Goal shop

Does anybody know where they sell goals to as we need too buy a good number very quickly. I don't want to be pessimistic but I cannot see us moving up the table with this present squad. We seem to create the chances but seem incapable of putting them away. I am afraid that next seasons season ticket will be for league two football, who will be in charge of the team will also I am afraid be under debate as I think DC will have departed by the start of next season either voluntarily or otherwise and we will no doubt have somebody else who will have failed at several other clubs in charge.
PLEASE will the people in charge either find some serious funding for the January window or if that is not possible either be open about it or sell the club to someone who will invest and help take this wonderful club that is BRISTOL ROVERS forward

 

DC has pissed away money on two dreadful strikers maybe the board don't want to part with anymore cash.

 

Devante Cole, a target last summer was only a sub for Burton yesterday, and Coventry fans don't rate Bakayoko either. Decent strikers are like gold dust, and it's almost worth trawling some of the very low leagues for a diamond.

 

Maybe we could find a couple of Barry Hayles lying around or dare I say a Matty Taylor. Both I believe came from non league and both did well for us

 

Before we start kicking DC in the proverbials, l think we should step back and take a wider view.
I accept that just because he has been successful doesn't mean that everything he does now is acceptable.
We have absolutely no knowledge of the conditions under which he was obliged to make his rebuild of this year's side.
I'm not a great believer in the idea that fancy stadiums guarantee success, but in contrast, our ramshackle cabbage patch doesn't inspire or attract anyone.
He clearly had no money. So he was pretty hamstrung from the start.
He was clearly pi**ed off with the back tracking of the owners after signing his life away for 5 years on broken promises.
As has been his brief from ''day one', he has to build a team from wannabees and maybees to compete in even more competitive circumstances.
OK! He is clearly going to have to rethink how he can get the best out of his team under extreme circumstances.
We just need to keep a little faith.
Painful as it seems.

 

Great post

 

Here is our issue. Look at our last 10 league games. In just 1 of these games, we've managed to score from open play, which was the goals against Coventry.

One game out of last 10 league games. Thats pathetic!

 

You have summed it up in that one sentence. There is no getting away from the fact that we are in dire trouble, and after hoping for weeks now that we will turn things around, its now plainly obvious that it isn't going to happen anytime soon, if at all! Personally I have resigned myself to us being relegated this season and I am not being a doom and gloom merchant, I'm looking at it realistically. If you cant score goals, you don't win games and if you don't win games, you will be relegated - fact! I have no issues with DC, think he has done more than any other manager could have done for this club, but unless he is suddenly handed a sack of money to spend (which I can't see happening), our current crop of goal scorers suddenly start scoring goals (which is hard to see happening anytime soon), then I think league 2 awaits us. Mind you, I'd rather watch a successful lge 2 club each week than a struggling lge 1 side, which is all we currently are. I'm afraid. Each season, you look at the league table and can normally identify 4 teams that are worse than you, and will probably struggle to survive. As long as you can keep those teams below you, you feel you'll be safe. Its sad to think that most of league 1 are probably doing that to us this season - we are one of the four. and look like staying there.

 

The wide players haven't really done the business imo. We've missed Brown, who's having a great season with Pompey, and we've lacked a decent consistent partnership down either flank. Leadbitter can hurt opponents, but he's had a poor season so far. Kelly looks the best of the bunch on the left, but he's still inexperienced. Bennet's been disappointing, Rodman's improving, but I think we're missing someone or a couple of people to get behind the defence and get those dangerous crosses in. Jakubiak will score all day if he's given any service, and so will Payne and Reilly.The next two home games are massive - both six pointers, and a chance to get a few goals. Let's see if these games kick start things and perhaps we'll start to see a settled side too.

 

And if memory serves me correct the last series of games from season 17/18 didn't exactly instill huge amounts of confidence in all things going forward, it will be truely interesting to see the general reaction on Saturday evening if things go belly up against the second bottom side in the division.

 

Nichols have been involved in 58 games in all competitions since he arrived last summer. He has scored just 2 goals in total, 1 league goal and 1 micky mouse cup goal.
That's averaging a goal every 29 games. For a striker, that is pathetic!

Breaking this down a bit....

Out of these 58 games, he has made 30 starts and 28 sub appearances. Both goals he scored came from when he started games. So that's averaging 1 goal every 15 games started! Again that's pathetic for a striker. He shouldn't be starting games!
This also means he hasn't scored a single goal to help the team from his 28 games that he was involved in from the bench! So no point being on the bench either.

Surely, to be picked each time, if he aint scoring he must be supporting others to score instead. That would make sense. But nope! Out of all the 58 games that he's been involved with, he only made just TWO assists!

So with this in mind, we are pretty much playing with 10 men each game. Everyone else has to be playing well as a result. But unfortunately this season, hardly anyone is performing.

 

Sobering Stats CJS, perhaps you would be kind enough to push those through Mr Clarke's letter box prior to Saturday's fixture.

 

If I did that, he would start Nichols on purpose to prove some sort of point.

 

Another game Nichols got a start and yet another game he fails to score and another game the team fails to score.

That's 5 league games without a goal for us now in a row. Last time we did this was under Gerry Francis back in 2001/02 season. We finished that season 23rd in L2, thankfully that was when only 1 got relegated to non league!

For the record, I thought Nichols played well yesterday and was unlucky not to have scored when the keeper somehow managed to make it hit the bar. But how long will we continue to play a player who cant score or assist someone else? Thats now 59 competitive games he has played for us and still only 2 goals and 2 assists. I dont think there is any other club on this planet who will continue to play a striker for that amount of games with those stats.

Also its now only 1 league game in the last 11 league games where we have managed to score from open play, which was the Coventry game. Apart from that game, in the other 10 league games, we only scored 2 and both were penalties. 1 against Portsmouth and the other against Shrewsbury. Does not look good reading at all.

And 1 last negative stat here, we are the only L1 side who has not yet scored double figure amount of goals yet. We are still on 9. In fact this is the worse out of all 3 football league divisions, joint with just Grimsby.

But on a positive note, our goals against is very good. We have the 4th best defensive record in our league. Makes you wonder where we could be if we had a striker who can actually score!

 

As a 'Striker' he is just not good enough for this level of football.

 

Shall we try him at LB?

 

If we fail to score tomorrow vs Wimbledon, that will be 6 league games in a row without a goal. Last time we did this was 96 years ago in 1922.

 

Nichols looks light weight and never looks like he's going to score. If he got into great positions, made things happen and set other people up you could see the point in playing him. Jakubiak's proved a much better finisher, so has Reilly and I think we might have nicked a goal if Jakubiak had stayed on the pitch on Saturday. Nichols definitely used to look a class act, but he's either lost confidence or needs to put in more work, or maybe both. The writing may have been on the wall when he lost his mojo at Peterborough and we were able to buy him.

 

1922 here we come! Wimbledon don't concede many goals either.

 

So we broke the bad run. With help from Wimbledon's keeper punching the ball on to Upson and it rebounding in the goal and of course an own goal too.
1st goal from a corner and the 2nd was not our player. So technically its now 12 games where we've only scored from open play in just 1 of them.