The forward line

[gavtheblade]

It seems that we are now having to work with the squad we have.
Be it only a handful of mediocre transfers have happened,nontheless we have kept our youngsters upto this point and aquired a highly rated winger.
However,scoring goals was a joke last season-have we enough bullets in the gun for this term as it stands?
Slew
cresswell
bogdanovic
porter
philiskirk.
From the above mentioned,who would be up front from the start come 3 on saturday?

id go Cresswell and philiskirk to mix it up a bit.

 

[stannyblade]

Slew and Porter for me.

 

[Wards]

Have some people not realised that Cresswell is well past it? Unless it was ironic?!

I'd go Boggy and Porter. Slew as first back up.

 

[gavtheblade]

Something tells me creswell could be good in this division if he gets the service that is.

 

[stannyblade]

Cresswell needs to play up front when picked not on the wing. I think he should only be used as a sub a la chief wayne allison

 

[SwissBlade]

And Ched? He's still with us

 

[raul]

Anyone remember "The Sticker Situation" ?

 

[Toronto Blade]

Porter will start with another from the bunch,depends who has impressed DW in the build up.Boggy has helped his case out from reports,Slew sounds raw and perhaps lightweight for seasoned League One players.
Don't write off Cresswell and Ched just yet.

 

[Bladeloyal]

And Ched? He's still with us

are you sure !

 

[MunXy]

It appears some are forgetting 1 important fact, a forward line is only as good as the people behind it providing ammo sans messi of course who brings his own gun and ammo.
Any striker even cresswell and co will score providing they get a good service, ive spoken to a few wendy fans and they seem to agree fatty mellor got almost all of his goals because of a good service, so imagine a decent striker getting that kind of service?
what is needed is 2 old fashioned chalk on thier boots wingers that can cross a ball, then i dont care who we have up front even doyle n collins they will get goals.
pair any of the mentioned "strikers" we have, if the service is good they will bag goals and as confidence increases so will the goal tally.

MunXy

 

[SwissBlade]

are you sure !

No 9 on squad list

---------- Post added at 08:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

It appears some are forgetting 1 important fact, a forward line is only as good as the people behind it providing ammo sans messi of course who brings his own gun and ammo.
Any striker even cresswell and co will score providing they get a good service, ive spoken to a few wendy fans and they seem to agree fatty mellor got almost all of his goals because of a good service, so imagine a decent striker getting that kind of service?
what is needed is 2 old fashioned chalk on thier boots wingers that can cross a ball, then i dont care who we have up front even doyle n collins they will get goals.
pair any of the mentioned "strikers" we have, if the service is good they will bag goals and as confidence increases so will the goal tally.

MunXy

We've had crap supply for a few years now

 

[Foxy]

I'd start saturday with Philliskirk and Porter (if fit enough). Tonne (i'll use the proper characters when I learn where they are on my sudo-mac keyboard ) helping to create & being a threat himself.

 

[MunXy]

thats my point swiss, we havnt scored because the supply to the strikers has been nothing short of abysmal, no matter who the striker is, if hes expected to create his own chances (see above about lionel messi, exception to the rule) he will score less than 10 a season, where as if hes being fed chances even a mediocre striker (see above vis a vis neil mellor) will score 20+ goals per season, without supply tevez, rooney et al wouldnt score 1/4 of the goals they do.
take rooney, few seasons ago being helped by the portugese plonker he scored a hatful, following seasons and with lesser supply quite a few less goals.
personally id prefer us to have the players to play for example monty alone in midfield, then 3 attacking midfielders, 2 of which on the wings and the 2 strikers ala newcastle under keegan (you scor 3, we will score 4) entertainment all the way

MunXy

 

[Bladeloyal]

no 9 squad list ,might have well given me the shirt cos i wont be playing either.would the club let him train with the squad while being on a rape charge cant see it myself .

 

[stannyblade]

It appears some are forgetting 1 important fact, a forward line is only as good as the people behind it providing ammo sans messi of course who brings his own gun and ammo.
Any striker even cresswell and co will score providing they get a good service, ive spoken to a few wendy fans and they seem to agree fatty mellor got almost all of his goals because of a good service, so imagine a decent striker getting that kind of service?
what is needed is 2 old fashioned chalk on thier boots wingers that can cross a ball, then i dont care who we have up front even doyle n collins they will get goals.
pair any of the mentioned "strikers" we have, if the service is good they will bag goals and as confidence increases so will the goal tally.

MunXy

I agree with that MunXy. Have we had an out and out winger since Ndlovu?

 

[Torrix1889]

Me too Foxy, think Philliskirk will suprise a few this season

 

[stannyblade]

Just remembered Philliskirk used to play for Oldham. Think a sly £5 on him to score the first goal is in order

 

[Foxy]

Me too Foxy, think Philliskirk will suprise a few this season

He works well with Tonne, who I think will surprise also if given the chance and not battered too harshly by defenders

 

[Russ]

Just remembered Philliskirk used to play for Oldham. Think a sly £5 on him to score the first goal is in order

Sounds like a plan! Perhaps we should have a betting coup.

