Our 4 strikers

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

I couldn't find a thread to add this to, so apologies if it belongs elsewhere. This is the area that is still causing concern, as people are generally happy with the defence and midfield; strengthening up front in January seems to be most people's priority. Our 4 so far (leaving out the injured Chapman and occasional cameos from Scougall):
1. Billy's goals this season are making us automatic promotion contenders. We can criticise his penalties and occasional lapses in front of goal, but he is the player the opposition fear, and that surely opens up possibilities for the other striker, and midfielders getting into the penalty area. We are really lucky to have him.
2. Done divides opinion, but so far this season he has done a good job. Lack of goals are a concern, but he does wear the opposition down, opening the game up for a sub against a tired defence. No assist last night, but if he hadn't challenged the defender for the first goal, the ball would have been cleared comfortably. In my mind, that was an assist. Playing him for the first 60 minutes still seems the best option, but he needs a goal soon.
3. Lavery, like Clarke has not had much game time; after a similar number of minutes early season, Fleck and Duffy had disappointed. Lavery had not impressed me until his 2 shots against the post yesterday, as well as his header that created the winner. His general play is not great, but he is still short of match time, so we need patience.
4. Clarke similarly lacks game time, but he has not yet looked the part. We seem to have trouble finding a good big striker. His record suggests that he should be given a chance, but the second half of the season is going to be so important.
Only one person's opinion matters, and that is Wilder's. I would be tempted to stick with what we have (togetherness, etc.), but I am happy to trust him. I hope the Board feel the same.

 

[Ricky]

I do want us to strengthen up front but I don't see it as the obvious priority.

We also need more out wide, and I'm not too happy with the defence without Wright in it. EEL's far less comfortable in the middle and while Basham does a job he still isn't a natural CB and can get caught out.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

I do want us to strengthen up front but I don't see it as the obvious priority.

We also need more out wide, and I'm not too happy with the defence without Wright in it. EEL's far less comfortable in the middle and while Basham does a job he still isn't a natural CB and can get caught out.

I read a little snippit in a newspaper today that Millwall are after Wolves player is it Jed Wallace fit the bill would'nt he.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Clarke and Done won't have a place in our Champnship squad next season.

So it depends wether the club / manager want to wait till the summer to strengthen or do it in January.

We must surely recognise that this is the year we should go for broke to give us every chance of getting over the line and strengthening for the Championship.

The time is now.

Don't not be surprised to see both Clarke and Done moved on next month to make way.

UTB

 

[jt64]

It's not causing concern to me

 

[GrayBlade]

After a slow start I thought Lavery put in a decent shift. He tracked back and made a few tackles/ blocks and even apart from the header and two good shots he looked pretty lively again IMO.

I can't say the same about Clarke though, he's playing like he's got shackles on his legs, he just doesn't seem to be up for the challenge...yet.

 

[Ricky]

I read a little snippit in a newspaper today that Millwall are after Wolves player is it Jed Wallace fit the bill would'nt he.

Good player but the problem with guys like him (Emyr Huws being another) is fitting them in the team in the current system, especially when they're too good to come here and sit on the bench. We can't disturb our midfield three.

 

[Torrix1889]

Agree on last night, Lavery did more in 10 minutes than Done did until he went off...but lets not write Done off just yet...he was a close second to Duffy for MOM against Swindon at the weekend for me and if not for a bit of luck would have netted a couple...he's still got a big role to play in the squad this season although it may be coming on with 15-20 minutes left to run a tired opposition defence ragged.

Clarke on the other hand I can see going out on loan in Jan providing we get another striker in....he looks a bit like Beattie MK2...

 

[Sheffsteel]

They are all different and all have strengths and weaknesses.

Sharp is a class finisher but needs setting up with the ball played to his feet. He can't create chances or take on his man. He's also lost a bit of pace and sharpness so needs to be a bit of space otherwise he's closed down.

Done is having a bad patch at finishing, not looking like he'll score many (which is the main purpose of being striker) but his work rate and presing must be the best in the league and fortunately for him Wilder wants a team that presses from the front so opposition defenders dont get time on the ball. He might be the Montgomery of our team i.e. Fans don't rate him with the ball but he's the secret ingredient to making the team tick becuase of what he does off the ball.

