Wells remains our best striker, Armstrong should play in Semenyo role

[Shauntaylor85]

As above. Wells needs to start, not sure what that said about summer business but we have far better movement and opportunity when he’s on the pitch. Armstrong for me needs to play the Semenyo role, I am not convinced he’s our best central striker. QPR fans I know agree on that. 

Edited Sunday at 16:29 by Shauntaylor85

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

As above. Wells needs to start, not sure what that said about summer business but we have far better movement and opportunity when he’s on the pitch. Armstrong for me needs to play the Semenyo role, I am not convinced he’s our best central striker. QPR fans I know agree on that. 

Reckon he’ll start on Wednesday against Wednesday.

[cityexile]

You would certainly know you have been in a match against Armstrong. Lots of parallels with early Semenyo, pace and power that creates the chance, finishing not quite there yet. Will keep the defence on their toes whilst on as well. Think the pros outweighs the cons, and hopefully will just finish a higher ratio in time. 

Edited Sunday at 16:34 by cityexile

[marcofisher]

Would you replace Mehmeti after today? The left side we finished with was incredibly strong.

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, cityexile said:

You would certainly know you have been in a match against Armstrong. Lots of parallels with early Semenyo, pace and power that creates the chance, finishing not quite there yet. Will keep the defence on their toes whilst on as well. Think the pros outweighs the cons, and hopefully will just finish a higher ratio in time. 

The dilemma?

Waiting for a raw and young Armstrong to develop into something more clinical to match his other attributes…and squandering chances that you’d hope fall to someone else.  Squandering is too harsh a word.  The back post chance is one you need a bit of luck with.  The one-v-one isn’t an easy chance by any stretch…but we think striker should score every one.

He could do with a partner, but he isn’t getting one under our current approach, so us fans, and more importantly LM, need to take that into account…yin and yang as LJ would say!

[Spudgun]

Agree, in no way is Armstrong a centre forward.

[GrahamC]

What exactly is the Semenyo role in our current formation?

Antoine played with Martin & Weimann, we are lining up totally differently.

[Super]

Did QPR play him central?

[Mr Hankey]

Whilst Armstrong’s finishing is still very raw and could do with improvement (which i’m sure will happen) some of the runs he makes really are fantastic. Would stick with him personally.

[Randy Marsh II]

So we spent almost £5m(?) to end up with Wells (and no knock on him) as our best striker. 

Who's in charge of recruitment? Must have some serious questions from the owner to answer to I'd imagine....

[Silvio Dante]

The broader question for me (without necessarily disagreeing with the original hypothesis), is if Wells is indeed our best striker at the age of 34 and having been a peripheral figure for a lot of the last few seasons, then what does that say about our summer business.

Yes, we’re buying “potential” but is that really a position you’d expect to be in having spunked £10m in the summer and allowed your top scorer to leave - particularly if you’re targeting the playoffs…

[Davefevs]

6 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

What exactly is the Semenyo role in our current formation?

Antoine played with Martin & Weimann, we are lining up totally differently.

Indeed.  Down to the manager to work out what compromise he settles on going forward.  If he’s gonna talk about volume of chances being an indicator of result, then he needs to think who might be on the end of them.  Cause and effect.

[1960maaan]

8 minutes ago, Spudgun said:

Agree, in no way is Armstrong a centre forward.

Is is though a brilliant outlet. 
Young and raw but with strength and pace. Work on his finishing , get him shooting with his left and he will be dangerous . Those balls to run onto can be a real asset as the season goes on, not many CBs will out pace and out muscle him.

5 minutes ago, Randy Marsh II said:

So we spent almost £5m(?) to end up with Wells (and no knock on him) as our best striker. 

Who's in charge of recruitment? Must have some serious questions from the owner to answer to I'd imagine....

We weren't / aren't in the position to spend loads on ready made strikers so it was youth and potential . 

I'm hoping that working with Wells will help SA and I am sure Mayulu will get a run soon , wouldn't be surprised to see him start Vs Wednesday. If we get the Twine & wide men balance right we may improve supply, then Fally may come into things more, of the two he strikes me as needing service more as Sinc's pace and power gets him chances.

[chinapig]

13 minutes ago, Randy Marsh II said:

Who's in charge of recruitment?

Wait until the Technical Director finds out who it was. He'll surely tear them off a strip!

[Chivs]

9 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

The broader question for me (without necessarily disagreeing with the original hypothesis), is if Wells is indeed our best striker at the age of 34 and having been a peripheral figure for a lot of the last few seasons, then what does that say about our summer business.

Yes, we’re buying “potential” but is that really a position you’d expect to be in having spunked £10m in the summer and allowed your top scorer to leave - particularly if you’re targeting the playoffs…

Our top scorer demanded to leave. There was no "allowed" about it.

And, Middlesbrough spunked £5M on him so all good for us.

