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Given that we seem to have little difficulty scoring on very low possession stats I don't understand why we need another striker. We know that ALF can't hit a barn door from the proverbial but, apart from him, we seem to be doing OK in that department. Even Macheda has scored 5 in not that many starts and with no run in the side. Midfield, and of course the formation we play is the problem, but the fact this guy from Chelsea is to be signed, presumably as a second striker, suggests to me that we will not be departing from the 4-4-2 formation very soon.
 
First time have been on this new look board.
Can't one quote anymore from a post to reply?

Whoops, Surely your post is a wind up "..........we seem to be doing ok in that department."

ALF - quite easily the worst striker given a decent run I have ever witnessed at this level. He is totally useless.

Macheda - quite easily the laziest striker I have seen at City.

Jones - his scoring record is average but his overall contribution is shocking.

City need 2 strikers to replace the totally inadequate ALF and Macheda.

I'd bring back Rhys Healey and give him a run. It's a pity that Mason is injured.

Just an aside; the forwards don't have much to work on as the chances made for them by the midfield are few and far between but as we saw v Watford, ALF missed a golden opportunity to make it 2 nil.

Ergo City need some creative midfielders with pace and more pace.
 
Ninian. I said ALF was useless and that given the low possession stats I believe the strikers have done OK. Kenwynne has 10 and Macheda, whom I agree is lazy, has 5. My post certainly wasn't a wind up. With greater possession I believe that the strikers will do better. What can we expect with possession as low as 28% and always less than 50% even at home? The problem is in midfield and our tactics and it is these elements we should address rather than buy players which will provide more of the same.

I agree also with your comment about Rhys Healey. Why sign a youngster from Chelsea when we should be giving our own a chance?
 
My thoughts too Whoops as, according to Wiki, he is only 5 ft 4 ins so can hardly play the lone striker to win and hold up the ball role. Mind you Wiki used to say Craig Conway was 6 ft 2 ins. Doh!!! Checked today and it has changed to 5 ft 7 ins so Blackburn clearly have a more accurate tape measure than us.

Yes, it is interesting how we manage to score when we have so little possession - one of my man gripes. The more you get the ball in the opposition box, provided you have players there to challenge for it, the more goals you are likely to score. I can't see us changing that any time soon unless we get more enthusiasm, life and energy into the middle of the park.

Another point about this lad is the little experience he has had. From Wiki: -

"Chelsea
Feruz moved to English Premier League club Chelsea in September 2011, after rejecting a professional contract at Celtic.[16] Because of "a flaw in the legal system" Chelsea were able to sign him for only £300,000 compensation. His contract was reportedly worth £2,500 a week.[17] He scored two goals in the 2012 FA Youth Cup first leg in April 2012 as Chelsea youths went on to win the trophy for the second time in three years.

Feruz scored two goals in Chelsea's 6–0 win over Molde FK on 8 November 2012 in the NextGen Series.[18] He has had a rather successful run with the club; Chelsea's official website describes Feruz as "short but sharp with an electric turn of pace and able to get a shot in early."[19]

Feruz made his Chelsea first team debut against a Malaysia League XI on 21 July 2013 coming on as a substitute in the 32nd minute for Kevin De Bruyne but after half time he was replaced by André Schürrle.

In January 2014, he signed a new a long-term contract with Chelsea.[20]"

Only got 13 minutes or so in the Malaysia game then. Perhaps he impressed VT with that cameo?

He has played only 3 times on loan in Greece. Seems to have played more for Scotland's age graded sides.

Looks like another one for the future as I can't see him going straight into our first team. Wonder how much the loan fee is?
 
ninian opinion said:
First time have been on this new look board.
Can't one quote anymore from a post to reply?
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Nin - just hit the "reply" button on the bottom right of the post you need to quote.

You can still highlight anything you want, or edit out anything you don't want like I've done to yours.
 
Whoops, I cannot agree with you about our strikers. Even without much possession, they still contrive to miss most of the chances that come their way. Macheda never breaks sweat.

How many PL 3rd team/youth team strikers work at Championship level? What are needed are seasoned players like eg Holt or Lambert or Fuller etc.
 
Agree with Nin about looking to seasoned players who've done it before. If we are going to use untested kids we might as well use the ones already at the club.
 
The problem seems to be there's a perception that youngsters at a top club like Chelsea of ManU must be better than anything home grown.

I know Kadeem Harris, Rhys Healey and Danny Johnson aren't our own products, but they all came as youngsters from unfashionable clubs. They are our players contracted to the club and they should all be given a shot at it instead of looking for farmed out 19 year old loanees. It didn't work with Zaha nor Ravel and I don't understand why we need to go down that road again.

