Sunderland boss says no to signing a striker by Mark Douglas, The Journal Jul 23 2011 1ShareAdd a commentRecommend (2) STEVE Bruce has shelved plans to bring in another striker as he predicts fit-again Asamoah Gyan will improve on last seasonâs 11 top-flight goals. Although Bruce retains an interest in brokering an unlikely deal for Charles NâZogbia, all is currently quiet on the Black Cats transfer front. Estudiantes have contacted Sunderland again about right-back flop Marcos Angeleri, who is back in Wearside to report for Sunderland but out of favour, while Matt Kilgallon is interesting Birmingham City. Bruce had hoped to bring in a left-sided midfielder and a forward, but with NâZogbiaâs £65,000-a-week wage demands some way out of the Black Catsâ wage structure, it appears as if it is no more than a pipe dream at the moment. The Sunderland chief would also like to re-sign Danny Welbeck on loan but believes Sir Alex Ferguson will keep him until at least January. He has been offered Mame Biram Diouf or Federico Macheda instead but believes them to be no better than what he already has. So he will rely on a striker pack that includes Gyan, who trained with the full first-team squad for the first time yesterday and will make his return to first-team action at Kilmarnock next week. Ji Dong-Won will get another chance to shine against Borussia Mönchengladbach this afternoon while Connor Wickham will also be given an opportunity to make his mark. Hopes are high, however, for the Ghana star who has been linked with a move away this summer. âThereâs been this speculation about Asa. I think with Asa and the way he is, thereâs always going to be that,â Bruce said. âHe loves a camera, the loves the TV crews and an audience, but I believe heâll be far, far better for us this year because he knows what to expect. He knows that thereâs no winter break this season as well! Heâs being flogged to death in training at the moment. âMake no mistake; with 11 goals in 20 appearances heâs a good player and I donât want to lose our good players.â
It is obviously a gamble considering the African Cup is on and we will lose Gyan for the better part of 6 weeks. Likewise, an injury to Asa and we would be right back in the **** like last season. However, I am a fan of the 4-4-1-1 formation at this stage in our clubs development, especially with the players at our disposal. Playing a 2nd frontline striker would take away what Sess offers us, and let's be honest, is there that many proven, top quality strikers out there that would find us an appealing option. I don't want Crouch, Defoe or Keane. Bendtner is hit and miss, and the other young lads at Utd are rubbish.
For me, I'm happy with signings we've made so far, good improvement and goals coming from the midfield, something we've always struggled with. Interesting to read he thinks Wellbeck may become available in January, I still can't see him getting many games for Man U this season so surely it'll be in the best interests of all parties to get Wellbeck some proper gametime? It seems to me as if Bruce feels he has enough options up front to get through to the January window and then he will decide what, if anything needs to be added, whether that is an attempt to loan Wellbeck or sign a permanent striker who knows. Sess, Gyan, Dong, and Wickham (who I'm convinced will get a trial by fire, sink or swim type introduction to premiership football) seems to Bruce to be enough fire-power options for now. It's definitely Gyan's time to shine!
Im sorry and i hope im wrong but it was lack of strikers last year that cost us a chance of Europe and i feel unless we get another proven striker in, it may see Bruce sacked next yesr. I am a Brucie fan but he is gambling with his job in my opinion
This is definitely true Mitch, heaven forbid we had another injury hit season but if Bruce finds himself with a shortage of options in any position especially up-front he'll be a goner as all lessons should have already been learnt. He's regained my trust though at this moment in time and can't wait for the new season in a few weeks!
Finding myself agreeing with you mate, We may be stronger in the midfield area now, but that seems to be about it. This will be a big gamble for SB, but i reckon Wickham will be throw in big time, and i'm in favour of that,
Said a couple of days ago that I thought Bruce would use Sess as a makeshift striker and that a defender and LW would be the only possible new signings. Bruce is a stubborn get we wanted a LB when Danny Collins got sold so Bruce doesn't buy one (we still don't have one O'shea can play there but not his natural position), we all want a quality striker so Bruce will not buy a striker.
To not get in another striker, even on loan, is a dangerous decision in my opinion. What we have currently are the bare minimum - given the African Nations Cup, possible / probably injuries and lack of experience. Does he really expect to put all the burden on Wickham and Dong in the event of an injury to Gyan or when he's away at the African tournament ? Isn't Campbell still months away from a return ?
Agreed, seems to be a risk, not as big a risk as not replacing Bent last season, (due to the new lads coming in) but never the less still questionable. Maybe it's come down from ES that there will be no cash available for a new experienced striker (the board may be saving the money for our left side problem) so Bruce is putting a positive spin on it or could be playing games with the media/other clubs, that we won't be held to ransom over fees/wages. Still a long way to go in the transfer window yet, so as usual it's a case of wait and see.
Campbell out till October at least according to last seasons patter could be longer have heard January, maybe SB is looking at promoting a youngster through not sure but, as said it is a very big gamble if he keeps the striking options we have. Maybe we will be trying to bore teams to defeat by not attacking, lulling them into a false sense of security then hitting them once on the break in the 89th minute and scoring, a wins a win I suppose.
maybe he's expecting more goals from midfield to take the pressure off the strikers. Must admit that would be welcome been too many years since we've had a real midfield goal threat.
I can't help but feel bloody optimistic not since Reidy have we had such an attacking minded midfield, we have signed the best attacking player from brum the second best player from pool and albeit they went down it certainly wasn't their fault. Then you add Larsson and we finally have a player who can take a set piece, mix these with Sess and imo Malbranque the only player who can see the killer ball and my mouth is watering at the thought of it..mmmmmm. The only truely defensive minded midfielder we have is Cats I just see Gooooooals next season cant wait!!! We have a stronger team at the back I cant see too many problems there even without a propa LB. Now the strickers I now Brucie is playing Wickham low key BUT what had Welbeck done before he came to us? I've seen a bit of Conner and he is an alround better player this young whipper snapper is going to be special and he's ours not on loan. I do agree I would love N'zog and a decent proven stricker but I would be happy with a DJ but even if we dont this team is better than the start of last season. My only concern is that we dont have enough time to gel before the start of the season a hard one at that.
Think this is a non story by a hack who was told to write a piece about Bruce, doesn't say anywhere that Bruce has said he won't be signing a striker. Think that Bruce is smart enough to know what we have isn't enough and if we fail then he's in deep ****.
good points and welcome imo i do think we have a little time to gel in the past we have not had a squad to work with properly in close season but now i think we will be ok
One thing we seem to forget, Bruce is working and watching the players every day, he may see in Wickham and Ji things we dont.
Bruce is off his ****ing rocker, he really is. After all of the injury troubles you would think he has learned his lesson. You guys have ONE proven EPL striker, with an 18 year old kid and a 20 year old bloke from an asian league where neither of them have shown that they have the ability to score an impressive tally in ANY league yet, nevermind the Premier League. There's a lot of potential there, but how on earth can he rely on that when the start of the new season is so close? I'm bricking it that we don't get another striker in despite having Ba, Ameobi, Lovenkrands and Best, so how Bruce can be so content, I have no idea. Bruce, like many managers, has made enough mistakes and bizarre decisions for any fan to know that they can't just sit back and say "well he knows what he's doing".
