The McCormack story has reared up again and seems more likely right now. God knows what Radz & Orta are thinking unless he's on a set wage pay as you play deal with bonuses for goals scored/made. Not happy myself. But that surely means Wood is more likely to go unless Tommy wants a 4-4-2 & also means Lassoga deal is dead. We do need to give Caleb Ekuban a run as we killed Anntonson last season by not using him. Wood has the chance to do something no other Championship striker has ever done and thats repeat last seasons record or at least become top scorer in the league again. Whatever happened to these strikers who were all top league scorers in the Championship: Ellington King Cureton Ebanks-Blake Whittingham Maynard Graham Lambert Murray mcCormack Murphy Gray Wood
The worrying thing about would is in the last 3 games he has missed 2 sitters that should have been in the back of the net. Scoring those we have already made a difference to our league positon. However, McCormack is not the answer.
Wood is as good as they come in our league and he has a strike rate of 1 in every 3 games, so is due to score at least 1 at the weekend. But as John rightly says he has missed at least 2 sitters that he would have banged away last season. My worry is we need goals as anyone does if they want promotion but the odds on Wood are slim to repeat. I want him to be the first to do it but bookies odds?
Out of all those top scorers only the following scored real numbers: Lambert 27 Murray 30 McCormack 28 Murphy 27 Wood 27 All the others only got between 20 & 25 goals with majority 21
So who are we bringing in? Lassoga from Hamburg Rual de Tomas from real Madrid Rhodes from Wendies McContract from Villa Or will Orta's team bring in someone we have never heard of before. Some think thats bad but doing a great job so far with Alioski, Klich, Felix & Saiz
Morning Doc, rumours about Oli McBurnie of Swansea and Sam Gallagher of Southampton, both 21. Seems McBurnie got 19 in 23 games in Premier League 2. What you think?
One question I have, why did he not get into our academy? Leeds born but goes to Bradford. Was it ghe days Bates was scrapping our academy forcing the leaders to set up with Man City? Are either of these 2 ready to take onthe big mantle of Woods legacy. I have to say that I see no difference between these and Raul de Tomas. Lassoga is the real deal though, but if we cant have him or as good as him then we need to take a punt on someone...
I'm wondering if this is the first minor mistake Rads has made in allowing the news of Wood to escape before securing a new striker. Every club now knows we are desparate for a striker and that we have £15m or so to spend. I can't see it being anyone other that Lassoga out of the mentioned names.
Tommy did say they had been planning this for a couple of weeks as they weren't sure Wood wanted to stay. So I like the foresight & Lassoga seemed to be ideal, but that also means others were discussed/approached? Seems to be a lot of stories in media about Rhodes, McWage but I think thats paper talk. Davy's seems more logical than Rhodes
Radz has kept his cards close to his chest regarding business dealings since he took over, I wouldn't be surprised if he has someone already lined up.
Even if it were Messi we know someone who would say "fkg sick of using wiki to look these players up"
I don't think we need to worry too much about getting a striker in. Worry, yes, but not too much! Reason? If you look at the two games that Ekuban started, we scored 6 goals. Not bad, eh? And guess who was roundly criticised for being fairly anonymous? Yup, Ekuban! Indeed, Roofe took over from Ekuban yesterday & was equally anonymous in the role. So what am I (clumsily) trying to say? I may be well wrong here, but my impression after a few games is that even though we continue to play 4-2-3-1, it's a completely different system from Monk's. Completely different! Monk's system was largely built around wing-play, or long ball, and getting the ball, mostly high ball, to Wood in the middle. No criticism from me, btw - it worked! This season, however, we've taken quite a different approach, and it's only now that it's fully dawned on me. Yes, we still cross a lot, but look how many bodies are in or around the box - especially in. Rarely happened last season. We had Wood in the middle, and possibly one or two around the box looking for the second ball. There's a lot more low crosses going in now, and more importantly, more passing in & around the box, with runners aplenty. Didn't see that at all last season. So what I'm saying is that with this new system, we don't need a big target man. It's helpful to have one, of course, especially if he's mobile, but we don't actually need one - like we did last season. So it's not the end of the world that Wood has gone for me. Indeed, given the way we're playing, Wood might have struggled to get double figures, if you think about it. Not so sure his confidence would be as sky-high as it is now, nor his value. So I'm reluctantly coming round to thinking that it's actually a better move for the club than it is for Wood. And I'm a little embarrassed that I got too emotional about him leaving without understanding the bigger picture, like I do now. So who replaces him? I have no earthly idea, but given the ability of the current regime to pick a player, I'm happy to leave it in their hands. Still a bit emotional, though, as I liked Wood. Will get very,very emotional though if they dare to go anywhere near McContract (suspect his agent is spreading 'false news'), and do you know what - after writing all of the 'head' stuff above, the 'heart' says I'd still love to see Matt Smith back with us. Funny old game, isn't it?
WJ is correct, Lassoga would be a like for like direct replacement for Woody, but a bit more mobile. Roofe has played up front & scored over 20 goals in a season but at a lower level but still maybe better there than on the wing. Tommy will have seen him play up front but we still need another front man as Ekuban could be out for a while. Tommy said he was pleased with Ekuban so did hi sjob well. I bet we have a new striker by Wednesday and think it'll be a Wood type playwr as its another option when muscle is needed against certain defences. Lassoga still gives me a warm feeling. Like for like with Wood, scores goals at a higher level which means on a price basis if Wood is worth £16.5m so is Lassoga. So getting him on loan with part wages paid, plus only paying £1.7m for him at the end of the season means the bulk of the transfer cash can be saved until January.
Left field Why did Becchio tweet a photo of himself & wife in Victoria Arcade in Leeds on Friday saying home Leeds. Then another tweeted photo from Stadium of Light on Saturday. No surely not....
Beccho was yesterday's man. Great while he was here, but not worth bringing back. Even McContract or Beckford would be a better option
