Problems up front??

[AshtonRobin21]

I’d like to see a front 3 of:

Mehmeti - Weimann - Sykes

Playing Weimann in a central role allows much more fluidity with his movement.

Sykes and Mehmeti seem to be our best wide options. Sykes in particular seems to be the bright spark in the first half of games.

When counter attacking, Sykes is currently the ‘out’ ball to allow us to break at pace. However, I would like to see Weimann be the link in the central area to draw the defenders in to him, similar to how we saw him utilised in the ‘Martin/Semenyo’ system.

[petehinton]

27 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

I am interested to see if Pearson deems Wells, Conway, Cornick and Bell as a strikeforce to take us to the playoffs.  

I think a striker will be high on the shopping list for the summer personally 

[Malago]

I would have thought it’s blindingly obvious that we’re missing Antoine.

[Kodjias Wrist]

11 minutes ago, petehinton said:

I think a striker will be high on the shopping list for the summer personally 

So Tinman said we are looking at 3 or 4 players in summer and that number worried me. Not sure whether he meant on top of the replacements needed for players such as Kalas, King, Dasilva, Scott all of which had good games tonight.

IMO with the four names above gone we need their positions replaced and another centre half and a more explosive winger/forward option than what we already have. It may be we need to look at Kadji replacing Williams long term but but if not we need another body there too .

[Rob k]

6 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

So Tinman said we are looking at 3 or 4 players in summer and that number worried me. Not sure whether he meant on top of the replacements needed for players such as Kalas, King, Dasilva, Scott all of which had good games tonight.

IMO with the four names above gone we need their positions replaced and another centre half and a more explosive winger/forward option than what we already have. It may be we need to look at Kadji replacing Williams long term but but if not we need another body there too .

i’ve got a feeling we will have a job on our hands keeping Pring too 

[Mr Popodopolous]

37 minutes ago, AshtonRobin21 said:

I’d like to see a front 3 of:

Mehmeti - Weimann - Sykes

Playing Weimann in a central role allows much more fluidity with his movement.

Sykes and Mehmeti seem to be our best wide options. Sykes in particular seems to be the bright spark in the first half of games.

When counter attacking, Sykes is currently the ‘out’ ball to allow us to break at pace. However, I would like to see Weimann be the link in the central area to draw the defenders in to him, similar to how we saw him utilised in the ‘Martin/Semenyo’ system.

That could be interesting. Weimann central has often been best and he is only late 20s- we are edging towards midtable so should try a few things.

[sglosbcfc]

1 hour ago, And Its Smith said:

I am interested to see if Pearson deems Wells, Conway, Cornick and Bell as a strikeforce to take us to the playoffs.  

He's already said that it is not enough. Some of the money for Antoine will be invested in another striker in the summer.

[And Its Smith]

Just now, sglosbcfc said:

He's already said that it is not enough. Some of the money for Antoine will be invested in another striker in the summer.

I’ve not seen Pearson say those four aren’t enough but we’ve seen him change his mind before as well.  They will have to start scoring to do that though! 

[firstdivision]

50 minutes ago, petehinton said:

I think a striker will be high on the shopping list for the summer personally 

I think we need one, but I don’t see it being a priority. We already have so many forward options (Wells, Conway, Bell, Cornick, plus Weimann, Mehmeti and Sykes if we’re playing  a 4-3-3). I just don’t get the Cornick signing. Even more so after seeing him play. 

 

[Davefevs]

This is football, runs where it goes for you, runs where it doesn’t, especially for a mid-table, inconsistent, mixed-age range group of players.

I don’t worry about it too much.

Selectively I tend to ignore Man City (and cup games generally) in these runs too.

We created good chances tonight.  But we aren’t flowing.  Some of that is dictated by opposition, Cardiff and Huddersfield both sat quite deep.  Something for us to learn how to overcome undoubtedly.

[W-S-M Seagull]

2 hours ago, Slippin cider said:

The final third is concerning at the moment IMO 

Is it? We're creating chances, just not putting them away for whatever reason. 

