Something really is going wrong now as not only am I agreeing with PTC but now with JWM and Hoppers aswell. McGoldrick is very 'Stead' like, comfortable on the ball and got talent but I dont see him as being a goal threat. He seems to drift alot to try and win the ball and is often out on the wing. His team is helped by his effort but a bit more selfishness to stay in the box may be required if he is going to excel for us. At present I dont understand the signing of Nouble as he just seems like a more energetic and less talented version of JET. I will give him time to settle in but I would personally like to see McGoldrick stay in the team and I DONT want to see Nouble play up front. If we are going to use him it would have to be out wide. Im also going to have to question 'Deleted' on his idea's that we have created plenty of goal scoring opportunities. We play two holding central midfielders who although they can pose a creative threat they are unlikely to carve open opportunities. We play Edwards who is NEVER a winger and we play Martin who has no end product or Murphy who has plus points but is hardly likely to put in a decent cross. We now play Stearman at FB who doesnt look like he wants to cross the half way line so we basically rely on either hopeful punts or Cresswell! Regardless of who we play upfront I dont see any of them scoring at a similar ratio to that of DJ so I think the club made a major mistake in signing McLean, McGoldrick and Nouble to replace a proven scorer.
Interesting you pick up on Stearman, that's what's causing a lot of our problems going forward. Edwards' performances are definitely suffering as a result, although I think it's mainly because his legs have gone. The unbalance is causing holes further up the pitch with Edwards and the forwards having to cover way too much ground. As for N'Daw and Hyam, they are another class. N'Daw was our biggest goal threat at Ewood and i cant think of a better box to box midfielder to pull on the Town shirt in the last five years. I don't agree that they can't carve open chances, there are always three players ahead of them who are all not producing and that's why we're not scoring goals. But, there may be an organisational issue with the pair of them interchangeable in midfield, we might see better results with Hyam in the hole and hanging back and N'Daw pushed up the field rather than taking the ball off the defenders. Murphy is the only real asset. Chopra could be if he lost some weight. Lee Martin's ridiculous dive says it all about him, if he just goes down genuinely with the momentum of the foul instead of going down like he's been shot we get a penalty. I've only seen three live games in the last three months though so what the heck do I know?
Having a player like Stearman is great for tightening up the defensive side of the game but it will only really work well in an overall sense if we have a classy attacking player in front of him. If our RM was an out and out winger who could constantly put decent balls into the box then it would be a great combination but having a defensive RB and a poor RW means we often see little in the way of threat from that side of the pitch. N'Daw has a brilliant long shot on him but I often think his passing is sloppy and his first touch is non existant. He does a brilliant job at breaking up play but personally I want more than that. I wouldnt personally call him a box to box player but each to their own interpretion I guess. Hyam often does the tackling aspect very well and will then play a simple pass. We will retain possesion but it will rarely turn into a counter attacking move. Again this type of set up is not a problem on its own but it will need those around to be able to make things happen and that is the problem. Its a lack of balance between attacking sense and defensive solidity.
DJ scored 10 goals in 17 appearances, but remember that 3 of those goals were penalties (he also missed 2 penalties), 1 was with his hands so was lucky not to get disallowed, and another was probably an own goal... so in reality the 10 goals in 17 appearances is very generous. I don't think our problem is a lack of options up front but rather a lack of supply to them. I thought DJ was great but his wage demands, length of contract and the fact we probably wouldn't be able to sell him on for much because of his age means I think NOT signing him was the right decision. Nouble is one for the future, he is only 21 and seems like he has the right attitude (unlike JET). He has worked with Terry and Mick before when at Wolves so they know exactly what type of guy he is. He is 6ft 3", bulky, fast, only 21 years old, with a good attitude so don't write him off so early like so many were doing with Tommy Smith!! I also think Chops has improved drastically his last few games (probably since he deleted his Twitter account), so hopefully he will get that little bit of luck and start banging them in soon... (then maybe we can sell him quick)
Wright, On DJ's goals then yes some were dubious, some of his penalty wins I didnt think were penalties in the first place and he may have had fortune but he was in the right areas for the decisions to need to be made. DJ was a handful and made defenders worried. It caused confusion and we benefitted. I cant see any other player being able to do that. On his contract as we didnt try then we will never know but I cant see him having a transfer fee of more than 1.5m and if that gets you 15 goals a season for the next 3 years then he walks away for nothing then I think its probably a good deal. Certainly better than 2m for Norris to do the same or similar prices for Leadbitter, Martin (probably) and countless others. Goalscorers who fit into a team are hard to find. It is a dificult balancing act but for me, it was worthy of the risk but each to their own well entitled view. Nouble, I wont right off and I said early I will give him time to settle but that doesnt help our immediate future. Thats not the kids fault just a fact about where we are as a team. A lack of goals could cause us big problems. The other twat has improved over the last couple of matches but he couldnt get much worse and he will need to do it for another half dozen games before I begin to believe that he actually wants to be here playing for us.
