Striker Situation

I've got a feeling RK will set us up like the dutch national side, with 3/5 at the back, 1 up front and a strong emphasis on creative midfield play.

He's therefore right to concentrate on the midfield as the priority and we may get away with only signing 1 quality striker

Don't think the situation is as bad as many bros make out! Sam Gallagher - he is young but promise, he should be good for maybe 3 league goals next season. Osvaldo, Mayuka & Sharp if we don't replace them they will play and will prob get say 5 goals between them. Jay Rod is back in Jan, I reckon he might struggle initially but I think he could crack in as many as 4 goals by the end of season.

 

That makes 12 goals already!. If we win 12 games 1-0 then we will be pretty much safe, and that is without any goals from midfield, defence or goalkeepers!

 

Relax bros!

Rubbish 12 x 3 = 36 points. We will need at least 44 to stay up.

Absolutely. Spain won the last world cup by scoring 8 goals in total.

 

Germany spunked 7 away against Brasil the other night, which was a shocking waste, idiots. Clearly they will not win.

 

Add a two each from Davis, Reed and McQueen, plus a couple of headers from Fonte and that's 20 games won! Surely top 8 finish again.

I take it you're deliberately not counting the inevitable own goal we will get going our way next season? Bed wetter!

Why is it every year you and others think you're being clever with this point?

 

Every club in the land would love to get all their business done ASAP. It's not some concerted effort to delay things, you're not telling them anything or making an actual point.

 

Banging on every summer about getting all signings done early is little different to saying 'we should sign the best players possible', or 'wouldn't it be nice if we were so good we didn't need signings'. Yep, we get it.

I think you need to chill off or calm down I was just making a point FFS. Jesus!

I think you need to chill off or calm down I was just making a point FFS. Jesus!

So many emotions on here right now.

Rubbish 12 x 3 = 36 points. We will need at least 44 to stay up.

Oh he am so funny everyone.

Oh he am so funny everyone.

CB Fry again. The Telly Tubby stalker.

We do need to get a move on though, our current situation isn't entirely comparable to previous years or other clubs - at the start of this week our squad was 5 players weaker than the start of last season (Shaw, Lambert, Lallana, Guly and Osvaldo) - yes we'll have a bit of movement through from the Under 21s, but not to cover that change in the squad - that's a fair bit of activity we still need to undertake with just over a week to the first pre-season game.

omg after months of abuse smirking saint finally managed to get rid of Rickie, and now he's starting in on gallagher!

Your gonna start em off now you bastard

Kevin Volland.

Kevin Volland.

Guess? Or source?

Rubbish 12 x 3 = 36 points. We will need at least 44 to stay up.

I think the midfield, defence and keeper might get another 6 goals between them. That would give us 18 more points. Sorted.

Guess? Or source?

Weak source so more wish unfortunately.

Source has many connections in Scandinavia and quite a few in Holland, seems to be hearsay from someone in Holland...

(former agent working as football director at a club now, been working mostly in Sweden & Denmark and been involved with his agent firm in a few transfers of danish players to Holland/Germany/Belgium a few yrs back)

Weak source so more wish unfortunately.

 

Source has many connections in Scandinavia and quite a few in Holland, seems to be hearsay from someone in Holland...

(former agent working as football director at a club now, been working mostly in Sweden & Denmark and been involved with his agent firm in a few transfers of danish players to Holland/Germany/Belgium a few yrs back)

He was linked with Dortmund and Real Madrid not so long ago!

Kevin Volland.

Would be amazing! Not just because it'd mean I wouldn't have to keep signing him for us on FM. Think he may be slightly out of our league unfortunately...

He was linked with Dortmund and Real Madrid not so long ago!

Yes, very unlikely to say the least but talks/rumours around him has stopped and still hard to see that he will stay at Hoffenheim.

Started off the season very good but only scored 4 goals after new year....

But yes, I dont think its anything in it unfortunately.

I think the midfield, defence and keeper might get another 6 goals between them. That would give us 18 more points. Sorted.

Yep, we should be Ok then.

We need two quality forwards. JRod is great but hasn't impressed me when playing as our out and out striker.

No Connor Wickham type signings though!

We need two quality forwards. JRod is great but hasn't impressed me when playing as our out and out striker.

To be honest, we wasted so many chances and so much possession came to nothing due to a poor final ball. I believe that JRod created the most clear cut chances (not sure what counts as one) in the league. As the season went on, Jrod really came into his own. Hopefully he can regain that. I love his energy and enthusiasm, but as a target man????

Rubbish 12 x 3 = 36 points. We will need at least 44 to stay up.

Ummmm...he was only talking about wins! Add to that 8 nil-nil draws and we're safe. We can afford to lose the other 18 games at a canter too.

