I think last night proved that even if AC had stayed we still needed a new striker in and basically didn't. A huge FAIL from both the board and the manager. The thought of Ameobi leading the line isn't worth thinking about but seemed to manage in the last few weeks with him up top, but now he could be out for 4-6 weeks only adds to the problem. Ranger hasn't found his feet yet and struggled last night. Best is at best a Championship player. Lovenkrands is a good striker when he has another striker to work with and all of the above don't fit the bill. Xisco can't really comment cause I've hardly seen the lads, but if the manager isn't playing him and looking to farm him out I think that speaks volumes. Last night we came up against an average Fulham team that had that little bit more than us and got the goal cause of 1 defensive error. But we lacked the usual cut and thrust from the whole team last night but had no movement up front. I think we'll get the results to keep us up there but 17th is looking to be the target again
Julio Cruz is an option until the end of the season,very old but at least he has experience and a good scoring record. Agree with all of the above, I just dont see how we are going to get through the season. When everyone is fit I would go Barton Tiote Ireland Jonas Benny Nolan
If it comes out Ameobi has a fractured cheek bone the expected time for him to be out is 4-6 weeks. I know Xisco has gone to Deportivo but even if he was here would he get a game?? Are we able to sign players if they are free agent??
I am not fully convinced about the problem being strikers, I thought the midfield was unbalanced again last night, Barton is not a wing player, he tends to drift in and becasue of the need to defend more last night was playing deeper, there was very little wide product from that side of the pitch for the strikers to feed off. On the other side as usual Jonas huffed and puffed but produced too little meaniful end product, Guthrie doesn't seem to have the vision of Barton and missed opportuities through poor selection, Fulham used their width better and we got bogged down too often playing centrally. It's a risk but with Tiote back in I would like to see Barton central, Nolan up front with Lovers and take a chance and let Ferguson play right until Ireland is fully fit then allow Barton and Ireland to work that side between them, I also think the message to Jonas should be get the ball in the box rather than keep trying to beat the opposition, too much effort wasted.
Agreed Blacker-Than-Knight the whole team lacked cut and thrust and was generally unbalanced, but looking at the players we've got up front I still think we should have got another striker in regardless of what happened with AC. On the brighter side we have Tiote back and Ben Arfa to come into the team, once we get these pair back then we can see where the team is at. Hopefully last night was an off night and we'll be up for the fight on Saturday.
