Do we have the best attack in the league?

[cityexile]

I think we are right up there in terms of players that are ours.

There has certainly been twice this season, it may have been more, where the opponent that has cost us points is a decent loan player on the other side. Not against those, but if we had a young premier loan doing what Semenyo  or Conway was doing we would be quite excited by them.

[Davefevs]

6 hours ago, LondonBristolian said:

I have to admit I'm quite worried about Kalas. He's not played for quite some time and the uncertainty around his return makes me think it may be something that is not straight forward. It's far from clear when he'll be back, when he'll be ready to play two games a week and whether there's a risk of recurrence. I also think that we brought in our current formation around the time he got injured so he's never played with Naismith, barely played with Klose and we don't yet know how he will fit the system.

I think Vyner gets some unfair flack but I do think - between his inconsistency and Kalas' fitness - that is likely to be our Achilles heel assuming no funds suddenly appear before Thursday. 

Yep!

[INCRED]

8 hours ago, AshtonRobin21 said:

I agree. The sooner Kalas returns to full fitness, the better. 

If he can return to previous form, we could be very strong. 

Fine margins in this division. 

Don’t be surprised if Kalas goes before deadline day - just got a feeling NP doesn’t rate him and would free up some big wages 

Just my gut feeling 

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, INCRED said:

Don’t be surprised if Kalas goes before deadline day

possibly

- just got a feeling NP doesn’t rate him and would free up some big wages

Disagree 

Just my gut feeling

 

[Simon79]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

 

I think he rates him, but he just does buy into the price tag = he plays or he’s an international = he plays. He either performs or he’s not selected & personally I like that a lot. COYR 

[chinapig]

12 minutes ago, INCRED said:

Don’t be surprised if Kalas goes before deadline day - just got a feeling NP doesn’t rate him and would free up some big wages 

Just my gut feeling 

Unlikely anybody will sign a player who looks still to be some way from fitness. Indeed because he played for so long with little or no break he's suffered a lot of wear and tear.

Nigel has said in the past how much he likes him. I'm sure he would love to have a fully fit Kalas available, given he said today that we are short of centre backs.

[DolmanGaz]

I think next to keeping our best players this window, our success this season comes down to CB and injuries. I've loved watching Naismith this season, but if he was unavailable for a prolonged period, we would be much weaker, with next to zero backup. Probably being unrealistic or greedy but would love us to get another CB in!

[ExiledAjax]

19 hours ago, Alex_BCFC said:

They have but that’s over a short period of games and Conway hasn’t played a full season yet. That is why I would reconsider. We struggled a lot without Semenyo last season and if Conway doesn’t keep up form then I doubt we would be top 6 material. A lot of suddenly expected of Conway - he looks a prospect but it is still early days. 

Fair points. I come at it from a perspective of not thinking we'll be top 6 material with or without Conway or Semenyo. Regardless of how much we attack, I just don't think the defence is up to it. Top 12 maybe, but top 6 is a big ask.

Conway's form is good. It also looks able to be maintained. He's not a wild anomaly when compared to other strikers. Yes he's a bit of an unknown given his age, but that's all that's really surprising. If you didn't know his age, and compared him to other strikers in the division, you'd spot nothing out of the ordinary. I think he is capable of carrying on like this through the season.

[cidercity1987]

Does Nige need to be a bit more pragmatic with his line ups?

We have a fantastic strikeforce but do we need effectively three of them on the pitch at once?

Would we be more solid with an extra centre midfielder?

Do we need our wing backs so high up the pitch? 

 

 

[Davefevs]

55 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Fair points. I come at it from a perspective of not thinking we'll be top 6 material with or without Conway or Semenyo. Regardless of how much we attack, I just don't think the defence is up to it. Top 12 maybe, but top 6 is a big ask.

Conway's form is good. It also looks able to be maintained. He's not a wild anomaly when compared to other strikers. Yes he's a bit of an unknown given his age, but that's all that's really surprising. If you didn't know his age, and compared him to other strikers in the division, you'd spot nothing out of the ordinary. I think he is capable of carrying on like this through the season.

He’s also not a youngster who’s just joined the first team squad, having to get used to Sat / train / Tues / train / Sat timetable for the first time…he’s been doing that for well over a year, fitting in u23 games too.  His chances of maintaining a good level are better as a result.  Might’ve felt a waste him sitting in the bench virtually all last season, but I still think (as I wish we’d done with Hinds) it’s better in a lot of cases to train with better players week in week out than go to Grimsby or wherever on loan.

