You know starting the season with two injury prone strikers running down their contracts Zamora and Johnson, and depending on Austin was a major mistake. Add the fact we didn't sign a couple of decent strikers in the January window and I am convinced we may just make the play offs and probably get beaten when we can't score.
I fear this season maybe be blown by not strengthening which is ridiculous considering the position we were in & now going to be hoping for Burnley/Derby to be dropping points.
We signed four strikers in the January window. Admittedly Jordan Rhodes was not amongst them, but that was never going to happen.
Is there any chance Austin will be back before the end of the season? Would be great if he was around for the playoffs at least if it came to that
Harry himself said that Doyle and Maiga were gambles and either one of them, or the other two he signed in January, may come off for us. But when you add that collection of "maybe's" to Zamora and Johnson, who both have a woeful goals/game record and an equally bad injury record, it makes you think we would have been better off spending that money on something with a better chance of contributing to our already weak goal-scoring ability. It's a very easy choice, isn't it: do you want 6 very average strikers or two that are likely to score a few goals?
Perhaps, just perhaps, they were the best we could get ? There has to a willing seller as well as a willing buyer, and throw in Player's desire/preference
Not sure you can really judge the two new strikers we have seen so far, first game both scored second game not service but at the end of the day the Jan transfer windows is never a great one, all very well saying we should have brought better but were they available ? did they want to come to us ? Did we have the kinda of money needed to buy them ? There may have been some punts on strikers but what choice was there in Jan ?
I though Maiga was just plain awful when he came on and we would have been much better off keeping Johnson on once we went more positive in the 2nd half. Dreadful first touch and never looked like beating anyone.
Yep we may as well sling Keane on for a bit against Reading. Certainly couldn't be any more anonymous than the three that played yesterday. Is this Dellatore injured? Have to say it's pretty desperate when I'd prefer two players I've never even seen play be thrown into the team. Maiga did look clueless didn't he. A few times he got the ball and just stood still with it at his feet as if he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do next. He didn't try and take anyone on, rather just hit it aimlessly into the Derby players in front of him. I can see why West Ham were keen to get him off their books. Doyle works hard but isn't going to solve our goals problem. He had alot of loose touches when we needed him to hold on to the ball for a few seconds in order to receive support. Same for Johnson. I'm pinning my hope on the Z-dog.
In describing Maiga, you've actually also described Johnson. Maiga didn't exactly cover himself in glory when he came on but Johnson has been awful whenever he's played. Of the two, Maiga is (now) the better striker. AJ's legs have gone
Whilst I agree that AJ's best days are behind him, Maiga is very, very slow, so there really isn't any difference imo.
I'm convinced that our biggest problem is not strikers, but a midfield that cannot create chances on a consistant basis. Obviously Johnson/Zamora both being sicknotes doesnt help (and Charlie was an unlucky blow) but even the best strikers wont score without having a creative midfield. We've plenty of midfielders, they just dont seem to be able to play together, or the tactics are far too cautious. Just a thought.
I mainly agree with you on this Sussex. Of all the midfield players that we have on our books there are only a handful that can really create. Of those, Niko is playing for himself, Carroll is lacking in strength, Barton is only a part playmaker & Faurlin is injured. Even more so is the tactics we employ. We are set up to try to avoid losing rather than trying to win a game & there is only one person to blame for this.
Yea but Doyle is okay but I can't see him scoring many. Maiga looks poor.The two youngsters are unproven. Leicester and Burnley have goal scoring machines. We knew Austin was out for the season we should have bust a gut to get at least one decent goalscorer.
This. Completely, absolutely, uncategorically this. We could have had Jimmy Greaves, Ian Rush, Gary Lineker or Alan Shearer (pick from your favourite era) and he wouldn't have scored yesterday. We created next to nothing and I really don't see this changing. I'm pretty sure that we will strangle enough points to get into the play offs, but it won't be pretty.
