A striker signing

Not to be all doom and gloom, but I don't think a striker alone solves our problems in all honesty.

We find ourselves in a position where the squad is imbalanced and we have too many 'utility' players. The likes of Evans, Shackleton, Honeyman, Styles, Leonard spring to mind.

We lack individual quality throughout the squad most of what good we do comes through Flemming, so we find ourselves in a very similar situation to previous seasons having relied on Jed for double figures in Goals and assists every season.

Our forward line needs a major face lift. We’ve got an opportunity to get promoted and I fear we are half arsing it to be totally honest. The days of spending pittance and getting promoted are definitely over… it takes serious investment now which relatively speaking we don’t have!
 
33lion said:
Not to be all doom and gloom, but I don't think a striker alone solves our problems in all honesty.

We find ourselves in a position where the squad is imbalanced and we have too many 'utility' players. The likes of Evans, Shackleton, Honeyman, Styles, Leonard spring to mind.

We lack individual quality throughout the squad most of what good we do comes through Flemming, so we find ourselves in a very similar situation to previous seasons having relied on Jed for double figures in Goals and assists every season.

Our forward line needs a major face lift. We’ve got an opportunity to get promoted and I fear we are half arsing it to be totally honest. The days of spending pittance and getting promoted are definitely over… it takes serious investment now which relatively speaking we don’t have!
Click to expand...
This.

Think you’ve hit the nail on the head regarding Flemming! Never thought this till you said it, but you’re right, he has become our new Jed in the goal scoring department! We look to the Dutchman to score goals the way we did with Jed, because no other midfielder in the team can wade in with as many goals as he has this season!

Of the midfield utility players you mentioned, only Honeyman and Styles have scored 1 goal each, as have Saville and Burey, and those figures are quite damning when you consider two of our centre backs have got 6 goals between them (Cresswell has 4, Cooper has 2.)

Up front, Afobe (until he was injured and then left us), scored 2 goals, whilst Voglsammer has 1 goal so far! It’s only Bradshaw (6 goals), and Flemming (10 goals) that have been our mainstay goal scorers, and they’ve helped us enormously to stay in and around the play offs this season!

I agree with you - it does take serious investment now to get promoted, and you’d like to think that this is JB’s ultimate aim (having already spent £126M on players and keeping the club going all these years), but the $64,000 question is, will he go for broke in this transfer window, and give GR the money he needs to get the players in that will finally achieve that promotion?

Being the cautious chairman we know him to be, JB might give GR just enough decent money to buy a quality forward (and no one else), in the hope of getting the club promoted this season, and then investing more money for the 1st season in the Prem!

Either that, or invest in the team in the summer, if we’re still a Championship side! It’s highly likely that some of the other teams in it will strengthen their squads, and if the likes of Everton and the Vermin do get relegated, that will only add to what we have to try and compete against, if we’re aiming for promotion next season!

Whatever happens, all we can do is back the chairman and the manager, and hope they will do well by us!

COYL!
 
Don't get me wrong, Flemming was a great bit of business, but that aside to prepare for a season with only 1 senior 'winger' in Bennett was criminal.

Burey's been thrown in out of necessity and shown he's not at the level required. Signed a striker and a midfielder and have played them out of position to cover a shortfall.

To me we're in need of a massive freshen up but these things don't happen until summer windows.

I can see Malone, Bennett, Leonard, Evans, Bart all leaving. Plus Shackleton & Cresswell to return to Leeds. That is a big chance to rebuild the squad properly.

We'll need to strengthen in literally every area...
 
33lion said:
Not to be all doom and gloom, but I don't think a striker alone solves our problems in all honesty.

We find ourselves in a position where the squad is imbalanced and we have too many 'utility' players. The likes of Evans, Shackleton, Honeyman, Styles, Leonard spring to mind.

We lack individual quality throughout the squad most of what good we do comes through Flemming, so we find ourselves in a very similar situation to previous seasons having relied on Jed for double figures in Goals and assists every season.

Our forward line needs a major face lift. We’ve got an opportunity to get promoted and I fear we are half arsing it to be totally honest. The days of spending pittance and getting promoted are definitely over… it takes serious investment now which relatively speaking we don’t have!
Click to expand...
Or unearth a gem from non league.
 
33lion said:
Don't get me wrong, Flemming was a great bit of business, but that aside to prepare for a season with only 1 senior 'winger' in Bennett was criminal.

Burey's been thrown in out of necessity and shown he's not at the level required. Signed a striker and a midfielder and have played them out of position to cover a shortfall.

To me we're in need of a massive freshen up but these things don't happen until summer windows.

I can see Malone, Bennett, Leonard, Evans, Bart all leaving. Plus Shackleton & Cresswell to return to Leeds. That is a big chance to rebuild the squad properly.

We'll need to strengthen in literally every area...
Click to expand...
You have to remember that Rowett put all his eggs in one basket on planning for a 5 3 2 formation. Hence getting Cresswell as 3rd CB, Shack as RWB, Styles as LWB, Honeyman as cover for no 10. There was no plan for playing wingers, hence we don't have any. Only then to find it wasn't working and had to change to 4 2 3 1 and then we start playing players out of position such as Slammer on the right or left and a 5 foot 8 striker up against 2 or 3 6 foot-plus centre backs on his own.
 
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