Bell and King should 100% of scored tonight.

[AshtonGreat]

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

This is football, runs where it goes for you, runs where it doesn’t, especially for a mid-table, inconsistent, mixed-age range group of players.

I don’t worry about it too much.

Selectively I tend to ignore Man City (and cup games generally) in these runs too.

We created good chances tonight.  But we aren’t flowing.  Some of that is dictated by opposition, Cardiff and Huddersfield both sat quite deep.  Something for us to learn how to overcome undoubtedly.

Don’t say that - that means we’ve scored even less!

[Slippin cider]

7 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Is it? We're creating chances, just not putting them away for whatever reason. 

Bell and King should 100% of scored tonight.

That’s what I meant .

[mozo]

9 hours ago, petehinton said:

I think a striker will be high on the shopping list for the summer personally 

If that's the case it'll be intriguing to see what type we go for. If you could clone Ivan Toney I go for that (Ivan Cloney?)

As much as I'd personally like our team to be filled with homegrown players, I don't think Nige will worry about blocking the Conway/Bell pathway if there's a goalscorer out there that he likes.

[GrahamC]

8 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

That could be interesting. Weimann central has often been best and he is only late 20s- we are edging towards midtable so should try a few things.

He’ll be 32 when next season starts.

Be good to have Conway back, although he suffered his own goal drought earlier this season him & Wells are by far our best natural finishers.

Unless we move someone on (& Cornick has only just arrived) I can’t see us adding another striker this summer with Conway, Wells, Bell, Cornick & Weimann all under contract for 23/24.

[mozo]

3 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

He’ll be 32 when next season starts.

Be good to have Conway back, although he suffered his own goal drought earlier this season him & Wells are by far our best natural finishers.

Unless we move someone on (& Cornick has only just arrived) I can’t see us adding another striker this summer with Conway, Wells, Bell, Cornick & Weimann all under contract for 23/24.

Yep didn't Conway, Wells and Weimann all stop scoring during that the poor run (before the good run)? I'm not blaming them, just highlighting because there's a lot of chat that one of those three could be the answer to the current problem. What we've found is that they each have hot and cold streaks, and then there's the broader problem of creating the kind of chances those players want.

[old_eastender]

Conway & Wells clicked particularly well together. Hoping Conway is nearly fit enough to play again.

Bell strikes me as very much a confidence player, and he seems to have lost that, should have scored with the 1st half effort and was in good positions twice in the 2nd half but ran the ball out once, and lost the ball when 1-on-1 with their defender inside the box for the other time.

Mehmeti needs to vary how he tries to beat his man and when to release the ball, but you can see the potential there.

I'd be quite happy to see Weimann given a chance to start up top, at least in Conway's continued absence.

Sykes, although a bit of a tired performance last night, is clearly our best option down the right.

Cornick, no idea where his best position would be - probably on the bench! Does not seem to be able to bring the ball under control, so rarely holds it up to retain possession for us, and little evidence so far of his supposed heading ability. Struggling to understand why we signed him tbh.

 

[IAmNick]

Disappointing we didn't score, but it's encouraging that even though we're having to chop and change our team we're continuing to play and create chances. I'd be much more concerned if someone got injured and everything changed.

I'm also cautious of Conway coming back. It'll be good, but there's no way he keeps up his early season form and he'll have been out for a fair while - he'll need time to get back up to speed. I'm not expecting him to be an answer to anything soon.

[GrahamC]

15 minutes ago, mozo said:

Yep didn't Conway, Wells and Weimann all stop scoring during that the poor run (before the good run)? I'm not blaming them, just highlighting because there's a lot of chat that one of those three could be the answer to the current problem. What we've found is that they each have hot and cold streaks, and then there's the broader problem of creating the kind of chances those players want.

Weimann is playing a completely different role to last season (when he is starting at all) & I doubt anyone reasonably expects he’ll get near to 22 goals in a season ever again.

