Hughton after Cleverley

[Dr Gloom 22149]

the prospect of xisco's return being heralded as a new signing and us not bringing in a new forward to challenge shola/carrol/lovenkrands is a depressing one

[Andrew 4857]

3 goals in 23 appearances according to wiki

 

slightly misleading

 

league wise its 3 goals and an assist in 7 starts 16 sub appearances and then 3 more goals in 6 starts in the copa del ray

[Happy Face 29]

3 goals in 23 appearances according to wiki

 

slightly misleading

 

league wise its 3 goals and an assist in 7 starts 16 sub appearances and then 3 more goals in 6 starts in the copa del ray

 

Do they ration his starts cos he's THAT effective when he comes on like?

[Guest alex]

3 goals in 23 appearances according to wiki

 

slightly misleading

 

league wise its 3 goals and an assist in 7 starts 16 sub appearances and then 3 more goals in 6 starts in the copa del ray

You say that but ss HF says, you'd think he'd start more if he was any good. Especially for a team that was nearly relegated. I appreciate stats don't tell the whole story and I didn't see him play (it was more a comment in general rather than what SloopJohn said) but he was hardly on fire going off that. He may have suffered from injuries but given his time here that would be even more of a worry in a way.

[PaddockLad 17654]

I think he might be hanging out around the Life Centre a fair bit now hes back.....

 

http://footballboners.blogspot.com/2009/03/xisco.html

[Andrew 4857]

3 goals in 23 appearances according to wiki

 

slightly misleading

 

league wise its 3 goals and an assist in 7 starts 16 sub appearances and then 3 more goals in 6 starts in the copa del ray

You say that but ss HF says, you'd think he'd start more if he was any good. Especially for a team that was nearly relegated. I appreciate stats don't tell the whole story and I didn't see him play (it was more a comment in general rather than what SloopJohn said) but he was hardly on fire going off that. He may have suffered from injuries but given his time here that would be even more of a worry in a way.

 

true, ill give him the benefit of the doubt though you never know, look at mascherano, he didnt play for nearly relegated west ham but as soon as he moved hes been one of liverpools key players in the usual top 4 team and now barca want him among others

[LeazesMag 0]

Has your usual account been locked out Leazes?

 

Clearly you are at odds with with the basic premise of a chairman backing his manager's decision making & judgement?

 

Excellent powers of deduction Sherlock.

 

 

 

your own powers of deduction appear to have failed you..........

 

that is, if you had any in the first place

[OTF 7489]

Plenty of options up front Chris, sure, but how many of them are any good?

 

None are really proven in the top league, Shola despite playing many many Premier League games.

 

Xisco I don't think anyone is in a position to say whether he's any good. It's hard to judge Santander's use of him also, as like us when we had Rossi on loan he could be getting limited minutes simply because he's only there on loan and isn't part of the bigger picture. The problem is that we'd need to see him given a run in the side to see whether he's any good, and that plainly is not going to happen when he's already so far down a weak but lengthy pecking order.

 

Selling him would be Best (him too) for all involved, but that's not likely to happen, so we'll have another name on our playing roster who probably won't add much to our chances of any sort of success this season.

[Kitman 2207]

Plenty of options up front Chris, sure, but how many of them are any good?

 

None are really proven in the top league, Shola despite playing many many Premier League games.

 

Xisco I don't think anyone is in a position to say whether he's any good. It's hard to judge Santander's use of him also, as like us when we had Rossi on loan he could be getting limited minutes simply because he's only there on loan and isn't part of the bigger picture. The problem is that we'd need to see him given a run in the side to see whether he's any good, and that plainly is not going to happen when he's already so far down a weak but lengthy pecking order.

 

Selling him would be Best (him too) for all involved, but that's not likely to happen, so we'll have another name on our playing roster who probably won't add much to our chances of any sort of success this season.

 

I just can't see how anybody can look at our strikers and think they've got enough goals in them.

 

If we sold Best, Shola and Xisco maybe we could afford a half decent striker (Roque Santa Cruz anybody?). I can't see how getting rid of Best and Ameobi weakens the squad and Xisco as you say is unproven and requires playing time which he probably won't get from us.

