Strikers

[Isaw Joeshaw]

Whether or not we sign Sam Gallagher , who doesn't appear to be anything special, the fact that we appear to be interested should hopefully act as a reality check for some on here who've been banging on about the need for new strikers for the last 6 - 9 months.

This reality is that virtually every club in the country is looking for one or more who is an improvement on those they already have . As a result , anybody who is half decent in this respect carries a huge premium and is on the radar of many clubs , including ones from the Premiership , with far greater spending power than our own .

The idea , therefore, that we can go out and pick up a striker or strikers who are ' young , pacy , and hungry' and virtually guaranteed to score more goals than either Leon or Billy is faintly ludicrous. Yes, we'd all like to see the next Thierry Henry playing for us but unfortunately , a) so would at least 30 clubs who are in a much better position than us to make that happen and b) - he doesn't exist .

Meanwhile , what we do have is the strike partnership which scored the most goals in the Championship last season and either of whom at least two thirds of the fans in this league would be delighted to see joining them.

The idea that they could have both would send them into the realms of ecstasy , but here ......?

As someone would say , only in S2.

 

[Bashar Al Asaba]

Whether or not we sign Sam Gallagher , who doesn't appear to be anything special, the fact that we appear to be interested should hopefully act as a reality check for some on here who've been banging on about the need for new strikers for the last 6 - 9 months.

This reality is that virtually every club in the country is looking for one or more who is an improvement on those they already have . As a result , anybody who is half decent in this respect carries a huge premium and is on the radar of many clubs , including ones from the Premiership , with far greater spending power than our own .

The idea , therefore, that we can go out and pick up a striker or strikers who are ' young , pacy , and hungry' and virtually guaranteed to score more goals than either Leon or Billy is faintly ludicrous. Yes, we'd all like to see the next Thierry Henry playing for us but unfortunately , a) so would at least 30 clubs who are in a much better position than us to make that happen and b) - he doesn't exist .

Meanwhile , what we do have is the strike partnership which scored the most goals in the Championship last season and either of whom at least two thirds of the fans in this league would be delighted to see joining them.

The idea that they could have both would send them into the realms of ecstasy , but here ......?

As someone would say , only in S2.

Absolutely spot on.

Unfortunately, a significant proportion of our fan base are among the thickest, most myopic ingrates in all of English football.

Consider two commonly held "ideas" by these arseholes, both in the stands and on the internet:

1) Our strikers are shit/past it/ don't "do" anything.

2) Let's offload David Brooks as soon as possible.

Imagine the shit we'd be in if those morons had any say whatsoever.

 

[tomtheblade]

The key strength of our team is our midfield. We are blessed with an array of strong creative talent in this area, who can reliably produce chances for the front men.

With this being the case, we actually don't need top, top strikers on the end of these chances. We just need forwards who have enough of the right attributes to finish what service they get. Of course we'd all love someone with an existing prolific scoring record, but realistically that will be difficult and expensive to obtain. Even though it's desirable, it's not absolutely necessary that a new signing has scored 15-20 a season goals already, just that they could do with our midfield behind them.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

Absolutely spot on.

Unfortunately, a significant proportion of our fan base are among the thickest, most myopic ingrates in all of English football.

Consider two commonly held "ideas" by these arseholes, both in the stands and on the internet:

1) Our strikers are shit/past it/ don't "do" anything.

2) Let's offload David Brooks as soon as possible.

Imagine the shit we'd be in if those morons had any say whatsoever.

As i said on Twitter the other day:

We should sell Brooks and use the money to buy a young player with potential (ideally with international honours) who has pace, the ability to beat the opponent, an eye for goal and can play anywhere across the front 3. Hang on a minute...

You're right some of our fans live in some idealistic fantasy land where the only thing stopping us buying the reincarnation of Thierry Henry is McCabe's lack of money and Billy Sharp still having a squad number...

In the real world we have the leagues second top scorer, a young kid who could blow teams away with his pace and a back up striker who scored 12 goals last season...

 

[finlaytheblade]

As i said on Twitter the other day:

We should sell Brooks and use the money to buy a young player with potential (ideally with international honours) who has pace, the ability to beat the opponent, an eye for goal and can play anywhere across the front 3. Hang on a minute...