Clarke is talented but very unreliable. He can go from good player to total donkey in the space of 5 minutes.
He's usually pretty good at scoring difficult chances but so far he's hardly scored for us.
I put him in a similar category to Jamal Campbell Rice, great player when in the mood but poor the rest of the time. I'm not seeing enough yet for him to be a starter but do think he's an asset to bring on as sub.

Lavery and Chapman are basically wingers that have good scoring ability.
Both are actually showing promise but again probably not doing quite enough to be starters
best to have a subs to turn a game and ordered to run at the defence when they are tired later in the game.
Although I do see a decent future for both Lavery and Chapman.

 

[Grappler]

Lavery looked good with his two clever strikes last night, on another day, they would have bounced in off the post.

Billy Sharp is virtually irreplaceable at this level. Just about every other top team has two or three players in the top scorers list for League 1. We have one, Billy Sharp, joint top.

Matt Done has pace and never stops running, although when it flashed up on screen last night "Matt Done; Scored 2 in his last 41 appearances", or something like that, it sunk in how little he has scored!

Clarkey - what to say? on paper and based on past history, a 15 goals a season striker easily, in this league, but at the moment, for us? I like us having a big forward when needed, but something not quite clicking into gear for Clarke.

 

[blade too long]

I read a little snippit in a newspaper today that Millwall are after Wolves player is it Jed Wallace fit the bill would'nt he.

could be EEL

 

[blade too long]

Done , I though showed frustration in his own display last night, could be a confidence thing regarding the lack of goals , finally playing on his mind .
Think on his day hes a great asset but not been his day on the scoring front much
but he played, we won again , so hes adding something

 

[DronnieBlade]

The Clarke stuff is no surprise really.

The goals in previous campaigns, which are irrefutable I accept, mask what is fundamentally a very poor footballer.

Many have become enchanted with this prior track record and even point to goals scored against the Blades.

But even when he was scoring against us, did he play well ??

You were warned

UTB

 

[bornablade]

I couldn't find a thread to add this to, so apologies if it belongs elsewhere. This is the area that is still causing concern, as people are generally happy with the defence and midfield; strengthening up front in January seems to be most people's priority. Our 4 so far (leaving out the injured Chapman and occasional cameos from Scougall):
1. Billy's goals this season are making us automatic promotion contenders. We can criticise his penalties and occasional lapses in front of goal, but he is the player the opposition fear, and that surely opens up possibilities for the other striker, and midfielders getting into the penalty area. We are really lucky to have him.
2. Done divides opinion, but so far this season he has done a good job. Lack of goals are a concern, but he does wear the opposition down, opening the game up for a sub against a tired defence. No assist last night, but if he hadn't challenged the defender for the first goal, the ball would have been cleared comfortably. In my mind, that was an assist. Playing him for the first 60 minutes still seems the best option, but he needs a goal soon.
3. Lavery, like Clarke has not had much game time; after a similar number of minutes early season, Fleck and Duffy had disappointed. Lavery had not impressed me until his 2 shots against the post yesterday, as well as his header that created the winner. His general play is not great, but he is still short of match time, so we need patience.
4. Clarke similarly lacks game time, but he has not yet looked the part. We seem to have trouble finding a good big striker. His record suggests that he should be given a chance, but the second half of the season is going to be so important.
Only one person's opinion matters, and that is Wilder's. I would be tempted to stick with what we have (togetherness, etc.), but I am happy to trust him. I hope the Board feel the same.

Good post but we are not 'really lucky' to have Billy or any player for that matter. The board, the club, the players are ALL very lucky to have us.

Well done to all those who went last night and had to put up with all that crap from their fans. I'll let those in S6 to talk about support in quantity terms but when it comes to quality we are a different class.

Final point,there's not been a lot of mention about the blatant penalty on O'Connell in the first half. If that had been Wednesday we would be having Carlos and all their fans on FH over the next 5 nights talking about nothing else as we all had to suffer when they played at Derby.

