Championship Striker

[mikebrenn]

let me start by saying even if we don't make the playoffs,we have had two excellent seasons back in the championship.yet again though i think its going to be the lack of goals that are going to stop us reaching the promised land.i don't want to put blame on n,maynard,i feel he as done ok in his first season in the championship,and will only get better as he gets older,and gains more experience.but i do feel if we want to reach the Premier League,we need to sign a kevin phillips type strikerwho as seen it and done it at this level.ok he might want 20 grand a week ,but thats cheap at half the price if he gets you in the top flight.

[SUMMAT OUTTA NOWT]

Trouble is if he gets 20 grand a week so will a lot of other players. Look at the Bradley Orr saga and how that dragged on. SL has laid down the wage structure and i am afraid 20 grand a week players in the current structure will not be included.

[dargla]

Trouble is if he gets 20 grand a week so will a lot of other players. Look at the Bradley Orr saga and how that dragged on. SL has laid down the wage structure and i am afraid 20 grand a week players in the current structure will not be included.

STYVAR will come good, I think we will see a much different side of him next season. We have seen a few glimpses and a good preseason, him and Maynard will be great for us next season.

[Ray White]

STYVAR will come good, I think we will see a much different side of him next season. We have seen a few glimpses and a good preseason, him and Maynard will be great for us next season.

Here here!!

[Meh]

STYVAR will come good, I think we will see a much different side of him next season. We have seen a few glimpses and a good preseason, him and Maynard will be great for us next season.

Based on what? Wishful thinking doesn't win games.

We need proven at this level, and I don't mean 30+ something Southampton rejects. We need to pay the wages or continue to be also-rans or if we play badly, never rans.

[Guest]

STYVAR will come good, I think we will see a much different side of him next season. We have seen a few glimpses and a good preseason, him and Maynard will be great for us next season.

We need a 20 goal a season striker not 20 goals between the strikers Aproven striker in the last transfer window may well of brought big rewards, as would it of last seasons xmas window

Styvar will not be starting a game anytime soon so will go the same way as Trundle who also was unable to score many from the subs bench;

Where you get your belief that he will be a good frontline striker next season from I don't know;

[DaveF]

We need a 20 goal a season striker not 20 goals between the strikers Aproven striker in the last transfer window may well of brought big rewards, as would it of last seasons xmas window

Styvar will not be starting a game anytime soon so will go the same way as Trundle who also was unable to score many from the subs bench;

Where you get your belief that he will be a good frontline striker next season from I don't know;

He's bound to get more chances next season.

Trundle John and Adebola are nearing the ends of their careers, that leaves us with Maynard and Styvar with Akinde starting to push through as the two strikers who will likely lead the line, Adebola will have a say but he can't last 90 mins at he won't next season.

Styvar needs time to adapt. Then we can judge if he's any good. From what I've seen he's got pace, strength, good touch and a bit of creativity. Unfortunately not really seen his eye for goal yet.

[chinapig]

This one comes up regularly. 30+ years ago maybe most teams in this league had a 20+ goal striker (say John Galley in our case). With defences much better and players much fitter these days such players are much rarer. Leaving aside the suggestion we should add to already substantial losses during a recession by paying players £20k a week I'd be interested to see a list of players who have scored 20+ goals in a Championship season who would be likely to sign for us. I suspect it wouldn't be very long. Maynard has already produced more than I expected, given he had played only around 50 games before he joined us and those at the bottom of League 1 and I expect plenty from him next season. I didn't expect much at all from Styvar until next season but I have seen enough to suggest he is an intelligent player with a good touch who has the potential to deliver.

[CotswoldRed]

Can someone name me Burnley's 20 grand-per-week striker that might take them to the premier league this year?

Canny management will bring success, not just money.

[SUMMAT OUTTA NOWT]

Good point Cotswold red. Gary is a manager who we questioned when he first came here ( remember that run of defeats ). When he finally got the squad he wanted he took us from a middle of the road league 1 team to a Premier League chasing team with compared to a lot of other clubs a lesser financial backing. Yes SL has given GJ money but when you think that Leeds, Watford, Charlton, Birmingham, Reading, Southampton etc, etc etc have all been to the premier league received and spent fortunes and it still does not give you success with high wage earners and supposed better players. I am happy to be where we are in there fighting. Ok we might not do it this year but to me the last two years have been great at Ashton Gate increased attendances, the clubs image has gone up, we now have fringe international players. We are going to a new more modern ground (hopefully) and the clubs training facilities have vastly improved. There are lots of positives, but this need that some people have to spend stupid amounts of money to buy success in the short term are ridiculous. Our time will come but not with 20 grand a week strikers who are happy to collect their pay day win, lose or draw.

[Seend Red]

Until the midfield issue's are addressed by Johnson I think it means very little who we have up front as they seem to have to feed of scraps.

Maynard is the sort who needs to play in behind the oppisitions back 4 as he's pretty woeful when playing in front of them! Our midfield are always so deep and hardly never advance enough to feed genuine quality balls in to the channels.