I wonder if the club will take the gamble in Danny Ings? Can't be an any bigger gamble than Pelle can it?

I wonder if the club will take the gamble in Danny Ings? Can't be an any bigger gamble than Pelle can it?

I can see us going for both. With it being likely that one of the two may well not be up to it. (and one of them being up to it)

I can see us going for both. With it being likely that one of the two may well not be up to it. (and one of them being up to it)

Yep, agree with this. If (as seems very likely) Osvaldo is off, then we need to bring it at least 2 new strikers. Sam Gallagher is young and tried hard, but at the back end of last season he showed that he's not ready yet for regular Premier League football. No shame in that at all, at such an age. Mayuka might come back but he can't really be seen as a genuine starting option.

Pelle isn't ideal due to his age, but we definitely need a first choice striker to come straight in and hit the ground running and he loks the most likely target. Can Ings do that too? I'm not convinced either way, I simply don't know enough about him.

There's also the possibility we may face a change in formation to a 3-5-2, as Koeman has done it before. So if he does go for that, we'd need far more than the Lambert-Gallagher available combo we had last year. Although, such a formation would probably allow JRod to play in a forward role again when he returns. Even so, we'd probably need to have 3-4 genuine starting forwards vying for the places to make it work over a season.

Pre-season will be very interesting. First to see our clutch of new players, and second to see how they line up. If we do go for the 3-5-2 option which Holland have re-invented then I think that could be very interesting indeed (although we would need to improve the centre back options).

Suggestion on Twitter (yes yes I know) that Gallagher will be loaned out to Charlton for the first part of the season. Anyone seen anything about this? I can see the sense in putting him out to get more game time at a lower level but couldn't he do that through the U21s? And wouldn't working under Koeman be a better option that whatever is going on at Charlton anyway?

 

Pre-season will be very interesting. First to see our clutch of new players, and second to see how they line up. If we do go for the 3-5-2 option which Holland have re-invented then I think that could be very interesting indeed (although we would need to improve the centre back options).

What clutch of new players ? Did I miss something this last week ? We signed Tadic I know but I must have missed all of the others.

The U21s just got thrashed 5-1 by Carlisle. Perhaps a small indication of the level of quality.

Not averse to a short term loan in the slightest (as long as we have enough cover at the club to make up for it). In any case, the club know what they're doing when it comes to youth development, so we'll of course defer to their better judgement, whatever the final outcome.

What clutch of new players ? Did I miss something this last week ? We signed Tadic I know but I must have missed all of the others.

Yes, I'm sure you're right that we'll sign zero other new players by the time the seaso kicks off. It will definitely be none. Speculating otherwise is silly. You're 100% right of course (as ever). Thanks for putting me right. I was only hoping we'd sign some players, but now you've said that we haven't, things are much clearer.

Yes, I'm sure you're right that we'll sign zero other new players by the time the seaso kicks off. It will definitely be none. Speculating otherwise is silly. You're 100% right of course (as ever). Thanks for putting me right. I was only hoping we'd sign some players, but now you've said that we haven't, things are much clearer.

No it was a genuine request for more information actually. I had a particularly hard week at work last week so didn't read much of the forum, the sports news or anything else.

Yes, I'm sure you're right that we'll sign zero other new players by the time the seaso kicks off. It will definitely be none. Speculating otherwise is silly. You're 100% right of course (as ever). Thanks for putting me right. I was only hoping we'd sign some players, but now you've said that we haven't, things are much clearer.

There is every possiblilty won't have even broken even on the player front when we kick off at anfield

We need a starting left back and striker to start on a level saying field from last season, let alone the goalie, CB and striker we needed had we sold no one this summer

In sure you are right but you never know

There is every possiblilty won't have even broken even on the player front when we kick off at anfield

 

We need a starting left back and striker to start on a level saying field from last season, let alone the goalie, CB and striker we needed had we sold no one this summer

 

In sure you are right but you never know

I am confident we will replace everyone that has left with quality before the season starts concern will be hitting the ground running.

Look at the facts

RK is on the face of it an upgrade on MOPO

Tadic on a par with AL (with money in bank)

So we need to replace

RL - Pelle seems ideal, comments on his age but younger than RL (who was not guaranteed to start this year IMO

LS - we may not get someone in who has his potential but we need to look at what he delivered for us not what he could in 5 years which makes it easier to replace like for like (again with money in the bank)

The money in the bank gives us opportunity to strengthen the squad as first 11 good but struggled with injuries.

I feel positive that we will have a similar strength team but stronger depth in GK, CD and ST.

Don't also forget there may be a youth player come through again (think Chambers last year)

Stay positive I certainly feel we are going in the right direction