[CiderHeadDan]

Controversially I quite like Armstrong upfront. Think he needs to work on his composure in front of goal, but we definitely create more from his runs in behind.

[Merrick's Marvels]

35 minutes ago, Randy Marsh II said:

So we spent almost £5m(?) to end up with Wells (and no knock on him) as our best striker. 

Who's in charge of recruitment? Must have some serious questions from the owner to answer to I'd imagine....

They did what they could with the money given to them, imo.

The question we should really ask is why such a restricted budget? No-one's asking for us to pay huge fees but, given the recent incoming fees and wage savings, it's difficult not to wonder what spending a couple of million more on a striker might have got us in terms of reliable goals. 

Wells and Naismith won't be here next season. Both are high earners and bit part players. Personally, I'd be moving heaven and earth to bring their departures forward to January and spending money on a proper no.9 instead of relying on 2 project no.9s.

January obviously less than the ideal time for all that though. But, with the squad as it stands, we're going nowhere. And I can't think that was the plan when deciding to change managers 11 months ago.

Edited Sunday at 17:18 by Merrick's Marvels

[TDarwall]

35 minutes ago, Randy Marsh II said:

So we spent almost £5m(?) to end up with Wells (and no knock on him) as our best striker. 

Who's in charge of recruitment? Must have some serious questions from the owner to answer to I'd imagine....

I see it more that we have 3 1st team centre forwards; Sincs, Fally & Wells. They're competing for 1 place so we can rotate as we see fit.

It's easy to say that another striker scores chances that Sincs misses, but equally our other strikers wouldn't necessarily get the chances Sincs does as they lack his power & pace.

Just because Nahki plays on Weds, doesn't mean the money on Sincs & Fally was wasted, squad game & all that.

[The Swan and Cemetery]

Thought the front 4 worked pretty well today. Have generally found Mehmeti unconvincing and whilst there were things he could have done better, offered significant threat. In many ways Armstrong feels like the ideal lone striker, able to make runs and drag defenders around (and tire them through physicality). Thought our defending was more positive in terms of tactics/set up, just we had some send in the clowns moments from individuals - miss the experience and steadying influence of Dickie. 

[Shauntaylor85]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

What exactly is the Semenyo role in our current formation?

Antoine played with Martin & Weimann, we are lining up totally differently.

Why does it have to be the same? I’d have Armstrong, Wells and Yu as a three and actually play Twine as an ACM 

[Numero Uno]

It’s a fact that with Armstrong on the pitch we create more, we just ain’t clinical enough right now. The 1 v 1 is 6 inches too close to the keeper, he did the right thing opening his body out, he needs to execute better. Great run found by Yu for the Twine chance, he offers is a lot except, at the moment, that one important thing. The boy needs to relax!!

[BobBobBobbin]

Hate these comparisons and simplifications of players; There's nuance to it all. Sinclair is the only player we have who can create the chances he misses. 99% of them come about because of his superior physical attributes to pretty much every player in the division. 

Sinclair is probably the most effective presser out of the three too; He works his balls off and is aggressive.

I do agree that I'd like to see him as an inside forward on the left, but we wouldn't be able to carry a 10 if we did that because the same problem of an abandoned LB would occur. I look at our squad and see so many similarities with the Cotts 352 and wonder if the best use of what we have is some variation of that 

Williams = Roberts

Flint = McNally/Dickie

Ayling = Vyner

Bryan = Pring

Litts = McCrorie

Pack = Bird

Korey = Knight/Williams

Freeman = Twine/Yu

Wilbs = Mayulu

Agard = Sincs/Wells

 

 

[REDOXO]

Armstrong has never been a finisher. As someone once said the bloke could go on to be a Premier League forward or National League Striker

The fact that Wells is being turned to before Mayulu starts to make you think that perhaps are much heralded excellent summer business was not as great as club sources would make you believe

To be fair Mr Manning did say that they saw in Armstrong something they can work with, which implied that they know we might struggle to take chances or even make the goal keeper work. In turn we now need more goals from Twine Knight Bird Williams Sykes Yu etc.

I listened to radio Drivel post match and couldn't help but have a little sympathy with the one bloke (who sounded a bit pissed) who argued we are not any further forward under the current regime. I had certain sympathy for the presenter as well as they were both right. City are where they are missing chances, minus goal difference, lower mid table, with a couple of awful performances under their belt and starting a striker who really is bit iffy in front of goal, the caller's point was, how is this progress? The presenter argued yes Manning spent money denied to Pearson, but we are creating chances and look more entertaining and "hopefully" an increase in goals scored! Both of them were right

The employment of Mr Manning was a risk, the subsequent signings of Armstrong and Mayulu were bigger risks with our much talked about nest egg! Bristol City and risk taking never ends well, but the past is not necessary a guide to the future

  

[Charlie BCFC]

1 hour ago, Randy Marsh II said:

So we spent almost £5m(?) to end up with Wells (and no knock on him) as our best striker. 