[OTF 7489]

I just can't see how anybody can look at our strikers and think they've got enough goals in them.

 

If we sold Best, Shola and Xisco maybe we could afford a half decent striker (Roque Santa Cruz anybody?). I can't see how getting rid of Best and Ameobi weakens the squad and Xisco as you say is unproven and requires playing time which he probably won't get from us.

 

Agree 100% We're going to struggle to get goals. In the Championship for patches when our forwards were struggling to score we had Nolan, Guthrie and even Ryan Taylor chipping in, it's hard to see them being able to fill the void.

 

Chris must be looking and thinking the same, but due to budget restraints he's going to have to try to get the best out of what we have, so all the noise we hear coming from him is to that effect.

 

I'd much rather get rid of three guys on moderate wages to pickup one on a higher wage. If we had injury problems we have the likes of Ranger and Vuckic who could step up and do a job, gaining valuable experience in doing so. We also have Alan Smith who once upon a time was a striker.

[Kevin 1]

I just can't see how anybody can look at our strikers and think they've got enough goals in them.

 

If we sold Best, Shola and Xisco maybe we could afford a half decent striker (Roque Santa Cruz anybody?). I can't see how getting rid of Best and Ameobi weakens the squad and Xisco as you say is unproven and requires playing time which he probably won't get from us.

 

Agree 100% We're going to struggle to get goals. In the Championship for patches when our forwards were struggling to score we had Nolan, Guthrie and even Ryan Taylor chipping in, it's hard to see them being able to fill the void.

 

Chris must be looking and thinking the same, but due to budget restraints he's going to have to try to get the best out of what we have, so all the noise we hear coming from him is to that effect.

 

I'd much rather get rid of three guys on moderate wages to pickup one on a higher wage. If we had injury problems we have the likes of Ranger and Vuckic who could step up and do a job, gaining valuable experience in doing so. We also have Alan Smith who once upon a time was a striker.

 

Thank God you ain't our manager anyway.

[OTF 7489]

I'd much rather get rid of three guys on moderate wages to pickup one on a higher wage. If we had injury problems we have the likes of Ranger and Vuckic who could step up and do a job, gaining valuable experience in doing so. We also have Alan Smith who once upon a time was a striker.

 

Thank God you ain't our manager anyway.

 

Yeah, because having a strike force of (for example):

 

Roque Santa Cruz, Andy Carroll, Peter Lovenkrands, Nile Ranger, Haris Vuckic with Kevin Nolan and Alan Smith

 

....is worse than having:

 

Andy Carroll, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best, Xisco, Nile Ranger, Haris Vuckic, and Kevin Nolan

 

 

Santa Cruz doesn't have to be the player, but the point is clear. We have a list of supporting strikers, with noone standing out as an established proven premier league player. I'm pretty sure the FA won't cut us any exceptions that allow us to field 12 players because we have so many average forwards on our playing roster so the key is to improve our starting 11.

 

The wages in total would be similar, it's the initial outlay that would need to be made available. An outlay that without question would be much much much less than the difference in income between a Championship and Premier League club, a difference that we seem to be in danger once again of discovering. The difference this time would be that we don't have a squad that we could sell off 30 million pounds worth of player like we did last time.

[Park Life 71]

We don't have a PL quality striker who can get 15 or so goals for us. Case closed. What we have is ragtag bunch of no hopers up front who are the 1 in 5 goals per game type. NOlan won't be the threat this year either.

[Asprilla 96]

We don't have a PL quality striker who can get 15 or so goals for us. Case closed. What we have is ragtag bunch of no hopers up front who are the 1 in 5 goals per game type. NOlan won't be the threat this year either.

I personally think Carroll will get around 15 this year.

[Park Life 71]

We don't have a PL quality striker who can get 15 or so goals for us. Case closed. What we have is ragtag bunch of no hopers up front who are the 1 in 5 goals per game type. NOlan won't be the threat this year either.

I personally think Carroll will get around 15 this year.

 

Would be nice if it happenned obvioulsy.

[Dr Gloom 22149]

carrol might get a few, but he'll get more with a better quality strike partner.

