Steve Bruce signed Shane Long and then sold him at twice the price. Considering Long doesn’t score many, that's good business?
... not when you then spunk the money (and more if you add in his chaperone) on AH! He also doesn't score many, but doesn't cause half as many problems to defences as Long does. Shocking business, and just one contributing factor to why we were relegated.
Last season it was brought up. He's a clever lad Maguire and could possibly adapt. If we had this Diomande available there would be no need.
It won't happen, he's a CB, he hasn't got the awareness to be a striker. I know it worked with Faye but he was bigger than Maguire and even then it was only done as a last resort if we were losing.
We're a small company in business terms and selling an item we bought for £6m for £12m only six months later, can only be seen as good business. Unless you were blessed with that old chestnut... Hindsight?
As far as I can tell, albeit watching from a TV viewpoint, it is a creative midfielder/wing-back/winger we are desperately missing, who can play the ball into space for someone to run onto, through the middle channels. That's where I would see Maloney & Snodgrass come into the equation. Together I think they would be excellent - Maloney has fulfilled that role admirably for the brief periods with us & also in the last two Scotland games. One of Snodders strengths if I remember correctly ( seems an age since he had a chance to demonstrate it). The lad Diomande has speed & is adept at making space for himself & getting onto passes through the channels & reaching decent crosses from the flanks (based on the various you-tube clips posted on here). A hold-up man would be useful. I reckon Hernandez could handle that role given a chance...he's not the most instinctive of goal scorers. We have been creatively insipid the last season & half, maybe longer. That, to my mind, is where we're lacking the most. Bruce has to start being brave - none of this defensive formation we've exhibited for 3/4 of every game away this season.
Our strikers are too similar. We don't have anyone to hold the ball up and bring others into play. We don't have a target man who can beat 6ft plus defenders to headers in the box. For me that's the kind of striker we are lacking. We have wide players who can provide service from both flanks but no one for them to aim for. First time we went up we had Deano who could hold the ball up and Campbell who had the pace backed up by Folan, We need players who can mix it up as well as use their pace.
We don't use hold up players because we very rarely play through the middle. Our midfielders play the ball direct to the striker for them to shoot or pass it back out wide. We had a hold up player/target man in Jelavic and it did bugger all. In fact, one of the main reasons we didn't stay up was because all of our chances were crosses; there wasn't a need to hold the ball up because there was only ever one or two men into the box. The problem for me isn't with the strikers, it's the midfield not working cohesively. We need a new approach to the game in general and that won't be fixed by signing 2 strikers a transfer window.
The midfield never have enough options in terms of balls that will hurt the opposition. Our attack has no focal point and we often struggle to find a man from a throw in. We've got away with some average home performances thus far, but our away form is woeful. We need to be able to mix things up a bit and I don't think we need 2 strikers - just one who will offer us something different to what we have already.
I suppose, but if you're in the box waiting for a cross, why would you then hold it up once you got it? Surely if you're in the box your first instinct should be to shoot or head the ball?
It's about creating options, if you're flexible you can play with your back to goal to push the ball into the path of an oncoming midfielder (though we don't have any of those at the moment either) or back to the winger who may have advanced to change the angle of the cross. We don't have anyone physical up front. O'Grady for Forest against QPR chased down everything, he put a great through ball in for a defender who should have scored. The ball just doesn't stick up front with our current options - Diomande may offer that, but that'll be a while before he's back, even though he's never even started!!
Diomande is out injured for two months, an emergency loan is only for a maximum of three months, replacing him while not available makes perfect sense.
It also made perfect sense to buy a proper keeper during the window Lambo, we didn't and we'll continue to suffer because of it, our club doesn't make perfect sense very often. Will we get a loan striker in? Probably not as it certainly does makes perfect sense.
Not bringing in another keeper was very odd, particularly as Bruce has subsequently made it fairly clear that Jakupovic doesn't figure in his plans at all. We've got a loan bid in for Wilson, so it's obviously something we're looking at, but there seems to be very little urgency.
What sort of centre forward is Wilson? He may be great but he's another with no real experience. I'd rather have had Akpom or Wilson and someone with English football league experience.
It probably doesn't matter what sort of striker Wilson is, Derby have confirmed they're close to concluding a deal.
