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Striker woes..or more correctly goal scoring woes

52 replies · 711 views
over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
el grapadura wrote:
ballane wrote:


Cnut wrote:

Feverish wrote:
just had this debate with cnut. Using two meaningless games ie CCM and Galaxy last yr as examples doesnt cut mustard in my book.
Yep - I hadn't given it a huge amount of thought, but I agree - just haven't seen enough of the guy to justify selection.Considering Ricki sees him every day at training, I'm sure he'd be selected if he was ready to step up. Obviously that is a wee way off yet.
Dont go along with that,given how some of our so called experienced players have gone this season would it be really such a risk giving him a crack as a sub.Forget the galaxy game but he certainly showed something in the CCM game and dont go with the meaningless tag as it was a competitive game.Keep hearing all this rubbish about age and AIS until he and Draper are given a crack everything said is just guess work.You never know they just might surprise some people.


My thoughts exactly. I mean, what exactly have we got to lose given the way things have been going? Put him on the bench, give him 20 minutes against tiring defenders and see how it goes. If he doesn't crack it, fine, but we can't know until he getsa chance. And it's not as if the more experienced players ahead of him are setting the world alight...
 
the season is four games old man. We should be trying to settle and find our feet - not gamble ffs!
Who you gonna drop? Gao?

Founder

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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
I'd drop Coveny, put Costa on the bench, and look to give him 20 minutes for a couple of games to see what he's got. Don't really think it's a huge gamble, not advocating playing 3-4-3 and putting Costa and Draper as starters...
I know what you're saying, but 4 games in a 21 game season...not that much time to play with. And I think you'll agree if we finish last again, that'll be real bad for the image of football in this country.
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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Feverish wrote:
el grapadura wrote:
ballane wrote:


Cnut wrote:

Feverish wrote:
just had this debate with cnut. Using two meaningless games ie CCM and Galaxy last yr as examples doesnt cut mustard in my book.
Yep - I hadn't given it a huge amount of thought, but I agree - just haven't seen enough of the guy to justify selection.Considering Ricki sees him every day at training, I'm sure he'd be selected if he was ready to step up. Obviously that is a wee way off yet.
Dont go along with that,given how some of our so called experienced players have gone this season would it be really such a risk giving him a crack as a sub.Forget the galaxy game but he certainly showed something in the CCM game and dont go with the meaningless tag as it was a competitive game.Keep hearing all this rubbish about age and AIS until he and Draper are given a crack everything said is just guess work.You never know they just might surprise some people.


My thoughts exactly. I mean, what exactly have we got to lose given the way things have been going? Put him on the bench, give him 20 minutes against tiring defenders and see how it goes. If he doesn't crack it, fine, but we can't know until he getsa chance. And it's not as if the more experienced players ahead of him are setting the world alight...
 
the season is four games old man. We should be trying to settle and find our feet - not gamble ffs!
Who you gonna drop? Gao?
 
Sorry, Feverish - we could find a sack full of feet, but unless a couple of them belong to a decent striker we will continue to struggle. And we are struggling.  
 
As someone earlier noted, this subject crops up frequently because it's screamingly obvious it's a problem that still needs fixing. And 4 games is almost 20% of the season!
 
Let's face facts: we have only one A-League quality goal-scoring striker in the whole club.
 
The Nix need to be able to knock 2 or more goals past some of our opponents to be title contenders. 
 
Assuming those chances come our way, if Smeltz was out injured or sick, what combination from the current squad could guarantee us even one goal, much less a handful?
 
Is anyone at HQ listening?
 
I'd love to hear Tony P on this.
 
scribbler2008-09-17 13:09:13
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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
whitby fever wrote:
Hard News wrote:
I like the Daniel idea as well Oi Oi, but also because if something extravagant goes wrong in the area he gives it away in the box, not on halfway.


Good point you make, Daniel has given away a lot of possession, the back heel is proving to be a low percentage ball.

I have memories of Daniel and Lochead working the left hand side last season and it was some of the best football we played. Sadly neither of them has yet to recapture that form but on song that combination is potentially one if not the most potent attacking left side in the league. I like the idea of these two getting down that left flank and whipping the ball in for Smeltz and ????? to finish.
Daniel's shown a few times he has decent aerial ability as well, but I'd much rather have him with the rest of the magic three behind Smeltz (although that name hasn't really been justified yet)
You know we belong together...

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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Oska wrote:
whitby fever wrote:
Hard News wrote:
I like the Daniel idea as well Oi Oi, but also because if something extravagant goes wrong in the area he gives it away in the box, not on halfway.


Good point you make, Daniel has given away a lot of possession, the back heel is proving to be a low percentage ball.

