Agree with 99% of this, mate. Diverge a bit re the lack of strikers. Do you really think it's that hard to sign a half decent striker? I understand that some (perhaps most) would rather be an hour from London max, but we've had plenty of decent strikers in the past. Do you think they've all been mercenaries?
Don't want to speak for @The Norton Cat but I think he means that good strikers are just extremely rare these days. Look at the championship top scorer charts, the majority are wingers and 10s. That means that strikers who are average are getting big money moves to the PL which leaves the teams further down the food chain fighting over a pretty poor pool of forwards. We have to be more innovative as a club though because good forwards are out there you just have to find the ones that fit our system. Look at when we signed Stewart for example, he was effectively a winger at Ross County but we seen something in him that would fit the 9 position here.
I don't know. I just think there must be more to it than them just not wanting to. It could be down to the budget, it could be down to players not wanting to move, it could be something else. I just don't believe that the club haven't tried to sign someone for that position. And as @Sour Patch says, there does seem to be a dearth of suitable candidates.
This is a very good point. I do wonder if we've brought in players thinking, perhaps hoping, they could adapt in a similar way. Someone mentioned earlier today that Speakman suggested Dajaku could play as a 9. I'm sure Mundle has played as a 9 at some point too. I've got no idea if there is any substance to this theory, but it could be that some of those players just have adapted as they hoped.
That is a cracking suggestion. He is as bright as a button in my opinion. My own opinion is we need an experienced head coach. I mean someone with 10 years plus in the job. Someone who can manage upwards as well as downwards, if that makes sense. I would prefer someone from the UK too personally as I think we produce the best coaches and some are criminally underrated. The more I think about the more I would love to see Robins here. I think he could be perfect. Somebody said to me yesterday Steve Clarke would be a cracking appointment and I find it hard to disagree. I do suspect the club have their eyes in a European coach. I dont have any massive issues with that, so long as they bring plenty of know how. I keep reading about these modern young coaches. There isnt really any such thing in my opinion. But if you want to know where the best young coaches are learning their craft it is in this country and maybe Ryan Mason is worth a chance.
The striker conversation is really interesting in football, if you ask fans of the 92 PL/EFL clubs what position they should prioritise in the summer I would guess at minimum 70 would say striker. I think it's unfair how we judge forwards based on goalscoring when 90% of goalscoring is service and team setup. Someone like Gelhardt fit our system last season like a glove but because he only scored 3 goals he got labelled as ****, despite the team as a whole being more effective with him on the pitch. The days of pure number 9s are over in my opinion.
Not so sure on that one mate, specifically pure number 9s. They still exist in my opinion and can turn a good side into a elite one. I look at sides and see how a 9 makes them ultra effective. Villa have it cracked, Kane we all know, Isaac looks a monster, Haaland is different altogether. Solanke has Bournemouth looking better. In the championship I look at Hardie at Plymouth and dream about him in our side. Then you have the likes of Sargeant, Rutter, Armstrong, Adams, Stewart, Vardy, Simms, Maja. Even the lad Gallagher at Blackburn showed us what a number 9 looks like. League has more than a few as well like Clarke-Harris, Colby Bishop, Charles, Leaburn, Collins. I watch Derby a bit and they play to a 9. I dont think there is a lack of 9s, if you want one. Some sides though dont want to play that way. And it has become a little bit vogue to play with a false 9, like City and Arsenal have done. Liverpool to a lesser extent. In our case we just have bought poorly in the position recently. Time to go and be serious about it and if it were me I would bet everything on Hardie.
I think we need more first team experience somewhere. Robins would be a no brainer but may go up yet. If I’m correct he was scouting before being a coach so probably would fit our approach but would make it a bit more realistic. Mason has played the game in recent times and might be a shout. I do worry about a young coach among young players among academy coaches stepping up. It’s feels like we need first team wisdom.
Not being funny mate, honestly, I'm just struggling with all this. I keep seeing you, and a few others, saying Speakman is hated, arrogant, etc. That may be true, I've no thoughts about him one way or the other. What I don't understand, if what you say is true, is why Mowbray, who must have met/known him, wanted to come. Why would Bellingham follow him here, on a long term contract, and why do players like Amad say they'd love to come back, Why would Alese, Cirkin, Neil, Patterson, Roberts, Hume, etc, sign contract extensions? Seriously, if Speakman is what some are saying and our wages are so low, where's the logic?
I agree with you. Everyone at our club is so very young in the sense of experience in their own job. We dont have any older heads to nudge the younger ones in the right direction. It was why I wanted Mowbray to stay, the form may have been iffy, but he was needed this season. To me we need to get someone in who has seen it all before, and can steer the players and coaches from a position of done it before.
See I disagree, even with the examples you have used very few are pure number 9s. Watkins at Brentford/Exeter was used across the front line, Kane plays very deep, Isak played wide for Sociedad, Haaland yep but look at how much he costs, Solanke yes but it's taken him a while to get to this level, Hardie got bullied on friday he was so poor against Rotherham, Sargent was playing wide a lot until last season, Rutter is a hybrid forward, Armstrong has played all over the field including in CM this season, Adams yes, Stewart effectively a wide player before he was here, Vardy is on 130k a week in the championship, Simms yes, Maja yes, Gallagher has played more wide than striker in his career, including plenty under Mowbray. 25 players have scored 10+ in the championship this season, I think 9 are pure 9s.
I certainly think there are fewer players playing that way and that's a trend right through the pyramid. I can only think of a handful of players I would describe as a pure 9 in the Isthmian. A lot of the clubs that I get round are playing players in that position who can also play in wide positions and those players play a slightly different game, even if they have the capability to play that back to goal role.
Striker is the hardest position to scout these days as most teams goal threats are wingers now. More players want to play like ronaldo n messi used too, coming from a wider position There are def strikers about but to sign a quality championship striker costs good money these days
That position is being asked to do so much in the modern game that it is killing the 'poachers' off. You can't get away with being poor on the ball nowadays. Championship clubs, in my opinion, have to decide between strikers who can finish but offer little in possession, or a more false 9 type of player. Unless you are going to stump up money which only a player sale would allow us. Stewart going for as much as he did kind of proves my point, Southampton were so desperate for a forward that they paid that much for a player who was injured. I blame Pep, as much as I love him.
Anyone have any thoughts on Klopps number 2 (the coach before any wise cracking). Peps number 2 at City went to Leicester. Possibility? Don't know, obviously, what his plans are after this season.
