McKirdy is an option financially wise, his wages won’t be much and the fee either with only one year left. If we don’t go for him I would assume Garner doesn’t fancy working with him again on account of him being a bit of a maverick.
We'll see. I said the same at the beginning of last season and got poo-pooed. Pre-season optimism is a powerful thing, nobody wants their chips pissed on. Understandably so.
Headers from corners and open play cross aren't from hoof ball. I would say Stockley was a victim of hoof ball as much as anyone else. Saying that I still don't believe that any hoof ball was by design.
Was he a victim or benefactor? He struggled so badly in the lone role under Adkins that he was shouting at the sidelines to find a better shape. Even Davison looked better in that role. People on here were saying we should play to his strengths if we've got him. When we went 352 and more direct, he was better.
Didn't watch Kilmarnock but how many high crosses did we put in the box? I would be surprised if that's a big factor in our play this season.
Funny enough we put more high cross in in the first half when Stockley wasn't playing.
The execution was the problem last season not the system it's self.
If we play to his strengths, and if the rest of the team is good enough, there is no reason you can't play "good football" and have Jayden Stockley in the team, scoring goals.
If and can are doing a lot of heavy lifting, I appreciate that, but the two things aren't mutually exclusive. I am sceptical it will happen but there isn't a reason it can't.
Agree it's all ifs but past evidence is doing some pretty heavy lifting too.
Going back to what you were saying about Jackson's football not being direct by design, was it reported (or just rumour) that TS and JJ disagreed on the style of football to get out of this league. Also remember JJ saying he wanted to sign a number of tall players.
Adkins said he wanted tall players as well. There is a massive difference between actively playing long ball and just hoofing it. The latter is what we were doing last season, under both managers.
To me the team looked like it was set up to try and play football, couldn't (there are many reasons as to why) and ended up kicking it in the random direction of someone. That's certainly not by design.
Past evidence is a bit pointless when the circumstances are totally different. Was it Bolton away when Fraser put in that perfect cross, for Aneke I think? Lee, Gilbey, Matthews, Purrington etc etc weren't going to do that. Shinnie got a lot of assists for Stockley and was hardly a hoofer.
We have 2 proven L1 quality strikers, we need four so two more are needed and Davisson to be moved on.
If Deji struggles this season (young lad etc) we have 2 CB's (no point even counting Innis), we need at least one more there.
If Sessignon gets injured we have no stand by LB so we need another.
Those 4 positions, for me, are key. I am hoping that we have some cash to spend and that is why later in the window is more likely.
A top quality L1 CB, Striker and LB could really revolutionize a squad which currently has good foundations but not enough "X factor"
Those 3 positions are a must and also another winger. CBT, DJ and Kirk is not enough either when one is injury prone and the other 2 we are hoping return to their former selves but there is no guarantee.
Probably only need 1 striker as Davison as 4th choice is fine if we are playing 1 up front he isn’t going to be used.
So a minimum of 4 more signings needed. Would also like another midfielder but probably will need to move some on before that happens
We'll see. I said the same at the beginning of last season and got poo-pooed. Pre-season optimism is a powerful thing, nobody wants their chips pissed on. Understandably so.
Agree. Stockley was going to be this big goal scorer last year. He got 13 in the league.
He was out injured for a lengthy period. Shouldn't that be taken in to consideration?
We'll see. I said the same at the beginning of last season and got poo-pooed. Pre-season optimism is a powerful thing, nobody wants their chips pissed on. Understandably so.
Agree. Stockley was going to be this big goal scorer last year. He got 13 in the league.
He was out injured for a lengthy period. Shouldn't that be taken in to consideration?
Scored 13 in 33 games. 0.39 goals per game. He missed 10 games through injury, so if he'd stayed fit then on the same ratio he would've finished the season on 17.
I'm not giving him the goals he would've scored if he hadn't got himself stupidly sent off and suspended.
(Not getting involved again, just sharing the stats).
I am feeling confident we will get one more perm and at least 3 loans of which I would now expect them to be 1 x ST, 1 x Winger, 1 x versatile left footed CB who can play LB (comfortably) and another CAM. All need to be sufficient quality, not just bodies, if we are going to have a real go at promotion this season…!