45 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Does Nige need to be a bit more pragmatic with his line ups?

We have a fantastic strikeforce but do we need effectively three of them on the pitch at once?

Would we be more solid with an extra centre midfielder?

Do we need our wing backs so high up the pitch? 

 

 

Good Qs, I’ve been posing similar for a while.

With Antoine back (almost back fully) could we “sacrifice” one and still maintain our attacking quality.

[Sheltons Army]

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

Fair points. I come at it from a perspective of not thinking we'll be top 6 material with or without Conway or Semenyo. Regardless of how much we attack, I just don't think the defence is up to it. Top 12 maybe, but top 6 is a big ask.

Conway's form is good. It also looks able to be maintained. He's not a wild anomaly when compared to other strikers. Yes he's a bit of an unknown given his age, but that's all that's really surprising. If you didn't know his age, and compared him to other strikers in the division, you'd spot nothing out of the ordinary. I think he is capable of carrying on like this through the season.

A big ask for a young player , but , his goals may dry up a bit or for spells, they do for virtually every striker
 

Opposition teams will prepare for him better

But unless fatigue sets in , his movement , running , touch , won’t disappear , and I can’t see his football intelligence , enthusiasm or work ethic fading anywhere soon

 

Whether it’s because he’s been with the club so long , or his bubbling enthusiasm , but I’m more chuffed with what he’s done than Antoine or Alex

[Sheltons Army]

1 hour ago, Tafkarmlf said:

Our formation doesn't work without much of that. Soak pressure , break, blitzkrieg, goal. 

Fine tuning is working well. 

When it clicks we're immense. When it doesn't we're bobbins 

It will get there 

We are absolutely not planning , set up to , or intending to ‘soak up pressure’

 

[CHIPLEY RED]

Just for the record we have the worst front line in any division. None of them could step up to the Prem or even a promotion chasing championship side. They have been lucky so far this season but if any of them get into double figures I would be surprised.

Conway - no experience

Martin - too old

Seymenyo - injury prone

Wells - been crap ever since he signed

Wiemann - headless chicken

My opinion may change on Feb 1st

[Mr Popodopolous]

18 minutes ago, Tafkarmlf said:

In all the games I've seen since Xmas and that's in person or online, that's exactly what we've done, using pivots power, pace and quick feet to go and score. 

Feel free to disagree, but to me our whole game is about this, knackering the opposition through soaking up pressure and then pouncing, as they've no idea when where or how to cope when we do strike .

Hence why we score bucket loads and at time of writing joint top scorers in the league on 11 iirc. 

We struggle when teams switch tempo or, for whatever reason we deviate either individually or as a team from that. 

The idea is very sound and is now working more often than not. Again why it's integral, with high lines and overlaps etc. Change that and we don't work. 

 

I don't think so, we definitely have made some quick and dominant starts this season- sustaining them or the ability to do so is more variable but early goals to us in the League vs:

1. Wigan
2. Luton

3 up in half an hour or so at Coventry (well Burton)  in the Cup and scored early at Wycombe. We also started pretty well at Hull even if the goal didn't come so early. If not for a post, we would have also taken an early lead at Blackpool albeit they themselves took an early lead.

Vs Sunderland we conceded early of course, but the early intent was there IMO- we went after them after their quick start, as I guess we had to but we were level with 10 mins on the clock.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Mr Popodopolous

[Sheltons Army]

19 minutes ago, Tafkarmlf said:

In all the games I've seen since Xmas and that's in person or online, that's exactly what we've done, using pivots power, pace and quick feet to go and score. 

Feel free to disagree, but to me our whole game is about this, knackering the opposition through soaking up pressure and then pouncing, as they've no idea when where or how to cope when we do strike .

Hence why we score bucket loads and at time of writing joint top scorers in the league on 11 iirc. 

We struggle when teams switch tempo or, for whatever reason we deviate either individually or as a team from that. 

The idea is very sound and is now working more often than not. Again why it's integral, with high lines and overlaps etc. Change that and we don't work. 

 

You are confusing our strengths and weaknesses with the intention 

5 at the back is , or should be , an offensive thing , however it’s perceived , and the reason why we purchased an out and out attacking wing back in the summer.