 

[Dkc]

The nightmare scenario is that Sharp gets injured. That's one reason I'm happy we're out of both cups.- Clark hasn't impressed too much yet.We could use another target man imo Don't want to mention a certain Chessie player, but that type

 

[Boxer Blade]

I hope we can find a replacement for Chapman, a direct tricky winger, hopefully lavery will be the player a few said he was on here, I didn't know that much about him but wendies in the pub and the positive comments on here said we had a good player, I am looking forward to him being a big part for the second half of the season

 

[Boxer Blade]

The nightmare scenario is that Sharp gets injured. That's one reason I'm happy we're out of both cups.- Clark hasn't impressed too much yet.We could use another target man imo Don't want to mention a certain Chessie player, but that type

Go on dkc, mention him, its the season of goodwill you know, nobody will give you any stick.

 

[bikerblade]

Feel the same, if Sharp gets injured we could struggle. Clarke has scored lots of goals for some teams - is this because he was the main man, with the focus of attack on him? Still don't think we've got a great partner for Sharp as yet, but I also worry that if Duffy or Fleck is out for more than a game that could also affect us. Would ideally like to see; Lavery, Brookes and Whiteman come through to plug those gaps, but if they aren't up to it then lets go out and bring in better.

 

[BushBlade]

Go on dkc, mention him, its the season of goodwill you know, nobody will give you any stick.

I will, if only because the word on the street is that he doesn't want to play for us and thinks we let him down, and CW isn't interested.

.

 

[andy m]

Scarily reminiscent of the Ched season. Cresswell worked hard and helped create space for Ched but look what happened when he got sent down. We cannot rely on Billy to score, others strikers have to contribute.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

Didn't the commentator say every outfield player on the pitch had scored for us with 6 goals from the back 3?

 

[bladesmanluke]

Scarily reminiscent of the Ched season. Cresswell worked hard and helped create space for Ched but look what happened when he got sent down. We cannot rely on Billy to score, others strikers have to contribute.

The problem and the solution is in the same paragraph there

 

[Revolution]

The nightmare scenario is that Sharp gets injured. That's one reason I'm happy we're out of both cups.- Clark hasn't impressed too much yet.We could use another target man imo Don't want to mention a certain Chessie player, but that type

Richie Humphreys?

 

[Sheffsteel]

Clarke is a strange player to sum up.

I agree he's probably a poor player most of the time BUT he has the talent to produce moments of class.

And it's this ability that keeps his valuation inflated higher than what it should be. He does have the potential to be an excellent player but that's why there's always loads of clubs interested when he comes on the market. Wasted his talent really.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

The nightmare scenario is that Sharp gets injured. That's one reason I'm happy we're out of both cups.- Clark hasn't impressed too much yet.We could use another target man imo Don't want to mention a certain Chessie player, but that type

That first sentence puts it much more powerfully than I did. How many players can we say the same about? Perhaps Moore and Freeman because the cover may not be there; one of Coutts, Duffy, Fleck would be a problem, not a disaster; same with the back 3. But who would score Sharp's goals? Which regular goal-scorer would be willing to come here to sit on the bench in case Billy gets injured? There are tough decisions to be taken.

 

[BushBlade]

That first sentence puts it much more powerfully than I did. How many players can we say the same about? Perhaps Moore and Freeman because the cover may not be there; one of Coutts, Duffy, Fleck would be a problem, not a disaster; same with the back 3. But who would score Sharp's goals? Which regular goal-scorer would be willing to come here to sit on the bench in case Billy gets injured? There are tough decisions to be taken.

I'm fairly confident that if Billy were injured tomorrow Clarke would be able to play in his position and, given a run in the team with a player doing his running, like Done does for Bill, he'd score at a similar rate as he has previously at this level.
It also looks like Lavery is getting up to speed. He's pretty mobile and, from his assist last night, decent in the air too.
So not bad options.

 

[BigBed]

"Our strikers!?????"
Surely it's "our striker, and Done, Lavery and Clarke!!??" isn't it!??