At the moment I think our recruitment is just fine.How many clubs in our league are going to have squads of players that are all good enough to be first choices.We have got good options in defence and good variety in midfield.We talk about having 4 strikers,and getting other wingers in.We have Kirk,Dj,CBT and Clayden,perhaps BG can get the best out of them,they all have potential to be very good at this level.We have Stockley and Aneke,that should guarantee with luck,35-40 goals.Davison may just benefit from the confidence BG showed in him last year.Dont know if Kanu or Leaburn are ready yet,but give them experience in the cup games and we will see.We do need maybe 2-3 more options all over ,it would be nice to pluck a Cullen,Beilic ,Gallagher or Martzen out of the air.
For me the jury is still out as to whether we have a good enough starting 11. I think there is potential for things to improve drastically this coming season, but it will require players we had last year improving and the new signings fitting in well and being good enough.
I will be absolutely delighted if Jayden and Chuks get anywhere near 35 between them. If we have a fit Chuks who can play more minutes, then maybe. There is a lot riding on Stockley staying fit. We all saw what happened with no senior strikers last season. Relying on Davison, Kanu and Leaburn to step-up is a huge gamble. I think we urgently need to find a replacement for Washington otherwise we will not be challenging for the play-offs.
I do find the group fous on Cole Stockton very interesting. He scored 23 league goals in L1 last season, which was very good. Before that he scored 13 in League Two. Before that he scored 33 league goals in 9 years across League 1, League 2 and the National League. He's 28. Now, it could be that he's hit on the Lyle Taylor formula of finally figuring himself out later in his career, but even then Lyle was a washout at Forest even though he had a good Championship record with us because it just worked for him at Charlton. What's convinced people that he's the perfect striker for us? Is it just last season's numbers combined with the fact he looked good against us? In general there's plenty quick to point out that a player might have had a one-off good season when we target a striker but he seems to have had a positive consensus formed about him. I'm not saying he isn't good, I just find it interesting how different players can have entirely different group approaches towards them
I do find the group fous on Cole Stockton very interesting. He scored 23 league goals in L1 last season, which was very good. Before that he scored 13 in League Two. Before that he scored 33 league goals in 9 years across League 1, League 2 and the National League. He's 28. Now, it could be that he's hit on the Lyle Taylor formula of finally figuring himself out later in his career, but even then Lyle was a washout at Forest even though he had a good Championship record with us because it just worked for him at Charlton. What's convinced people that he's the perfect striker for us? Is it just last season's numbers combined with the fact he looked good against us? In general there's plenty quick to point out that a player might have had a one-off good season when we target a striker but he seems to have had a positive consensus formed about him. I'm not saying he isn't good, I just find it interesting how different players can have entirely different group approaches towards them
I agree. If we are looking at players who looked good against us last season, there are plenty to choose from, but I don't think that should be a recruitment criteria!
Comments
To me the team looked like it was set up to try and play football, couldn't (there are many reasons as to why) and ended up kicking it in the random direction of someone. That's certainly not by design.
Past evidence is a bit pointless when the circumstances are totally different. Was it Bolton away when Fraser put in that perfect cross, for Aneke I think? Lee, Gilbey, Matthews, Purrington etc etc weren't going to do that. Shinnie got a lot of assists for Stockley and was hardly a hoofer.
I'm not giving him the goals he would've scored if he hadn't got himself stupidly sent off and suspended.
15 minutes of fame and all that eh...
Thought it would be one of those transfer rumour accounts. He’s shared a few things but don’t remember anything so far to suggest he’s reliable.
I will be absolutely delighted if Jayden and Chuks get anywhere near 35 between them. If we have a fit Chuks who can play more minutes, then maybe. There is a lot riding on Stockley staying fit. We all saw what happened with no senior strikers last season. Relying on Davison, Kanu and Leaburn to step-up is a huge gamble. I think we urgently need to find a replacement for Washington otherwise we will not be challenging for the play-offs.