The difference with Spain and Hull is they dont have people like Xavi, Iniesta, Cazorla, Mata, Alonso, Silva, Busquets, Martinez and Fabregas in midfield When you play Spain you get very little possession therefore it increases the chances they will score regardless of how many strikers they have In this league you either need some goalscorers or the whole team chipping in like Cardiff do. Hull only really Koren and Aluko have scored enough goals as individuals
Proud - my point really is that it is often dangerous to generalise in football - I didn't go on Saturday but sifting through reports, in particular Nigel's comments, if he is accurate that we created 20 attempts on goal and only converted one then that is worrying ... brings me back to what I I've said previously about Wood - his conversion rate appears to be one in, say, three (sometimes two) - Nuge is probably one in five - the other 'strikers' arguably as bad if not worse right now - Andy King's is probably better (but there are other issues there) Knockaert's too ... that conversion rate was our achilles heel prior to Wood joining ... now we need to bounce back against Huddersfield on Tuesday and we need others to weigh in on the goal front - particularly if Wood is out for longer than 'cagey Nige' is letting on ... As to possession increasing chances that is not necessarily true - the possession needs to be in the right areas and ending up with a telling pass ... arguably you could create more chances by merely lobbing high balls into a big man ... they may not, however, be as clear cut as a through ball putting a player in on the keeper ... there was an analogy yesterday in the Rugby - territorially and possession wise Ireland were camped in the England half fo most of the first 40 minutes - but England left the field 6-0 up at half time (might have been 9-0 if Farrell hadn't missed the kick right at the end) .. I think we have a pretty good defence - but if we are not converting enough of our chances we are going to be susceptible to more days like Saturday ..
Thats the best bit Proud, didnt we only pay around 1 million for Wood.? (with a few add ons Im sure) but WOW! bargain or WHAT!!!!
This is likely to only be a problem when we're without Wood and/or Nugent. I hope that Nige has been enough of Vardy now and gives Waggy or, preferably, Futacs a chance in the cup. However, we can we can go on about Vardy but the truth is that, as I've been saying for weeks, there is a chasm between our first choice strikers and the rest. Nige sees Futacs all the time - if he thinks he's not as good as Vardy, then that says a lot. We needed that third striker, failing that, Nige needs to look at a plan B system with only one striker, maybe five in midfield with King behind the striker.
... I'd have loved Jeff Schlupp to have been given a few games - seems to have that multiple goal potential ... oh well ...
I think its just Futacs doesnt suit the system. From the bits i have seen (cue football cliche) he is very good with his feet for a big man. I would give him a chance
It isn't the first time we've missed out on strikers. We had the option to sign Le Fondre when he was at Rotherham but turned him down, Barmby was offered Billy Sharp but declined it, Pearson didn't rate Austin when he was at Swindon, he also went for Aaron McLean over CMS. Whoever was in charge of our recruitment needs a slap and a P45. As for league standings, it's still too early. We need to sort out this goalscoring problem, pronto, but we aren't going to continually do that and eventually the goals will start pouring in. I think it's a three horse race between us, Leicester and Watford. If we can get a good run together we can mount a good challenge. I'd say that Watford perhaps look stronger overall, but only because having lived in Leicester for the last few seasons, I'm no stranger to their inconsistency. It's going to be an exciting end to the season, I just hope we don't have to fanny about with the playoffs. I don't want us to become the new Cardiff.
How do you know that Pearson didn't rate Austin? I'm assuming there was a fan made rumour and the supposed transfer didn't happen? As for McLean and CMS, I rate them both the same. ****. You're surely not suggesting that Steve Walsh did a bad job in recruitment for you?
Sorry Tommy, but the comment about Austin isn't correct, we definitely wanted him, we bid for him, but Swindon rejected our bid(possibly bids). You're right about the others though and Barmby wasn't the only one to reject Sharp, Bruce rejected him too(though on both occasions we had Fryatt and we were looking for a big man to play alongside him).