Pearson wants us on the front foot , and yes we are indeed very dangerous in transition,

The ‘sitting back’ or perceived ‘sitting back’ is much more about us getting pushed back , it’s not a choice

Its a common issue with 5 at the back , wing backs get pinned back , you end up getting hemmed in and generally outnumbered in midfield

But it really isn’t our intention

And there is an opposition out there trying to cause us problems

 

Pearson himself recently said we aren’t good enough to do that , one of the reasons he wants us on the front foot

 

[Davefevs]

54 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

You are confusing our strengths and weaknesses with the intention 

5 at the back is , or should be , an offensive thing , however it’s perceived , and the reason why we purchased an out and out attacking wing back in the summer.

Pearson wants us on the front foot , and yes we are indeed very dangerous in transition,

The ‘sitting back’ or perceived ‘sitting back’ is much more about us getting pushed back , it’s not a choice

Its a common issue with 5 at the back , wing backs get pinned back , you end up getting hemmed in and generally outnumbered in midfield

But it really isn’t our intention

And there is an opposition out there trying to cause us problems

 

Pearson himself recently said we aren’t good enough to do that , one of the reasons he wants us on the front foot

 

Agree.

Certainly there is no intention to soak up pressure.  We try to win the ball back early in the possession in their defensive third, and if we can’t trigger it, we drop into a block between halfway and their 40 yards out.

Its not always successful though.

With the ball, our intention is to play through Naismith and the midfield, sometimes using Atkinson, less so Vyner.

Its not always successful though.

What we also see is our transition when we break up their patterns, and vice versa when we get transitioned on.  Sometimes we are transitioning off of the back of their transition.

It makes football very fluid.

[Southport Red]

On 29/08/2022 at 14:12, GrahamC said:

Me too.

The rumour that he isn’t training at present is a real worry, as now that Baker’s future is officially settled we effectively have 4 centre backs fit plus Towler & we play a 3.

If any funds did become available as a result of Semenyo or Scott leaving it would be by far our biggest priority.

Towler’s going out on loan tomorrow. 

[Ian M]

Yes

[Wanderingred]

This would have seemed like a ridiculous statement just a couple of weeks ago, but according to the statistics, we are certainly up there. Only Sheff Utd have scored more, we are averaging more than two goals a game if you take into account our cup games and we are very clinical in converting our chances. 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Wanderingred

[REDOXO]

On 29/08/2022 at 05:56, AshtonRobin21 said:

A question I never would have dreamed of a couple of seasons ago.

However, I am now wondering, do we have one of the best strike force's in the league? 

Granted the likes of Watford, may look strong on paper with Pedro and Sarr. They are extremely talented players, but they are not regular goalscorers. 

In regards to depth, I would certainly argue that we are one of the best in the division. I believe any of our first 5 options (Weimann, Semenyo, Conway, Wells and Martin) could get a minimum of 10 goals per season. 

Which then poses the question, How successful could we be this season if we can keep the ball out of our own net? 

I'm excited for every game at the moment. There's a belief that we can outscore any team in the league. If our defence clicks, we could make a serious push this season. 

*I find it even more impressive that Nige hasn't bought one striker during his time with us. Everyone was calling for us to sign a striker (even during Holden's time with us), but Nige has got a tune out of the players already at the club. 

I really can not be assed to read your post. However in answer to your title….Undoubtably

[Numero Uno]

On 30/08/2022 at 10:00, cidercity1987 said:

Does Nige need to be a bit more pragmatic with his line ups?

We have a fantastic strikeforce but do we need effectively three of them on the pitch at once?

Would we be more solid with an extra centre midfielder?

Do we need our wing backs so high up the pitch? 

 

 

He is being pragmatic imo. He is taking the view that with the current set up we will score the goals needed to win enough games to stay out of bother. The danger with trying to be more solid is the goals dry up and our defensive frailties will still be there in some form. If we start losing away games 1-0 rather than drawing 3-3 that will be wrong!!

[Numero Uno]

On 30/08/2022 at 20:01, Tafkarmlf said:

 

Respectfully disagree with you both. I think soaking up pressure is part of our game plan, we are very good at it, barring individual and 'off piste' errors. 

As I mentioned switches of tempo is what corpses us. Get that sorted and we're now confident to do this and then be patient and pounce. 

Blitzkrieg works early doors too, never said that it didnt. 

We have developed a style of play that suits a limited squad, I see it as no more or less than that. Whatever else people say about Nige he IS pragmatic.