Rodriguez for his pace which is something we are lacking up front and obviously he is younger. Overall i would rather have maynard over both of them.
The Golden Rule of buying players in is that they must improve the team. How will either of these two do that?
1. Lambert 2. Guly 3. Conolly 4. Barnard Answer to the OP question is neither. Why do we need to bring in an expensive fifth choice striker?
This reminds me a bit of Trundle v Eastwood. I'm sure Nigel and his team are looking around but there's a pretty good chance of it being neither - who knew he would sign SdR, Fox or Jos?
Guly might be needed out wide, Connolly probably won't be fit all season and Barnard isn't fully fit yet. That's a good an answer as any.
The liklihood of all of the above happening at the same time is quite low. I would therefore rephrase my answer. Why would we spend a lot of money on a third choice striker? TBH I think Guly and Lambert are now the No1 partnership and rightly so. Connolly as backup. Not sure Barnard will make the jump to the prem when we get there (this season or future) We have already got plenty of wing cover. All the left and rightbacks can move forward if needed plus de Ridder, Chaplow etc. We should be listening to the Don himself and using the youngsters as backup for the first team!!! So if Lambert or Guly are injured then Connoly or Barnard are next in line and then if they are unavailable the youngsters are the 5th position choice Most of the peeps on here are already wanting to spend money like its gone out of fashion whilst I would rather we went with the Don and got the academy players fast tracked through into the first team which means to give them a chance and not fill the ranks with expensive players blocking their way.
Rodriguez for his pace. Strikers will score goals depending on the service they get. Lamberts career goals have shot up since joining Saints because of better service. I think Rodriguez would score more regularly if he joined Saints.
The idea is to have a homegrown team, not one that relies on 16/17 year olds - you know where that road went. Most of the youth players aren't yet ready to have the pressure heaped on them.
thats not what I am saying however the odd one here or there being given the chance to cover for the 2/3/4 players that are already in the queue. It may mean the odd 16/17 year old gets a couple of games a season but whats wrong with that? Better than buying in players on a contract that means those 16/17 year olds are way down the pecking order and never given a proper chance. And who's to say they aren't ready? failing the crystal ball seeing how they would've played given the chance how can anyone know without letting them have the odd game. So what I mean is that every now and again when injuries or suspensions warrant the odd 16/17 year old may have to fill in for someone and thus getting some experience. I would never say lets go back to the Portaloo era of putting out a complete youth team and hoping for the best
I've got no problem with playing youths, but I wouldn't want to expect Jake Sinclair e.g to come off the bench and change the game on his debut in an important league match. Chamberlain was very confident and physically well developed, so we could fast-track him through. Most of the others don't boast the same. By all means give them experience, but not when it really matters if they aren't ready to handle it.
Still i see our forward line and centre back as lacking in depth, barnard injury and his up coming court case. I don't think Connolly can last a season, that leave's just Lambert and Guly. No way would I want a 16/17 year old as our only back up. We need to sign Jos and another cb and a striker, with Danny out for god know's how long we need cover.
I would think it's more one for next season as Connolly may not be around and we don't know about Barnard both in competency in the PL and availability.
I wouldn't bother with either of Sharp (a bit injury prone) and Rodriguez (way overpriced). For the prices being mentioned,we must be able to get someone better than those 2 or Maynard from abroad.
Neither had Lambert before this season. When he's fit, I reckon he'll be good. We do need some depth though, someone younger who can take us forward would be good.
That's not the point - the point is if we are looking at PL quality players then it's not safe to count on one who has only played League One.
