Parsley Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 A couple of our players in midfield (Richie and Diame) are better than every midfielder we had last time so with another addition or two I think we'll be fine there. There's a better overall standard in the league now though. Maybe better, but not as important as Nolan in terms of his goals and character within the team. Still think we are sorely missing leaders and characters in the squad, in fact I don't think we have any. Henry Winter was saying similar on the Sunday Supplement. It was certainly the case last season but it becomes a bit of a lazy criticism when you look at our transfer activity IMO. Rafa has clearly sought to address a supposed lack of leadership/experience this summer: Gamez is 31 and has a wealth of experience behind him, Hanley has nearly 200 senior apps under his belt for Blackburn and is their former captain and Clark has captained England and Villa at youth/reserve level. In any case, it takes time for a team dynamic to take shape and for 'leaders' to emerge. Nolan might have been our talisman in the promotion season, but he was fucking guff when he first signed in 08/09 and was guilty of hiding as much as anyone else. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattoon Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 We need more goals from midfield, last time we had Nolan, Guthrie, Raylor, Barton etc who could get the odd one. Richie's a great addition & Diame should add some. Hopefully aarons will step up, we're a bit stuck then though. De Jong perhaps, another would help. Id be suprised if we went for another striker we had nolan, the end. pretty sure barton only got 1 that season (free kick i think?) and i'd back diame to outscore both guthrie and raylor, and ritchie to outscore them all. lets not pretend we had plenty of goals from midfield last time, nolan aside, we really didn't. 35 goals from midfield is quite a lot like, Nolan got just under half of those. totally agree on nolan, but ritchie could quite feesibly hit/surpass his figures. the others mentioned, guthrie got 4, barton got 1, raylor got 4. Diame did that on his own for hull last season. they were hardly prolific. On one hand you're saying they weren't prolific, then saying we should ignore the one who was. As a unit they were, it doesn't matter so much where they come from individually, in fact it's better if they all get a few as it means we don't lose out so much when injuries hit. Put it this way, I'll be absolutely fucking astonished if we score 35 goals from midfield this season. I think the argument is that it doesn't matter how few each of them got, it's the fact that they all chipped in. We can't expect one player now to pick up the slack of 3 or 4 other players in a sense of scoring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 A couple of our players in midfield (Richie and Diame) are better than every midfielder we had last time so with another addition or two I think we'll be fine there. There's a better overall standard in the league now though. Maybe better, but not as important as Nolan in terms of his goals and character within the team. Still think we are sorely missing leaders and characters in the squad, in fact I don't think we have any. Henry Winter was saying similar on the Sunday Supplement. It was certainly the case last season but it becomes a bit of a lazy criticism when you look at our transfer activity IMO. Rafa has clearly sought to address a supposed lack of leadership/experience this summer: Gamez is 31 and has a wealth of experience behind him, Hanley has nearly 200 senior apps under his belt for Blackburn and is their former captain and Clark has captained England and Villa at youth/reserve level. In any case, it takes time for a team dynamic to take shape and for 'leaders' to emerge. Nolan might have been our talisman in the promotion season, but he was fucking guff when he first signed in 08/09 and was guilty of hiding as much as anyone else. Nolan didn't really contribute much to the midfield, in fact we were often outpassed by a lot of teams but they couldn't finish and Nolan could. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsley Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 A couple of our players in midfield (Richie and Diame) are better than every midfielder we had last time so with another addition or two I think we'll be fine there. There's a better overall standard in the league now though. Maybe better, but not as important as Nolan in terms of his goals and character within the team. Still think we are sorely missing leaders and characters in the squad, in fact I don't think we have any. Henry Winter was saying similar on the Sunday Supplement. It was certainly the case last season but it becomes a bit of a lazy criticism when you look at our transfer activity IMO. Rafa has clearly sought to address a supposed lack of leadership/experience this summer: Gamez is 31 and has a wealth of experience behind him, Hanley has nearly 200 senior apps under his belt for Blackburn and is their former captain and Clark has captained England and Villa at youth/reserve level. In any case, it takes time for a team dynamic to take shape and for 'leaders' to emerge. Nolan might have been our talisman in the promotion season, but he was f***ing guff when he first signed in 08/09 and was guilty of hiding as much as anyone else. Nolan didn't really contribute much to the midfield, in fact we were often outpassed by a lot of teams but they couldn't finish and Nolan could. I agree in terms of his play, but in our relegation season Nolan didn't score nor was he this magnificent leader. My point is that it takes time for these things to develop and that portraying the squad as 'leaderless' in comparison to the 09/10 lot is unfair given who Rafa's signed, the extent of the upheaval in personnel and how 'young' the squad is in terms of cohesion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovejoy Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 We need more goals from midfield, last time we had Nolan, Guthrie, Raylor, Barton etc who could get the odd one. Richie's a great addition & Diame should add some. Hopefully aarons will step up, we're a bit stuck then though. De Jong perhaps, another would help. Id be suprised if we went for another striker we had nolan, the end. pretty sure barton only got 1 that season (free kick i think?) and i'd back diame to outscore both guthrie and raylor, and ritchie to outscore them all. lets not pretend we had plenty of goals from midfield last time, nolan aside, we really didn't. 35 goals from midfield is quite a lot like, Nolan got just under half of those. totally agree on nolan, but ritchie could quite feesibly hit/surpass his figures. the others mentioned, guthrie got 4, barton got 1, raylor got 4. Diame did that on his own for hull last season. they