DC Magpie Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 22 minutes ago, Mole said: It's a mixture of things, this and well... Pretty much all wingers not providing the way they should, Tonali not playing at the level and well anyone in the midfield not called Bruno. Woltemade is very different to Isak so expecting him to slide in that spot and give the team the same outlet is asking for well what we got. I'm glad we have finally seen changes to the approach as the season ended. If you could find a striker you hit early and often then maybe it could work to a decent level? But due to players getting older and teams defending it better it was always going to end up like this eventually. Like City over the years have changed multiple times so this was inevitable to happen at some point. Just depends how everyone reacts next season. I'd add to that mix the sheer number of games you're asking those aging players to play that high intensity press. To Mills & Boon's point, the 4-3-3 has worked for us in years past, but maybe most effectively during years we weren't in Europe. It may also be part of the reason we can't qualify for Europe in consecutive years - unless you have incredible depth (narrator's voice: "we don't"), it appears to be better suited to a 38 game season, not to a 58 game season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 29 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: Wingers getting a lot of stick. Barnes output is similar to any winger in the top 3 I think aside from Semenyo. Strikers, goalie's and predictable approach are the biggest issues. If you look purely at goals/assists then yes Barnes is good but for large parts of games and the season he goes completely missing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 10 minutes ago, joeyt said: If you look purely at goals/assists then yes Barnes is good but for large parts of games and the season he goes completely missing I'm just using him as an example. Look at the league - how many wingers have been a lot better than ours? It's no longer the era of Sane, Mane, Salah, Sterling, Rashford, Bowen etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Magpie Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 1 hour ago, Mills and Boon said: I mean, Wissa missed most of the season through injury. He's not been much cop since he returned mind. Elanga has been poor too but we've had other players in his position to play. Woltemade had the forward position to himself for most of the season and it hasn't worked Nick started 17 of 38 league games up front I believe. We can argue what "most" means, but playing up there didn't much work for Gordon or anyone else until Osula got hot (though I'd argue we haven't been in the 4-3-3 for much of that hot streak). On that note, we'll see if Osula can be that 9, but his hot streak as the main striker is a bit reminiscent of Nick's hot start, no? I'm afraid defenses have our 4-3-3 figured out and will soon figure Osula out, as they likely did NW in that formation. We need to adapt. i want the same lineup to go vs Fulham. Let's see what we have, make up our minds what the future looks like and if it's the same old 4-3-3, then get what we can for Woltemade and move on. He has no home in that formation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fak Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 1 hour ago, Mole said: It's a mixture of things, Agreed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 38 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: For much of the season the Xg and Xga stats suggested otherwise. And there's been plenty of occasions Murphy has delivered an excellent cross and nobody is there to meet it. The biggest contributor to his lack of assists isn't his own performance IMO (which has been up and down) but a lack of a quality striker to finish off the crosses he still provides. the strikers have been a far bigger problem than the wingers. Like the wingers largely did what they were doing last season (those that were here), it's Isak missing that's changed everything. Considering the build up goes through them I disagree, I'm not just talking about goals and assist but general responsibility in phases between attacks. You can argue they have too much responsibility and I won't push back but seeing as they do that's the scenario we are dealing with. As much as Woltemade hasn't been good I just disagree on the fundamental basis of the midfield supposed to supply chances (yes his movement hasn't helped) and they have done a piss poor job of it all season so I disagree with laying the blame at the feet of the striker who receives nothing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 Eh give any team a really good striker and everything looks much better. The same isn’t true for a class winger or 2. I don’t think Barnes Murphy or Gordon were significantly worse this year than last. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 2 hours ago, gjohnson said: Nick is a bit of an enigma, he has skill and talent that doesnt fit his frame. Its a bit unfortunate that he has the shooting power that would embarrass the de Jongs. I actually think he strikes the ball well, he just chooses other options a lot of the time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufc123 Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said: I actually think he strikes the ball well How do we know apart from that penalty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 1 minute ago, nufc123 said: How do we know apart from that penalty. Basically yeah, and that his technique is generally very good. He definitely scored some nice strikes before he signed for us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufc123 Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said: Basically yeah, and that his technique is generally very good. He definitely scored some nice strikes before he signed for us. But its still odd after almost a season, we have not seen him shoot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Magpie Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 53 minutes ago, nufc123 said: How do we know apart from that penalty. Some of these longer strikes look pretty effortlessly well struck. No idea why he doesn't pull the trigger more from distance. Maybe next year he'll be in more of a comfort zone and a little more selfish. