Yesterday, against a poor team, we saw a very good team display. We controlled the game, kept the ball very well, there was nice interplay in the midfield and confident playing out from the back. But in common with nearly all of our games this season there was very little incisiveness and few good chances were created.
We all know this, Rooney knows this. He is careful not to say that the forwards are crap, but the reality is that Baldock offers next to nothing, at least that's the case when he plays as a sole striker. His isn't strong enough to hold up the ball and not quick enough to leave defenders for dead. Stretton is promising but at present we could say the same about him.
We had 15 minutes of a very rusty CKR yesterday but even in that time he showed physical presence and made us look a little bit more of a team with a focal point. But he isn't the Messiah. Last season with him in the team our goalscoring record was also very poor.
Would the replacement of Baldock by CKR be enough for us to score the occasional goal and turn these nil-nils to wins on occasions? Should Rooney ditch one of the midfielders and play 4-4-2 or even 5-3-2? He'll be wary of changing the set-up that has been so good at keeping the opposition at arms length so often. What should he do?
Goals goals goals
posted on 18/10/21
comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 2 hours, 56 minutes ago
I’m going to have to say no, Scouse, unless it was subconscious which somehow I doubt. The Crüe have never really done it for me.
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Could be a reference to the Sailor song, Girls, Girls, Girls.
posted on 18/10/21
Mitrovic is of somewhat higher calibre than Martin but there's surely no doubt that the latter would be a godsend to our team at the moment.
posted on 18/10/21
So right Terry! Whatever happened to the good old tap-in?! I just don't think we will see many of them with our current set-up. By definition, tap-ins need at least one body in the box but nearly all our forward play seems to be on or around the edges of the penalty area.
I'm not slagging anyone off as our football is very pleasing on the eye and, given the mess we are in, highly commendable. I just think we need a slightly different approach.
posted on 18/10/21
comment by lastapostleofvidal (U1491)
posted 5 hours, 33 minutes ago
Mitrovic is of somewhat higher calibre than Martin but there's surely no doubt that the latter would be a godsend to our team at the moment.
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Well done Vidal, too right.
Same for Spart.
posted on 18/10/21
With the injury & fitness issues at the moment, I'd like to see Jack get another start tomorrow. To my mind, he's the best striker at the club presently.
Just needs to get one of those tap-ins and he'll be out of the blocks
posted on 18/10/21
We aren't getting the ball and bodies in the opponents penalty area in sufficient numbers and with sufficient frequency. The fault is in the approach play.,hence the number of long shots. We can't blame our strikers all the time.
I am not opposed to players having shot from 25 yards plus, as these modern footballs fly so fast but most long shots end in a goal kick or in the goal keeper's hands. Gordon Strachan used to say that players who took speculative long shots should be booked for wasting time.
We defend in numbers but attack in ones and twos. The net result is that we have no net result, Look at the statistics, best defence, worst attack. I rest my case.
posted on 18/10/21
When Curtis Davies is your top scorer you know you're struggling for goals.
posted on 18/10/21
comment by 🏁 AnglianRam 🏁 (U17428)
posted 4 hours, 43 minutes ago
With the injury & fitness issues at the moment, I'd like to see Jack get another start tomorrow. To my mind, he's the best striker at the club presently.
Just needs to get one of those tap-ins and he'll be out of the blocks
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Yes!
posted on 18/10/21
Maybe Baldock could do a job as a poacher in the lower two divisions, the sort of goal he scored at Hull, but he is going to get very few of those for us the way we play. I agree with Ang that when CKR is fully fit then Jack might do better alongside him than Baldock. I can't see Rooney ringing the changes though - he would say (and so would I) that we are over-achieving at the moment given the thinness of the squad. He might tweak it slightly but he won't do anything drastic. If we contiune to accumulate points at the current rate we will have a decent tally, and you would hope we ought to improve on that with CKR's return and then Bielik.
Then all we need is to resolve the administration issue, avoid more points deducttions and allow Rooney to bring in a couple more strikers in January. Easy peasy.
posted on 19/10/21
At the current points per game rate and current deduction we would get enough points to survive in 5 of the last 7 seasons …