Worth a punt? Just been released by Bolton so available on what Peter Lawwell considers the best kind of deal: free! Not exactly prolific but he's 6' 1" and would give us another option.
What! Surely not the 15 who've apparently left Bolton???? (What do you think of Reo-Coker though - is he too expensive or do we just not need another mid-fielder?)
Didn't Strachan try to get Reo-Coker when he went to Villa instead? I don't think we need him, got Wanyama, Ledley and Kayal already.
"Klasnic appeared 94 times in three seasons with Wanderers, scoring 24 goals." Just picked this off a site at random so can't vouch for it's accuracy but if it's correct then he's hardly a prolific scorer and surely that's what we need? "Ivan Klasnić has directly and indirectly contributed to 44 percent of Bolton Wanderers' Premier League goals." couldn't find the number of his 'assists' but this was another stat issued halfway through this season - whatever one can take from it!
If we keep hold of Stokes and Hooper they get a lot of goals. I agree with ST that we need someone who'll put himself about for 90 mins, bully centre-backs and work off scraps when we need to change the game plan. I'm not saying it's Klasnic but I think it's more about ability to hold-up play and bring the midfield and a 2nd striker into the game than lots of goals.
I certainly take your point and tend to agree with it - that's a reason why I was looking for Klasnic's 'assist' stats (and to be fair Bolton did score as many goals this season as teams which ended around midway in the EPL table, though their defensive record was obviously abominable). So St may be on to something!
We definitely need a striker who can do the job in the air or else we may change our tactics. Full backs trying to get to end-line are usually pushed out wide. This season if they crossed high, there was no-one to attack ball, if they tried to put the ball in low, there was always a defender waiting to intercept. People crossing need to options. The big striker has proved to be elusive to us as we have tried a few over the last five or six years.
