Crawley's No 9 Ollie Palmer

[wiggy]

No. Looked like a lump. No skill. Remember the Rory Gallagher song?
"Brute force and ignorance".

....and anyone that would not swap him for Robinson is deluded!

 

[OldBlueLady]

Looked like the kind of bloke you inherit in a Sunday League team and don't know what to do with him so just "stick the big lump up front"!

 

[wiggy]

Looked like the kind of bloke you inherit in a Sunday League team and don't know what to do with him so just "stick the big lump up front"!

Well your best mate Johnny White couldn't handle him whereas i bet he'd have our present no.2 Theo in his pocket!

 

[RHB]

Well your best mate Johnny White couldn't handle him whereas i bet he'd have our present no.2 Theo in his pocket!

Maybe it depends where you sit when we have opinions on players. I saw John White and the big lump engaging with each other for the whole 90 and I thought it was honours even at the end. If I had anything to do with the recruitment at the club I wouldn't bother with Palmer and I would also despatch Theo off to elsewhere.

 

[AndyT]

SCP tried that in January this year.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Well your best mate Johnny White couldn't handle him whereas i bet he'd have our present no.2 Theo in his pocket!

I wouldn't say he couldn't handle him...he's had a lot better forwards in his pocket in many games. Palmer was a oddball though, a big strong lump of a bloke, with a turn of speed no bloke his build had any right to. He was also pretty handy so John had his hands very full.

I did feel that he wasn't given any support in dealing with him by Demetriou or Turner, either of them - particularly Turner - could have done more.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

I wouldn't say he couldn't handle him...he's had a lot better forwards in his pocket in many games. Palmer was a oddball though, a big strong lump of a bloke, with a turn of speed no bloke his build had any right to. He was also pretty handy so John had his hands very full.

I did feel that he wasn't given any support in dealing with him by Demetriou or Turner, either of them - particularly Turner - could have done more.

I noticed that at corners Turner didn’t pick him up and we all thought in the South Upper it was obvious he was Turners man

 

[Floval Flyer]

Palmer has a decent game against us, but only cos we let him. He’s just a typical aggressive lump of a Lge 2 / national league CF, 10 a penny.

We should be aiming higher than this, as this guy would be a poor replacement to cover Hopper.

Who we need to draught in I don’t know, (Loan from PL or Championships potentially) What I would like beforehand is for Wabo or Ba (Maybe McClousky) to get a start v Soton U23s on Tuesday. And maybe a few more games... We’ll know after that if we need someone in January

 

[AndyT]

I'm not advocating Palmer to join us, but I would say that he is second top scorer in league 2 this season. Above some players supposedly we should be going for.

I think his game is suited to League 2 more, but he held his own against us yesterday and was unlucky not to score.

 

[mfurok]

I saw a lot of Palmer at the Orient.

Ten out of ten for trying but 3 out of 10 for playing football.

Matt Rhead at Lincoln is a far better example of that type of player.

Palmer is certainly not a third division player.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

We wouldn't get him as he would cost too much, but the one I would like is Tom Eaves. Great target man and scoring for fun. 28 goals in 57 games for Gillingham.

 

[buffalowolf]

Why not play two small guys upfront who are skilful, tricky and link up well and play the ball on the ground

From what i read ,our players dont know how to play the ball on the ground so that wouldnt work to well.

 

[Floval Flyer]

We wouldn't get him as he would cost too much, but the one I would like is Tom Eaves. Great target man and scoring for fun. 28 goals in 57 games for Gillingham.

Good call, I was really impressed by him at Gills away this season.

I’d say he’d be a good acquisition, even though we did sing “you’re just a cr@p Andy Carroll!” at him - lol

 

[Mick]

I’d say he’d be a good acquisition, even though we did sing “you’re just a cr@p Andy Carroll!” at him - lol

Was that before or after he scored a hat-trick against us ?

 

[danburyshrimper]

Southend have got a big lump on their books , 18 year old Emile Acquah .... he's currently out on loan ( not heard how he's been getting on ) But i remember earlier this year he scored in 8 games in succession for us + was talked about as our next big thing. We could do worse than bringing him back and blooding him in games like Wednesday -

There is absolutely no point whatsoever in playing Cox up front on his own then belting long high balls over his head . That 2nd half was pathetic from Powell - clueless tactics and we were lucky we didnt lose that game to one of the worse teams ive seen in a long while.