 

i don't think he's mobile enough to play the lone striker role up front in the premier league either.

 

he needs a pacey front man buzzing around him.

 

tbh, craig bellamy would be a perfect signing for us

[Happy Face 29]

Look at the main striker(s) at the other bottom half Premier League clubs.

 

Birmingham - Jerome

Bolton - Davies

Wolves - Doyle

Wigan - Rodallega

West Ham - Cole

Stoke - Kitson/Fuller

Fulham - Zamora

Blackburn - Roberts/Diouf

West Brom - Bednar

Blackpool - Ormerod

 

Which would you play ahead of our strikers?

[Park Life 71]

Look at the main striker(s) at the other bottom half Premier League clubs.

 

Birmingham - Jerome

Bolton - Davies

Wolves - Doyle

Wigan - Rodallega

West Ham - Cole

 

Fulham - Zamora

Blackburn - Roberts/Diouf

 

 

Which would you play ahead of our strikers?

 

That lot are all better than what we have.

 

Bolton have Klasnic now who got 12 and I really like the look of Rodallega and Zamora came on last year under Woy. Most of that lot have pace and power and Cole is very good at holding it up and gets his share of goals etc..

 

I think we'll know quite quick what's going on I'd say 12 games or so will give us an idea. We simply have to beat clubs in the bottom 8 or we're down.

Edited August 3, 2010 by Park Life

[Happy Face 29]

Look at the main striker(s) at the other bottom half Premier League clubs.

 

Birmingham - Jerome

Bolton - Davies

Wolves - Doyle

Wigan - Rodallega

West Ham - Cole

 

Fulham - Zamora

Blackburn - Roberts/Diouf

 

 

Which would you play ahead of our strikers?

 

That lot are all better than what we have.

 

Whey none of them managed 15 last season.

 

Few of them got 10.

[Guest alex]

We don't have a PL quality striker who can get 15 or so goals for us. Case closed. What we have is ragtag bunch of no hopers up front who are the 1 in 5 goals per game type. NOlan won't be the threat this year either.

I personally think Carroll will get around 15 this year.

 

Would be nice if it happenned obvioulsy.

Aye but I can't see it either. He 'only' got 17 in the Championship playing for the best side in the division.

[Park Life 71]

Look at the main striker(s) at the other bottom half Premier League clubs.

 

Birmingham - Jerome

Bolton - Davies

Wolves - Doyle

Wigan - Rodallega

West Ham - Cole

 

Fulham - Zamora

Blackburn - Roberts/Diouf

 

 

Which would you play ahead of our strikers?

 

That lot are all better than what we have.

 

Whey none of them managed 15 last season.

 

Few of them got 10.

 

I know I checked all that before making my wreckless comment. But they simply have better players around them, better managers etc..And if Cole had been fit for instance he would have been at the W/c.

 

In saying that I think Fulham and Blackburn might struggle this year. West Ham are spending?? Haven't looked.

[Barney 0]

As has been mentioned many times on here, very few strikers these days get more that 10goals per season.

 

However if you have one good striker who can get you in /around that, and then others pitching in from elsewhere, then you stand a chance.

 

If Nolan, for example, was to get 6, a few each from the wingers and other strikers and things look a bit healthier.

 

Sol always seems to be worth a couple per season.

[Guest alex]

Fulham must have a bit of cash imo or Hughes wouldn't have gone. I think they'll be alright.

[dcraggs 0]

Birmingham - Jerome

Bolton - Davies

Wolves - Doyle

Wigan - Rodallega

West Ham - Cole

 

Fulham - Zamora

Blackburn - Roberts/Diouf

 

 

Which would you play ahead of our strikers?

 

That lot are all better than what we have.

 

Your having a laugh!! you'd rather have Davies than Lov/Carr? Or Doyle... Most of the above are nearing the end of their playing days.. Cole did nothing the 2nd half of the season.. Now that defenders know Doyle I can't see him being that great... if you'd discussed some youngsters who were making it in the prem then fair enough..

[Barney 0]

Does Al Fayed still own them?

 

He might be willing to throw a few more quid about this season.

 

The cup run last season and maybe a few quid compensation from Woy might go in the kitty.