Strike partnership found?

[Sheff de party]

Right so McGoldrick was fucking superb, end of story. And with the flat 3 in midfield he is vital upfront.

Mousset gave us memories that will last a lifetime but he didn’t play well in general. Kept losing the ball, wasting opportunities and dithering. Goal aside if Robinson had played like that he’d be kicked from pillar to post imo. Don’t know how early he got that kick though so it could all be down to that. And it wasn’t really a Mousset type game really they were very deep and left no room to spin in behind which was odd. And obviously he scored so who fucking cares?

At the end of the day we scored, looked good and won. The partnership stays injury permitting.

I could honestly be president of the McGoldrick fan club but I don’t think he played well last night. Looked understandably rusty.

I’d still start him though, we’re so much better when he plays.

 

[Woodwardfan]

I fully agree. I think that so far this season we've got the formation and shape spot on, other than the front 2, and last night that Moose & McG is probably the best we've got to occupy those roles currently. Moose is still raw and lacking a run of games. He was caught with a sore one early in the 1st half which may have slowed him down somewhat. However he looks to be overweight and that might be affecting him. Sharp is the ideal sub or starter if the opposition is right, however last night, when he comes on we immediately lose and an out ball and it allows the opposition defence to push up 10 yards because there is no danger of being done for pace. We could do with Moose v2 on the bench to replace Moose when he comes off, or a quicker version of freeman to run past the CF. I still feel that we are missing someone who can be brought on against either a tiring or pushed up defence, and be a menace in the last 20 mins of games like last night; a Brooks or Deulofeu type of will-o'-the-wisp.

Now for the contentious bit.....I thought McB was poor again. He came on, and i thought he'd be buzzing with a point to prove, but I thought that he didn't look bothered. He looks knackered from the off, like really knackered. I can't honestly tell whether he has been on the pitch 80 mins or 10 mins. He gets knocked off the ball far too easily, doesn't seem to run freely, seemed loathed to do the doggy runs across their defence and didn't look to be remotely bothered about catching up with Sharp when we broke near the end and should've been open for a square ball. Unless he starts pulling trees out of rabbits between now and JTW, i'd be looking to let him move somewhere (probably back to Swansea) either on a perm or loan out and bring in someone better. Who? i think that we'd need to go abroad, and get someone more of a stronger focal point, someone like the Italian forward Petagna for £'s and the championship for someone like Ahearne-Grant either for £'s or in a straight swap for CR.

Sorry Nic, Sharp was never going to release that ball in a month of Sundays, he was heading wide and towards the corner flag.

He knew that, Mc Burnie knew that, I knew that, most of the stadium knew that.

 

[Woodwardfan]

How does anyone form an opinion (good or bad) of McBurnie's performance if he was only on the pitch 5 minutes and barely got a touch of the ball?

Sounds like nonsense to me.

Agree. Absolute unnecessary tosh.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Sorry Nic, Sharp was never going to release that ball in a month of Sundays, he was heading wide and towards the corner flag.

He knew that, Mc Burnie knew that, I knew that, most of the stadium knew that.

Were you at the match last night, and if so which stand were you in?

 

[Boxer Blade]

Barring injuries and suspension the team picks itself every match, other than the strikers that is but I am always pleased to see mcgoldrick start

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

I hope McBurnie's working bloody hard behind the scenes. He really needs to.

We still need to give him time, hopefully his mind is more focused now. But if it's not looking promising we could do with bringing in a number 9. Don't know who but while we're on Serie A, Andreas Cornelius scored a hattrick at the weekend... although to be fair he did get to play with future world beater Dejan Kulusevski. Grant is a good option, he'd do well for us. I think recruitment is likely to focus elsewhere in January though - we have fuck all cover in DF and CM.

Do you think CW will allow anything else than McBurnie working his knackers off? Don’t think he would have even been on the bench if he wasn’t doing that

 

[Grecian2000]

Were you at the match last night, and if so which stand were you in?

Don't know about WWF but I was sat on the Kop. What he says is 100% on the money.
Sharp was going for the corner and the ball wasn't ever going to be going into their box.
If it was 0-0 I'm sure we'd be talking about a different scenario, but at 1-0 there was never a question of going for another and risking them breaking on us.