Who's in charge of recruitment? Must have some serious questions from the owner to answer to I'd imagine....

I’d still stick with Armstrong, I also think Fally will be quality. Wells is however a reliable goal scorer at this level and a good asset to have 

[BigTone]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Reckon he’ll start on Wednesday against Wednesday.

Reckon we'll find out on Wednesday

[Davefevs]

28 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

Armstrong has never been a finisher. As someone once said the bloke could go on to be a Premier League forward or National League Striker

The fact that Wells is being turned to before Mayulu starts to make you think that perhaps are much heralded excellent summer business was not as great as club sources would make you believe

To be fair Mr Manning did say that they saw in Armstrong something they can work with, which implied that they know we might struggle to take chances or even make the goal keeper work. In turn we now need more goals from Twine Knight Bird Williams Sykes Yu etc.

I listened to radio Drivel post match and couldn't help but have a little sympathy with the one bloke (who sounded a bit pissed) who argued we are not any further forward under the current regime. I had certain sympathy for the presenter as well as they were both right. City are where they are missing chances, minus goal difference, lower mid table, with a couple of awful performances under their belt and starting a striker who really is bit iffy in front of goal, the caller's point was, how is this progress? The presenter argued yes Manning spent money denied to Pearson, but we are creating chances and look more entertaining and "hopefully" an increase in goals scored! Both of them were right

The employment of Mr Manning was a risk, the subsequent signings of Armstrong and Mayulu were bigger risks with our much talked about nest egg! Bristol City and risk taking never ends well, but the past is not necessary a guide to the future

  

That was Radio Gold, that was.

[Colemanballs]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

That was Radio Gold, that was.

What frequency is that on?

[Shauntaylor85]

31 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

Armstrong has never been a finisher. As someone once said the bloke could go on to be a Premier League forward or National League Striker

The fact that Wells is being turned to before Mayulu starts to make you think that perhaps are much heralded excellent summer business was not as great as club sources would make you believe

To be fair Mr Manning did say that they saw in Armstrong something they can work with, which implied that they know we might struggle to take chances or even make the goal keeper work. In turn we now need more goals from Twine Knight Bird Williams Sykes Yu etc.

I listened to radio Drivel post match and couldn't help but have a little sympathy with the one bloke (who sounded a bit pissed) who argued we are not any further forward under the current regime. I had certain sympathy for the presenter as well as they were both right. City are where they are missing chances, minus goal difference, lower mid table, with a couple of awful performances under their belt and starting a striker who really is bit iffy in front of goal, the caller's point was, how is this progress? The presenter argued yes Manning spent money denied to Pearson, but we are creating chances and look more entertaining and "hopefully" an increase in goals scored! Both of them were right

The employment of Mr Manning was a risk, the subsequent signings of Armstrong and Mayulu were bigger risks with our much talked about nest egg! Bristol City and risk taking never ends well, but the past is not necessary a guide to the future

  

I would argue the money spent hasn’t improved us at all. The two strikers look devoid of any confidence in front of goal, yet Tinnion said it was the core priority to improve goal return as we had a solid defence (not this season so far), Yu early days and need a run but looks a good player, McNally very iffy, certainly not better than Atko or Dickie/Vyner, McGugan (here to take a seat on the bench), Twine was already here last year and is certainly a good player but not playing a level above what he did on loan, Bird started well but has regressed last couple of games. It’s suddenly not looking great is it, more mid table level signings. Which is fine if that’s what the club are talking about, but PL is the constant PR and the reason why Pearson was moved on for Manning. Well Swansea away last season was a level above this today. 

[The Nest Egg]

I can't help but feel that Mayulu is being unfairly written off at a very early stage in the season.

[REDOXO]

16 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

I would argue the money spent hasn’t improved us at all. The two strikers look devoid of any confidence in front of goal, yet Tinnion said it was the core priority to improve goal return as we had a solid defence (not this season so far), Yu early days and need a run but looks a good player, McNally very iffy, certainly not better than Atko or Dickie/Vyner, McGugan (here to take a seat on the bench), Twine was already here last year and is certainly a good player but not playing a level above what he did on loan, Bird started well but has regressed last couple of games. It’s suddenly not looking great is it, more mid table level signings. Which is fine if that’s what the club are talking about, but PL is the constant PR and the reason why Pearson was moved on for Manning. Well Swansea away last season was a level above this today. 

Which was the point the pissed bloke was making post match. It is all still very 50/50. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

I was right and wrong pre season get I predicted midtableish and it looks about par so far (IMO). As in after the Willem II game but before McNally, Earthy, Twine return and latterly McGuane for TGH.

I assumed the very decent defence would remain as par, but that we would have some issues scoring goals but be good in midfield wi5h good energy.

