talk of us going on a run and how we are improving and gelling and that clough is jose van gaal

Others like me will see the top two teams cruising to promotion without much Interference from the rest of the division and wonder if we will regret having such a poor recruitment and scouting policy"

"It must be truly miserable to be you."

"Frustrating yes , miserable no"

I'm with Judge on this one. They've took £5m unbudgeted for this year, a like-for-like decent centre half replacement for Maguire and a decent forward would have seen United being one of those top two. Instead it's another do it on the cheap and hope for the best situation.

For any Blade who expects much more from United it is very frustrating.

 

[Sheff de party]

November will be like every other month between now and may , we will garner enough points to stay around the top 6
Some will be happy with this and will talk of us going on a run and how we are improving and gelling and that clough is jose van gaal

Others like me will see the top two teams cruising to promotion without much Interference from the rest of the division and wonder if we will regret having such a poor recruitment and scouting policy

Bristol City have won 2 of their last 5 and they were all against mid-table sides. If that was us, you'd say we were stuttering!

 

[Kenilworth]

I am OK with Basham and AN Other at CB as;
a) Bash has played very well in that position recently (hope he continues at CB after suspension and getting over that nasty cut)
b) we don't need a world beater in this division at CB - just competent and calm lads that can read the game well and have a decent amount of physicality to negate the opposition.

My preference, as if you don't already know, is to buy a decent striker to piss on this fucking league and get out of it in an upwardly direction without a trip to Wembley to worry about.

 

[drinksmat]

I can finally see some light at the end of the seemingly endless number of Ched threads, with people getting back to debating football again!

Why oh why would you point this out to them? There is still planty of discussion topics not yet even started if they put their minds to it.

 

[judge]

Bristol City have won 2 of their last 5 and they were all against mid-table sides. If that was us, you'd say we were stuttering!

Thats what I mean if you can afford to drop that many points and still have a cigar then it shows what a shit division it is
I dont rate brizzle by the way but it takes a bit of ambition to get out this division and theyve shown it and are being repaid (even though theyre wank )

 

[Kenilworth]

Thats what I mean if you can afford to drop that many points and still have a cigar then it shows what a shit division it is
I dont rate brizzle by the way but it takes a bit of ambition to get out this division and theyve shown it and are being repaid (even though theyre wank )

Brizzle are at that level because of the goal threat they carry - you can rely on at least one of the three or four decent front men they have to hit the back of the onion bag. They would have lost at the Dingles if Wilderbeast hadn't scored a blistering strike out of pretty much nothing. That's the difference that a decent striker makes - a goal out of nothing to win you a point or turn 1 into 3