You're right some of our fans live in some idealistic fantasy land where the only thing stopping us buying the reincarnation of Thierry Henry is McCabe's lack of money and Billy Sharp still having a squad number...

In the real world we have the leagues second top scorer, a young kid who could blow teams away with his pace and a back up striker who scored 12 goals last season...

Wilder we not sell Brooks to bring in a young striker swopping one for another is not the way.OK we can't afford the best but we are loolooking for a young striker willing to come on loan for the season.
Gallagher maybe one we can buy ( who has got potential ) it will take longer to do it this way but it's unlikely Prem clubs will loan out young strikers till they see who comes back from world cup in one piece.
Wilder kknows what he's doing.

 

[Boxer Blade]

But it's not just us fans,is it, Wilder and knill have said it, Wilder has stated,more than once he wants quality in, not just squad members, players to go straight in, also two strikers, so I think the original post is unfair, of course we all want to see Lein and Billy here next season Wilder is trying to add to that, stop bashing s2 for debating what in all fairness has been announced by the club, as you say, only on s2.

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

Whether or not we sign Sam Gallagher , who doesn't appear to be anything special, .

Have we actually bought anyone special?

We have bought many who we have turned into special players, but I cant remember us signing too many that would be considered special.

 

[Esablade]

Wilder we not sell Brooks to bring in a young striker swopping one for another is not the way.OK we can't afford the best but we are loolooking for a young striker willing to come on loan for the season.
Gallagher maybe one we can buy ( who has got potential ) it will take longer to do it this way but it's unlikely Prem clubs will loan out young strikers till they see who comes back from world cup in one piece.
Wilder kknows what he's doing.

Well played sir...that’s getting a like from me anyhow.

 

[BladeInIreland]

Ok, here's why I think we definatly need more quality in this position.

From what I saw we spent the first part of the season with our all out attack tactics, similar to the promotion season. We got wins, and goals, but the strikers still missed the chances to make these hammerings.

Then we started to get punished, teams were scoring goals to put pressure on when we should already be well clear. Defensively we were fragile. This could only be compensated by the strikers putting the abundance of chances away. They didn't , results turned.

Wilder switched the approach , a more reserved approach. Things tightened up at the back, but without the abudence of chances created with driving so many men forward all the time we scored far less.

Wilder tinkered with this all season and I don't think we found a balance to this, Imo that can be fixed with more quality upfront.

I have seen it mentioned on here alot,how many teams at the top have those clinical players who can finish that half chance to turn a game, even if there team is not in the game. Villa at home springs to mind. James Beattie springs to mind. Our strikers need there chances on a plate more often than not, we need somebody who when were not on it, or when were sitting back in games (which we need to do) can still produce a goal. Someone who can steal us stuff Against the run of play. Ideally with pace.

Just looking at the goals scored by Billy and leon doesn't tell the full story and the effect on the team overall. I'm a fan of both but imo there far from the best we can have. Both have a part to play.

One thing I definitely agree on is there's a fight on with everyone to get these strikers (there always is) and prices have definitely risen (as for everyone) which is the big reason we needed this increased budget.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Dicko.

 

[Bladezz]

Whether or not we sign Sam Gallagher , who doesn't appear to be anything special, the fact that we appear to be interested should hopefully act as a reality check for some on here who've been banging on about the need for new strikers for the last 6 - 9 months.

This reality is that virtually every club in the country is looking for one or more who is an improvement on those they already have . As a result , anybody who is half decent in this respect carries a huge premium and is on the radar of many clubs , including ones from the Premiership , with far greater spending power than our own .

The idea , therefore, that we can go out and pick up a striker or strikers who are ' young , pacy , and hungry' and virtually guaranteed to score more goals than either Leon or Billy is faintly ludicrous. Yes, we'd all like to see the next Thierry Henry playing for us but unfortunately , a) so would at least 30 clubs who are in a much better position than us to make that happen and b) - he doesn't exist .

Meanwhile , what we do have is the strike partnership which scored the most goals in the Championship last season and either of whom at least two thirds of the fans in this league would be delighted to see joining them.

The idea that they could have both would send them into the realms of ecstasy , but here ......?

As someone would say , only in S2.

Spot on but then you fall into his your own Category. Gallagher who isn’t anything special you say.