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahoneys Tache Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 If we manage to keep hold of him he will be a legend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloGeordio Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 15 minutes ago, Mahoneys Tache said: If we manage to keep hold of him he will be a legend. Already is for me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_Johnny Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 On 21/05/2026 at 15:26, gjohnson said: Nick is a bit of an enigma, he has skill and talent that doesnt fit his frame. It’s a bit unfortunate that he has the shooting power that would embarrass the de Jongs. That made me laugh out loud. And triggered a memory of trying to get a chant going “LUUUUKK” (not my best tbf…) when he was brought on as a sub vs the Makems. He was about as effective as Billy Askew was against them a decade earlier in the play offs (odd comparison, I know, but for some reason I thought he was going to make a difference too). God, we have had some shite players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John P Posted May 23 Share Posted May 23 I'm in Berlin for a few days and came across a few Stuttgart fans earlier as they're playing Bayern tonight in the German Cup final in Berlin. My son was wearing my old 95/96 away shirt so a couple of them started talking to me about Big Nick. Suffice to say, they fucking love the guy. Insisted that if we play him in the right position he'll eventually be class for us. I for one am choosing to believe them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemtizz Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 How was he not playing a team about to be relegated? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 There was about a 2 minute spell in the first half where he played a lovely ball to Willock who should have scored and then managed to do a lovely dribble on the edge of the box Nowt apart from that. Needs to hit the gym hard this summer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 Play a narrow formation where he can get crowded out even more with a bunch of players around him and less space for him to get on the ball and make things happen. Made perfect sense. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobsonsWonderland Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays in the world cup under a different manager. Hopefully it will help Howe understand him as a player Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 On 24/05/2026 at 04:02, John P said: I'm in Berlin for a few days and came across a few Stuttgart fans earlier as they're playing Bayern tonight in the German Cup final in Berlin. My son was wearing my old 95/96 away shirt so a couple of them started talking to me about Big Nick. Suffice to say, they fucking love the guy. Insisted that if we play him in the right position he'll eventually be class for us. I for one am choosing to believe them I had a similar experience in summer ‘99, first ever lads holiday with my mates. We’d made a big money signing from a local club, and a couple of us ended up in a bar with a few of their supporters who were excitedly telling us how good said player was. We left suitably impressed, and looking forward to how class he was going to be. The location of the lads’ holiday? Majorca. The bar was in Palma. The player’s name? Marcelino. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fak Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 2 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said: I had a similar experience in summer ‘99, first ever lads holiday with my mates. We’d made a big money signing from a local club, and a couple of us ended up in a bar with a few of their supporters who were excitedly telling us how good said player was. We left suitably impressed, and looking forward to how class he was going to be. The location of the lads’ holiday? Majorca. The bar was in Palma. The player’s name? Marcelino. Was Marcelino actually shit though when he played? I assumed the only reason he flopped here was because he was permanently injured, not necessarily because of his performances when he did eventually get on the pitch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 10 minutes ago, Fak said: Was Marcelino actually shit though when he played? I assumed the only reason he flopped here was because he was permanently injured, not necessarily because of his performances when he did eventually get on the pitch. Yeah, he was shit. I can remember being in the away end at Leeds early that season, when the realisation was really kicking in that he didn’t look up to snuff. The home match vs West Ham later that year - after the usual injuries - was when he started becoming a joke. He was poor to shite when he played - we didn’t lose every game or anything as crazy as that, but nearly £6m for a centre half in 1999 was a lot of money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fak Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 4 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said: Yeah, he was shit. I can remember being in the away end at Leeds early that season, when the realisation was really kicking in that he didn’t look up to snuff. The home match vs West Ham later that year - after the usual injuries - was when he started becoming a joke. He was poor to shite when he played - we didn’t lose every game or anything as crazy as that, but nearly £6m for a centre half in 1999 was a lot of money. We had to let him go in the end. He was rubbish. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 11 minutes ago, Fak said: We had to let him go in the end. He was rubbish. Young Spanish guy, first club in the country, could hardly speak a word of English … Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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