Bartlett was the best striker at playing in a 4-5-1 and people slagged him off on a regular basis too.
It is a thankless task. I actually think, if we had the discipline to play to feet, it could be the making of Varney. He has the pace, stamina and general mobility to make a nuisance of himself as the unheralded Bartlett used to.
Reagrdless or whether views are pro or anti-Gray, please lay off him at the mo. Details of his personal circumstances are not in the public domain and I know by accident so you will understand that I can't divulge the details. Asking for trust on this one, the circumstances are very bad.
[cite]Posted By: stilladdicted[/cite]Reagrdless or whether views are pro or anti-Gray, please lay off him at the mo. Details of his personal circumstances are not in the public domain and I know by accident so you will understand that I can't divulge the details. Asking for trust on this one, the circumstances are very bad.
I think a lot of us are aware of Gray's current situation and every support should be given to him. Only he knows if he is in the right frame of mind to be playing right now but, given the Board we have, I'm sure he's been offered compasionate leave.
Doesn't matter where I sit there is always a mug infornt/behind me who spends the whole game slaggin of Gray, its gettin silly as the whole north upper seems full of these idiots, I have changed my seat location 4 times the last 2 months cos of being surrounded by idiots, I complain as the next guy, ONCE THE GAME IS OVER but not during the game, whats the point??
Gray is our best striker, fact
He is our top goal scorer, fact
He will end the season are top scorer, Probable fact
in fairness he's not great on the shite service he gets, when this improves he will bang them away I'm sure
The really galling thing still is that we paid nearlly three times as much for Gray as we sold Iwelumo for. I know who I would rather have. That's a mess of Pardew's making that we still have to live with.
Unless we can get an experienced 'big man' centre forward in on loan (but they all seem to turn us down), then Gray is all we have got to fill that role, and, given his serious family issue, he does deserve our support for soldiering on.
[cite]Posted By: stilladdicted[/cite]Reagrdless or whether views are pro or anti-Gray, please lay off him at the mo. Details of his personal circumstances are not in the public domain and I know by accident so you will understand that I can't divulge the details. Asking for trust on this one, the circumstances are very bad.
This needs to stop being raised. Most people know there are problems and the reasons, you're not in an exclusive club. If he deems himself fit enough to play then we have to trust him on that.
What have his "personal issues" got to do with anything. I'm sorry for him if he has got problems but I don't want to know about them anymore than my clients would want to know about mine.
All I'm interested in is his ability to do his job, if he can't do that then he shouldn't be in the team.
In saying that, I don't think that Grey has been that bad and is still our top scorer. What I'd like to see is someone like Dickson or Mcleod played with him.
[cite]Posted By: Weegie Addick[/cite]The really galling thing still is that we paid nearlly three times as much for Gray as we sold Iwelumo for. I know who I would rather have. That's a mess of Pardew's making that we still have to live with.
Only because Iwelumo is now scoring goals - he actually gets consistently good service, he's confident and his team are confident.
Everyone forgets how frustrating Iwelumo was just because he's scoring goals for Wolves.
It's not as if Iwelumo is clearly a great deal better than Gray, but Gray isn't playing his best, probably not confident either and the team don't create the sort of chances he can score from.
If we had Iwelumo he wouldn't be scoring anywhere near the amount he's scored for Wolves this season. I saw he's got 15 this season, if he was still here he'd probably have 4/5.
I didn't think Iwelumo was frustrating last year - he was one of our better players in the first part of the season, then hardly got a look in after Pardew signed Gray, obviously as his direct replacement. He is a character, a trier, and 100% committed to the team - look at how he has bounced back from that terrible miss for Scotland, and look at how he played many times last season when carrying injuries (even scoring on one leg at West Brom).
We are lacking that kind of spirit in all but one or two in the squad at the moment, which is probably as much at the heart of our issues as lack of goal power.
Actually Weegie ....... I never saw Gray as a replacement for Iwelumo, more as a replacement for the injured Todorov.
No doubt the idea was to encourage our hoofers to play the ball out of defence on the deck more, for Gray to hold up and lay off. Which was fine until Magic got injured in that Palace match - and who never played again until Argyle away 2 months later.
Meanwhile, Pards in his wisdom dropped Iwelumo to the bench and the defence carried on lumping the ball to Gray instead.
With no Reid or Toddy in the side, Pards 'should' have played Iwelumo up front and Gray in Toddy's position behind him. But what do I know, eh?
[cite]Posted By: Oggy Red[/cite]Actually Weegie ....... I never saw Gray as a replacement for Iwelumo, more as a replacement for the injured Todorov.
No doubt the idea was to encourage our hoofers to play the ball out of defence on the deck more, for Gray to hold up and lay off. Which was fine until Magic got injured in that Palace match - and who never played again until Argyle away 2 months later.
Meanwhile, Pards in his wisdom dropped Iwelumo to the bench and the defence carried on lumping the ball to Gray instead.
With no Reid or Toddy in the side, Pards 'should' have played Iwelumo up front and Gray in Toddy's position behind him. But what do I know, eh?
;o)
Pardew tried that and it was a totally failure. Neither had any pace so it made us very easy to defend against.
Comments
It is a thankless task. I actually think, if we had the discipline to play to feet, it could be the making of Varney. He has the pace, stamina and general mobility to make a nuisance of himself as the unheralded Bartlett used to.
I think a lot of us are aware of Gray's current situation and every support should be given to him. Only he knows if he is in the right frame of mind to be playing right now but, given the Board we have, I'm sure he's been offered compasionate leave.
Gray is our best striker, fact
He is our top goal scorer, fact
He will end the season are top scorer, Probable fact
in fairness he's not great on the shite service he gets, when this improves he will bang them away I'm sure
Unless we can get an experienced 'big man' centre forward in on loan (but they all seem to turn us down), then Gray is all we have got to fill that role, and, given his serious family issue, he does deserve our support for soldiering on.
I'd agree with giving McLeod a run alongside him.
This needs to stop being raised. Most people know there are problems and the reasons, you're not in an exclusive club. If he deems himself fit enough to play then we have to trust him on that.
And can we please end it at that, thanks.
All I'm interested in is his ability to do his job, if he can't do that then he shouldn't be in the team.
In saying that, I don't think that Grey has been that bad and is still our top scorer. What I'd like to see is someone like Dickson or Mcleod played with him.
Only because Iwelumo is now scoring goals - he actually gets consistently good service, he's confident and his team are confident.
Everyone forgets how frustrating Iwelumo was just because he's scoring goals for Wolves.
It's not as if Iwelumo is clearly a great deal better than Gray, but Gray isn't playing his best, probably not confident either and the team don't create the sort of chances he can score from.
If we had Iwelumo he wouldn't be scoring anywhere near the amount he's scored for Wolves this season. I saw he's got 15 this season, if he was still here he'd probably have 4/5.
We are lacking that kind of spirit in all but one or two in the squad at the moment, which is probably as much at the heart of our issues as lack of goal power.
No doubt the idea was to encourage our hoofers to play the ball out of defence on the deck more, for Gray to hold up and lay off. Which was fine until Magic got injured in that Palace match - and who never played again until Argyle away 2 months later.
Meanwhile, Pards in his wisdom dropped Iwelumo to the bench and the defence carried on lumping the ball to Gray instead.
With no Reid or Toddy in the side, Pards 'should' have played Iwelumo up front and Gray in Toddy's position behind him. But what do I know, eh?
;o)
Pardew tried that and it was a totally failure. Neither had any pace so it made us very easy to defend against.