I have memories of Daniel and Lochead working the left hand side last season and it was some of the best football we played. Sadly neither of them has yet to recapture that form but on song that combination is potentially one if not the most potent attacking left side in the league. I like the idea of these two getting down that left flank and whipping the ball in for Smeltz and ????? to finish.
Daniel's shown a few times he has decent aerial ability as well, but I'd much rather have him with the rest of the magic three behind Smeltz (although that name hasn't really been justified yet)


i see your logic, but if you put him up front with Smeltzy you can put Hearfield in that "magic 3"

my main concern is that while we look for another striker so we can play 4-4-2 or a variation, do we have a mid who is good enough to play the holding/def role? i ask this as most of the mids we have are either A) attack minded B) not doing that well atm


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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
scribbler wrote:
Feverish wrote:
el grapadura wrote:
ballane wrote:


Cnut wrote:

Feverish wrote:
just had this debate with cnut. Using two meaningless games ie CCM and Galaxy last yr as examples doesnt cut mustard in my book.
Yep - I hadn't given it a huge amount of thought, but I agree - just haven't seen enough of the guy to justify selection.Considering Ricki sees him every day at training, I'm sure he'd be selected if he was ready to step up. Obviously that is a wee way off yet.
Dont go along with that,given how some of our so called experienced players have gone this season would it be really such a risk giving him a crack as a sub.Forget the galaxy game but he certainly showed something in the CCM game and dont go with the meaningless tag as it was a competitive game.Keep hearing all this rubbish about age and AIS until he and Draper are given a crack everything said is just guess work.You never know they just might surprise some people.


My thoughts exactly. I mean, what exactly have we got to lose given the way things have been going? Put him on the bench, give him 20 minutes against tiring defenders and see how it goes. If he doesn't crack it, fine, but we can't know until he getsa chance. And it's not as if the more experienced players ahead of him are setting the world alight...
 
the season is four games old man. We should be trying to settle and find our feet - not gamble ffs!
Who you gonna drop? Gao?
 
Sorry, Feverish - we could find a sack full of feet, but unless a couple of them belong to a decent striker we will continue to struggle. And we are struggling.  
 
As someone earlier noted, this subject crops up frequently because it's screamingly obvious it's a problem that still needs fixing. And 4 games is almost 20% of the season!
 
Let's face facts: we have only one A-League quality goal-scoring striker in the whole club.
 
The Nix need to be able to knock 2 or more goals past some of our opponents to be title contenders. 
 
Assuming those chances come our way, if Smeltz was out injured or sick, what combination from the current squad could guarantee us even one goal, much less a handful?
 
Is anyone at HQ listening?
 
I'd love to hear Tony P on this.
 
 
I imagine the club response would be something like this:
 
"if an affordable striker who is better than what we currently have in the squad is available, we will sign him.  As it stands, that isn't the case at the moment".
 
It is easy to say "sign another striker" but there aren't any around.  and before people say things like Jimmy Floyd Hasslebank, he would have been on at least �20,000 per week at Cardiff (more likely closer to �30,000) so he is unlikely to come to Wellington for a couple of hundred thousand dollars for the season.  If he is going to carry on playing, he will be in somewhere like Qatar.
 
Other options (such as Brockie) as not deemed by the club to be better than what we currently have in the squad, and they know a f**k of a lot more about football than we do.
 
Tony - send me flowers as a thank you for saving your time.

All I do is make the stuff I would've liked
Reference things I wanna watch, reference girls I wanna bite
Now I'm firefly like a burning kite
And yousa fake fuck like a fleshlight

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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Who's up for a bank heist to finance some more expensive talent
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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Will 18,000 Lira do?
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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Critical_Lemon wrote:
Will 18,000 Lira do?


We could pay in Zimbabwian $$$$
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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
I agree we do lack another striker.
 
But I still think we will score goals if we finally get Leo, Leilei and Daniel all on the field at once.
 
Play daniel just behind Smeltz, he's clearly our most creative player. Leo and Leilei out wide.
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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Feverish and Hard News - you've both jumped in here a few times and bagged some of the posts, without really giving us your views on the last player.

How about your suggestions?
We've got one spot in the squad remaining - What position should the club be looking to buy, and who would be on your wish list (realistic or otherwise)?


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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
And before you ask - I haven't got a clue.

I'm not sure about "goal-scoring woes" though. While 3 goals in 4 matches isn't great, it's not as though we're missing hatfuls of chances.

I missed the Roar game, so have no comment there.
As someone else pointed out, 2 goals at home vs Melbourne should have been enough to get something out of that game. Defence let the side down.
Against Adelaide, we didn't create enough chances to get the necessary 4 goals needed to win, even if Smeltz had been on the field. Defence again.
While we defended better last week, opportunities up front were again few and far between.

Smeltz has done well to convert 3 of the few chances he's had, but I do agree that it would be nice if we had another regular source of goals.

Whether this can be solved by finding another striker, or improving the supply/buildup play from midfield, I'll to those who've seen more of the Nix than me to debate.

wolfman2008-09-20 15:06:25


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over 17 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
wolfman wrote:
Feverish and Hard News - you've both jumped in here a few times and bagged some of the posts, without really giving us your views on the last player.

How about your suggestions?
We've got one spot in the squad remaining - What position should the club be looking to buy, and who would be on your wish list (realistic or otherwise)?
 
if we were to get anyone it should be striker or attacking midfield -but someone who a class above what we currently have. I cant see anything happening at the moment.

Founder

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