6ft 4, target man , with a fair bit of pace, and has 2 seasons doing well in 2 very poor teams.

There’s 2 top tiers of players in this league I believe. The lights of Kodija / Vydra / Assombalonga etc which all get swooped around for £10mil plus.

Then there’s the players under them the Hogans / Gallagher / Waghorn etc who may reach that level but are worth a few million.

We are shopping in the market we can afford. The “risk” category. Anyone of Hogan / Gallagher / Waghorn etc could get 15 goals a season and then we have a £10million player ourselves.

 

[Liaminho9]

Dicko.

Bit harsh... he was only putting his opinion across

 

[Blade56]

Unfortunately, a significant proportion of our fan base are among the thickest, most myopic ingrates in all of English football.

I know nowt about football, proof is I've followed the blades for over 60 years and always believed we will get it right, never see us losing a game and will always buy the best players.
In short I set unrealistic expectations, I believe in aliens and that a fantastically wealthy invested is about to turn us into the next Man citteh. And yes that might make me thick, myopic and ingrate but it also makes me a Blade and proud.
Careful about name callin your fellow supporters, all our opinions are driven by emotion and love of the club and therefore valid.

 

[8lade]

I only hope we continue to stick by our guns in the transfer market, not letting people screw us about. Hopefully the sagas of Sinclair and Cole last season will act as a warning to agents (and players) everywhere, I only wish we hadn't gone back for Holmes not because he wasn't good enough but he chose Charlton over us, at that point the interest should've been over.

 

[tomtheblade]

Also, i'm sorry but this 'only in S2' stuff is nonsense. Just because one particular poster repeats it ad nauseum doesn't mean you all have to go around parroting it.

Yes we do have plenty of fans lacking a brain cell here and there, the ones who set unrealistic expectations and moan at every little thing which goes wrong. But really, this is no different to any other club. Just check out the various fan channels on youTube, seems like we're all a bunch of moaning miserable gets, not just Blades. We just notice in our own support more for obvious reasons.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Whether or not we sign Sam Gallagher , who doesn't appear to be anything special, the fact that we appear to be interested should hopefully act as a reality check for some on here who've been banging on about the need for new strikers for the last 6 - 9 months.

This reality is that virtually every club in the country is looking for one or more who is an improvement on those they already have . As a result , anybody who is half decent in this respect carries a huge premium and is on the radar of many clubs , including ones from the Premiership , with far greater spending power than our own .

The idea , therefore, that we can go out and pick up a striker or strikers who are ' young , pacy , and hungry' and virtually guaranteed to score more goals than either Leon or Billy is faintly ludicrous. Yes, we'd all like to see the next Thierry Henry playing for us but unfortunately , a) so would at least 30 clubs who are in a much better position than us to make that happen and b) - he doesn't exist .

Meanwhile , what we do have is the strike partnership which scored the most goals in the Championship last season and either of whom at least two thirds of the fans in this league would be delighted to see joining them.

The idea that they could have both would send them into the realms of ecstasy , but here ......?

As someone would say , only in S2.

I agree with you to a point Joe. Strikers who are at the top of the game are few and far between and there's a huge price tag on their heads - I don't believe we are in for anyone like that, and neither should we be imo. They type of striker we should be in for, are those who are not at the top of their game - ones who, for whatever reason, haven't set the world alight yet perhaps, but have the potential to develop, improve, become a key player in future. So, when you refer to Sam Gallagher as not appearing to be anything special, I get excited by that. Because I think that's exactly the type of striker we should be looking at, especially if they have youth on their side.

I referred on another thread the other day to the signing of Brian Deane. We could throw Tony Agana into this mix as well. How many Blades on here had even heard of these two before Bassett signed them? I know I hadn't. I remember thinking to myself, we've signed some young, big,,gangly kid from Donny and a bloke from Watford reserves! Quite underwhelming it was - until I saw them play!

We should be grateful for the likes of Sharp and Clarke and I think most of us are, but we should also always be looking to improve on what we've got. Neither of these two are getting any younger and they aren't going to carry on forever banging in the goals at this level. It's not being disrespectful to them to be looking to add other players, younger players, who have a bit more life-span in terms of playing time ahead of them. It doesn't mean the younger players will automatically take their place - it has to be earned - but maybe the younger players can learn a thing from these two and really benefit from being in the same squad.