 

[Pinchy]

How does anyone form an opinion (good or bad) of McBurnie's performance if he was only on the pitch 5 minutes and barely got a touch of the ball?

Sounds like nonsense to me.

it is but that is the staple diet on here.

 

[guancheblade]

I actually thought Mousse offered very little apart from the goal. When he did find himself in good positions he kept losing the ball. Still better than Robinson.

Sharp and McGoldrick to start for me

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Don't know about WWF but I was sat on the Kop. What he says is 100% on the money.
Sharp was going for the corner and the ball wasn't ever going to be going into their box.
If it was 0-0 I'm sure we'd be talking about a different scenario, but at 1-0 there was never a question of going for another and risking them breaking on us.

I welcome your view, Grecian2000. I'm not the font of all knowledge.

The reason why I asked was that, from my seat in the SS, it appeared that BS made the run, was running of legs/pitch and was looking for the square pass at about 20 yrds out, support seemed slow to get to him and eventually made the pass when McB got up to level with him.

I think, if memory serves me correctly McB miss controlled the ball or tried to turn out with it and it went across the edge of the 18 yrd box. Plenty of people seated around me thought that McB could've supported quicker & it seemed that he got a verbal from the bench. Whether that was for the speed of support or the miscontrol or for the fact the ball wasn't run into the corner, I don' know. I've not seen the game back on TV yet and it's based on real time memories. Either way that particular passage of play is one of the smaller sticks that i'm currently using to beat McB with today.

 

[BushBlade]

I could honestly be president of the McGoldrick fan club but I don’t think he played well last night. Looked understandably rusty.

I’d still start him though, we’re so much better when he plays.

He didn’t. I’ve seen both him and Sharp play better. I could actually cite a couple of incidents of poor play from both of them but I won’t because I’m a big picture person, not a nit picker with an agenda.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Didzy and Mousset first choice. McBurnie as cover for Didzy, Sharp for Mousset. The £20m is spent now, if his best position is as an impact sub then that's where he is for now.

I've heavily defended McBurnie, I saw an excellent player every t time we played against him. But Didzy is just better currently. Both for our system and as a footballer. But I still have hope that McBurnie comes good.

Mousset has pace that can create space for Didzy and the WBs/MF can operate in. Billy is a big arsed ferret who is a nightmare pest for defenders, earns free kicks, holds it up and can always get a goal. 90 mins in combo works for me.

CR? No idea. Needs to find his confidence and force his way back in

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

I think they probably sat deep because they were terrified of Moussets pace

Do you think they changed their defensive set up because they knew our line up?

 

[I should coco]

it is but that is the staple diet on here.

Other message boards are available.

Just sayin' like....

 

[Kanye]

And that's perfectly fair, K.

He was on for 10 mins in total, and in those 10 mins he displayed the characteristics I described. If i asked you to run around for 10 mins, it would be easily apparent if you were or weren't doing it, wouldn't it? I was surprised by his reluctance/inability to support BS, when he was the freshest pair of legs on the pitch. I don't know what CW's instructions were to him when he brought him on against a tiring defence, but i'm fairly sure they weren't 'amble about'.

My comments about him last night are also pertinent to his general play in the 544 minutes he has played for us. The majority of which i have witnessed first hand. He looks knackered from the off, he gets knocked off the ball far too easily, his first touch is lose and he doesn't appear to move freely about the pitch. For whatever reason, and i doubt that it's solely down to a step up in level, but he looks half the player he looked when i saw him last season.

I'm just referring to his performance last night, rather than his other 544 minutes: my point wasn't about whether or not McBurnie is good enough in general, it was that last night, he didn't spend enough time on the pitch to warrant praise or criticism.


Obviously we were winning and defending a lead, so it's clear his job wasn't to score goals or create chances. He was likely there purely to press a little further up the pitch, and relieve a bit if pressure if/when he received the ball.

By the sounds of it, you weren't impressed with his pressing. You did mention that you werent privy to Wilder's instructions in order to make a joke about him ambling around, but it's a more important point than you think. I once heard a podcast with the striker Steve Morrison, where he talked about the demands of the fans often being contrary to instructions of the manager. Without knowing what Wilder asked of him, its hard to know if did his job properly or not in regards to pressing.