This is Conway’s first season as a regular starter, he’s still only 20 & I think has plenty of development to come & for me is the big hope.

Wells season simply reflects his career, he’s in double figures, if he features in the majority of games then he’s usually a 13 or 14 goal a season man, at 33 this summer he’s probably going to play a similar role now as a squad player to the one he has of late.

Cornick & Bell are the 2 conundrums to me, the latter is still very young & has shown in flashes with his goals that something is there. After my early comments on Semenyo I am certainly not writing him off but he will need careful management.

Cornick can use this season to settle in, we clearly want him to be fitter & will use the summer for this & getting a clear idea of how he fits in. At 27 though he’s a signing for now, unlike Bell could be, not for 2 or 3 years time.

[Bodiesaffer]

8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

This is football, runs where it goes for you, runs where it doesn’t, especially for a mid-table, inconsistent, mixed-age range group of players.

I don’t worry about it too much.

Selectively I tend to ignore Man City (and cup games generally) in these runs too.

We created good chances tonight.  But we aren’t flowing.  Some of that is dictated by opposition, Cardiff and Huddersfield both sat quite deep.  Something for us to learn how to overcome undoubtedly.

Agree with you there, that’s football.  The last two games needed efforts from outside the box.  So many times when teams sit deep, teams score with shots outside of the area with deflected or taking the rebound.  We are scared to shot from outside of the box.  Although I’m not worried as we are creating.

[old_eastender]

21 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Weimann is playing a completely different role to last season (when he is starting at all) & I doubt anyone reasonably expects he’ll get near to 22 goals in a season ever again.

This is Conway’s first season as a regular starter, he’s still only 20 & I think has plenty of development to come & for me is the big hope.

Wells season simply reflects his career, he’s in double figures, if he features in the majority of games then he’s usually a 13 or 14 goal a season man, at 33 this summer he’s probably going to play a similar role now as a squad player to the one he has of late.

Cornick & Bell are the 2 conundrums to me, the latter is still very young & has shown in flashes with his goals that something is there. After my early comments on Semenyo I am certainly not writing him off but he will need careful management.

Cornick can use this season to settle in, we clearly want him to be fitter & will use the summer for this & getting a clear idea of how he fits in. At 27 though he’s a signing for now, unlike Bell could be, not for 2 or 3 years time.

Cornick is 28 in a couple of weeks time, so arguably already passed his prime as a forward. His record in the championship at Luton was just 25 goals in a 135 appearances - so that's 1 goal every 5 to 6 games. Really don't get why we signed him at all.

[tin]

10 hours ago, Malago said:

I would have thought it’s blindingly obvious that we’re missing Antoine.

I think it’s blindingly obvious we’re missing Naismith and his ability to pass through the lines. It’s no coincidence the goals have dried up since he got injured IMO. 

[Harry]

11 hours ago, TheReds said:

Sad situation with the stats in your post? That is how I would see it anyway. Rather than a "you're sad" type of reaction.

We created enough tonight to score a few, and I honestly reckon if the first went in we'd have won by 3 at a canter. I'd be more worried if we weren't creating anything.

True. I may have mis-read the emoji 

11 hours ago, wendyredredrobin said:

I have not commented on this thread and having read through the entire thread, I am unable to find a comment even purporting to be from me.  4 of you have been offended by something, but the first I even knew of this thread was a notification.

Either someone has said something under my user name and it has been deleted or something odd is going on.

Can anyone clarify, what I am supposed to have said?

 

10 hours ago, wendyredredrobin said:

You are correct.  Not me though as I have not been on the forum all day.

My apologies to Harry, who I find to be a sensible poster who I have never had any reason to give a sad emoji too.  In fact I hardly ever use that emoji.

No worries Wendy.  I was probs a bit too over sensitive at the sad face anyway

10 hours ago, mozo said:

It might be one of those where win 5-0 soon 

If it’s 5 own goals I’ll continue the thread

[The Bard]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

He’ll be 32 when next season starts.

