JWM I was talking about Scotland. And when he left, before he had played a minute for Barnsley I did say he would be scoring the goals that might see them overtake us. McGoldrick is not a scape goat. He has not hit a barren spell because he hasn't performed since he's joined us. As for Edwards, I think whoever plays in front of Stearman will struggle, that's a trade off of having a tight backline. Also Wrighty, 10 goals and two missed pens is 11 shots more than McGoldrick has managed so far.
It's just amazing how good he looked going forward from RB and that he could run all day, out run players nearly half his age and yet look soo pedestrian as a winger!! Mick said JET wasn't doing enough in matches, that's why he wasn't getting into the team, well why does he not do this to all his players, Edwards and N'Daw have been terrible yet they're always in the team!! I understand JET is not Micks cup of tea but to not even have him on the bench is a little strange IMO!!
PTC You arguement completely falls apart when you consider that we are not creating enough chances for the strikers in the first bloody place! Its not as if McGoldrick is missing sitters and one on ones with the keeper every week. You could have Van Persie in our team and the outcome would be the same! All I'm saying is that you need to be looking at the situation in context and not just picking on one player.
If McGoldrick WAS missing sitters every week I wouldn't be nearly as worried. He's not even getting in those areas.
I have said that the midfield aren't creating enough to give our strikers much, whoever we play are playing off scraps but players like Chopra and DJ appear to have had more chances fall to them than the likes of McGoldrick and McLean and I think this is due to their movement in the box and their preditory instinct. As DU said DJ may have been lucky with some of his goals but he had those chances, McGoldrick hasn't and I think in part this is due to his movement and lack of a instinct of when to get into the box!! Which is why yes he's looked good on the ball and he's a clever player but given how we are playing atm I'm not sure what he adds to us, because he's not really an outlet for our players!!
The underlying problem as we all know only too well is that you can't polish a turd! Clegg, Evans, Jewell whoever it was at the beginning of the season has basically sold this club down the river. Just look at the options we have and to be honest we don't have one quality player particularly in Midfield! If you were in MM's position DU and PTC what would you do?
I think you've got to choose between Hyam and N'Daw. I'd have Murphy up front for sure. I'd probably send back McGoldrick and McLean and bring in another forward and playmaker ( i know that's easier said than done). I'd be using Nouble on the right and I'd be trying JET in various positions. We have just signed half a dozen youngsters so it might be time to give one or two of the attacking minded players a run out.
Because he's a headless chicken. I'm not saying McCarthy doesn't take some responsibility for that but a good striker would be owning it.
Like I've said in the past we were better at keeping the ball and more dynamic in midfield under Jewell with relatively the same players. What I would've done which I'm sure most of you agree with (as you've all had these grumblings) was to keep Scotland and certainly not get in McLean and try to add a loan player to our midfield or even attack. If we're keeping the midfield the same I'd put Murphy upfront with Chopra because it offers us more of an outlet or I'd play 451 so we can at least be a bit more fluid in midfield and keep the ball better. I'd drop Edwards, only use him as a RB (when we want to attack) and never put Martin on the left, and avoid playing N'Daw and Hyam in midfield together. Use Drury and JET more frequently or at least have JET on the bench to offer more of an option!! Listen Mick initially did superbly well getting us out of the situation we were in and he came in and made us solid but since DJ has gone I think he's made a few mistakes, he let Scotland go without bringing in a better option, he brought 3 strikers in with a poor goalscoring record in this division and since the goals have dried up he's almost gone into seige mentality and gone overtly defensive!! I'd be happy if we were playing how we were in the first couple of months under Mick, it wasn't the prettiest but we weren't setting up for a draw!!! He did superbly initially but now we're in the situation we're in i.e out of the relegation zone I wouldn't be best pleased with Mick if we go down now because given where we are I think it could've been helped!!
DU whilst I'm with you on the fact I don't think McGoldrick is neccessarily what we need atm and isn't much of a goal threat, he is a good player and definitely not a headless chicken, he's a very clever player and decent technically, good at creating space for himself just he's not IMO a good penalty box striker because he doesn't have those instincts to get into the box enough!!
McGoldrick is not the answer at the moment, this is down to the tactics Mick is using. For me to much defensive responsibility is being put on our strikers, thus they are not in the positions we want them to be in on the odd occasion we do get a cross into the box.
Hoppers I agree that the tactics aren't helping but I don't think McGoldrick and McLean are overly that type of player to get in the box and take up those positions either
Exactly what I've been saying. We are using two defensive mids to give cover to the back four so that should mean we can ask the strikers to stay in the danger areas. As I suggested yesterday, a 4-2-3-1 formation may suit us better with the players we have. We're not creating much down the wings but have quite a few players who many think are more suited to the 'behind the striker' role. If it's not working down the sides then how about we try and go through the middle.
Mick will be changing things around boys don't panic He is loaning a DM from Man Utd to replace the struggling N'Daw and will be allowing Hyam to move further up the pitch to support the Strikers.
My personal take on the situation.. It's a bit chicken and egg as we aren't creating anything and the strikers aren't even familiar with the penalty area so we are a very limp attack. McGoldrick reminds me a bit of Priskin, a good technical player but never a 'fox in the box' striker and as with Priskin I don't really think we'll ever get to see the best of him with the way we play. A good passing club ala Watford would probably get McGoldrick looking like a very classy player. I do worry about how much patience the fans will have as it seems it's already waning... Murphy (although horrific against Leicester) has easily been our best striker this season (barring DJ) and when the two were up top together we were at our most prolific and Murph scored a handful of goals as well as creating some for DJ and winning a couple of penalties, since DJ has left though Murph has been pushed from pillar to post and I just think we should stick him up top and let him cause the defence problems as he will undoubtedly create more (and keep possession more) than McGoldrick & McLean combined. Personally I'd get rid of McLean and I'd either loan in an out and out winger to give Edwards and Martin a kick up the backside and look to actually get some players trying to make the byline and putting the ball into the box for Murph and Chops which we did (reasonably) well when it was Murph and DJ so why have we completely changed our style??
I feel the result yesterday could come back and bite us on the arse. If Posh win their two games in hand, and Barnsley and Huddersfield win their one game in hand then that would put us back in the bottom three on goal difference. We really should have gone for it against the terriers. A point away may be seen as good by some but will we get enough in our remaining games to stay up? We have let too many games against teams around us pass by without taking the points. It's all well and good beating the teams at the top but if all the teams around us are winning too the table stays the same.
Have to say that signing doesn't fill me with optimism JWM, the areas we need least is CB and DM, i really can't see the point of this one unless Mick's using it as a trial with a view to a permanent signing over the summer. Completely agree KOPR and SD, although I do think Priskin was more of a runner on the shoulder of the last defender than McGoldrick who I think prefers to play a little deeper, in the whole as it were rather than the main striker. I think that's my biggest gripe atm, we got out of the situation we were in by Mick making us more solid but we still had some sort of attacking intent, but of late he's become far more negative and if we would have thrown a bit of caution to the wind in the last couple of games you never know we could've got more out of them and been 3 points closer to safety.
