Some people take things to the extreme and football fans are no different. Football is a fun for me and not an obsession. I'm already over yesterday. I've been criticized on this board for my early opinions on Ade who is a favourite of some and not of others but I don't think anybody on here would resort to fisticuffs because of an opinion. AVB in.
And quite right too as there are no concerns to be had, we won a one leg cup game 3-0, end of. What didn't happen in the 2nd half of that match (in your opinion alone) has no bearing on any other game, least of all another cup game weeks away, and to even remotely suggest its linked is completely wrong. Chelsea scored 5 v Soton as you say....then drew with Brentford! We're out because we did not field a striker , we took one, but left him on the bench for an hour . Now I'm not saying young Obika should have started, just that the first sentence is how our astute manager approached this tie.
to be fair though Notso, Dempsey is an experienced senior player, who can play as a striker (supposedly... that's what he was bought for!), so he had to start. the reality here is that he was a panic buy, cheap, not really quite what we needed and we've got to make do. - and the knock on affect, is this situation which is not his fault. there's just too much imbalance across the team.
Hi Roo. Imo, my sentence still stands, we did not field a striker, we fielded a player in a strikers position, but that wasn't my point. Just take my sentence in its basic form..."I am going to Leeds in the FA cup with no first team striker, just a reserve striker who'll be on the bench" If someone approached me with that as a gameplan I'd laugh hysterically in their face. We since find JD is now carrying injury, this was more than a possibility at the start of the season, but no, 2 and a 1/2 strikers is enough. I'm not interested in Ade changing his mind either, 2 and a half strikers is enough to cover all eventualities. This is how our manager went into this season, even when questioned on this exact point "do you think you're a bit light up front?"..."no we have excellent options"....we shall see now won't we.
notso,surely how a team plays in shall we say the third round is a good indication as to how it will play in the following rounds. It was a weekend of upsets so Chelsea are showing strength by not getting beaten by minnows. Look how we started in the Europa and it was fairly much the same up until the end of the qualifying round.
Hi Mate, there's a couple of bits you've touched on here that are quite interesting. I'll start with AVB. - I think during interviews he just says what's going to keep the board happy. I don't believe a word he says about transfers. When he was asked that question I bet he was actually thinking "thank you for asking me that. Hopefully your comment might actually be acknowledged by those upstairs". - He's a coach who's already done very well in his short career. No one in his position would be stupid enough to not realise that we were short. And I expect Levy said, make do with that, we'll have a look at it again in January. I'm not defending AVB here, i just don't think he gets a say. as for JD. we've found out he's got an injury, but i'm guessing the club knew that, hence why he didn't go, and we had to resort to playing dempsey as the striker? I don't think there was a lot of choice in this, unless I've misunderstood something?
Its utter nonsense Thor, cup games do not work like this, never have, never will and I prefer not to talk about this more, not being rude mate, I've just got nothing more to add.
However you look at it, the manager has accepted it instead of laying out a plan for the season with adequate numbers in all positions from the start, its a lack of foresight, and unecessary to pin hopes on 2 strikers being available for 40-60 games. Its a reasonable and probably accurate point you make behind the scenes, but its still been accepted. Maybe Levy has not backed avb like he said he would when interviewed for the job, we don't know is the simple answer, but for me there's something inherently wrong somewhere here.
but how do we know AVB hadn't laid out a plan? he's supposedly meticulous with everything else. let's bear in mind he's got to deal with a chairman who leaves everything till the end of the transfer window. what kind of example is that setting to your coach in giving him the practical time to prepare his squad? something is definitely wrong somewhere, but it's been like this for ages now. this is why I can't blame AVB. his mistakes are nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Roo - Whether its Levy or AVB or both in agreement, but to take on a season with 2 and a half strikers and think you'll challenge on all fronts, as was suggested at the start, all comps seriously, is about as mad as it gets. AVB should have known what he was walking into. Whether that criteria has changed we don't know.
I think nearly all of us agree on that. I keep thinking back to Harry telling us how hard it was to get a decent striker, we couldn't compete and so on. Newcastle managed it so you have to wonder at our scouting system or our managers. OR Levy has too much to say about who we sign. Don't know but as you say it is glaring weakness.
So if you were AVB you would only have taken the job if you had been 'guaranteed' another striker? You have to be more flexible than that if you are a top coach. I think he was expecting to play 4231 and have Moutinho rather than Dempsey who was obviously a last minute stop gap. Two strikers plus Harry Kane would be fine in that case. But no Moutinho and Sig has turned out to be in very poor form so we've reverted to 442 and now it looks like we got the signings wrong. The real area where we are short is on the wing where we've got no-one at all if Bale and Lennon are out.
Ba has had one good season, Cisse has hardly scored this year. i don't think either are the player we need
Precisely mate, how many strikers have come into this league since we've been looking? I was asked the other day by someone who said "where are all these strikers"...words fail me!
Maybe, maybe not but we would surely be better off if Ba had been an option rather than no option. But my point is that strikers are about and BA has made a big enough impact to have attracted Chelsea who have little in the way of spending restrictions. Two strikers is not enough is it? During this time we have spent on midfield and are about to bring in another midfielder is that because he wont cost much? Well find a striker on that basis because that is the weakness.
Don't be so bloody silly! in seriousness though, even at the back end of last season we were facing this season with ONE striker, JD, Ade wasn't signed. When AVB took the post thats all we had, so yeah, if Levy wasn't getting at least one more in would you take the job! Two + Kane would never be ok in any instance, and what is the point of getting players who create more chances when we have no-one to put them away. The wings need addressing yes, but not now.
I don't think that we're short on the wings. We've got better back-up there than up top. Townsend, Sigurdsson and Dempsey are all capable out wide and we've got Pritchard sitting in the reserves, scoring every bloody game.
the wings are ok IMO. Unfrotunately for Townsend and Falque, Bale and Lennon have barely been out all season! Okfalque's gone, but townsend deserves a chance on the left or right. Imagine if we'd signed hoilett like some wanted really badly? he'd be kicking up a right stink! Townsend is the perfect cover for us. Young, hungry with some raw talent. We won't get many others who'll sit and warm the bench wishing they were Gareth Bale or Aaron Lennon
