[CONFIRMED] WE NEED A GOAL SCORER

Also the way we set up, 4-4-2, with every player apart from the 2 up front on defensive duty, all the strikers had to do was get into the box and score goals. They were the focal point of all attacks and all their energy was directed at scoring.

Our formations since then have had more of a mix of attacking and defending shared amongst a wider selection of players, sharing the responsibilities of winning the ball and scoring goals more evenly.

 

Excluding Granada B, he has scored a total of 8 goals in his career of 74 games per Wiki. No hint that he will come good as a goalscorer other than his name ! Not sure where your feeling comes from !?!

 

Possibly. But there's always a risk in signing players, and throwing more money at the problem won't necessarily solve it.

If you look at last seasons top scorers, only one striker purchased by a club outside of the top six hit double figures. So finding a capable striker isn't that simple

 

Transfer fees are nuts this summer. Leicester just bought Liverpool's now 4th string keeper Ward for 12m, presumably to sit on bench all season behind Schmiechel.

 

They will always be nuts while there is the desire to stay in / get in the prem with limited players available for clubs run by billionaires to fight over. We will always be outspent and one day will be relegated. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

My point is it seems to be getting worse each summer no?

The alternative to us getting relegated I suppose is us having a manageable cost base when the bubble finally bursts.

 

Therin lies the crux of the matter, or more so the obsession of the English for goalscorers, had Harry Kane been more creative and passed the ball to Sterling for an open goal England's world cup journey could have been different, harsh maybe but true? Think how the French have won two world cups with Giroux and Guivariche up top - ok can't spell that one but that dude couldn't hit a barn door(Think he proved that with the Toon) When we gonna realise in this country there's more to a striker than scoring?

Put a shift in and stretch defences like Gray does, bit more quality perhaps but goals ain't everything

 

...yes it's getting worse and yes great if we can manage stay up by spending a fraction of what our peers spend in the meantime. Tough gig to achieve that indefinitely though ! We must always have a manageable cost base while many others spend what is essentially small change to the owners. If we were to drop and not return via the parachute money we would quickly be one of the smaller incomes in the champtionship so our cost base then would need to be re-based to reflect that.

 

I can’t believe we are talking about relegation when there is still 3 weeks left of the transfer window. Not only that but talking about relegation because we don’t have a goal scorer. Ridiculous.

Scoring last season wasn’t an issue, defending was. We bagged 44 goals, more goals scored than Burnley who finished 7th and equal amount of goals as Everton who finished 8th. Palace and Bournemouth managed one more goal than us but in the grand scheme of things we were pretty much in and around the same goal tally as the other clubs outside the top 6.

However we conceded 64 goals, the third highest in the league. That was our undoing. We don’t need a 15 goal a season striker because our defence will mess it up anyway. No point in having someone that can put the ball in the net if the other end can’t keep a ball out.

I’m happy to have Gray, Deeney and a striker that Gino pulls out from nowehere because our midfield has goals in them. Way too much emphasis is being put on signing a goal scorer in my opinion. If Doucoure, Richarlison, Deulofeu, Cleverley, Hughes, Success, Penaranda, Sema, Chalobah, Capoue can all chip in with an avg of 3-5 goals between them throughout the season, which I think they can, then we are looking at 30-50 goals between those 10 players alone.

Burnley finished 7th scoring 36 goals but conceding 39. Their games were extremely boring to watch but defence got them 7th and a chance at Europe. We need to focus on defence not a goal scorer. That’s my opinion anyway which seems out of the ordinary by what most seem to think on here.

 

Schmiechel is off to Chelsea when Courtois moves to Spain. Liverpool fans quite upset Ward had to go. I suppose no one is interested in their other two GKs.

 

Just play the midfielders you name and don't bother with strikers. Sorted...simples.

 

Was just about to say this!

 

Really hope we wouldn't use Burnley as a role model.
Scoring was a major problem in the second half of the season. We will need to score more, or concede less or both than we did post Xmas.

