No striker then?

[Blue Valkyrie]

Let's hope we hadn't lined up a loan for Danny Ings in January.

 

[Napper]

hindsight lol

 

[warmleyseagull]

hindsight lol

'twas ever thus.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Let's hope we hadn't lined up a loan for Danny Ings in January.

Available for loan in August if his recovery goes to plan. A good option? Or should we just buy him!

 

[Sussex Nomad]

So no more strikers then? Absolutely pathetic if true. What the hell do we do now if some/all of our strike-force gets injured/suspended? It's going to be a season of mid-table mediocrity I feel. What happened to ambition this season?

With you on this one.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

No more incoming according to Naylor. if so we bottled it again and have fallen WAY short of the top 4-5 clubs in this division.

This.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

Whilst some of the posts on this thread were way over the top, I think we a little lucky with injury and suspension that our lack of cover wasn't exposed. Imagine if we had needed to actually play Akpom.....

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Bold Seagull]

Egg on face potential of this thread? 90%

Good call.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Whilst some of the posts on this thread were way over the top, I think we a little lucky with injury and suspension that our lack of cover wasn't exposed. Imagine if we had needed to actually play Akpom.....

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

I think you'll find most teams that go up have this certain amount of fortune regarding injuries and suspensions, we are no different. Settled teams tend to put out better results. That is not to say that Baldock was out for around half the season and we still managed to do ok in front of goal.

 

[atomised]

Looks like it's me not Zebedee with egg on his face,

Unbelievable that we are going into the season hoping to be top two with three strikers, one of whom can't score goals. Gutted, as I really believed we we were not going to let this happen again. Play off failure at best again, I accept that makes me sound like an entitled ****.

Play off failure at best indeed. Which striker was it you said couldn't score only I'm fairly sure all 3 hit double figures

 

[Bold Seagull]

I've seen him a fair few times. I'd be genuinely disappointed if he was supposed to be our number 10/striking option.

Genuinely disappointing...

 

[Thunder Bolt]

hindsight lol

Some were right. We didn't make the playoffs.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Well, thank goodness most of us have absolutely nothing to do with the running of the football team!

 

[Icy Gull]

Play off failure at best indeed. Which striker was it you said couldn't score only I'm fairly sure all 3 hit double figures

Baldock who was bloody excellent. Luckily we didn't have him and Murray injured at the same time as Baldock missed quite a few games. Gamble that paid off but it was definitely a gamble imo. We would have been well fecked if SM and GM had been out for six weeks together.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Baldock who was bloody excellent. Luckily we didn't have him and Murray injured at the same time as Baldock missed quite a few games. Gamble that paid off but it was definitely a gamble imo. We MIGHT have been well fecked if SM and GM had been out for six weeks together.

Who knows. A run of games could have found Hemed finding form. Maybe someone would have filled the Baldock role, you just don't know. Hypothetical. I think you just love your predictions. Looking forward to more gems through the summer.

 

[BensGrandad]

The big gamble that paid off, which many suggested, was the signing first on loan and then permanently was Glenn Murray without whose goals we would be involved still and not yet promoted.

 

[Machiavelli]

I think you'll find most teams that go up have this certain amount of fortune regarding injuries and suspensions, we are no different. Settled teams tend to put out better results. That is not to say that Baldock was out for around half the season and we still managed to do ok in front of goal.

You're over-estimating Baldock's absence, as IIRC he's played in 30+ games this season, and really has been pivotal to how we play. His is the only position where we don't have a direct replacement in the squad and, when absent, we've had the following three options: play the most similar player, who is Akpom, no more needs saying; play the best back-up striker, who is Hemed -- although they had a few good games together, I'm far from convinced of his partnership with Murray; or play one of our wingers/wide-players there, all out of March, Knockaert and Murphy haven't really convinced in that position.
There was a great Moneyball thread a few months back, which indicated that we'd invested far more in (the cheaper) defensive positions than (the more expensive) attacking ones. That was the gamble, and it paid off. I'm not convinced it will next season.

 

[Machiavelli]

Who knows. A run of games could have found Hemed finding form. Maybe someone would have filled the Baldock role, you just don't know. Hypothetical. I think you just love your predictions. Looking forward to more gems through the summer.

Hemed did have a run of games and found some form. Fortunately it coincided with a dip in Murray's goalscoring. That was the big difference to last season, we had a bigger squad that could step up when required, although I still think if Baldock was out for longer, we MIGHT be in bigger trouble (see previous post).

 

[Icy Gull]

Who knows. A run of games could have found Hemed finding form. Maybe someone would have filled the Baldock role, you just don't know. Hypothetical. I think you just love your predictions. Looking forward to more gems through the summer. [/QUOTE

I won't be making any more predictions, we are now in the Premier League I won't be totally heartbroken if we come straight back down

 

[JCL666]

No but must be better than Baldock who has utterly failed

Utterly.