Our underlying numbers are not bad in all honesty. They seem better than a number of sides above us but will the two converge to take us higher or just to move us up into slightly higher midtable?

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 Goals from 51 Shots on the Road though...averaging 12.75 Shots per game is decent- but the Conversion Rate??

[TDarwall]

13 hours ago, The Nest Egg said:

I can't help but feel that Mayulu is being unfairly written off at a very early stage in the season.

Much like some were too quick to hail him as the new messiah after 3 early goals.  As ever the truth is somewhere in between.

We can't afford a ready made, Championship ready striker; so we need to go for players with some of the attributes we want & hope they can improve in other areas. If Sincs could be more prolific he'll be worth an absolute fortune.

Am surprised Fally has so few mins recently but Nahki has done well when called upon.  Fully expect Sincs starts again on Weds & I suspect Nahki is benefiting from a defence which has been run a bit ragged before he gets on.

No need to be making snap judgements about players this early on.

[hinsleburg]

15 hours ago, CiderHeadDan said:

Controversially I quite like Armstrong upfront. Think he needs to work on his composure in front of goal, but we definitely create more from his runs in behind.

I don't think it's controversial and I actually think we'll miss him if he doesn't play.

Think the Semenyo comparison is a lazy one, Antoine had this incredible ability to go from 0-100 within a few strides and beat a man inside, outside or to be fair just straight through them at times. Armstrong isn't as composed nor as an effective dribbler however his runs off the ball are much better and gets in behind more. Yes, he's absolutely rapid when he gets going but that doesn't mean he should be shipped out wide when his runs are better suited to the middle. He's such a valuable asset on the Counter Attack and constantly occupies two central defenders.

In terms of the current set up I think away from home he's our best option but think Fally will evolve to be our starting striker at home as the season goes on.

[Davefevs]

24 minutes ago, hinsleburg said:

I don't think it's controversial and I actually think we'll miss him if he doesn't play.

Think the Semenyo comparison is a lazy one, Antoine had this incredible ability to go from 0-100 within a few strides and beat a man inside, outside or to be fair just straight through them at times. Armstrong isn't as composed nor as an effective dribbler however his runs off the ball are much better and gets in behind more. Yes, he's absolutely rapid when he gets going but that doesn't mean he should be shipped out wide when his runs are better suited to the middle. He's such a valuable asset on the Counter Attack and constantly occupies two central defenders.

In terms of the current set up I think away from home he's our best option but think Fally will evolve to be our starting striker at home as the season goes on.

The power and pace aren’t lazy comparisons though.  Agree he doesn’t have the technical skill of Antoine, few do.

What we are possibly seeing is that Armstrong might benefit from a partner to ease that goalscoring burden.  Problem is we aren’t playing with someone to do that.  It’s possibly why Wells as the 10 preseason had some benefits to it, more natural striker traits.

I still think our set-up is a huge compromise, and we are tossing points away as a result.  We are playing some nice stuff in spells.  But that is being let down, because the balance is is wrong.

[hinsleburg]

8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The power and pace aren’t lazy comparisons though.  Agree he doesn’t have the technical skill of Antoine, few do.

What we are possibly seeing is that Armstrong might benefit from a partner to ease that goalscoring burden.  Problem is we aren’t playing with someone to do that.  It’s possibly why Wells as the 10 preseason had some benefits to it, more natural striker traits.

I still think our set-up is a huge compromise, and we are tossing points away as a result.  We are playing some nice stuff in spells.  But that is being let down, because the balance is is wrong.

I agree I think the setup isn't quite working at the moment although ironically the starting 11 Saturday is the exact one I would have picked. I think it goes back to us not having a clear first choice 11.

If we want two strikers the only way I see it working with this squad is if we go to a 3/5 at the back

 

         LM     ZV       HR/KN

RM                                      CP

            JK         MB

                ST

           SA           FM/NW

But there's no space for Wingers in that team which means no Yu, Sykes, Anis etc.

Could go all out 442

 

GT       LM         ZV        HR/CP

  YH/MS          JK          MB       ST/AM

             SA           NW/FM

But again, now you need to either drop Twine or play him wide and I wouldn't be supportive of that currently either and would worry the midfield (regardless of which 2 you put in) would get massively overrun.

It's not an easy squad to manage with 15 or so players all of a similar ability, when everyone's fit I wouldn't say we have any guaranteed starters (except maybe Max and that's arguably a concern) 

 

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, hinsleburg said:

I agree I think the setup isn't quite working at the moment although ironically the starting 11 Saturday is the exact one I would have picked. I think it goes back to us not having a clear first choice 11.

If we want two strikers the only way I see it working with this squad is if we go to a 3/5 at the back

 

         LM     ZV       HR/KN

RM                                      CP

            JK         MB

                ST

           SA           FM/NW

But there's no space for Wingers in that team which means no Yu, Sykes, Anis etc.

