2 weeks to transfer deadline

[Barry.C]

If a good striker is NOT recruited a mid table finish will seem optimistic. Nothing has been done to address the glaring inadequacy. Just keep knocking the ball around in ones own half and then wait for the forward pass that concedes possession.

Dropping a best player into a deeper roles is not effective without STRIKERS who offer the MOVEMENT to stretch opposition defences

( Sorry my previous reply above got posted before I completed it)


And the above comments were expert analysts commenting today on Liverpool.

 

[Barry.C]

We are 5th without one, how is that optimistic ?:smile:

True and its great but just what if we had had a couple of decent strikers, Maybe 10 points clear by now??

 

[Jam_Man]

True and its great but just what if we had had a couple of decent strikers, Maybe 10 points clear by now??

Getting 1 decent striker is a challenge, let alone two.

We certainly need to bring a striker in though, and/or hope Barnard comes back in some sort of form, the optimistic outlook however would be we continue to remain in the play offs, not that we would drop into midtable :smile:

 

[Barry.C]

That looks like it then with 24 hours to deadline. Phils achievement is to bring in a midfield player tomorrow instead of a forward. Not only that the player in question is not wanted by 82% of shrimperzoners and has been described allegedly as fat, lazy, a troublemaker, strange, not fit. A bloke on 4 yellow cards, with a poor disciplinary record who has a career average goalscoring record of 1 goal in every 8 games. Staggering.
No pressure then on Jo Jo and Phil. Either a very brave or stupid move, let alone who gets displaced in the line up .Someone said on here if Barney comes back and fails to score and OToole fires blanks, Phil will deserve considerable stick especially given the key rush of vital games over the Xmas period.
I suppose Deegan out of contract could be signed outside the loan framework and provide us with 10 midfielders. I wonder though whether the gates will go up just to see the outcome of Phils move to strengthen our goalscoring capability

 

[superblue24]

Looks like we can have Sokolik for longer.....

http://www.ciderspace.co.uk/ASP/news/news.asp?NewsItemId=22670

 

[Barry.C]

So the Big O Toole is in after all. Have to say good luck to him and get behind him from the outset, despite 82% not keen

7 transfers in to our league up to lunch time, 3 strikers, Cmon Phil make my day!!, improve your wheeler dealing record on the striker front

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

So the Big O Toole is in after all. Have to say good luck to him and get behind him from the outset, despite 82% not keen

7 transfers in to our league up to lunch time, 3 strikers, Cmon Phil make my day!!, improve your wheeler dealing record on the striker front

My man says he's on it right now. Could be after tea time we get the news tho.

 

[Barry.C]

Looks `like Barney staying at Stevenage for another month. Deegan re-signed to 23rd Jan and Sokolik extended contract. Hope TSNBs man is working hard over the next few hours or we actually go a striker down!!

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Looks `like Barney staying at Stevenage for another month. Deegan re-signed to 23rd Jan and Sokolik extended contract. Hope TSNBs man is working hard over the next few hours or we actually go a striker down!!

Sorry, should have made it clear that my man says Phil is working on it right now.

 

[Barry.C]

So that's it then for now the loan transfer window has closed. During the month of November to take advantage and strengthen squads ahead of the tough Xmas period a total of 57 players were signed on loan to our league. of those 41 were signed on the final day, including John Jo to Southend.
21 clubs gained players during the month and of the 57 signed in total 21 were strikers. That's just over 5 forwards a week and confirms that it is not to difficult to find a striker to loan in. In fact .19 were signed yesterday.
During November Bury did the most business, bringing in 7 new players, Hartlepool brought in 6, Portsmouth 5 , Dagenham, York, Oxford and Tranmere all brought in 4.
On the striker front Tranmere, Hartlepool and Oxford gained 3 new strikers each, whilst 5 other clubs brought in 2 strikers each. To strengthen our striker options until January we sent Lynch out on loan and gave Stevenage Barnard for another month, despite Brown saying that would definitely not happen. We now have just 2 strikers officially on our books, less than a third of many clubs in this league , this tells us something of Browns thinking?

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

We now have just 2 strikers officially on our books, less than a third of many clubs in this league , this tells us something of Browns thinking?

While we can recall Barnard it still makes no sense. Brown is obviously sticking with one upfront while there is no target man type cover for if Corr gets injured suspended or goes off form. Seems crazy.

He probably still thinks Weston is a striker too lol.

 

[Barry.C]

Cheers Westy I forgot about the recall option in an emergency presumably, I already think we are in intensive care as far as striking capability goes but hope our 10 midfielders can continue to fire

 

[Jam_Man]

We now have just 2 strikers officially on our books, less than a third of many clubs in this league , this tells us something of Browns thinking?

Id still put Weston in there, whether people think he is any good or not he consider himself a striker and he has played in that role for us.

That said, even with 3 strikers we only really have one that fulfills our needs, ie someone to lead the line to allow the likes of Payne and now O'Toole to play that advanced midfield position(s).

If Corr was never going to miss a game I wouldn't have a problem with that, but we know he isn't the peak of his physical condition.

I would have certainly expected Phil Brown to be bringing in someone, after all he brought in Lee, so its very odd. Transfer window opens in 5 weeks !

 

[Barry.C]

I think you're spot on there Jam . Weston does like to consider himself a striker but sadly doesn't fit the bill. I have found it interesting that even the club lists him officially as a midfielder. Do you think Barney will get the early call if Corr gets injured? Surely we will bring some new striker/s in 5 weeks time, before the pitches get even more difficult.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Very disappointed the striker didn't sign.

 

[Ricey]

Very disappointed the striker didn't sign.

Do you know who it was?

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Do you know who it was?

No, but they have been looking at a few recently.

 

[Barry.C]

Hopefully we will keep looking even though we failed to secure one , whilst 21 were signed in League 2 during November !
The size and shape of squads will play a big part over the 5 Xmas games. Wycombe the league leaders look well furnished with a large squad of 30, numbering 10 strikers, although a couple of them may be youngsters. Luton look strong with 29 and 6 strikers, Shrewsbury and Bury both have 25, with 5 and 7 strikers respectively. Burton only 24 , with 6 strikers and 11 midfielders. Plymouth have the smallest squad with just 22 and 6 strikers.
( Figures from their websites, with some updates for recent signings, but not 100% of course, but gives strong indicator of squad sizes and balances )

 

[Jam_Man]

30 is a ridiculous amount for League two.

Quality over quantity is key, having six strikers won't get you more goals and you have to ask how good any of them are individually if you have to have 5 other options.

 

[Barry.C]

Strongly agree that quality is critical, it's just at this point in time we do not have either quality or quantity up front. Most expert pundits seem to take the view that quality in depth is key. Burton's 6 strikers have shared 18 goals between them.(Atkins 4 Maco 4 Blythe 4 Beavons 3 McGurk 2 and Knowles 1 This suggests they are not lacking in quality but perhaps possess different qualities. Our current 2 listed goalscorers have scored 5 goals. Maybe 4 more strikers might gee them up a bit or offer something different?