Another bore draw against a poor Leeds side where we fail to score. We do have a formation/squad issue when it comes to scoring. We cannot ignore our impotent strike force any more.
1 goal in 4 games isn't good enough. Now is the time to act. Like I said on another thread, it's a shame to see all our excellent defensive work going to waste with poor finishing that is leaving us outside the top 6.
It's not the strikers that are the problem it's the formation and the players that are supposed to be supporting the lone forward that are the problem, neither Aaron or Cameron created anything for Fryatt, instead he is left week in week out having to try and twist and turn past three players to create a chance for him, for all our pretty football we don,t get in behind teams enough and put the ball into areas players like Fryatt thrive on, we play all of our football in front of the opposition defence which tends to lead to a long shot from Koren or we eventually give the ball away. I enjoy watching this team but I think Nick is wrong to not have options to change our style during a game. Leeds stifled us in mid field second half and we simply had no answer to it, Nicks footballing principles are well intended but in the real world they are impractical, come on Nick there,s no shame in mixing things up a bit.
So who do we sign then? What realistic loans are there out there? Why would we also sign two when we only play one man upfront...... We need goals throughout the team not just two players (Koren and Fryatt), that needs addressing more than anything.
Why doesnt Nick activate himself and get back in the quad as a 30 minute impact player, if management is unwilling to bring in another striker. Surely he would have put away a few of the innumerable chances we've created in the last 11 games (3 good ones today) and we'd be close to the automatic spots. In the last 11 games (excluding Bristol) we've scored at a 46 game rate of 12 goals. That's relegation form!! Thank God for the best defense in the League. What a wasted opportunity if Chester leaves in the summer and we can't sign Mannone. Given that our Back-5 is virtually impregnable why aren't we playing a 4-3-3 like Leeds, or at least a 4-4-2. Fryatt is a 15-20 goal scorer with support up there. I hope we aren't going to be looking back on this season and wondering what might have been (Jutkiewicz, Sharp, Vaz Te, Webber...all available since January). Surely we aren't that skint!! Nicky get your boots back on.
Barmby was and I believe still is free to bring players in, nobody is stopping him, he thinks we have enough in the squad for promotion.
I thought the game was alright tbf, the only thing that ruined it was the the referee's biased decisions! Never seen so much in my life
i agree, and a switch to 4-4-2 is the only way this will happen imo....people who say koren cant play in a 4 is a myth, he played there at brighton with evans and we played them off the park.... chester was making runs tonight that one of them 2 should have been, they rarely get in the box or forward, so all the oppisition have to do is mark koren and fryatt and its game over...
To some extent you are right, the formation is wrong but enough chances were created to score enough goals to win. A half decent striker could have had two or three. Cameron could have had two before half time. WE have to be realistic we are not going anywhere with the strikers we are playing,
I agree there were chances, just not that it's all Fryatts fault, signing two strikers will solve nothing as we only play one striker with two wingers (one of them not really a winter at all)they should be creating chances for Fryatt but don't, some people make out that he misses a hatful each week but he only tends to miss half chances he's had to create himself, I think Barmby either needs to consider changing the shape or needs to work on the two winners making a much bigger contribution.
Said this before its not Koren who cant play in the middle of a 4-4-2. Its Mckenna who cant. Really we play a back five as he sits very deep. Dont leave it too late to gamble Nick like Pearson did last year change something now.
It's partly the formation 4-2-3-1 is not working, or not working how it should. Too many times we've broken forward when the opposition have left gaps at the back, to then slow play down so the opposition gets players back into position. Fryatt isn't suited to the lone centre forward role, not his fault, it's just not his game. He needs a partner up front, so we need 4-4-2. Playing 2 holding midfielders means we never get the number of players in the goal mouth other teams do (never more evident than when we played Blackpool) when they attacked they always had 5-6 options in the box (playing the percentage game) we always had 2-3. We've a great 'defensive' base to build clean sheets on, but we've a poor attack to help us take maximum points. If we had the strikers that Reading/Southampton/West Ham have, we'd be top of the table. It's not a new problem, we haven't been effective in front of goal this season or last. Who? At the moment I'd view any signing as a positive. Fuller, Varney, Kitson, Baldock, Agyemang, A N Other? Our bench didn't look like it had the capability of changing the outcome of a nil-nil. Doncaster have signed Piquionne on loan today - he'd have been an option, Reading signed Roberts on loan - he'd have been an awesome option. Goals as they say win games, and we couldn't score in a brothel with £50 notes down our pants!
He is being naieve if he thinks we have enough, all he needs to do is look at the Goals For Column in the league table to see that it really is a problem!
Problem is Barmby refuses to change the way we play so not sure signing strikers would achieve anything, perhaps Fuller from your list would add something as he is capable in the lone striker role , we'd still need the wide players to do more though.
Sorry Charles,but you seem to be FULL OF ****. A half decent striker could have had two or three ? Really ? Really ?
I agree with you, sadly the manager doesn't, he's stubborn little bugger and has his beliefs which I suppose you have to be as a manager though you also need to be adaptable which he needs to add to his makeup, I guess like most of our team he's still learning.
or he could come out and 'say ask AP or allem why we havn't added to the squad'.all barmby asked for was to keep the squad together.he got that.any money left?