Could go all out 442

 

GT       LM         ZV        HR/CP

  YH/MS          JK          MB       ST/AM

             SA           NW/FM

But again, now you need to either drop Twine or play him wide and I wouldn't be supportive of that currently either and would worry the midfield (regardless of which 2 you put in) would get massively overrun.

It's not an easy squad to manage with 15 or so players all of a similar ability, when everyone's fit I wouldn't say we have any guaranteed starters (except maybe Max and that's arguably a concern) 

 

Yeah, @Harry was suggesting similar on WhatsApp earlier.

But, boy does it then open up Qs about the squad and summer recruitment!!!

[MarcusX]

17 hours ago, Davefevs said:

The dilemma?

Waiting for a raw and young Armstrong to develop into something more clinical to match his other attributes…and squandering chances that you’d hope fall to someone else.  Squandering is too harsh a word.  The back post chance is one you need a bit of luck with.  The one-v-one isn’t an easy chance by any stretch…but we think striker should score every one.

He could do with a partner, but he isn’t getting one under our current approach, so us fans, and more importantly LM, need to take that into account…yin and yang as LJ would say!

IMO Wells doesn't get that one v one in the first place, same with a few others that Armstrong has had eg Derby (and lets not forget his work in the millwall game). His pace gets him places that other strikers wouldn't, so it's not like X player would have scored that.

Is there any way of having Fally, Armstrong and Wells all on the pitch together? I guess we lose width through Mehmeti and Yu then. 

[johnbytheriver]

17 hours ago, cityexile said:

You would certainly know you have been in a match against Armstrong. Lots of parallels with early Semenyo, pace and power that creates the chance, finishing not quite there yet. 

His Finshing will never be there.

[TDarwall]

6 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

His Finshing will never be there.

Assume you mean Semenyo, as that was the common view in his time here.

[hinsleburg]

28 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Yeah, @Harry was suggesting similar on WhatsApp earlier.

But, boy does it then open up Qs about the squad and summer recruitment!!!

Agreed, and I think it's easy to look back with an element of hindsight but I've always said our 'Squad' is better than last season but I don't think our Starting 11 is.

Right now you could still make arguments for Conway and James (subject to fitness as why has he not been picked up...) being first choice in this 11. Then the other 9 players will be the same as last season maybe with the exception of Yu coming in on the right.

We should be a much better team over 90 minutes with the options and ability to mix it up, however it sometimes feels like we have too many options and are not able to play players in their correct positions because of it.

I don't know what the answer is but if you were picking a 'best 11' since we've been back in the Championship I don't think any of our current squad get in and I think that's a problem

[jbcfc]

18 hours ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

As above. Wells needs to start, not sure what that said about summer business but we have far better movement and opportunity when he’s on the pitch. Armstrong for me needs to play the Semenyo role, I am not convinced he’s our best central striker. QPR fans I know agree on that. 

wells has been excellent but i still think he will be best for us making an impact from the bench. not sure what fally has done wrong to see so few minutes recently but i’d like to see him be given the nod from the off. mehmeti with another strong performance yesterday, so would be a bit harsh to drop him for sincs. he needs to get his head up though!!!

Edited Monday at 11:01 by jbcfc

[Davefevs]

41 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

IMO Wells doesn't get that one v one in the first place, same with a few others that Armstrong has had eg Derby (and lets not forget his work in the millwall game). His pace gets him places that other strikers wouldn't, so it's not like X player would have scored that.

Is there any way of having Fally, Armstrong and Wells all on the pitch together? I guess we lose width through Mehmeti and Yu then. 

Yep…..dilemma!

21 minutes ago, hinsleburg said:

Agreed, and I think it's easy to look back with an element of hindsight but I've always said our 'Squad' is better than last season but I don't think our Starting 11 is.

Right now you could still make arguments for Conway and James (subject to fitness as why has he not been picked up...) being first choice in this 11. Then the other 9 players will be the same as last season maybe with the exception of Yu coming in on the right.

We should be a much better team over 90 minutes with the options and ability to mix it up, however it sometimes feels like we have too many options and are not able to play players in their correct positions because of it.

I don't know what the answer is but if you were picking a 'best 11' since we've been back in the Championship I don't think any of our current squad get in and I think that's a problem

Yep…..dilemma!

+++++

I too was happy with the xi - it’s what I’d have picked if I were LM, but I might’ve picked Naismith over McNally had I not dropped him in the first place!. Neither McNally nor Vyner look like leaders of a back-4.

I honestly don’t know what to suggest.  I think we are in for more games of the ilk we’ve seen this season, a bit of a rollercoaster.  We will see how that approach works against the better sides (on paper).  Maybe it will continue to be win one, lose one, draw one?