Be good to have Conway back, although he suffered his own goal drought earlier this season him & Wells are by far our best natural finishers.

Unless we move someone on (& Cornick has only just arrived) I can’t see us adding another striker this summer with Conway, Wells, Bell, Cornick & Weimann all under contract for 23/24.

Know what you mean Graham but if we continue to be physically dominated up front and struggle to score goals a more physical forward becomes a necessity.

[GrahamC]

30 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

Cornick is 28 in a couple of weeks time, so arguably already passed his prime as a forward. His record in the championship at Luton was just 25 goals in a 135 appearances - so that's 1 goal every 5 to 6 games. Really don't get why we signed him at all.

Blimey, “past his prime” at 27!

He got 13 last season, unlike you I’m not writing him off based on 1 start & a few sub appearances.

Luton are very good at what they do & he was a part of that.

 

[GrahamC]

5 minutes ago, The Bard said:

Know what you mean Graham but if we continue to be physically dominated up front and struggle to score goals a more physical forward becomes a necessity.

Think part of the issue is since Brownhill left we rarely get goals from centre mid.

Not James’ thing but need others to chip in.

Obvious Scott will be off so his replacement has to be part of the solution.

[ashton_fan]

We're creating chances, but many of our goals during good spells have been tap-ins, we're not seeing those now. This is partly due to our recent success, looking at the last couple of games teams are wary of our forwards and sitting deep, if we have a chance of a break they just foul and accept a yellow card. Many of our goals have been from wide positions with a low cross and someone waiting at the far post to tap in, I've noticed teams now are making sure defenders block these types of cross at the near post, they've obviously been studying videos of our recent games. We have to find different ways of scoring or it becomes too predictable, eg we haven't got anyone who can score from outside the box.

[johnbytheriver]

So many key players out!+starting sam bell every game.What can you do? yet again injuries conspire aganst us!

 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, old_eastender said:

Conway & Wells clicked particularly well together. Hoping Conway is nearly fit enough to play again.

Bell strikes me as very much a confidence player, and he seems to have lost that, should have scored with the 1st half effort and was in good positions twice in the 2nd half but ran the ball out once, and lost the ball when 1-on-1 with their defender inside the box for the other time.

Mehmeti needs to vary how he tries to beat his man and when to release the ball, but you can see the potential there.

I'd be quite happy to see Weimann given a chance to start up top, at least in Conway's continued absence.

Sykes, although a bit of a tired performance last night, is clearly our best option down the right.

Cornick, no idea where his best position would be - probably on the bench! Does not seem to be able to bring the ball under control, so rarely holds it up to retain possession for us, and little evidence so far of his supposed heading ability. Struggling to understand why we signed him tbh.

 

What we are seeing with Bell (imho) is the norm.  Young player comes into the team, does reasonably well, gets built up / gets some slack by the fans, plays on a bit of a combo of adrenaline / naivety for half a dozen games.  At the same time opposition teams start identifying strengths and weaknesses and how to negate any threat they might have.  Last night Matt Pearson just went physical on him.  Even in a foot race, a strong arm across Bell’s body is enough to stop him driving into the box under control of the ball.  Saturday, Kipre let him drop short, didn’t give him any channels to run.

I’ve seen it so many times.

The exceptions.  Alex Scott….he’s the exception to everything isn’t he?  Tommy Conway, because I think he’s an edgy little ****er.

The challenge for the likes of Bell, is to come back strong, having now seen what “it’s all about”!

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

He’ll be 32 when next season starts.

Be good to have Conway back, although he suffered his own goal drought earlier this season him & Wells are by far our best natural finishers.

Unless we move someone on (& Cornick has only just arrived) I can’t see us adding another striker this summer with Conway, Wells, Bell, Cornick & Weimann all under contract for 23/24.

Weimann?? You're quite right, fortunately Conway and Bell form some part of succession planning.

Wells certainly agree, Conway bit early to say IMO- he went through a very hot patch but that felt a bit unsustainable. He'll still grow and develop obviously.