saintant

Cracking goal from Fernandez after great set up by Dibbling.

Two good long balls from Lumley.

Can see us putting in lots of crosses to nobody in particular with this line-up.

Two weeks away.

No place in our side for goalscorers.

A team packed with goal scorers 🙂

Just under two more weeks until RM says again that Stewart is two weeks away.

I meant as a starter but you probably realised that without it having to be spelled out.

You seem to have forgotten Captain Jack.

Well as you were responding to my message I took it to mean you did so point taken.

How about a well flighted cross into a dangerous area where said 6'7 striker outjumps defenders and powers a header into the net? Opponents then have a totally different threat to deal with.

Wasn't aware I'd suggested this - perhaps you could enlighten me.

Why would another Premier League club come in for him? We haven't exactly put him in the shop window. Nobody is claiming he's the complete solution to our striker issues but at least give the guy a chance. Plenty of others have shit games but still keep getting selected. As for Peter Crouch - you do him an injustice with your comment as he was a very good footballer.

Surely not. That would be a ridiculous attitude to adopt.

So no plan B then - just keep doing the same thing over and over with no surprises for our opponents?

I know we play a different style now but having watched this club since 1965 my take is that we have always been most successful when playing a tall centre forward.

On the bench at most is my guess. Don't think RM will start him.

You're probably thinking of the West Ham game. I wonder if RM has even bothered looking at tapes of that game - probably not.

Not really because I imagine the way we train pre-season gives him very little chance to show what he can do. The rest of the time he's been mainly on loan.

In the case of Tall Paul my guess is that a lot is to do with the fact that he is not a RM signing. Can't come up with any other reason not to at least give the guy a try - it's not as though we have a squad packed with quality or even average strikers.

Someone else who might get on to the stream of crosses we put into the box - that would be radical and some might even call it sensible. Not going to happen however good this guy might be.

Depends how good your scouting system is.

I must have missed all those games where he was given a chance but failed to contribute. As far as I know he's started 4 games and come on as a sub 7 times. He may or may not be useless but, after buying him for not insignificant money, I'd have at least expected him to be given a reasonable chance.

I have no crystal ball.

Or it could be that Russ has his tactics wrong so Charley doesn't get much chance to showcase his talents. Also, he's far from the only player who gives the ball away cheaply, he has plenty of company. My point stands, Russ will end up with a bland midfield of ball recyclers unless he encourages more offensive pass and move and ball carrying plus getting between the lines.