Keep the faith! I don't know what it takes for Sven to realise we have no width and jack all up front but hopefully this will increase the urgency to sort this bloody obvious problem sooner rather than latter. Its not rocket science Sven, just so damn obvious so earn your money and short it now! Frustrated.com!
My mum told me they´ll be days like these. Hull have aready started, won´t post. It´s a bad day at the office & only 1 game, the seasons 46 games long so 1 win won´t win you promotion nor will 1 defeat get you relegated. We are only 3 points off the top 2. Bad day to clock 500 posts
The worrying thing is Sven does not act quick enough. We are realising things a lot sooner than him. Firstly, poor old Nugent, he did work hard but was given **** all to work with. His finishing isn't the best anyway though and I'm struggling to see him worthy of a starting place in a automatic promotion chasing team. Why the hell have we started the season without a quality goalscorer, something Sven himself knows we need. We have had all summer to sort this out. So much for spending money, we were tight-arses when it came to Maynard and as I predicted it's looking a big mistake. 2 League games or 20 league games, it's clear we don't have the pace, quality or finishing needed to be a top 2 side. Also as I said last week, we needed to play a positive attacking system. But no, Sven persisted with 2 defensive minded midfielders, and even Danns was far more effective at chasing and tackling than he was at anything creative. I'm really starting to get fed up with Abe, I can't see his worth to the team at all. Yes he chases (though he looked knackered today) but we have Fernandes for that - and he's twice as good at that as well as tackling. He's surplus to requirements in that area. Why did we not start with King? Yes I know he played **** when he came on, but if we had started someone who scored 15 goals last season from midfield and he played ****, then we could hold our hands up and just say he played ****. And where was Danns playing? I'm convinced he started in the front 3 but was too deep and central. Why is that? Because he's being played out of position. That is very easy to see. Players we looking up for options today and seeing no movement or passes whatsoever. Pantsil and Konchesky did their best to get forward but even when they got to the box, there was no ****er in the box! Even Nugent wasn't in there at times. We did not spend all this money to play this negatively and bore the fans. We want to see good passing, movement, shots, pace, creativity. There was none of that today, and it's not really about gelling, it's about having the wrong players on the pitch. Square pegs in round holes, defensive players swamping the midfield. On the positive side, apart from the 2 goals I thought we defended tremendously well. They were always going to be dangerous on the break but I thought we dealt with it well. That's why it was so disapponting to see us concede such a **** goal - anyone now who was supposed to be marking Hunt? Our ball winning in the middle of the park is exactly what we were missing last season - they never looked like running through us. This is mainly down to Fernandes, he chased up and down all day and got some great tackles in. And once he won it, he picked a good pass. He looks a brilliant player. Again, annoyingly, there weren't many terrible individual performances. Schmeichel, Bamba and Fernandes were excellent. Wellens and Konchesky were decent, but had no options ahead of them. Pantsil was hit and miss but OK. Schlupp looked dangerous when he had the ball (the roar when he picked it up was unbelievable) but sadly I think the nerves got to him. I'm confident he will be good in time though, at least he can skin a player, how many of the others can do that? Abe and Mills were the only 2 who were pretty shocking, and King when he came on. We now know that Mills cannot pass to save his life, but in fairness he didn't do much wrong defensively. Having said that him giving the ball away non-stop was a massive hinderence, Sven needs to get him to play it short unless he's under pressure, because it's doing us no good at all. The subs didn't do much but at least they were playing further forward and giving the people on the ball options. Had Gally and King played from the start I think things would have been different. But the bottom line is we are not playing the right way, you only have to look at Reading today to see what we're desperately lacking, look at their wingers, Kebe and McAnuff, they can beat a man and create something. We need a striker and a winger very soon, if Sven hasn't brought these 2 ingredients in before the Forest game I will be very concerned. We must play a lot better football if we want to be a top 2 side.
Two things for me 1. think gally should have played from the start 2. Danns should have been taken off when I said at 4.15! as I thought he was awful today, If Gally had started, that would have meant that Schlupp could come on from the bench. Simples! Sorry three! Where was Dyer!!!
in fairness to sven - he is only too aware that we need a goalscorer - it was top priority atthe end of last season BUT getting one for less than 8 million is hard. anyone with any potential gets snapped up by premiership clubs so youhave to outbid a premiership team plus pay higher wages. Two words though on today and the next 5 games............growing pains.
I'm pretty sure we could have had Maynard for £7m, probably £6m. I don't think Sven/the board have got a leg to stand on regarding that, we are rich and I want to see results. I don't just mean football results, I mean I want to see our spending power prevail. It was tight fisted to only bid £4-5m on a player who we were chasing for 2 months, considering we spent that much, arguably more on a defender who can't pass. Now it's obvious that we are getting desperate in that area of the pitch. They should have just bitten the bullet. I can understand players wanting to play in the Premership but Maynard hasn't gone there has he.