There is no way TB that our club could afford to match DJ's wage demands! Blackburn are paying him £28K a week and he's on a 3 year deal with them! Blackburn have the luxury of parachute payments so good luck to them and I can understand why we didn't even try and negotiate with DJ on those terms. We had to move on and we shall just have to hope and pray that the strikers we now have can get the goals to keep us up.
One of the biggest criticisms of Jewell were that he built an unbalanced side, putting round pegs in square holes, McCarthy said he would change that but to me now we've got one of the most unbalanced sides I've seen. I understand that Mick likes 442 and sees us as playing that but currently I really do not think it's doing us any favours with the players we have, get the players in in the summer to play this but not now. I have to say I was very underwhelmed by alot of Micks transfer dealings so far, I wasn't the only one and not alot has really changed my mind about this, we've replaced the quality of Scotland and DJ with workman like players in Nouble and McLean and IMO a fairly ineffective yet technically good McGoldrick and are playing an extremely uncreative, unfluid midfield. Though I have been more impressed with Nouble than I thought I would. I have to say DU, I don't think I've ever disagreed with so many points in on post. I don't think Edwards legs have gone, he showed this when he played RB not looking tired after running up and down the pitch for 90 mins, he's just ineffective and pedestrain as a winger, which you would never believe if you saw him as a RB!! Many people seem to be waxing lyrical about N'Daw, I see he is a decent DM but people were saying he's bossed our midfield, everytime I've seen him he's been pretty poor and I don''t think I've ever seen a player give the ball away soo much, perhaps this would be different if we had a play maker next to him to leave him to do what he does best but I certainly do not see him as a box to box midfielder for me it's one or the other atm and at the present time Hyam is playing better. But our only other option currently is Drury, I think Mick made a big mistake in seemingly prioritising bringing Henderson and McLean who to me are expendable instead of a playmaker or a winger on loan. Have to say with regards to DJ, he may have been fortunate in scoring some of the goals but he was always a goal threat, the only player who's a penalty box striker for me atm is Chopra I'm not sure the rest would score collectively 20 goals a season let alone each. I think it says it all that Chopra has had more goal attempts/chances to score in 1 and a bit games than McLean, Nouble and McGoldrick have had in all their appearences put together, that's because he knows where to be in the box like DJ did. And why oh why is our most creative player not even on the bench instead we put 3 out and out strikers on, JET may not be every1s cup of tea but at least when you've got such an uncreative side put him on the bench as an option. I have to say (sorry TB) that I think Chopra will have to be the one we rely upon to score the goals, noone else unless it's from a set piece or from distance looks like scoring. Oh and how good were the Watford goals the other night, absolute class. Passing and movement at its best so much better than long hopeful shots
PTC the old saying applies "Beggars can't be choosers!" I don't know who you expected to come in here given the fact that we are in a relegation battle and I think Mick was given very little to choose from. Releasing Scotland may have been a mistake in hindsight (which is always a wonderful thing) but I don't remember many of us demanding that he played every week! We don't know the full story of who Mick tried to bring in over the transfer window and I really don't buy into your arguements around formations! Yes they have a part to play but formations aren't the be all in football when there are so many other fundamentals that you have to take account of! We are now far harder to beat, more resolute and willing and able to grind out results which is the key to the rest of our season. Yes there willl be a big clear out in the summer and a chance for Mick to bring in his players but the fact is we just have to make do with what we've got and trust in Mick's judgement which hasn't let us down so far.
Have to say I agree with you there JWM, for me I don't think we really could've kept him but the mistake was who we replaced him with and also letting Scotland go!!
JWM - DJ is only on loan at Blackburn! Atlhough as you say Blackburn will obviously be able to splash the cash more than us. I think DJ did say that his future was not just about cash and that he was happy here. Could a deal have been worked out - Im not sure but I wish we had tried and failed rather than give up and sign Aaron McLean - surely thats worth a days negotiation.