 

[Grappler]

The Moose is a real handful, we all know that, it showed again last night, during the first half, on one occasion, he was surrounded by three of their players, near the half way line, and he was unlucky not to come away with the ball, turning this way and that.

Also, when he positioned himself near the halfway line, as the Arse were taking a corner, two of their players went with him, and I think they decided that he was too much of a handful and they called a third player in, which says a lot.

Best strike partnership?, that's up to CW.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

I'm just referring to his performance last night, rather than his other 544 minutes: my point wasn't about whether or not McBurnie is good enough in general, it was that last night, he didn't spend enough time on the pitch to warrant praise or criticism.


Obviously we were winning and defending a lead, so it's clear his job wasn't to score goals or create chances. He was likely there purely to press a little further up the pitch, and relieve a bit if pressure if/when he received the ball.

By the sounds of it, you weren't impressed with his pressing. You did mention that you werent privy to Wilder's instructions in order to make a joke about him ambling around, but it's a more important point than you think. I once heard a podcast with the striker Steve Morrison, where he talked about the demands of the fans often being contrary to instructions of the manager. Without knowing what Wilder asked of him, its hard to know if did his job properly or not in regards to pressing.

Agree whole heartedly. I might think that a bollocking was given out from the bench for a player not busting a gut to get into the box, when it might be given for the exact opposite reason. 10 mins to go, don’t chase the ball like a spaniel and kept a nice compact shape.

 

[TheGoatPenguin]

Personally feel for our first season in the big league all our strikers are about right. All 5 gave their plus points and minuses. Harsh to judge any as none have had a run of games and we're only 9 games in.

Personally I've been critical of Robinson as I don't think his defensive work is anywhere near good enough. But at Chelsea he showed what he can bring.

Let's all wait and see how they develop. Look at Ash Barnes at Burnley he's grown with the club hardly scored their first season but has improved season on season.

 

[SwissBlade]

Mousse and goldie number one pairing?

They were fantastic last night.

Mousse was really lively and even if he didn’t always get it right or get the luck, he caused all sorts of problems along their back line. Pace is always dangerous and I think they breathed a sigh of relief when he went off. As one of the lads near me said, leaving him up top at corners was a great move.

McG played his socks off. Chased a lot more of the balls over the top than he should’ve been getting, came deep, linked play, got battered and but for his dive, was faultless.

However, this pairing won’t be first choice every game. We’ll need more of a target man in some games, so McBurnie will take over from McG at a guess.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

If a game was 50 minutes long then yes we've found our partnership. Unfortunately Mousset is struggling with the rest.

 

[Woodwardfan]

I welcome your view, Grecian2000. I'm not the font of all knowledge.

The reason why I asked was that, from my seat in the SS, it appeared that BS made the run, was running of legs/pitch and was looking for the square pass at about 20 yrds out, support seemed slow to get to him and eventually made the pass when McB got up to level with him.

I think, if memory serves me correctly McB miss controlled the ball or tried to turn out with it and it went across the edge of the 18 yrd box. Plenty of people seated around me thought that McB could've supported quicker & it seemed that he got a verbal from the bench. Whether that was for the speed of support or the miscontrol or for the fact the ball wasn't run into the corner, I don' know. I've not seen the game back on TV yet and it's based on real time memories. Either way that particular passage of play is one of the smaller sticks that i'm currently using to beat McB with today.

We may be talking about different occasions but suffice to say McBurnie worked their defence well -- in his own way.

As I said above, their defence were viisibly rattled by him, more so than anybody else I might add.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Funny thing is, I don't think any of our strikers played particularly well last night.

McGoldrick was the pick of the bunch but that's not saying much.

Mousset didn't look comfortable to me, perhaps he was just nervous. There was a few occasions where he was one on one chasing the ball down against Guendouzi but he looked slow and couldn't get past him.

Sharp was just isolated up front on his own and McBurnie didn't have enough time to do anything.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Do you think they changed their defensive set up because they knew our line up?

When I saw their team sheet I thought they had gone big and strong for a physical battle and they gave up creativity to do so.

Their manager made most of his mistakes before the game started. Team selection and then he had them passing forever around the back, totally wasted and often risky. We do not panic and press high unless we have to layer in the game.