 

I don’t think it’s being suggested that we are using Burnley as a “role model”. I think it is being suggested that the wailing and gnashing of teeth - we are going to get relegated if we don’t sign a F in the B - may be misplaced if we look at how some other clubs performed last year.

Personally, I think we’re doomed.

 

Yeah im glad we have Gray up front and not Kane

 

Not only that, but if you watched any of the Granada's games during Success' best ever season, he's a headless chicken. Granted, one that caused defences problems as he was so powerful and direct but his finishing and final ball was more often than not wild/completely brainless.

 

Not really. I honestly can't watch a third season in a row of garbage up front.

 

It might be boring again this season by the looks of things but the goals will come there's too much talent across the team. Even if the below happens we'll match last seasons total (which is a fairly realistic spread of goals) and the focus will have to be on conceding less.

Deeney - 7 goals (pens lol)
Gray - 7 goals
Pereyra - 5 goals
Hughes - 5 goals
Doccoure - 5 goals
Gerard - 5 goals
Richarlison - 5 goals
Defenders - 5 goals

 

I agree. A fair few of our defenders can score odd goals including the newbies. Also the new guy Sema and Success can score. I reckon we will make sufficient chances but Richarlison and Gray need to practice their finishing. Even in away games where we dominated for long periods like at Newcastle and Chelsea we missed chances to kill off the game. This is the most important difference in the EPL.

 

Jesus christ, if we actually have decided as policy to place the entire burden of Premier League goalscoring on two strikers who both appear visibly spent and couldn't hit double figures between them over the whole of last season and two effective youth players, one of whom has only scored 7 goals ever outside the Spanish third division and is most famous for drunken erectile dysfunction in a roomful of hookers, having gone on loan and only made 9 appearances in a team that were relegated, then we are stupid.

I wrote at the time that we had had a disappointing transfer window in January, and it showed over the course of the rest of the season. It didn't cost us the ultimate price, but we did get to enjoy things like zero away goals scored over half a season.

If we go into this season relying on the striking options we have currently, it will be unbelievably profligate and flying utterly and completely in the face of both common sense and the empirical evidence readily available to us.

 

We are missing a trick here, why don't we utilise the top scorer in this years World Cup, no not Mr Kane the even more prolific Mr Og.

We just get in good crossing positions and then let their expensive 'Made for British football' defender do the rest and find his own net

We could even bring back the Iggy song

Own goal Oh Ahhh
Always believed you would score
You know your defending is poor
and we are unstoppable

You know the rest lol, now where's my Nodenyin Owngoalo shirt gone?

 

Whilst I agree with some of that - poor winter window, disappointing end to the season - your last paragraph is overplaying the situation somewhat.

We’d all love a striker that scores 15+ goals. But if they were easy to acquire and we had the funds it would obviously need to buy them, I think it would have been done by now. As I’ve said elsewhere, given we play 1-upfront, it needs there to be a reasonable market for us to sell what we already have. All our strikers will have a market value and we aren’t a club that will just be able to write off millions as our overall profit margin every year isn’t streaming into the high millions. And I suspect Gino is wary too after dumping £18m on Gray last season. The club isn’t rich enough to repeat that.

Which brings me on to my next point. You suggest there is an empire of evidence to say our strikers aren’t good enough. Last season was Deeney’s poorest by some distance. By his own admittance. But the guy has just turned 30 - hardly over the hill. In his previous two seasons he scored 10 and 13 goals. I’d take that from any new striker coming in. So there’s some evidence to say

I understand the desire for a shiny new striker. But I think some fans need to show a sense of realism in how the market works. And I think it’s time for the club and Gracia to start getting value out of the big money players we already have who have underperformed. That’s his job after all.

Right now, as far as I can see, the squad is too big. Players need to leave before any more will be brought in.

 

You have to exclude the penalties when looking at Deeney's goal contribution.

