Strikers

[Jon P]

Wilder has said he's behind Ched now, I like Lavery but it's not boding well for him as it stands, Wilder seems to flog him in public a lot more than he does with other strikers. I think a loan would benefit both parties.

I see what you mean there, Clough seemed to do that a lot with McNulty bless him

 

[BushBlade]

I think Lavery would benefit greatly from a league one loan, he'd have no shortage of takers. He didn't get quite enough football last year due to his fitness, injuries and form. He's got something just really needs to work on his play in front of goal.

Any striker that needs to work on his play in front of goal isn't going to be much use to us. It's rare to hear CW digging out a player so I suspect he's not that impressed with Lavery all round.

 

[BushBlade]

I see what you mean there, Clough seemed to do that a lot with McNulty bless him

He was right to do so and if McNulty had paid more attention then he might be playing in the championship instead of L2.

 

[Slim Man]

I see what you mean there, Clough seemed to do that a lot with McNulty bless him

He did, and I never really understood that either but we don't know what the back story is with either do we? Maybe Wilder see's that as the best way to get through to Lavs.
Put it this way I don't think he's championship quality YET. He's got the physique of a striker but not the composure or finishing ability to play there. He might make a good winger cutting onto his right, but we don't play that system... I do feel for him especially last year it being so stop start. I think a side like Bradford or Wigan would kill for him on loan though and I would be happy for him to go there for 6 months and see how he does. He's been with Paul Cook before.

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

I think the question of Duffy's inclusion should be considered as central to what we create. Last season Duffy was integral to how we played, yes at times he seemed lost, but his ability to make things happen was central to our overall success. By all means keep adding to our forwards, but without those behind them conjuring up the service they feed on then all you'll end up with is a heavily weighted forward resource that goes around and around in circles.

Until we reach the point of paying large amounts for quality players then we depend on the ingenuity of Wilder and Knill to spot those gems who can respond to what we need. Currently Duffy is one such player.

Not sure Duffy is the answer.
He had some crackers last season but plenty of stinkers as well.
Looked OK when he came on yesterday, but that would be expected as he tries to work his way back into the team.
In answer to the op, I think we have enough to easily stay up.
10th to 14th as things stand.

 

[Slim Man]

Any striker that needs to work on his play in front of goal isn't going to be much use to us. It's rare to hear CW digging out a player so I suspect he's not that impressed with Lavery all round.

Fair point, but I'd like to see what he can do with an extended run in a first team playing upfront. I see what you're saying though.

But if he's digging Lavery like he has and obviously Hanson is fifth choice, surely he only has 3 strikers he's confident in and we MUST be considering another 1 or 2?

 

[BushBlade]

Fair point, but I'd like to see what he can do with an extended run in a first team playing upfront. I see what you're saying though.

But if he's digging Lavery like he has and obviously Hanson is fifth choice, surely he only has 3 strikers he's confident in and we MUST be considering another 1 or 2?

Why on earth would you give him an extended run when he can't even impress against Walsall? So he can cost us 15 points before we decide he's shit?

Yes, I've already said I expect us to bring someone in.

 

[Slim Man]

Why on earth would you give him an extended run when he can't even impress against Walsall? So he can cost us 15 points before we decide he's shit?

Yes, I've already said I expect us to bring someone in.

'A first team' not ours... Hence the loan!
In fairness to him he's had a bit of a stop start career and maybe needs a period of settled football playing upfront for a few months to kick on. I'm not giving up on him just yet!

Let's hope we find the next Izzy Brown/Tammy Abraham rather than the next John Cofie.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Not sure Duffy is the answer.
He had some crackers last season but plenty of stinkers as well.
Looked OK when he came on yesterday, but that would be expected as he tries to work his way back into the team.
In answer to the op, I think we have enough to easily stay up.
10th to 14th as things stand.

He's currently one of our players. It might be that we need someone else, but what he brings is guile, something that's in short supply. I recognise that sometimes he contribution is limited, but when he's on song he's a cracker and for that alone he needs to be considered.

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

He's currently one of our players. It might be that we need someone else, but what he brings is guile, something that's in short supply. I recognise that sometimes he contribution is limited, but when he's on song he's a cracker and for that alone he needs to be considered.

Yep, I think he should be considered at least.
I'd be tempted to swap him for Fleck at the moment.
Never thought I'd say that after last year, but old Flecky seems to be finding it a bit tough going where as Duffers did seem to up the tempo a bit at Boro.

 

[Bladesman]

We need another striker.