The one thing, above all, that I think the current team lacks is a player, just one, who, when he gets the ball the opposition are terrified of what he's going to do. Someone who can cause the opposition defence to have kittens! Someone who will take players on, run at them, get behind them, dribble them to death and whip in crosses and shots. We don't have anyone like that. Duffy has some of these qualities, but not all. I'm thinking of a Tony Agana, or a Steve Kabba, or a Paul Devlin, or a Jamie Murphy or even a Steve Wigley or a Franz Carr type player. Not all in that list were brilliant, or consistent, but they had one thing in common - when they got the ball the other team shat themselves, because of their pace, or trickery, or both. That is what we are missing imo. And that actually needn't be a really expensive thing to buy in - because it usually comes in the form of wingers - and wingers are very out of fashion thesedays. So it's still possible to pick them up cheaply.

 

[benn5712]

I only hope we continue to stick by our guns in the transfer market, not letting people screw us about. Hopefully the sagas of Sinclair and Cole last season will act as a warning to agents (and players) everywhere, I only wish we hadn't gone back for Holmes not because he wasn't good enough but he chose Charlton over us, at that point the interest should've been over.

Them aliens included in the matchday attendance pal ?

 

[benn5712]

I only hope we continue to stick by our guns in the transfer market, not letting people screw us about. Hopefully the sagas of Sinclair and Cole last season will act as a warning to agents (and players) everywhere, I only wish we hadn't gone back for Holmes not because he wasn't good enough but he chose Charlton over us, at that point the interest should've been over.

oops! that was meant for Blade56.

 

[Darthblade]

Whether or not we sign Sam Gallagher , who doesn't appear to be anything special, the fact that we appear to be interested should hopefully act as a reality check for some on here who've been banging on about the need for new strikers for the last 6 - 9 months.

This reality is that virtually every club in the country is looking for one or more who is an improvement on those they already have . As a result , anybody who is half decent in this respect carries a huge premium and is on the radar of many clubs , including ones from the Premiership , with far greater spending power than our own .

The idea , therefore, that we can go out and pick up a striker or strikers who are ' young , pacy , and hungry' and virtually guaranteed to score more goals than either Leon or Billy is faintly ludicrous. Yes, we'd all like to see the next Thierry Henry playing for us but unfortunately , a) so would at least 30 clubs who are in a much better position than us to make that happen and b) - he doesn't exist .

Meanwhile , what we do have is the strike partnership which scored the most goals in the Championship last season and either of whom at least two thirds of the fans in this league would be delighted to see joining them.

The idea that they could have both would send them into the realms of ecstasy , but here ......?

As someone would say , only in S2.

Whilst I appreciate what you're saying mate I think it would be dangerous for us to assume that the Leon / Billy partnership will get us 30+ goals again this coming season, bearing in mind that they're not getting any younger.

We need to be "progression planning", and we need to do it before their legs have gone, not after they've gone ……. we need two strikers who can immediately be challenging for a first team place, not bench warming. We had bench warmers in Lavery, Hanson, Evans, and Donaldson and they proved to be far short of the required calibre.

We also need some pace upfront, which we don't currently have ( I don't consider Brooks to be a centre forward as he doesn't have the attributes) and this allows teams to commit players forward against us more easily than if we had some pace upfront.

We will never be shopping in Waitrose, like some MASSIVE clubs and the "parachute payment" teams …….. but I hope that now we can start to shop at Tesco, instead of the food bank, Aldi and Lidl

UTB & FTP

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

Ok, here's why I think we definatly need more quality in this position.

From what I saw we spent the first part of the season with our all out attack tactics, similar to the promotion season. We got wins, and goals, but the strikers still missed the chances to make these hammerings.

Then we started to get punished, teams were scoring goals to put pressure on when we should already be well clear. Defensively we were fragile. This could only be compensated by the strikers putting the abundance of chances away. They didn't , results turned.

Wilder switched the approach , a more reserved approach. Things tightened up at the back, but without the abudence of chances created with driving so many men forward all the time we scored far less.

Wilder tinkered with this all season and I don't think we found a balance to this, Imo that can be fixed with more quality upfront.