[RedRock]

… and this is the dilemma. In our current set up you need a striker who scores goals - probably 15 a season. Wells won’t do it as he hasn’t that edge or strength anymore in the box and seems to struggle to get in that goal line to penalty spot  danger zone, Armstrong may or may not make this his breakthrough season or just flop and the signs are he isn’t a natural goal scorer (the miss in the first half as he wasn't sharp enough to manoeuvre  some part of his body to get  the ball over the line from 1 foot was concerning), Fally is an unknown.. but the fact he isn’t being trusted by management is a worry. 

Neither Anis nor Sykes seem capable of adding consistently to the goals for column, and Twine isn’t consistently making the gut busting runs into the box to provide confidence he will make up for the main strikers not firing. 

Over to you Manning and Tins. There must be a plan to get us functioning in front of goal. You can’t just depend on a 5 foot nothing midfielder to demonstrate that real power, total desire and outright bravery (bravo that man) to head home in a crowded box every game. 
 

[The chief]

I also like what Armstrong brings - a real nuisance and a good out ball to mix up our play when needed, and can really stretch a defence..

Ideal to bring on Fally or Wells later in games after he’s given defenders a real work out.

Semenyo in his early days would smash shots with real power- the accuracy improved over time. . Armstrong seems like he’s trying to place the ball rather than hit shots with power like AS . 

Was great watching Senenyo and Scott in our team-  could light up any game with a bit of magic/quality. 

[bcfcnick]

Only good things to say about Pearson generally, but one thing I couldn't understand was playing Andi Weimann out wide after getting 20 goals from playing him centrally.   Such a good character to have around the place and I think we could have got a couple more very productive goal seasons from him if retained and played in his best position.  

[Topper 123]

Armstrong is a great outlet but if you don’t play to his strengths then he’s wasted . When were pushed back deep our outlet should be ball over the top into their half for Armstrong to give chase  this then gives a chance to get back to shape but our defence can’t clear the half way line 

[Harry]

18 hours ago, BobBobBobbin said:

Hate these comparisons and simplifications of players; There's nuance to it all. Sinclair is the only player we have who can create the chances he misses. 99% of them come about because of his superior physical attributes to pretty much every player in the division. 

Sinclair is probably the most effective presser out of the three too; He works his balls off and is aggressive.

I do agree that I'd like to see him as an inside forward on the left, but we wouldn't be able to carry a 10 if we did that because the same problem of an abandoned LB would occur. I look at our squad and see so many similarities with the Cotts 352 and wonder if the best use of what we have is some variation of that 

Williams = Roberts

Flint = McNally/Dickie

Ayling = Vyner

Bryan = Pring

Litts = McCrorie

Pack = Bird

Korey = Knight/Williams

Freeman = Twine/Yu

Wilbs = Mayulu

Agard = Sincs/Wells

 

 

I agree. Definitely some similarities. 
And given that Manning has always preferred 3 at the back in his previous roles, I’m amazed he’s not moving toward it. 
Re that comparison team though, here’s the challenge : Can you get 38 goals out of Sincs, Mayulu, Wells (that’s the league goals of Agard/Wilbs/Smith that season. 
Can you get 20 goals out of the centre backs?? Can you get 12 goals out of the wing backs?? 
Ain’t happening We’ll be lucky to get 5 from the current crop of full/wing backs!! 

20 hours ago, Randy Marsh II said:

So we spent almost £5m(?) to end up with Wells (and no knock on him) as our best striker. 

Who's in charge of recruitment? Must have some serious questions from the owner to answer to I'd imagine....

Eagle-eyed posters will maybe have noticed that I have not made a single comment about any of the summer signings. 
I am usually very evident in my posts regarding recruitment but I’ve not mentioned a single thing about this years arrivals. I am keeping my powder very very dry on this……

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Yeah, @Harry was suggesting similar on WhatsApp earlier.

But, boy does it then open up Qs about the squad and summer recruitment!!!

To give this context for those not on our WhatsApp ; 

Was mulling the idea over of us playing an extra man in midfield vs Swansea because we were aware that Grimes would need to be pressed tightly and Cooper would need to have his space closed down between the back line and midfield. 
As it happens, Swans best (and rather easily created) chances came from either Darling or Grimes having way too much space to play, and then Cooper making inward or lateral movement behind our very flat midfield. 
Knight & Bird were playing very flat and we had zero press from the frontline. 
This meant that there was a huge gap in behind the flat CM’s. And they had their best routes to goal via that method. 
 

I felt that this could be nullified with a 3 man midfield and a 3 man defence. The extra 1 in CM to prevent Grimes from playing too easily and the extra CB and deeper CM to prevent Cooper (and Franco at times too) from exploiting the gap in our lines. 

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Yep…..dilemma!

Yep…..dilemma!

+++++

I too was happy with the xi - it’s what I’d have picked if I were LM, but I might’ve picked Naismith over McNally had I not dropped him in the first place!. Neither McNally nor Vyner look like leaders of a back-4.