Don't panic! One bad game means nothing, although it's interesting to see how your opinions are changing regarding a variety of your players. You should still be up there at the end of the season, as for goalscorers for under £8m CMS at Brighton or MF at Hull City?
Cheeky bugger! Actually neither of those would have been any better than Nugent today. We do need a striker yes, but not one in the mould of those 2. But the main thing we've lacked for years now has been creativity. In fact we haven't really had any since the 70s. We've always had workmanlike forwards and slow midfielders. I was hoping we might be able to bring in some exciting players this summer with all the money - Maynard, Routledge, Townsend. The closest thing to an exciting player we've got are Schlupp and Danns - Schlupp is not the finished article and isn't a winger, Danns is also not a winger and doesn't seem to be able to pass so far. Yet they are both playing as our wingers for some reason. Instead of getting quality players for certain roles we've got square pegs in round holes (ooh, that rhymes). I just find it so frustrating that we haven't addressed this side of football. I'm not panicking about the other end unless we lose Bamba though. He and Fernandes have looked world class so far.
I think pairing them with Nugent would be great. I'd love to see us with Fryatt plus CMS or DN. Unfortunately we can't afford more than Brighton let alone Leicester! You'll be fine, ex-England manager in charge too!
Sorry guys but I think we are pulling the blanket over our eyes. We have no width, no creativity, just a lot of good central midfielders. Too many. Emilio, you call it right, no width and no final product. We look like we want to win 1 nil every week and it won't happen No where near enough investment out wide and up front. Absolutely no chance of top 2 unless we find some creativity and goal scorers of which we have none that can produce this week in week out at present.
Well like I said it's all relative. Strikers like Fryatt and CMS will do best with a big man to pair them with (Steve Howard for example) and if chances are created regularly for them. We lack creativity from midfield and out wide and therefore I don't think many strikers would be able to flourish with the team we played today. If we had a winger who created chances Nugent would have a much easier job, and maybe bringing in a certain style of striker wouldn't be necessary. I was desperate to get Maynard because I feel he has the talent to make something out of nothing, he doesn't need it on a plate like Fryatt does the majority of the time. He also got over 20 goals for Bristol 2 seasons ago. I felt that a winger was not essential if we got him. When Nugent hit the post today, he reminded me a lot of Fryatt. He was set clear with a through ball and had one defender beside him. He did not have the pace to beat him and had to cut inside. He in fact did well and was unlucky ot to score, but a quicker striker would have created an easier one-on-one chance for himself. Fryatt and Nugent are very decent players at this level, but I was hoping we might get pacier goalscoring strikers with the money we've got. I'll be surprised if either gets 20 this season.
It must be said that we were nowhere near as bad as that awful rendition of 'Livin' on a prayer' by that pub singer with the afro at half time. Now he was definitely booed, and rightly so
Firstly can i just say, i hate that bloody keep the faith s**t, nothing winds me up more, its a byegone era and as such should be forgotten. Yes we were awful today and Reading def deserved it, without doubt we def need a quality striker. And as i stated on another post, im sick and tired of being linked with everbody and anybody, and ending up with nobody, why oh why, have we got a shedload of midfielders, and sod all up front, its there for all to see, and if its not sorted out, it will def put a serious dent in our promotion bid......................
I'm going to stay calm and reasonable until Wednesday at around 10pm. Then...I shall go nuts. Whether with rage or glee remains to be seen! Let's hope the latter.
Don't know why you think you need to spend £8M on a proven goal scorer. Chopra £1.5M; Earnshaw, free; Miller, £700k and that's without even looking too hard. All average a goal every 3 games at least. Just because you've got money, doesn't mean you need to spend it. Bothroyd, free; McCormack had a 20+ goal season, £300k. Mackail-Smith, not proven at this level, but off the mark, £1M. None of the promoted sides last year spent a fortune on strikers. I don't think you've got a good manager in Sven. Someone who can spend money, yes. A good manger, no!
I think you've got a point with some of those names, which makes it even more frustrating. Earnshaw, Chopra, Bothroyd - I would have had any of them (though tbf Bothroyd's gone to the Prem) We haven't spent ANY money on an attacking player though, it's not like we've spent loads on crap ones! Yet! That's the frustrating thing, it should have been the priority but we pissed around and waited too long. Targets have been and gone because we weren't willing to spend the money on the one we apparently wanted, even though we knew all along we would have to pay over the odds to get him.
I completely agree, you don't need to spend a fortune on a big name, just someone who can do it at our level. Grant Holt is the best example over the last couple of seasons.cost jack all. We need creativity first and foremost.
If you're not careful, you'll end up as the Man City of the Championship. Loads of individuals that cost a fortune to buy on big wages, but not playing as a team or playing for the team or each other. As with West Ham, on paper the strongest squads, but the game isn't played on paper, it's played on grass!
