Young Gun To Come Good

[angieram]

54 minutes ago, Chris_Martin said:

at least half of those goals were penalty's 

I never noticed that. ?

[RoyMac5]

3 minutes ago, angieram said:

I never noticed that. ?

I wonder who won most of the penalties? *rollseyes*

Should have had one in the few minutes he was on the pitch vs BC!

[Ellafella]

2 hours ago, angieram said:

Whittaker for running in if ball played long into space (which we never seem to have because we prefer the slow build up);

JHI in and around the edge of the box and also poaching in the box; would be good on end of low crosses from Jozwiak or Buchanan because if he doesn't score he will win penalties

Someone (not sure whether Ryan Conway or Steve Nico) asked about Stretton and was told he's nowhere near ready yet, having only just made the step up to under 23s. 

I am not sure who will play well with Lawrence because his decision making is just poor - I keep expecting it to click with him but I am starting to think it never will. ?

I think he lacks the necessary hardware in the “upstairs” tool shed. He can be “magic” on his day but those days are few and far between. I don’t think he would actually get in my starting 11 - Jozwiak has more “end product”. 

“Just wait until we get Lawrence and Waghorn back!” ...and??? 

[California Ram.]

For me Stretton is the poacher who would actually pick up more goals. He’s not that young - same age as Knight, Bird, Buchanan, Sibley i think. At least worth a place on our expanded bench. 

[dcfcreece1601]

Just now, California Ram. said:

For me Stretton is the poacher who would actually pick up more goals. He’s not that young - same age as Knight, Bird, Buchanan, Sibley i think. At least worth a place on our expanded bench. 

I would like to see Stretton too,  but most of all I'd like to see Duncan, has scored a few in very limited games and looks like the rough young hungry guy we need

[Ghost of Clough]

2 minutes ago, California Ram. said:

For me Stretton is the poacher who would actually pick up more goals. He’s not that young - same age as Knight, Bird, Buchanan, Sibley i think. At least worth a place on our expanded bench. 

They were all part of the U18 League winning side, but Bird was two age groups higher than Sibley iirc 

[angieram]

51 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

I think he lacks the necessary hardware in the “upstairs” tool shed. He can be “magic” on his day but those days are few and far between. I don’t think he would actually get in my starting 11 - Jozwiak has more “end product”. 

“Just wait until we get Lawrence and Waghorn back!” ...and??? 

I was saying that. I am disappointed with their form, to be honest.

[Ellafella]

14 minutes ago, angieram said:

I was saying that. I am disappointed with their form, to be honest.

I wasn’t pointing that comment to you @angieramactually, so it’s very honest of you to own up to it. But it’s dawning on me that Waghorn, and Lawrence are regarded as amongst our better players yet their consistency is very poor. We are seriously in danger of being cut adrift thanks to a series of flawed decisions by a number of “fly by night” managers and the cold reality is beginning to bite. Something quite radical has to be done because keeping on doing the same isn’t gaining any traction. 

[europia]

1 hour ago, Ellafella said:

I have, up to now, reserved judgement on Waghorn. Having taken a much greater look at him since we sold our main source of goals and assists I have to say, I’m very disappointed. Whilst he takes a good direct free kick, there’s very little else coming from him. He’s quite pugnacious but his passing range is about 4 yards, he doesn’t have a great shot and he invariably fluffs 1:1s. I can’t actually recall him ever heading the ball, apart from once when he scored a header when he was virtually lying down. I know he got 18 goals playing for Ipswich the other season but I do wonder how he managed that. Did we really pay £5m? 
I don’t like publicly berating our players but we lumped 4 crosses into Bristol’s box on Saturday and each time Waghorn was conspicuously absent. Do we think he needs some re-introductory positional education or are we still playing a “false 9”. Or what?! ?‍♂️

I came to the same conclusion a while back. Coincidently, didn't we also buy Lawrence based on a bit of form he showed at Ipswich? A combined fee of circa £10m for those two. Doesn't really look like money well spent. 

[Van der MoodHoover]

1 hour ago, Ellafella said:

I can’t actually recall him ever heading the ball, apart from once when he scored a header when he was virtually lying down. ?‍♂️

Bristol City last season might be what you're thinking. Diving header quite low. 

Popped a more conventional header in v Southampton in the cup replay under Frank. But he isn't a conventional big target heading the ball a lot type. 

[Ellafella]

1 minute ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

Bristol City last season might be what you're thinking. Diving header quite low. 

Popped a more conventional header in v Southampton in the cup replay under Frank. But he isn't a conventional big target heading the ball a lot type. 

...and that’s the point, he isn’t any kind of type. Typically, he gets the ball, his first touch, for a professional footballer is “industrial”, he often commits the basic error of turning into his man, jeorpardising possession before he actually has gained it, and if he wins the ensuing “tackle”, the end result is often a 5 yard sideways pass. Very little value is added. This is why we are struggling because he’s the best now that we’ve got. 

[Carl Sagan]

We're not just lacking goals, we're lacking a goal threat. Yes we need a hungry centre forward to get himself in the box and live for the joy of scoring goals, whatever it takes. And I think that person should be one of Hector-Ingram, Stretton or Duncan. Agree with @Ghost of Cloughthat Whittaker can be effective as one of our wide forwards, and score from there.

But, given our lack of goal threat it's just imperative we put Sibley back into the team too. He is still the young gun who will come good, but we really do need to play the lad (more than 5 minutes here or there).