 

[Wards]

He works well with Tonne, who I think will surprise also if given the chance and not battered too harshly by defenders

What's Tonne like as a player? I've yet to see him other than the brief cameo last season.

 

[Foxy]

What's Tonne like as a player? I've yet to see him other than the brief cameo last season.

They tend to give him a free role (at least I assume they've given him permission, if not, he does anyway ) and he certainly likes to roam/get involved.

He's good technically, isn't the slowest, has a cracking shot on him and seems to link up well with Philliskirk, they look to have built an understanding. He makes some very intelligent runs and even if he isn't directly involved, he creates space for others. Not sure if anyone else noticed, but an example of this was the Blackpool match, one of the reasons Kruk got forward so often is that Tonne was making runs inside and taking defenders with him.

He is guilty of probably trying to be too clever at times, but more often than not it seems to work. He also looks to get very frustrated when his teammates lose/waste the ball or we concede. Which is a good sign as long as he doesn't strop

I like him and hope he can transfer some of the performances I've seen in the reserves/development squad and more recently in the friendlies into the first team. Rotherham at Don Valley was a great example of him running the game, he created chance after chance and certainly should have bagged at least a couple himself.

I'd tip him to create plenty and score a few goals if given the chance and importantly, if he can cope with the rigours of lower league first team football

 

[Come from away]

I think it will be Boggy and Porter with Quinn and Flynn out wide, plus Slew and Cressy on the bench. With only 5 subs I would expect Tonne and Philliskirk will have to wait for the bruises to mount up.

 

[stannyblade]

Sounds like a plan! Perhaps we should have a betting coup.

That said so did Porter..

 

[flash-blade]

Something tells me creswell could be good in this division if he gets the service that is.

Gav, put the crack pipe down mate

 

[Wards]

Cheers Foxy, much appreciated.

I look forward to seeing him plus the likes of McCallister this year. Hope that DW won't be afraid to throw them in.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

As has been the case with us for a few years, the problem has been the supply.

I thought Porter and Cressy was nailed on but it appears as though Cressy is either injured or on his way so I think he'll go with Porter and Boggy with Slew and Philliskirk on the bench. I reckon it'll be;

Simmo
Lowton, Collins, Maguire, Lecs
Willo/Flynn, Doyle, Squinny, Tonne
Porter, Boggy

Subs: Philliskirk, Slew, McAllister/Monty, Willo/Flyn, Long

Shows how short we are in defence

 

[mattbianco1]

What's everybody's issue with Cresswell? OK, given the choices we have he wouldn't be my 1st choice striker but if he's played upfront he's proved he can score goals. He's a poacher and a good one at that.

The problem is that when he played upfront, season before last he scored loads. Last season he was used on the wing and quite frankly is definately not a winger (anymore). When he was played upfront, did we actually supply him with any decent balls last season? That's the main reason we went down, no final ball or creativity. If we can supply any of the strikers we've got with crosses and through balls we should tear teams apart.

Midfield & Defence were more to blame than the strikers last season

 

[Revolution]

What's everybody's issue with Cresswell?

He's fallen off a cliff form wise, a fact which should be obvious to anyone who has seen him play in each of the last 2 seasons.

 

[mattbianco1]

What's everybody's issue with Cresswell?

He's fallen off a cliff form wise, a fact which should be obvious to anyone who has seen him play in each of the last 2 seasons.

That's a bit harsh! He got 14 goals the season before last... You always want a 15+ striker, 14's not a bad return.

I'm saying if he'd played CF all season last year he would've scored a hell of a lot more. Then give him a couple of players to put decent balls into him like Cotterill, Ward etc. then he would've got near that number again.

He still scored 5 goals from the wing!

 

[SwissBlade]

thats my point swiss, we havnt scored because the supply to the strikers has been nothing short of abysmal, no matter who the striker is, if hes expected to create his own chances (see above about lionel messi, exception to the rule) he will score less than 10 a season, where as if hes being fed chances even a mediocre striker (see above vis a vis neil mellor) will score 20+ goals per season, without supply tevez, rooney et al wouldnt score 1/4 of the goals they do.
take rooney, few seasons ago being helped by the portugese plonker he scored a hatful, following seasons and with lesser supply quite a few less goals.
personally id prefer us to have the players to play for example monty alone in midfield, then 3 attacking midfielders, 2 of which on the wings and the 2 strikers ala newcastle under keegan (you scor 3, we will score 4) entertainment all the way

MunXy

Yep, on the same wavelength with this one. I don't know many teams that play the same strikers all the time (injuries, tactics, suspensions, other reasons dictate this) so the supply lines have to fit the strikers, its not rocket science.

I remember a time under Robson/ Blackwell where we were playing 4-4-3 the balls into the box were excellent, fizzing across the 6 yd box all the time... it needed a Billy Sharp type on the end, Billy stayed on the bench and i think we had Webber (Was he still there under Blackwell)/ Stokes/ Craig Beattie or up front. The balls in clearly didn't suit the strikers, but they still kept coming. The strikers got nowhere near them.

Somewhere along the line it needed a winger/ striker/ manager to do something different... nobody did.

It been rarer and rarer to see the balls into the strikers in the way they want them. For me, the supply lines need to match the Strikers strengths...