[sunningdalered]

STYVAR will come good, I think we will see a much different side of him next season. We have seen a few glimpses and a good preseason, him and Maynard will be great for us next season.

I haven't seen anything yet that gives me a warm feeling that this will happen - and I'm an eternal optimist (which is the why I still go to places like QPR!!). I just can't work out what Styvar's strongest position / role is going to be with us - however, whilst I think that at the moment GJ is just getting Styvar on the pitch to get him used to the pace / style of football in the CCC, I'm sure that he has something more specific in mind for Styvar in the next season or so. I can't believe he brought him to City purely to be a squad / utility player.

[tinman-is-god]

Until the midfield issue's are addressed by Johnson I think it means very little who we have up front as they seem to have to feed of scraps.

Maynard is the sort who needs to play in behind the oppisitions back 4 as he's pretty woeful when playing in front of them! Our midfield are always so deep and hardly never advance enough to feed genuine quality balls in to the channels.

Spot on. Until we have a midfield that regularly creates good chances for the forwards then they will struggle to score. A good right winger and another creative central midfielder to challange Williams' place will bring in plenty more chances, and thus goals.

[Riaz]

Our midfield don't regularly create chances? How the **** have we scored 49 goals.... we are in the top half of for goals scored in this division ffs!

[tinman-is-god]

Our midfield don't regularly create chances? How the **** have we scored 49 goals.... we are in the top half of for goals scored in this division ffs!

Whilst we have been better going forward, I do feel there is room for major improvement in midfield. Sproule and Johnson are two players who have featured regularly in the midfield for us this season, and these two simply do not do enough going forward for the amount of games they have played in. Sproule flatters to deceive and is too inconsistent on the right, and LJ doesn't create enough chances or get forward anywhere near enough considering he has Skuse/Elliot next to him. The better the midfield, the more goals we will score, and 49 in 40 is not good enough, thats barely over one a game, very hard to go up with that goals per game ratio.

[Riaz]

Whilst we have been better going forward, I do feel there is room for major improvement in midfield. Sproule and Johnson are two players who have featured regularly in the midfield for us this season, and these two simply do not do enough going forward for the amount of games they have played in. Sproule flatters to deceive and is too inconsistent on the right, and LJ doesn't create enough chances or get forward anywhere near enough considering he has Skuse/Elliot next to him. The better the midfield, the more goals we will score, and 49 in 40 is not good enough, thats barely over one a game, very hard to go up with that goals per game ratio.

You said we don't regularly create chances - we must have world class finishers in that case.

Of course we don't score enough goals, not for promotion at least.

[kachina]

I think we could have Ronaldo and Rooney up front and we wont score. Ashton Gate seems the death of any striker. I can't remember the last prolific one we had. We don't attack on the ground enough to open up defences to let our strikers in to score.

It is hardly no coincidence that alot of our strikers are natural before they come to us, do badly, go elsewhere and then bang them in again. It just seems a trait that with Johnson's work style there is no place for individuals and that's normally when the big players come out to shine.

[William Stand]

Was it the midfields fault when Spourle & then Maynard blazed over on Sat ??

If you think about it, it's not that often that teams really carve us open & create a fantastic chance - it maybe happens once or twice a game. We need our strikers to be taking those chances when they come along. In fariness both Dele & Maynards have had spells this season when they have done just that, & it's unfortunate that they both got injuted whilst in very good form. However all our attacking players have been pretty wasteful in front of goal, not forgetting of course our awful spot kick record.

[CotswoldRed]

Ashton Gate seems the death of any striker. I can't remember the last prolific one we had.

Its a fair point. Every few years one seems to come along at most clubs - we haven't had one for a while. The most recent ones being Bob Taylor, Andy Cole and (possibly) Shaun Goater.

I think Lita and Brooker could have been, but we all know why this didn't happen.

Its not easy finding one that can do it season after season though, which is what we want. Although he stepped up a division who would have expected Billy Sharp to fall off the radar after his season at S****horpe.

Personally, I think we also need a striker that can stick the ball into the net direct from a set piece. We seem completely incapable of doing this more than once a season at the moment. You should be banking on at least 5,6,7 goals a season from these situations.

[easton boy]

Its a fair point. Every few years one seems to come along at most clubs - we haven't had one for a while. The most recent ones being Bob Taylor, Andy Cole and (possibly) Shaun Goater.

I think Lita and Brooker could have been, but we all know why this didn't happen.

Its not easy finding one that can do it season after season though, which is what we want. Although he stepped up a division who would have expected Billy Sharp to fall off the radar after his season at S****horpe.

Personally, I think we also need a striker that can stick the ball into the net direct from a set piece. We seem completely incapable of doing this more than once a season at the moment. You should be banking on at least 5,6,7 goals a season from these situations.

Oh crap I'm going to get shot down for this - but like Ricky Lambert? He is the only striker that I can think of that gets loads of goals from free kicks (and in fairness to the sag heads - scorchers too)

[CotswoldRed]

Oh crap I'm going to get shot down for this - but like Ricky Lambert? He is the only striker that I can think of that gets loads of goals from free kicks (and in fairness to the sag heads - scorchers too)

Quite possibly.