I honestly don’t know what to suggest.  I think we are in for more games of the ilk we’ve seen this season, a bit of a rollercoaster.  We will see how that approach works against the better sides (on paper).  Maybe it will continue to be win one, lose one, draw one?

I’d also prefer Naismith over the  

Edited Monday at 13:14 by Harry

[BobBobBobbin]

4 minutes ago, Harry said:

I agree. Definitely some similarities. 
And given that Manning has always preferred 3 at the back in his previous roles, I’m amazed he’s not moving toward it. 
Re that comparison team though, here’s the challenge : Can you get 38 goals out of Sincs, Mayulu, Wells (that’s the league goals of Agard/Wilbs/Smith that season. 
Can you get 20 goals out of the centre backs?? Can you get 12 goals out of the wing backs?? 
Ain’t happening We’ll be lucky to get 5 from the current crop of full/wing backs!! 

 

Bloody hell Harry. That's depressed me... 

I guess the flipside is I don't need us to win 8-2, just 1-0 will suffice!

[TDarwall]

1 minute ago, BobBobBobbin said:

Bloody hell Harry. That's depressed me... 

I guess the flipside is I don't need us to win 8-2, just 1-0 will suffice!

The problem is as well not scoring many, we're conceding too many as well. As things stand I can't see us grinding out too many 1 nils this season.

[Davefevs]

4 minutes ago, Harry said:

I agree. Definitely some similarities. 
And given that Manning has always preferred 3 at the back in his previous roles, I’m amazed he’s not moving toward it. 
Re that comparison team though, here’s the challenge : Can you get 38 goals out of Sincs, Mayulu, Wells (that’s the league goals of Agard/Wilbs/Smith that season. 
Can you get 20 goals out of the centre backs?? Can you get 12 goals out of the wing backs?? 
Ain’t happening We’ll be lucky to get 5 from the current crop of full/wing backs!! 

Eagle-eyed posters will maybe have noticed that I have not made a single comment about any of the summer signings. 
I am usually very evident in my posts regarding recruitment but I’ve not mentioned a single thing about this years arrivals. I am keeping my powder very very dry on this……

To give this context for those not on our WhatsApp ; 

Was mulling the idea over of us playing an extra man in midfield vs Swansea because we were aware that Grimes would need to be pressed tightly and Cooper would need to have his space closed down between the back line and midfield. 
As it happens, Swans best (and rather easily created) chances came from either Darling or Grimes having way too much space to play, and then Cooper making inward or lateral movement behind our very flat midfield. 
Knight & Bird were playing very flat and we had zero press from the frontline. 
This meant that there was a huge gap in behind the flat CM’s. And they had their best routes to goal via that method. 
 

I felt that this could be nullified with a 3 man midfield and a 3 man defence. The extra 1 in CM to prevent Grimes from playing too easily and the extra CB and deeper CM to prevent Cooper (and Franco at times too) from exploiting the gap in our lines. 

I’d also prefer Naismith over the  

And also as part of the WhatsApp:

This is the structured build up from Swansea that led to Ronald crossing for Povotnik to volley what looked a certain goal til Tanner glanced it wide for a corner.  We know what happened from the corner…unfortunately.

and here’s the start of a structured build-up that led to Franco’s half-volley that O’Leary saved:

Yesterday it wasn’t just transition to defence that harmed us (like in prior matches), but a poor structure versus relatively standard build-up by Swansea.  We didn’t block very well at all first half.

[Sir Geoff]

3 hours ago, MarcusX said:

IMO Wells doesn't get that one v one in the first place, same with a few others that Armstrong has had eg Derby (and lets not forget his work in the millwall game). His pace gets him places that other strikers wouldn't, so it's not like X player would have scored that.

Is there any way of having Fally, Armstrong and Wells all on the pitch together? I guess we lose width through Mehmeti and Yu then. 

Obviously he doesn't get that one on one because we would be playing differently. No one in their right mind plays a pass like that into the channel for Wells.

[RedRock]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

 

Eagle-eyed posters will maybe have noticed that I have not made a single comment about any of the summer signings. 
I am usually very evident in my posts regarding recruitment but I’ve not mentioned a single thing about this years arrivals. I am keeping my powder very very dry on this……

 

Do I not like the sound of that. 

[BCFC Rich]

I might have this wrong (it's based on a loose memory of when we signed him), but my understanding was that Armstrong's finishing at QPR was wilder - regularly blasting over, and missing the target. Are there stats for the accuracy of his shots then vs now (@Davefevs maybe you have something on that?). Because if that was the case, maybe his current focus is on making sure he hits the target- not arguing his finishing has been good, but he does seem to have most of his shots on target - just not testing the keeper enough. 