Talking of big lumps , why oh why oh why doesnt Turner take the big man and let White sweep up behind? Is it coz Turner has lost the ability to actually jump anymore ? If this is so , why dont we play someone else at the back who can actually run and actually jump ?

 

[blue pilot]

Staggered at some of the comments on here calling for us to sign Palmer or a similar 'big number 9.' No doubt some of those same voices were moaning about the 'route 1' style we played under much of the Sturrock reign. I thought he was awful, won a few headers, that's about all and suited Crawley's long ball style which is the same as most poor League 2 outfits. If people had to watch that dross every week they'd soon be calling for a different style of play. We didn't win because too many players didn't put a shift in IMO, not because of their number 9.

 

[Stan33]

Staggered at some of the comments on here calling for us to sign Palmer or a similar 'big number 9.' No doubt some of those same voices were moaning about the 'route 1' style we played under much of the Sturrock reign. I thought he was awful, won a few headers, that's about all and suited Crawley's long ball style which is the same as most poor League 2 outfits. If people had to watch that dross every week they'd soon be calling for a different style of play. We didn't win because too many players didn't put a shift in IMO, not because of their number 9.

Spot on

 

[RobM]

Having played as a defender (an awful one!) sometimes you need an 'out'. Clear it. With luck the big bloke up front will collect that clearance and bring others into play. But you don't have to be big. Ian Benjamin was good at that.

 

[Barry.C]

Eaves would be great and certainly something different, a threat physically, in the air , with goal of the season skills. Now our leagues top goalscorer with twelve. Gills are desperate to
Get him to sign a contract extension. His current deal ends 22nd June next year. Could we do a Josh Wright and bring him here, I'd like to think so, but doubt it
He likes a move though having managed 9 in the lower leagues in 8 years, although a number on loan Surely he would like to be with a better club like ours with a far greater fan base.?.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I personally thought a big number 9 should have been top of CP's shopping list last summer. With Ranger, Ladapo and MAF gone we were lacking anyone who can win a header up top.
We did try with that lad from Stoke but it didn't happen, as it often doesn't at our level.

Having said that Hopper was emerging as a great signing, definitely better than Ollie Palmer.
So we cant regret not signing a lesser player because the better one got injured.

What could be the best option for us is to look at a loan option Championship or even PL forwards who are out of favour. Now I know many of us have our doubts about developing other peoples players but none of the much mentioned forwards we have fit the target man job description.

It worked well last year with Mantom even though he was injured. He arrived in the summer far more comfortable and confident of his future with us. So lets try the same with a proper number 9 and use the loan system to out favour. Maybe pick up a player we would normally miss out on. because lets be honest we wont have the money to sign any real quality in January anyway.

We got one in Hopper. The issues was that we didn't get another to back him up.

I'd go for a permanent signing and a loan signing this transfer window.

I know that sounds extravagant but I think this is priority number one and priority number two. If I can only sign two players this transfer window I sign two forwards who can hold the ball up. One can be a loan signing to fill in immediately, the other can be a player we can develop (sort of like Ladapo if we hold onto him) and use next season as well as this year.

And I do think they'll be available. Ladapo has 8 goals this season and was available for in January last season. Palmer (9 goals in League 2) was available for a nominal fee this off-season. Our own hugely successful signing Tom Hopper (7 in 13) was available this summer after being released by Scunny. Tom Eaves (11 goals this season) was available on a free the summer before that. The next Hopper/Ladapo/Eaves/Palmer etc are out there if you do your scouting as we did for Hopper.

The key is signing players whose strengths we will play to. Don't just sign players because they were good a few years ago under a completely different system. Sign players that you know how you will use and who will flourish under our system.

I also don't think they'll be the old fashioned number nine you describe but rather the more modern mobile type like Hopper who'll lead the line from touch line to touch line.

Why not play two small guys upfront who are skilful, tricky and link up well and play the ball on the ground

Because it'll only occasionally work and the ball will come back too quickly. RobM nails it. It's all well and good saying play it short and play out from the back but we've got John White and Michael Turner at centre-half.