We soon grew to like Peter Beadle, though he was cr*p.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Oh crap I'm going to get shot down for this - but like Ricky Lambert? He is the only striker that I can think of that gets loads of goals from free kicks (and in fairness to the sag heads - scorchers too)

We need someone who can hit a decent direct free kick, it doesn't have to b e a striker.

Lambert's a hit and miss division 1 striker having the purple patch of his career.

Yes, he can strike a football but Championship goalkeepers would save far more of his free kicks, and other efforts.

[easton boy]

We need someone who can hit a decent direct free kick, it doesn't have to b e a striker.

Lambert's a hit and miss division 1 striker having the purple patch of his career.

Yes, he can strike a football but Championship goalkeepers would save far more of his free kicks, and other efforts.

I agree with all you are saying, but I was just replying to Cotswold's Red request for a striker who can take free kicks (and couldn't think of many who do so and score from them on a fairly regular basis).

Personally couldn't care less if Gary Johnson took the free kicks as long we scored from them on the more than very odd occasion.... :noexpression:

[Nogbad the Bad]

I agree with all you are saying, but I was just replying to Cotswold's Red request for a striker who can take free kicks (and couldn't think of many who do so and score from them on a fairly regular basis).

Personally couldn't care less if Gary Johnson took the free kicks as long we scored from them on the more than very odd occasion.... :noexpression:

I seem to remember Noble hit the underside of the bar with a couple of free kicks before he ever scored a goal for City.

It's more often midfielders who take them - though I think Trundle could be successful, but it looks like it'll have to be someone new with Trundle/Noble's level of skill.

[Swansea_Red]

No idea why I just though of this, but imagine having a specialist set piece taker, that could be substituted on and off, when your team gets a free kick within 30 yards of goal. Great footballing innovation.

Anyway, back to reality, you wouldn't be able to pick a player just for his free kick ability. He needs to be able to contribute for 90 minutes, and take free kicks on top of that. We have players who do the 90 minute bit, but our free kicks have been poor recently, here I'm talking about delivery rather than shooting directly. Being able to whip in a corner of free kick, and deliver a good ball is probably more important than being able to score directly.

And how many free kicks are scored directly? I never remember seeing lots on the Championship, or MOTD for that matter really. It's a difficult thing to be able to do, and I don't think there are that many players around that can do it regularly! Especially, it seems, at Ashton Gate!!

[CotswoldRed]

... imagine having a specialist set piece taker, that could be substituted on and off, when your team gets a free kick within 30 yards of goal. Great footballing innovation.

Personally I'd hate it. Too much like American Football and field goals. Would also be an excuse to introduce advert breaks to footy.

Can you imagine what Brian Clough would have thought about it?

[GrahamC]

Ashton Gate seems the death of any striker. I can't remember the last prolific one we had.

Unless you've been supporting us for 5 minutes cast your mind way back to all of 2005, one of our strikers scored 29 times in a season, hardly buried in the mists of time, was it?

I think the reasons why no striker has scored prolifically under Johnson are varied;

First one, the manager places a lot of emphasis on work rate and contributing to the team, finding a player who does that and scores prolifically isn't so easy.

Second one, many of our strikers haven't been as deadly in front of goal as we'd like, I can recall many very presentable chances missed by all of them.

Finally, we don't, either from the flanks or the middle, create as many chances as we should either, that isn't down to one individual though, it is a collective thing.

[Swansea_Red]

Personally I'd hate it. Too much like American Football and field goals. Would also be an excuse to introduce advert breaks to footy.

Can you imagine what Brian Clough would have thought about it?

No, no, I'd hate it as well, I didn't mean to sound like it was a good idea, the 'great innovation' bit was supposed to be sarcastic! It just wouldn't be football. I must emphasise that I haven't read this anywhere, it's just my brain being stupid. Although I wonder if anyone has ever mentioned this in the deep dark halls of FIFA, if so I hope they were shot.

[Will Rollason]

lbut i do feel if we want to reach the Premier League,we need to sign a kevin phillips type strikerwho as seen it and done it at this level.ok he might want 20 grand a week ,but thats cheap at half the price if he gets you in the top flight.

names please.

availability

wages

reasons why they will want to come to us ( other than wages)

Also remember that GJ is notorious for not letting on who we've been after ,other than the ones Adam Baker specifically asked him about in the post window interview,so we may well have been for god knows who.

Have there been any 20+ a season men recently in the champ? IF there have i should imagine that we wouldnt be able or willing to pay fo them?

We will however have at least two berths available up front ( Trundle and John, neither of whom will figure much after this season imo) so it will be interesting to see who we can attract if we add any up front at all that is.

[Economou]

Swindon have Cox up front who's scored shed loads in a struggling team.

Don't know a huge amount about him, apart from the goals I've seen on the Championship, but could be worth a swoop, fee plus Nobes ?

I'm sure DW would be willing to do us a favour.