 

 

[Davefevs]

48 minutes ago, BCFC Rich said:

I might have this wrong (it's based on a loose memory of when we signed him), but my understanding was that Armstrong's finishing at QPR was wilder - regularly blasting over, and missing the target. Are there stats for the accuracy of his shots then vs now (@Davefevs maybe you have something on that?). Because if that was the case, maybe his current focus is on making sure he hits the target- not arguing his finishing has been good, but he does seem to have most of his shots on target - just not testing the keeper enough. 

 

 

 

[Harry]

34 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

So has he had 65% more shots so far this season?? 3.05/1.85%?
 

And 9% more are on target. 

[Numero Uno]

6 hours ago, johnbytheriver said:

His Finshing will never be there.

Don’t think you can say that YET. A common issue on here is we judge a player and condemn him on what he produces today. Look at Semenyo when he was 20 “league 2 AT BEST” was the rallying cry on here. Even when Nige first joined the joke was “he only scores when he charges down the keeper”, now look at him. 20 year old lads are generally better players at 22.

Armstrong has a lot of things going for him bar the obvious one right now. That’s the gamble the club took.

Edited Monday at 17:07 by Numero Uno

[Davefevs]

13 minutes ago, Harry said:

So has he had 65% more shots so far this season?? 3.05/1.85%?
 

And 9% more are on target. 

Yep.

If he was to have 3.05 shots p90 and played 46 * 90 at 13% goal conversion, he’d get 18 goals.

Probably likely to get 60-65 mins so probably 12-13 goals.

Edited Monday at 17:08 by Davefevs

[Numero Uno]

1 hour ago, BCFC Rich said:

I might have this wrong (it's based on a loose memory of when we signed him), but my understanding was that Armstrong's finishing at QPR was wilder - regularly blasting over, and missing the target. Are there stats for the accuracy of his shots then vs now (@Davefevs maybe you have something on that?). Because if that was the case, maybe his current focus is on making sure he hits the target- not arguing his finishing has been good, but he does seem to have most of his shots on target - just not testing the keeper enough. 

 

 

Agreed. The 1 v 1 he missed goes in if he hits it 6 inches further to the keepers left. That type of thing is the improvement he needs to make.

[Davefevs]

[mozo]

I'm still massively optimistic about Armstrong. He causes problems and gets into good positions. I think a reasonable number of goals will come.

If he needs a bit of patience this season to further his development, it could be worth it in the long run. Was likely to be the case with Conway, and will be the case with Mayulu too. 

[fly in the air]

I have said a few times our forwards need some coaching. have we go a forwards coach. when lee was in charge he brought in ian wright to do some sessions. both our new boys need help hogg was a defender liam not sure what he was

 

[Fpcity]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

 

Did he play central at QPR? 

 

[Davefevs]

5 minutes ago, fly in the air said:

I have said a few times our forwards need some coaching. have we go a forwards coach. when lee was in charge he brought in ian wright to do some sessions. both our new boys need help hogg was a defender liam not sure what he was

 

Defender.

3 minutes ago, Fpcity said:

Did he play central at QPR? 

 

Mix of wide, central and in-between.

[Harry]

9 minutes ago, fly in the air said:

I have said a few times our forwards need some coaching. have we go a forwards coach. when lee was in charge he brought in ian wright to do some sessions. both our new boys need help hogg was a defender liam not sure what he was

 

Not sure this makes much difference. 
Who have our coaches and managers  been over the few years :

Pearson- CB. 
Fleming - FB. 
Holden - FB. 
Johnson - CM. 
McAllister - FB. 
Pemberton - FB. 

Could add recently Cisse - DM. 
We did of course have Euell - ST for a year. 
But in the main we’ve not had many coaches who plied their trade as a striker. 

Edited Monday at 17:46 by Harry

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, Harry said:

We did if course have Euell - ST for a year. 

He played a lot of his career as a forward….was a regular cheap forward in my sun dreamteam

Edited Monday at 17:48 by Davefevs

[Harry]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

He played a lot of his career as a forward….was a regular cheap forward in my sun dreamteam

Ha ha. I meant he was with us for a year as a coach, not that he only played striker for a year

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

11 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

He played a lot of his career as a forward….was a regular cheap forward in my sun dreamteam

 

13 minutes ago, Harry said:

Not sure this makes much difference. 
Who have our coaches and managers  been over the few years :

Pearson- CB. 
Fleming - FB. 
Holden - FB. 
Johnson - CM. 
McAllister - FB. 
Pemberton - FB. 

Could add recently Cisse - DM. 
We did of course have Euell - ST for a year. 
But in the main we’ve not had many coaches who plied their trade as a striker. 

I think Euell had a massive impact on the development of our forwards.  

[Davefevs]

19 minutes ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

 

I think Euell had a massive impact on the development of our forwards.  

Me too, his pre-match drills in the shooting net were a level-up from what we’d seen previously.

[Silvio Dante]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Defender.

Mix of wide, central and in-between.

I always thought Manning was a midfielder.

https://prideofanglia.com/tmwmtt/details.php?player=Liam+Manning