You may be right that the club's economics are such that we can't spend £15m without recouping that from sales without putting the clubs finances at risk. Fine if that's the case, we have no right to demand more from the Pozzos. But we have to accept that there is a risk that we will be left behind as the promoted clubs and clubs who finished around us get the cheque book out to sign players that will strengthen them. No more talk about top 10 finishes and getting to "the next level" with Deeney, Gray, Okaka and 2 misfiring former prospects as our striking options. But like Charlton fans in the 90s(?) we have no right to expect to finish anywhere above our current standing.

 

Quite. I'm happy for us not to invest in the crazy prices if that is what finances dictate but our whole outlook will need to be just about staying up if we go with our current forward line and centre backs. We'd have moved backwards compared to the opposition so should adjust our expectations accordingly. We are in a different league to Leicester/West Ham/Wolves/Southampton and that's before we even get to the big 6 (7)

 

Look at the money paid for strikers last season

£60m Morata scored 11 goals for Chelsea
£46m Lacazette scored 14 goals for Arsenal
£27m Tosun scored 5 in 14 for Everton
£25m Iheanacho scored 3 goals for Leicester
£19m Carrillo scored 0 goals for Southampton
£17m Hernandez scored 8 goals for West Ham
Free (but insane wages + signing bonus) transfer Defoe scored 4 goals for Muff

It shows that:

a) its hard to score goals in this league, even for experienced players
b) its expensive business trying to bring in even above average players without spending a fortune

 

Exactly.

In a perfect world, we’d go and get someone who is ready made to score 15+ goals. But every club wants that. I just don’t think they are available unless you pay amounts of money that are beyond us. And even then I doubt we’d be their preferred club of choice.

I’d say now that it’s unlikely that Gray or Deeney are leaving. Okaka probably will. But we are still overblown with non-HG players even if he goes. I suspect if he goes, he will be replaced by someone like Ollie Watkins from Brentford or similar. Deeney and Gray will share front-man duties next season - I’m almost certain of it.

If money is at a premium at the club, I’d rather spend what we have on First-XI CB and let 2 or 3 fringe ones go. But I don’t expect that either if I’m honest.

I really do think the business that effects the first eleven is done. Anything else is going to squad players.

 

As in rotation - or two up front formation?

 

You may be right but if so it will be a tough season. We haven't been in the bottom 3 at any point over the last 3 seasons which is astonishing really. I expect that will change this season. I'm not saying i expect we will go down but the 4th/5th favourite for the drop at the bookies sounds about right.

 

Josh King was trying to move from Bournemouth. Personally think he's ideal to play straight down the middle. Was much more effective for Bournemouth in that position and was well into double figures. Moved more wide last season and lost his mojo. Good age, pace and would be well within our price range.

 

Yes would take him but there is no way we would pay what Muff would ask from a direct competitor.

 

Maybe. Once the window slams shut, it’s down to Gracia. We can’t continually use the transfer window as an excuse. If we don’t sign a striker or defender of note, it will be partly because he hasn’t stated strongly enough that this is what the club really needs to progress. If there is little movement on those fronts, it will likely be because Gracia has said he’s reasonably content with what he has. In transfers, he may not have the strongest say at the club but he certainly won’t be mute. As I’ve said in a previous post, I really want to see if Gracia has the ability to make more value out of the signings we have already made in previous windows. Gray and Success for example.

If we accept that a striker who is guaranteed to score 15+ is off the table and a sizeable fee can only go on one, what would you rather have:

£10m to take a punt on a striker and make do with the CB’s we have?
£10m on a recognised CB and make do with the strikers we have?

Because I suspect that’s the position we are in. So do you have more faith in Gracia making our current defenders better? Or making the strikers better? Personally I think the strikers have adequate support from the attacking midfielders for us to do well. I’m not sure the same can be said defensively so that’s where I would be spending the bulk of any funds we have this summer.

 

Good player. Some development left in him. But would be ~20m IMO.

Maybe we can swap him with Gray...