Don't disagree with anything you say, but statistically ALF is a better goal scorer than Graham, Sagbo, Long or Fletcher. Could we not carry him if played alongside any one of those others for a return of 1 in 3?
You forget how good he was on his day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfAb-dd9haM Decent performance against Boro and I think Brucie may think twice about getting rid!
He's an exciting player who can change a game. When he came back from his injury, he looked like he'd lost a yard of pace and his confidence to be direct, which was his biggest asset. Judging from the video, which I know are his best bits, he's gained a bit of confidence to go around people.
If Stewart could fulfil his potential he would be one of the first names on the team sheet. It would be brilliant if he could (even at this late stage) because a young player with the skills he had would be worth a packet.
12 million i think i'd say thanks, but no thanks. Got to be better prospects out there for that kind of money
One thing we definitely lack in our squad is someone with genuine pace who is prepared to run at people and if he's re-found the confidence to do that he would certainly be a big asset to us. Even if only to come off the bench to give us another dynamic!
Berbatov wont leave Fulham unless a club like Arsenal come a calling. He is a FAT in the summer btw. Long and Fletcher are the interesting ones. Lol. We wont blow our January budget on one player. Rhodes i expect to stay with Rovers for the rest of the season and if BR dont gain promotion then watch the fire sale start. BR will be well cooked under FFP if not in the PL.
I disagree with the "pressers" part at least in the oppositions half. It's one thing that disappoints me about our defensive set-up. We don't press the opposition in their own half. Instead we remain tight and organised in our own half and let them build their attacks without pressure. The opposite is true of most of the teams we've played. They press from the front and regularly force our defenders to play long hopeful balls forward which often result in loss of possession. I think SB uses this tactic because he knows the only way his players can neutralise the quality of dangerous attacking players is with greater numbers. I'm not criticising because over all it seems to have worked, but I look forward to when we can start to dominate teams more and play more of the game in their half.
I think the thing Brucie doesn't like about Stewart is that he doesn't like to do any of the dirty work, doesn't like to come back and tackle and is a bit lightweight...
I don't know whether you've not seen many of our games recently but in all those that I've been to both home and away, we have pressed teams high up the pitch. It was particularly noticeable at Anfield where they are obviously under strict instructions to play out from the back at all times, to the degree that their supporters were screaming for them to launch it. We have done it at home as well against Fulham for example when they were trying to build from the back. Sometimes we do sit back a bit and just try and stifle the opposition by cutting off all of the potential outlets, so that eventually they have to go long and give us possession back but I think Brucie does vary his tactics depending on the oppositions strengths and weaknesses.
The only match I didn't see (except for the highlights on MOTD) was the Fulham match. In all of the others we dropped back into our own half and marked up when the opposition got the ball. Sagbo stays forward and tries to make a nuisance of himself and the likes of Meyler and Livermore make the odd probing run at a player in possession before running back into position. That isn't pressing in my book.
What is pressing in your book, dried flowers? Sorry, couldn't resist! I do see what you're saying though, we don't tend to press constantly but that may well be intentional because they wouldn't be able to do it for 90 miutes.
I'd be surprised if we were one given QPR and Leicester are meant to be looking at £3M for him. I suppose if we could convince McLean that a short loan in League 1 where he could bang in a few goals would improve his chances of a permanent deal in the Championship in the summer we could offer them a replacement as part of a deal, it'd still be a £2M+ we'd need to offer though.