If he had played Torreira and Cebellos and added Lacazette earlier or to start, they would have beaten us.

He hadnt a clue what we are all about.

 

[Akinbiyi]

Now for the contentious bit.....I thought McB was poor again. He came on, and i thought he'd be buzzing with a point to prove, but I thought that he didn't look bothered. He looks knackered from the off, like really knackered. I can't honestly tell whether he has been on the pitch 80 mins or 10 mins. He gets knocked off the ball far too easily, doesn't seem to run freely, seemed loathed to do the doggy runs across their defence and didn't look to be remotely bothered about catching up with Sharp when we broke near the end and should've been open for a square ball. Unless he starts pulling trees out of rabbits between now and JTW, i'd be looking to let him move somewhere (probably back to Swansea) either on a perm or loan out and bring in someone better. Who? i think that we'd need to go abroad, and get someone more of a stronger focal point, someone like the Italian forward Petagna for £'s and the championship for someone like Ahearne-Grant either for £'s or in a straight swap for CR.

He played 5 minutes when we were backs to the wall, with all due respect, what the fuck did you expect him to do?

Came straight on won a free kick, won a couple of free kicks on the counter, chased down, dropped back into shape and won some important defensive headers.

There's understandable criticism then there's just talking crap for the sake of it. I know which one this is.

 

[Akinbiyi]

Funny thing is, I don't think any of our strikers played particularly well last night.

McGoldrick was the pick of the bunch but that's not saying much.

Mousset didn't look comfortable to me, perhaps he was just nervous. There was a few occasions where he was one on one chasing the ball down against Guendouzi but he looked slow and couldn't get past him.

Sharp was just isolated up front on his own and McBurnie didn't have enough time to do anything.

Agree with all of that but I think McGoldrick was superb, particularly first half. Might just be me.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Not read all the threads but just reacting to the subject topic “Strike Partnership found”. My view: No it isn’t. Not anywhere close to it I’m afraid.

When we talk about strike partnerships we are talking about 2 players who can almost read each other’s minds and are a massive threat to the opposition. Think Edwards/Morris or Deane/Agana. It’s like they have such a great understanding between them that the sum of both is greater than the individual parts.

We don’t have that. If we did then I think we’d be top 6 or higher now.

Can we get it from our current choice of strikers? No: imho. Much as I appreciate them individually as they all bring something slightly different, the ingredients aren’t there to create that explosive, dangerous attacking pairing at this level. That’s why we’ve scored so few goals this season.

To fix it needs some new strike options in Jan - but also to look at an AM addition as well because that could make a huge difference to us too.

Absolutely delighted with how we are going about things. But if we want to improve even further then we have to be brutally honest about our shortcomings and we are weak in attack. That’s a fact.

 

[Charlieblade]

I actually thought Mousse offered very little apart from the goal. When he did find himself in good positions he kept losing the ball. Still better than Robinson.

Sharp and McGoldrick to start for me

THIS. It employs a gifted partnership that produced lots of goals last season. Given their product individually, so far in the PL i don't see any reason why it cannot produce similar results now.
McBurnie will have to earn his starting place back. Mousset will have to get himself fit for PL labour over 90 minutes.
Maybe Wilder is holding Billy and Didsy in reserve, to dig us out if the going gets really hard?

 

[ATL Recs]

If Robinson had chased harassed and closed defenders down like Mousset did in the first 30 minutes and shown the desire to run at ( and into at times) opponent’s we’d have been rubbing our eyes in disbelief for a week
Robinson is a work I’m progress as well

They Mousset n Robinson hopefully will have learnt a lot watching McGoldricks performance

 

[BigBed]

Thought Mousset caused problems for them with his pace and strength. He just needs to improve his first touch.

Delighted for him to get the goal, he could have had another though.

I honestly don't think his first touch was the issue, it was the fact he couldn't get a second touch after the first, and when he did, he didn't seem to know what to do with it and lost the ball?
He sempt to keep losing the ball in his own legs?

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

It will be horses for courses I think. Depending on the Mousset knock, it might change again on Saturday. CWAK are picking their way through this season with tactical tweaks up front for each match and we may not settle on a pairing until December, if it all.