Tommy_Fent

i heard the athleticos are running a 'fruit shoot coach' according to twitter... for anyone who's fancy that takes

ok we get it, you're way too cool to be seen with us

Attacks win games

Defences win trophies.

but you don't win trophies without winning games

The long and short of it in the space of a year we've gone from having a lot of decent attacking options and a very thin defence to having a lot of decent defensive options and a very thin attack.

"I wish these fans would stop moaning and get behind the team"

I don't wish to hear any constructive criticism and concerns about the problems the team is facing at this moment in time from people who are paying their hard earned cash to help keep this club going.

"he's the worst player I've ever seen"

He's a proven quality player at this level but he's struggled to fit into the system that we play. He will probably go to a rival club and go back to becoming a class player again.

'We need a goal scorer'. So does everyone else, there aren't that many around and they tend to sign for clubs who will pay them. You have to try and build a team that's going to get goals as a collective rather than rely on one player and I presume that's what Johnson is aiming for. The last pure scorer we had was Hughes and that was only because no one else would stoop low enough to sign him.

I'd say we don't need a 20 goal a season man and I hope I'm proven wrong but I just can't see where the goals are going to come from at this moment in time

Look at the stats of the forwards we have at the moment:

Gros 2 in 49 at Killmarnock

Philliskirk 4 in 38 last season

Clarke-Harris 6 in 40 last season

Turner 6 in 14 in Conference North

Morgan-Smith 9 in 38 in the Conference

on trial

Forte 9 in 100 for Scunthorpe

I'm not demanding we go out and sign a 20 goal a season man, but those stats don't fill me with a great deal of confidence. Some of those players are only young and have bags of potential, but we're taking a big gamble at the moment. I'd be happier if we bring in an experienced forward/attacking midfielder to support them.

What sort of a striker is Forte? His goals to games ratio is certainly not the most impressive I've ever seen, would switching him to a winger bring out a better player perhaps?

 

We should play to our strengths, which means build the team around a strong defence - and we've got that.

 

We could spend on a striker (like we did with Rooney) and the chances are it wouldn't work. We don't need to re-invent the wheel..

You're right we don't need to re-invent the wheel, but if you have a team which will struggle to score you won't win many games. Harkins was massive for us in most of the games we won towards the end of last season because he offered a presence further up the field. Without that presence I can see us struggling

There's a difference between wanting us to play Attractive Football and wanting Effective Football. No-one is demanding Barcelona style free-flowing stuff, just a team who can put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis.

Finalists Argentina for example?

They were nowhere near as cautious as England, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, Russia or South Korea. They just had Higuain and Di Maria firing blanks in most matches

Also in the Premiership last season we had sides like Norwich and Fulham being punished for being too negative.

Tikka-takka is on it's way out as the successful sides now look to play counter attacking and having forward players gambling on the last man

I know it's a different skill level to League One but I think the team's that adopted a cautious approach during the last World Cup were the sides which really struggled.

I'm not saying we should go out and sign James Rodriguez. But I do believe we should be gambling a lot more in the final third. On many occasions last season we dominated games outside both penalty areas, but lost games inside them. We've corrected one part of that problem with a solid defence. But unless we have players capable of putting the ball in the back of the net, we're no better than what we were under Dave Penney.

Do they serve proper ale at the cricket? Not just some hideous chemcial based smooth version?

They do at Glossop

What seat are you in this season?

I'm sorry but I'm a Thwaites man, I'd love it if somewhere served Wainwright at matches like they do at the Cricket, a traditional Lancashire ale.

Hooters is the worst bar in Nottingham...

It's a shame because there are some fantastic places to go and drink in Nottingham, but everyone I go with insists on Hooters.

There was a great pub in peterbourough the name escapes me but it sold more real ale than you can shake a stick at

We always end up in the Cherry Tree.

The Sheffield Star have just Tweeted that the deal is off and that John Ryan has had enough.

If this is true I think it demonstrates that having a rich backer is all very well and good. But in the lower leagues they've only got a limited life span. Doncaster have been fortunate to progress to the level they're at now, but not everyone is as lucky. It'll be interesting to see what happens at Donny

Most pubs around the ground are decent and friendly enough places, although I do wish we had one which served decent local ale on tap (not JW Lees). The Clayton Green would be my prefered venue, other local pubs include

The Old Grey Mare

The White Hart

The Greyhound

(and a little further afield) The Bluebelle

Hopes: City sell Michah Richards, we finish the stand, stay clear of injuries, don't sell any of our better players, draw Man Utd away in the FA Cup and push for the play-offs.

Fears: Half the squad is wiped out with injury/sales, we have to rely on loanees from Man City who have no intention of becoming a professional Footballer, Johnson gets sacked and replaced by Phil Brown, Rochdale hammer us and we yet again stagnate in the bottom 6 of the table with crowds dropping below 3,000 on a regular basis.

Expectations: We'll progress from our "relegation fodder" tag, have a few decent run of results, sell one of our better players to one of the challenging teams in this Division for an "undisclosed fee", finish between 8th and 14th, finish the stand and see average crowds rise again.

Good strikers don't rely on service, they just go and make their own.

If you're Lionel Messi you don't, but we're in League One. Did you see Rotherham in the play-offs last season? Having players who can whip a quality ball in made a massive difference in both their second semi-final and Final

May be class but I'd rather the money was spent on strikers/wingers. We've Wilson J, Lockwood and Kusunga as regular centre backs, and Mellor and Wilson B can play there if needed. Don't need a permanent signing to cover Lockwood's opening absence.

 

Of course if money is no object, fine, but there are other more pressing areas needing recruitment..

I agree (see post on promotion odds thread), but I've got a feeling that if we bring him in that Kusunga could be on his way out

Its a very average division - as Orient proved beyond any reasonable doubt last season.

 

Nothing about any of the fancied sides mentioned - Sheff Utd, Brizzle, Preston, Posh, Doncaster - suggests to me with any certainty they will deliver. Whilst a couple will rise to the play positions and better, I would wager another couple will heavily disappoint under high expectations and brittle squads!!

 

That leaves potentially more than the usual couple of spots up for grabs. I'm not overwhelmed by our quality.....but I think we are one of many sides to whom that applies!!

We need to bring in a couple more matchwinners to convince me we're capable of challenging next season. Not necessarily someone who can score goals but certainly someone who can create them (i.e. a David Eyres type). Adam Rooney is a quality goal scorer for our level, but he failed with us because he didn't get the service. I think potentially JCH could get 15+ goals next season, but he needs the service

I think the top two will be between Sheffield United and Bristol City. With Peterborough, Preston, Doncaster, MK Dons and Scunthorpe featuring in the top 10.

I think it's down to a falling out with ownership of the land

Scunthorpe were took over just after they were relegated. They signed Paddy Madden, they want to move to a new stadium and they've promised some big name signings

 

As a poster said on another football forum:

 

...he appears to have made his money in renewable energy (a sector on which the Italian government has spent billions in subsidies for relatively little return) and in post-Communist Albania (a notoriously dodgy country). He also seems to have some involvement in the waste disposal sector, which is notoriously problematic, including a history of shipping toxic waste to Albania. He owns a private television network in Albania. His company website does not include management biographies at all, and the most recent press clipping in any language is from 2009.

He was the CEO of the Rome volleyball team that won a championship in 2000, but fell on hard times almost immediately (relegation, followed by administration), and was reformed in 2006 without him being visibly involved.

 

to be fair if you play your cards right, you could make a killing investing in renewable energy

I'm curious to how they might do next season. Also don't be surprised to see Scunthorpe splash the cash