You can strike it lucky in the loan market, but players committed to the club and playing for their place are usually the better option.
 
Good points there OS.
The championship is a damn hard league and not the place for kids with no experience of playing at a wet and windy Middlesborough and the likes.
 
Jordan Ibe.

Hardly any 1st team experience for Liverpool yet is one of Derby's stars this year.

I agree that loans haven't worked for us and that in all honesty a youth team player is unlikely to save our season. However to compare Healey to a star of Chelsea's youth FA cup winners is a bit of a stretch. Cardiff's unused development squad players are undoubtedly a huge step below Chelsea's youth setup.
Zaha and Ravel both brought huge attitude issues with them, I would be very disappointed if a 19 year old trying to make a name for himself was similar. I think it's highly unlikely Chelsea would have offered him the contract they have if he was as much of a prick as those 2 are to be fair.

Totally agree with Whoops (and others) that the midfield is the glaring issue and the strikers will have a much better chance if we start controlling games. I'm also very much in the "Alf has missed his last chance in the last chance saloon" club too. This lad is surely taking Alf's shirt in the starting line up anyway though.
 
Jordon Ibe has been playing alongside Martin, with the likes of Hughes, Russell, Mascarell, Bryson, Hendrick supporting. We can never get anywhere near that quality on the pitch.

Nobody is comparing Feruz with Rhys Healey. It's just the assumption that bringing a kid from a top club into the side is going to solve the problem. You could play Rhys or Danny in there and they'd probably do just as well in that framework.

Feruz must be quality for him to be offered that contract by Chelsea, but quality loan youngsters need quality alongside or it'll be a waste of time and they'll fail.

We'd be far better off concentrating the entire budget (such as it might be) on midfield and use our own youngsters to prosper from it.
 
BBC reports Ben Nugent staying on loan until last game of season. He has played in 25 games for them and got a 7 out of 10 rating for his performance against Man U yesterday.

Yeovil are struggling but it looks like he is doing well for them. be nice to see him come back next season even bigger and stronger and give Ben Turner competition.

Wasn't it Malky who said Baby Ben would captain Cardiff one day?
 
BluefromBridgend said:
BBC reports Ben Nugent staying on loan until last game of season. He has played in 25 games for them and got a 7 out of 10 rating for his performance against Man U yesterday.

Yeovil are struggling but it looks like he is doing well for them. be nice to see him come back next season even bigger and stronger and give Ben Turner competition.

Wasn't it Malky who said Baby Ben would captain Cardiff one day?
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I think it was Bluey - he also said Cornelius was one for the future.........<laugh>
 
Kwj, whitts, noone, there's quality and experience in our squad too.

This lad might be a waste of time but every now and then a young lad just happens to be too good for the Chsmpionship. He'll add pace to our front line, we're desperate for that IMO.
 
Stevoldinho said:
Kwj, whitts, noone, there's quality and experience in our squad too.

This lad might be a waste of time but every now and then a young lad just happens to be too good for the Chsmpionship. He'll add pace to our front line, we're desperate for that IMO.
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None of those three would get in to Derby's side as first choice right now. KWJ is the best we've got up front no doubt, but he's nowhere near as mobile as big Chris Martin and I think Martin has got getting on for 20 goals so far.

I'd also pick either Hughes or Bryson before Whitts in midfield every time, and there's no way I'd replace Johnny Russell with Noone at the moment - he's a shadow of the player he was last season.

It may be just down to the respective managers. I've never liked McClaren but he's got his lot of his organised - ours are a bloody shambles.

Don't get me wrong, I'd take any quality coming into the squad right now including Feruz, but if we're going to go down the loan path, I'd prefer Tom Lawrence to get our game alive in midfield. His influence could have a far greater effect than sticking in a young striker without a proper service.

It's a question of priorities, and if Slade has got something up his sleeve for midfield then I'd welcome Feruz with open arms.
 
All Slade knows is the lower leagues so it is no surprise that it is league 1 players we seem to be showing an interest in. Did this guy play against us?
 
"Barnsley, Preston and Sheff Utd are also interested" Says it all. 31 as well, surely he's not better than what we've already got?
 
whoops said:
All Slade knows is the lower leagues so it is no surprise that it is league 1 players we seem to be showing an interest in. Did this guy play against us?
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Yes he did whoops - here's a bit of info..........

"In total, Revell, who stands at 6ft 3ins, has scored 34 goals in 170 appearances during his time with the Millers and has been a favourite of manager Steve Evans.

But this term in the Championship the marksman has come under fire from fans for his lack of goals having netted just four times in 26 appearances. He played the whole match as Slade’s Bluebirds fought out a 0-0 draw with Rotherham in the Welsh capital last month."
 
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