39 points and in 5th at the halfway stage. Better than anyone expected i reckon. Reading came 5th last season with 77 points and in our promotion year we came 3rd with 75 points, so we are on course. In our promotion year we scored 65 goals, we have scored 26 so far this season, due to a strong defence we are in the play off places but we need to address this. The big question is will the Allams provide funds to keep the run going. The critics on this board and elsewhere are sharpening their knives if they do not. If Nick does buy another forward will it mean changing the system. 4-2-3-1 has suited the players we have well. If we buy another forward to play alongside Matty it means Koren moves out of the hole, where he is most effective. I think we need too as teams will be catching on to our system soon. Saturday is going to be a big test against Burnley. No Rosenior. Chester had probably his worst game against them last time. They will play both big lads against us from the off this time and with the ginger ninja most likely coming in at Rb i am worried. The defence has been our strong point and we need a big game from Ches and Hobbs. We also need a few goals from those two from corners. In our promotion year Campbell 15 Windass 11 Folan 8 goals. An injury to MF and we are in trouble. We cant rely on Koren to score 7 goals from midfield in the second half of the season. So where else are they going to come from? Mclean has 4. Mckenna hasnt scored and Evans has one, Stewart one and Brady one. Marney got 6 in our promotion year.
Good stats Chaz, definitely need a striker, you're always going to concede the odd goal and if you cannot convert you're chances (like the current situation) it means you'll needlessly drop points. As for loosing Rosey, don't judge Macca too early he won't get forward as much but niether will he be out of position as often! Remember in the pre-season games he was the stand out defender. For me we need a keeper like Guzan or Mannone last year, the current pair don't fill me with confidence, getting beat from 30 yards is usually the keepers fault. We deserved to beat boro yesterday, so let's hope the players realise how good they were and take the determination into the second half of the season and definitely to Burnley on Saturday. UTT
I read an article somewhere online (but I can't find it now) where it said there was one million pounds available as transfer funds for this January window. Did anyone else see it? I ask, because a figure of £3 million is often quoted, and there's a helluva difference.
ive only read 2 city reports for last nights game , it mentioned £1 million there . It was either BBCs report or the Guardian match report. OP - good observations there too , Its beginning to look like our formation is one of the harder ones to naturally shuffle to allow for 2 strikers. The best alternative ive seen mentioned would be 3 at the back , and sticking the extra man up top. This would require converting players into wingbacks , nah i dont like it , it only looks good on a chalkboard , 3 at the back would kill our wide play - even though that would be where all focus would be needed.
Regarding funds, lets start with the reported numbers, £1m from Lesta for Pearson&co, £1m from Mr Allam (£45M so far) and them Nick Barmby has to 'Manage' he needs to create room in the Salary budget by shifting players out (Harper, Cairney, Oli, Macca, Devitt, Cullen, Atkinson, East, Abola curry) If he could get a fee for a couple he might also raise another £500k? Then the tough decisions does he Sell Rosey or Chester to raise a couple of million, bring in Turner on loan to fill the gaps and go out and buy a proper proven goal scorer like Sharpe or Rodriguez? A decent keeper like Mannone? January will show whether Barms really is manager material or someone coasting on NP's legacy?
There is only TC who we would get money for out of your list Jobbo. Oli is on 27 grand a week no one will buy him. Does his contract run out this season or next? Anyone know? He is on 19 games if he plays 20 his money goes up, not sure if the FA Cup is included in that. He will go on loan somewhere. We cant sell those two if we want to get promotion, i see your thinking but the only way for us to progress is if the Allams fund it out of their own pocket plus the money you mentioned from Pearson. I agree Gulasci is ok but we need better. I would look to buy Bo back in the summer.
Listened to the Tony Mowbray interview on the BBC website and he played just one up front at home - had us watched a number of times, knew how we were set up and thought we would be technically superior to Boro -i.e he effectively stifled us albeit it took a wonder strike to win the game for them. As others have alluded to, our shortage of goals is going to hurt us in the second half of the season. Robbie Koren is increasingly seen as our main threat away from home and to replicate his seven goals in the second half of the season is going to be difficult if not impossible. In our 07/08 promotion year Fraizer Campbell was seen as our main goal threat and it was no surprise that his goals dried up - however keeping tight reins on him by opposing teams freed up space for the likes of Barms and Windass to score. We don't have a potent strike force this time round - I'm sure NB realises this and will seek to address it in the Jan window.
The problem is, if we buy another striker and go 4-4-2, with Matty upfront, where does that leave Koren? Koren would either move into central midfield with McKenna or move out wide. We all know Koren is wasted out wide and leaving him and McKenna in the centre would be defensive suicide. In my opinion, we should be building our team around Koren and invest in a striker to replace Matty altogether.
Fryatt missed a sitter in the first half with his head. SHould have least put it on target. Pen might have been given if he'd gone down. The defence is going great guns- Hobbs looked good and Chester did ok. His positioning is his greatest assett. Pitty about Rosey getting a stupid yellow card late on. Midfield was ok but Boro crowded Koren out and Hoyte had Stewart in his back pocket all game. Brady looked lazy when he came on. Mckenna and Evans did what was needed of them ie ran themselves into the ground. To push on in the new year we really need another striker or two even.
Decent review of the season so far, with the exception of Leeds no team has out played us though we were our own worst enemy that night. Need some fine tuning but we're well on our way to securing a top 6 spot.