I have seen it mentioned on here alot,how many teams at the top have those clinical players who can finish that half chance to turn a game, even if there team is not in the game. Villa at home springs to mind. James Beattie springs to mind. Our strikers need there chances on a plate more often than not, we need somebody who when were not on it, or when were sitting back in games (which we need to do) can still produce a goal. Someone who can steal us stuff Against the run of play. Ideally with pace.

Just looking at the goals scored by Billy and leon doesn't tell the full story and the effect on the team overall. I'm a fan of both but imo there far from the best we can have. Both have a part to play.

One thing I definitely agree on is there's a fight on with everyone to get these strikers (there always is) and prices have definitely risen (as for everyone) which is the big reason we needed this increased budget.

But in Brooks - we have one here already.

Not sure I see the fuss about boosting our front line? Our biggest issue last year was keeping clean sheets and holding on to leads...

 

[Russ]

Have we actually bought anyone special?

We have bought many who we have turned into special players, but I cant remember us signing too many that would be considered special.

Wally Downes and John burridge. Both a bit “special”!

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

But in Brooks - we have one here already.

Not sure I see the fuss about boosting our front line? Our biggest issue last year was keeping clean sheets and holding on to leads...

I think its our style of play that mean we will concede goals, not necessarily the personnel.

However, the missing of chances is down to how clinical some of our players are. This is why we need to improve this area (in my opinion).

 

[SuperDuperBlades]

Absolutely spot on.

Unfortunately, a significant proportion of our fan base are among the thickest, most myopic ingrates in all of English football.

Consider two commonly held "ideas" by these arseholes, both in the stands and on the internet:

1) Our strikers are shit/past it/ don't "do" anything.

2) Let's offload David Brooks as soon as possible.

Imagine the shit we'd be in if those morons had any say whatsoever.

I think you should say it as you see it and not hide behind niceities.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Have we actually bought anyone special?

We have bought many who we have turned into special players, but I cant remember us signing too many that would be considered special.

We ain't got the brass to do that,Wilder accepts that and gets on with it,as he says we need to be cuter than most.

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

We ain't got the brass to do that,Wilder accepts that and gets on with it,as he says we need to be cuter than most.

Exactly. I just dont know how people can say a potential signing is 'nothing special' - a) give them a chance b) we aren't in the market for 'special' players.

 

[RedandWhite]

Bobby Reid and Diedhiou, actually did more.

 

[BladeInIreland]

But in Brooks - we have one here already.

Not sure I see the fuss about boosting our front line? Our biggest issue last year was keeping clean sheets and holding on to leads...

I'm a big fan of brooks but it is yet to be seen whether he can be clinical enough to fill that role. I think we have seen defensively we are fine when were not chucking everything forward. Problem then was we weren't scoring enough we weren't killing off games. I think if we fix it upfront, it will fix it across the board. A better striker and I think we will get more clean sheets.

 

[Mad Mick]

The biggest issue we had last year imho was set peices and corners. The strikers did their job. But sometimes they had to feed of scraps. How often did we say Billy and Leon got no service. OK we did score some corkers from set peices, but they were the exception. I mean FFS how hard is it to take a decent corner. Get that right and our current strikers are good enough to convert. After saying that they are both going to be a year older, and maybe in danger of injury. We need a good youg back up striker to support them.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

I'm a big fan of brooks but it is yet to be seen whether he can be clinical enough to fill that role. I think we have seen defensively we are fine when were not chucking everything forward. Problem then was we weren't scoring enough we weren't killing off games. I think if we fix it upfront, it will fix it across the board. A better striker and I think we will get more clean sheets.

Nah mate. We weren't throwing everything forward down the stretch after we'd taken leads against Barnsley, Brentford, Millwall, Cardiff...

Defence is where we need to upgrade if we're to move from 10th to top 6. I'll be bold and say, no way do we finish top 6 with Basham & Stearman as first choice picks.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Nah mate. We weren't throwing everything forward down the stretch after we'd taken leads against Barnsley, Brentford, Millwall, Cardiff...

Defence is where we need to upgrade if we're to move from 10th to top 6. I'll be bold and say, no way do we finish top 6 with Basham & Stearman as first choice picks.

Can't hold two players responsibilresponsible game management is what let us down,OK they are two very experienced players but it takes a team effort to close a game down. We will learn from it.