were hardly prolific. On one hand you're saying they weren't prolific, then saying we should ignore the one who was. As a unit they were, it doesn't matter so much where they come from individually, in fact it's better if they all get a few as it means we don't lose out so much when injuries hit. Put it this way, I'll be absolutely f***ing astonished if we score 35 goals from midfield this season. I'm not saying that at all, I'm saying the ones in the example, Nolan aside, hit fairly average figures. I've qualified my point on Nolan by saying I think Ritchie will match him, which i do. Then, as long as we can match the relatively average (pathetic in Bartons case) figures the rest of the players in the example hit, then we'll do as well as we did then. Put it this way, Ritchie can match Nolan and diame, as I said earlier, hit as many as the others in the example combined. To suggest the midfield last time was better equipped to score goals than the midfield this time, isnt correct, imo, for the reasons above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Nolan was essentially a third striker in midfield who escaped being marked because of that. Bit of a catch-22 situation because up front he'd get fewer goals and in CM he'd often be overran. Ultimately because of the rigidity of Championship teams and our quality in defence he was an extremely useful goal threat with weaknesses that could generally be overlooked. Shame we don't have someone like him now because you can guarantee the likes of Perez won't be getting 17 league goals this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 We need Diame and Ritchie to score at least 20 between them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovejoy Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 We need Diame and Ritchie to score at least 20 between them. Yep, very feasible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Nolan was essentially a third striker in midfield who escaped being marked because of that. Bit of a catch-22 situation because up front he'd get fewer goals and in CM he'd often be overran. Ultimately because of the rigidity of Championship teams and our quality in defence he was an extremely useful goal threat with weaknesses that could generally be overlooked. Shame we don't have someone like him now because you can guarantee the likes of Perez won't be getting 17 league goals this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 3 out of 4 of Raylor's goals in the Championship were when we already had a 2 goal lead in games iirc. Don't even know if that's worth pointing out or not Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astroblack Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I thought I had a good memory but Goddamn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I just remember him scoring in successive home games after coming on as sub when the game was dead and he looked thoroughly miserable about it all Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Yeah very similar Gallowgate goals twice in a few days against Coventry and someone else I think. Preston? Also scored in the 4-0 at Ipswich. Scored a belter away to Palace when we were 1-0 up through Nolan think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsley Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Didn't he score a jammy winner away at Sheffield United as well? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LionOfGosforth Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I just remember him scoring in successive home games after coming on as sub when the game was dead and he looked thoroughly miserable about it all Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xLiaaamx Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Didn't he score a jammy winner away at Sheffield United as well? Was on own goal, that one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsley Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Didn't he score a jammy winner away at Sheffield United as well? Was on own goal, that one Ah Remember it taking a massive deflection, wasn't sure what it went down as. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Two games in a row he scored from Pancrate assists after both came on I'm pretty sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovejoy Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Two games in a row he scored from Pancrate assists after both came on I'm pretty sure. Pancrate, fucking hell, remember him! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Linked with Nakhi Wells in their local press. Similar to Gayle isn't he? Hope we don't sign him just for the fact that Mick Lowes called him 'Nakhi Wells' through the entire game, oddly annoying. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leazes_End_Mag Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Linked with Nakhi Wells in their local press. Similar to Gayle isn't he? Hope we don't sign him just for the fact that Mick Lowes called him 'Nakhi Wells' through the entire game, oddly annoying. That and the fact we need far better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Nolan was essentially a third striker in midfield who escaped being marked because of that. Bit of a catch-22 situation because up front he'd get fewer goals and in CM he'd often be overran. Ultimately because of the rigidity of Championship teams and our quality in defence he was an extremely useful goal threat with weaknesses that could generally be overlooked. Shame we don't have someone like him now because you can guarantee the likes of Perez won't be getting 17 league goals this year. It's the reason why I'm not that fussed about De Jong staying here even if he is a crock, if we can get half a season out of him he'll score goals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 daft fucker hurt himself on some backheel and has been out for ages.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 We need Diame and Ritchie to score at least 20 between them. Yep, very feasible. Its feasible, then we need several other non-strikers to get about 15 between them such as? Aarons & Shelvey are our next most likely, perhaps they will. Im just saying id prefer another scoring midfielder, maybe we dont need it. Guthrie & Raylor both had a shot on them though & could put a pass/ball in. Shelvey should have that, its all a bit early to say. Loads of variables. I'd hope Mitro would do better than Carroll did that season, he's far more established than Carroll was so hopefully he'll make a point. We need to get going though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Two games in a row he scored from Pancrate assists after both came on I'm pretty sure. Aye he did, the goals were an absolute carbon copy of each other. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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