This is going to cost us, not one to criticise or overreact but Wyke is literally like playing with 10 men, never looks like a goal threat, PP needs to work a miracle and get Grigg firing from now until end of the season to give us half a chance
Wyke isn't the best player in the world but it's our lack of creativity that's the problem. With the exception of a world class striker creating chances for himself, no-one is scoring goals for fun with the kind of service Wyke had today.
Whats your answer to that one, if you were picking the team would you stick with the same starting eleven.
Can't answer for him, but personally I would give Lafferty a start, can always bring Wyke on for him from the bench if he isn't up to much
I don't know the answer, I'm not sure we have that create midfielder that I think we could do with. But I think our front 3 is completely disjointed and is a way of attempting to get Gooch and Maguire in advanced positions. I won't give a vague answer though, so if Parky resigns next week and Donald gives me the job, here is what I would try: Keep the 3 at the back, it's been working. I'd give John a run out at left wing back and give Hume a breather. O'Nien would keep his place due to lack of options. I'd have a midfield 4 as more of a diamond with Dobson at the base and Maguire at the tip, playing off the striker. Scowen in for Gooch to provide the extra legs in midfield. I'd probably give Lafferty a game up front but it's a toss up between him and Wyke to be honest. That should allow us to control the midfield more and build moves in the opposition's half, allow Scowen/Power a bit of freedom to support attacks, give Maguire more of the ball in dangerous positions and offers support for a front man to hold the ball up for.
I don't believe we need major changes ... ... just a little more courage in all areas including the management. Sadly the performance didn't match the support as we've seen too many times over the years.
Wyke isn't in the side purely to score goals though. He's the focal point for the team, to win and hold the ball in the final third, to bring others into the game, to occupy the centre backs. Gooch and Maguire have 20 goals between them this season, Wyke has 5, so its not like we're not scoring goals.
We have done ok playing 3-4-3 , today was a setback but we were playing the team that now leads the table , with Phil Parkinson we play to a system , because of today’s setback why try to reinvent the wheel . We must trust the Manager to react in the right manner , Jack Ross chopped and changed things far to much and failed and we are still in with a shout for promotion so trust Phil Parkinson to resolve the problems .
We have had a problem for numerous seasons of not having an out and out goal scorer and we have never addressed this problem. All successful teams carry a goal poacher and until we sort our problem out we will be just a run of the mill team.
This. In 87 we had The G-Force Gabbiadini and Gates to fire us out of the league, strangely missing these past two seasons?
We don't seem to be getting a lot of joy from Wyke winning headers and battling defenders and that's almost all he can do so I'd like to see Lafferty given a try. I don't think he'd be any more prolific but I think he's a cleverer player, the ball would stick to him more and he'd link up with Gooch and Maguire better. He'd also wind the defence up which might make them lose concentration at times.
Been saying it for months, we have 'no fox in the box', most teams who succeed do, we will struggle to go up 'cos of this fact.
We are creating chances and getting crosses in, but either Wyke etc is no where near the cross or he fluffs it, nor do we have enough players in the box when crosses come in. But yes we do not have a regular goal scorer. Wyke's general play is okay but his goal scoring is poor, Gooch has popped up with some very welcome goals but his general play is abysmal. Maguire is a genuine creative midfielder who does score goals.. So yes we need more of a goal threat, the loanee, Grigg, Watmore? We desperately need someone to step up. Although now I reckon the play offs are more likely..
I certainly don't think any of Sunday's lack of creativity was Wyke's fault so the OP is wide of the mark for me. Wyke held the ball up, won more than his share of headers (for a change) and his general play was OK. Sadly I can only remember him having 2 attempts and one was due to a defensive error (the other, from the corner, he probably should've scored but it wasn't an easy header by any means) - which tells me that the ball isn't put in the right place often enough rather than the striker is to blame That said, I'd have Semenyo (for Gooch) and Lafferty (for Wyke) in to start on Saturday personally.
You can put all the crosses into the box you want but if you only have Wyke in there then you are going to struggle as easily marked.
Difficult gamer to analyse to be honest. We had players who played under par all over the pitch and yet we still dominated possession but without creating clear chances.. Let's hope we can get things back on track next game.. Ha'way the lads..
Lafferty is probably a better player than Wyke and should, therefore, be in the team ahead of him. As has been said, though, he is unlikely to score many more goals than Wyke. Consider this: In Season 2000-01, Niall Quinn played 37 times and scored 8 goals, and in Season 2001-02, he played 39 times and scored 6 goals. Wyke could feasibly reach such totals this season. Quinn is considered a legend, while Wyke will be consigned to the dustbin of history. Why were Quinn's single digit hauls not a problem? Because his role was to win the flick ons and knock downs for Phillips. The same as Wyke's role is to win the flick ons and knock downs for Gooch and Maguire.
When you read Quinny's book, it tells a massive story about his and Phillips' "connection" - everyone thought it was some weird telepathic link - but all he said to Phillips was "get between me and the penalty spot, if I win the header that's the direction I'll head it" and the rest, as they say, is history! So simple yet so effective. Unfortunately I've seen Wyke win headers and flick them on only for Gooch and Maguire to be stood between him and our goal instead of running on the other side. Makes it easy for the defence. What would it take to have Wyke/Lafferty doing that with Gooch or Maguire running in front and the other sitting behind? It's not rocket science!