I reckon we can land Ronaldo if he still wants out at Madrid.

 

[BushBlade]

'A first team' not ours... Hence the loan!
In fairness to him he's had a bit of a stop start career and maybe needs a period of settled football playing upfront for a few months to kick on. I'm not giving up on him just yet!

Let's hope we find the next Izzy Brown/Tammy Abraham rather than the next John Cofie.

I wouldn't be averse to a loan. It may add value if he starts smashing them in somewhere.

 

[sufcboy95]

Should go and test doncasters resistance for keeping John Marquis. He's something different to what we've got and does have some pace

 

[Slim Man]

I wouldn't be averse to a loan. It may add value if he starts smashing them in somewhere.

Do you think there's any way back for him in our first team or do you reckon that's him just about done? I think with his lack of composure in front of goal it means he has to work on his skills as a winger for me or settle for League one football. Composure isn't something you can teach. He has all the tools to be a winger, a few teams have played him there.

 

[BushBlade]

Do you think there's any way back for him in our first team or do you reckon that's him just about done? I think with his lack of composure in front of goal it means he has to work on his skills as a winger for me or settle for League one football. Composure isn't something you can teach. He has all the tools to be a winger, a few teams have played him there.

I'd like to say yes but my gut feeling is no.

 

[Ihadadream]

We need pace desperately several times Coutts and Fleck had to hang onto the ball because their was no movement in front of them

 

[Keen Blade]

Our striker situation is a mess.
We transfer-list + move Done out - fair enough.
We accept a bid for Hanson - if CW thought he wasn't good enough , why didn't we shift him ages ago ?
CW says Evans is now ahead of Lavery so Lavery doesn't even make the squad.
And Evans is not even fit enough to play 90 mins , so how bad must Lavery be in CW's eyes ?!!
So effectively we have our 2 starting strikers + not much else.
One of them was given a fat new contract as a reward for last season's goals.
Unfortunately last season's goals can't win this season's games.
And he's slow & short & unless he's teed up to score , can't really contribute now that defenders are better.
He ought to be in cameo role from the bench.
The other one is running his socks off , but he's also over 30 and his injury record says he'll burn out.
When we get possession , we simply cannot make the ball stick up front with the strikers for long enough to bring in the forward runners. So we spend most of our time without the ball , which is very tiring for players.
Apparently been searching for better strikers since May - probably in Poundland.
CW has 15 days to sort this out ........ I bet the poor lad's not sleeping well.

 

[Stretch]

Whilst I accept that we would welcome a bit more firepower [as most teams would] can I also point out that shit linesmen have already deprived us of 2, maybe 3 perfectly good goals.
We'll struggle to get anything past Cardiff, as will most teams but just watch us go against the Dingkes.
I still think Sharp and Clarke will cause problems this season, as will Ched.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

As it stands, do we have enough to escape a relegation battle with the forwards we have? (Not go down, I mean be in a battle at all).
Let's make a prediction to see if we as a forum think we have enough and see how right we are come may.

I happen to think we need 1 more addition, I'd be interested to know everyone elses thoughts.
The lack of links to a striker both baffles and surprises me. Someone to stretch teams and with a bit of star quality.

Everybody loves a poll.

I suspect you're asking if we think the strikers are good enough for us to compete at this level? And my view on that is no, not entirely.

I posted weeks and weeks ago on here about this. Well before the season started. I summed it up like this:

Of the 5 strikers we have:

1 is injury prone and unlikely to play more than half the games in a season (Clark)
2 are getting on a bit in age and have no pace (Sharp and Hanson)
1 is young but unproven and this level and we don't know if he will cut it at this level (Lavery)
1 is returning from a long period out of the game and we don't know if he'll ever get back to the levels he was before (Evans)

(None of the above include Brooks - he's a real bonus for us I think - although again, you can't rely on a young kid like that to be your main contributor when he's not had experience at this level or much at the levels below either!).

At the time of posting this there wasn't much support for it. Most folk felt that we'd got enough striker options and that midfield, central defence, full back (because I wrote the above before we signed Baldock and Stevens) were the priorities.

For me it's been a stand-out area for improvement all summer. And something else I posted way back was that I think we should go and bring in some young Premiership strikers on loan - ones from outside the club's first 25. (That idea also got very little support on here).

So, we'll see how it turns out from here. But I stick by what I said back then about the current strikers - it's not that any of them are bad, it's just that collectively they aren't quite good enough and I think you will see us turning to some young Prem talent, on loan, to supplement this very soon. And no I'm not ITK thank God!