TB are you really naive enough to believe that gumph! Of course he's going for the money! He had the chance to play for Hull but turned them down because they weren't offering him as much as Blackburn! The deal couldn't be done in time hence why he is there on loan and will sign in the summer.
I understand Mick has been placed in a very difficult position and he's a good manager but as I've said so many times in the past I think he doesn't help himself sometimes and if PJ could get players like DJ and Wellens in on loan I'm sure Mick could've got better strikers in than we currently have. For me McGoldrick is a good player but I do not think he's the type of player we need currently, he'd do best in a good footballing team, which is why I'm surprised Mick brought him here, Nouble is one for the future and McLean IMO is a pointless signing. I would've been more happy to see us let Scotland go had we managed to get a quality goalscorer or even just a striker who plays in the penalty box would've been nice, if we'd managed to keep DJ on loan I could have understood it a bit more although I didn't see any harm in keeping him until the end of the season. In terms of formations, I think you've spoken about formations many times before so they must have some importance to them surely?? I just think the current set up is not playing to our strengths atm particularly 442 with those players who Mick currently favours it's just soo unbalanced it's ridiculous!!
No i dont believe, especially as its what ever player says. They are all money grabbing tossers and i cant think of one that i actually respect or believe. It still doesnt mean you give away the only regular goal scorer you have had in the last 5 years without a fight. I agree the chances of signing him were slim, I wasnt expecting it to happen and I dont expect us to chuck silly money around for the sake of it especially not after what cost cutting we have seen over the last few years. maybe its the way our club is run in the modern regime but if we had had a succesful loanee pre ME then we would of said all the right things in the press about trying our hardest to bring him here long term. What did the club say about DJ - a few minor comments and then goodbye. Sorry but I want someone running our club that is prepared to show commitment and willing and seems to care about getting decent players in. The end result would have been the same but at least I would have felt that we were trying.
I agree with you PTC in that we do need some creativity from Midfield and even more so now that Wordy unfortunately is injured. I really hope that we can bring someone in as an emergency loan to tide us over. Wellens was ok and nothing more during his time with us and the only real good thing he did was to highlight the lack of professionalism in the changing room! But yes I take your point about formations and the key for me is to bring in someone that can supply McGoldrick. He isn't a bad striker, no one that scores 17 goals in a season beforehand can be called a bad striker! We aren't playing to his strengths and that is the challenge that needs to be overcome.
I'm sorry TB but I don't really get the point you are arguing here! You aren't privy to any inside information (presumably) so how do you know what went on with DJ! This is all water under the bridge now in any case as he has gone and its now up to Chopra to start scoring some goals!
JWM, I dont know the inside dealings, just the same as I guess that you dont know that DJ is lining up a 28k a week contract. Its all what we read on a daily basis. The point being that I dont feel that the upper management are putting in enough fight to make us seem like a club worth coming to or one where we will try to make players want to come here. Either it is because we are very PR shy at all levels and things are very hush hush or they actually dont care Anyway- its been, gone, failed and this is repeating old ground as it was discussed at the time. Onwards and hopefully upwards and back to the subject at hand. I actually do get your point and probably havent expressed my own very well as I am mainly in agreement with you so lets move on.
Just to clarify that I agree with and share everyones concerns on here about the lack of goals and more worrying the lack of chances being created but as the Blackpool game demonstrated we just need to score 1 more than the opposition! We play Huddersfield on an absolute pudding of a pitch on Saturday and believe me it will be as ugly as hell but grinding out the 3 points will be all that matters. It is refreshing to see that we are no longer banging on about our terrible defending and now that we have at least learnt how to defend properly it gives us more of a chance. Everything is far from sorted and I will be biting my nails like everyone else until we are 100% safe but I honestly believe that it will go down to the wire this season. There are in theory 10 clubs that are in the mix for the relegation places so we just have to get back to winning ways but I also believe that in Mick we have the best possible chance of staying up. Dark times for being a Town fan but hey its been dark times now for the last 4 years! Just think of all the we'll be drinking when we stay up!
At last. I agree wholeheartedly with that JWM. We have a defence tighter than a duck's arse, that's the worthwhile trade off maybe with Stearman at RB. We're a shambles up front and on the wings but if we are keeping clean sheets or only letting one in then we will probably have enough to keep us in the division and then we have a superb platform to build on in the summer. Adding just three or four players could make us a proper force next year.
