All these people complaining about who we have up top, I wonder what they said about Yann (who granted wasn't massively prolific and was a great foil for BWP, but was a fantastic footballer anyway)
Exactly. Big difference between when deals happen & when they are announced. Sky will be publishing deals all evening that officially were papered before 5pm but have hit the media hours later.
We'd all love a 20 goal a season man, but having one is not essential. We got promoted with 73 goals (excluding the play-offs) last time in League 1, which was actually the lowest total in the top 6 despite us having, in Taylor, Grant and Vetokele (albeit two of those not for the entire season) three of the most talented strikers in the division.
The key is we have to get better at getting our midfielders on the score sheet, and I think that will require us to play a bit differently (maybe Bowyer needs to allow a few more shots from range for example). Set pieces could be important for us too, but we now have decent dead ball delivery in the team and a good amount of height, plus we've actually been quite good from set pieces anyway in terms of number of goals scored thanks to Jacko's coaching. It's obviously hypothetical, but I don't think it would be unrealistic to say the goals could be shared around as follows and that would get us to 73 same as in 18/19. Our defence and midfield look very decent so we shouldn't concede a ton, just expect us to be winning more games 2-1 and 2-0 than 3-1 and 4-0, but that has generally been the way under Bowyer. With the departures this week and Phillips potentially being frozen out, there may be a little wriggle room to do something in January as well if the right player were to become available.
Bogle
12
Washington
10
Maddison
10
Doughty
10
Aneke
8
Smyth
5
Shinnie
3
Gilbey
3
Pratley
2
Levitt
1
Morgan
1
Williams
1
Watson
1
JFC
1
Innis
2
Pearce
1
Famewo
1
Purrington
1
Those are realistic numbers, as I don't see a prolific goalscorer in the squad. 2 years ago we had better CB options though, Bauer, Sarr and a younger Pearce were all experienced players of Championship quality. Plus we had Bielik who sometimes played there
This year we have Pearce (2 years older), Deji (L1 quality), Famewo (class but inexperienced) and Inniss (unproven)
Dillon hasn't officially been sold yet and although its past 5pm....we can still expect him to move based on Cawleys tweet that something has happened.
I could walk past all of these and not recognise any of them.
Not surprising as none of us have played for us for more than four games apart from Amos. The disappointing aspect and a reflection of the times is that none of that team is homegrown. At least we can sing "not one of our own....."
A midfield five of Watson, Gilbey, Shinnie, Doughty, Maddison... pretty, pretty, pretty good.
I assume you're thinking that they will just pass the ball between them for 90 mins as there will be no-one in front of them to pass to........
Bogle, Aneke, Washington, Davison
People writing off these forwards with no idea how they'll score without service.
Any striker without service will struggle. That was a big part of our problem last season.
If the midfield can chip in with goals too we'll do well and be in/around where Bow wants us...
I’m assuming they have been without service throughout their careers then. I’m struggling to see how selling Bonne was a good idea.
Quite simply because he wasn’t doing the business for us and had made some dreadful mistakes. I never rated him to be honest.......that’s not to say he won’t do well at QPR............though I’m 50/50 at best on that one.
Bonne went to Bowyer and said he wanted to go. What are we meant to do? Keep him when his heart isn’t in it and probably do a Lyle and refuse to play? Time will tell but I think both Bogle & Smith will prove to be good signings and better than Bonne.
Almost certain we won't have got Sorba, trust Cawley when he says that we moved on when they said no. Sadly expect that means they've got an exciting talent on their books now who's head might not be in the right place, unless we find out later one of the other interested clubs came in for him.
LargeAddick - "I’m struggling to see how selling Bonne was a good idea." I'm assuming you have watched all of this season's games and particularly those that featured Bonne. And if you did how could you have come to any other conclusion? The man was a passenger and, of his own admission, had had his head turned by QPR's interest. He was mentally and physically AWOL in most of the games and, if anything, his performances were getting progressively worse. So, yes, selling him was a very good idea.
All these people complaining about who we have up top, I wonder what they said about Yann (who granted wasn't massively prolific and was a great foil for BWP, but was a fantastic footballer anyway)
We had BWP as the main goalscorer already. Plus Paul Hayes, Euell, Paul Benson and Michael Smith, so it wasn't as if we were weak there before Yann joined.
We've had an 8/10 transfer window for me, the defensive additions have been fantastic. Midfield looks strong too (wish we had got Thomas for another wide option), I know I look like I'm moaning but its only because I think with 1 prolific striker we would've had a chance of pushing for automatic promotion.
I can't really comment until I see them in action. Always need to seem thin in a red shirt half a dozen times before I can really comment.
Comments
Because Smyth wasn't our first choice.
He could be great at Cafc but Sorba may well have been the first option ?
This year we have Pearce (2 years older), Deji (L1 quality), Famewo (class but inexperienced) and Inniss (unproven)
Sorba could easily do the same.
Not surprising as none of us have played for us for more than four games apart from Amos. The disappointing aspect and a reflection of the times is that none of that team is homegrown. At least we can sing "not one of our own....."
I never rated him to be honest.......that’s not to say he won’t do well at QPR............though I’m 50/50 at best on that one.
We cashed in.
We move on.
Jokes aside, who will be backup RB without Lapslie and Osh?
7, the last of which was 3 years ago