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Post by trickydicky73 on Oct 17, 2017 7:33:15 GMT
Still can't figure it out. I mean a proper one, who's ours. Sure, we have people who can chip in with goals, but we still lack oomph up front and that is criminal, really.
As was starting Shaq and Jese in a "2".
We are desperate for a big, mobile striker, and I am buggered as to why Hughes hasn't addressed this.
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Post by eddy on Oct 17, 2017 7:35:56 GMT
Or alternatively, sign a proper RB/RWB and let out best striker return to his rightful position up top
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2017 7:42:53 GMT
Our manager obviously thought Berahino was the answer only to change his mind less than a month into the season.
Well done Mark.
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Post by The Toxic Avenger on Oct 17, 2017 7:44:45 GMT
Still can't figure it out. I mean a proper one, who's ours. Sure, we have people who can chip in with goals, but we still lack oomph up front and that is criminal, really. As was starting Shaq and Jese in a "2". We are desperate for a big, mobile striker, and I am buggered as to why Hughes hasn't addressed this. I think he wanted one. Janssen was talked about. Slimani would've been perfect, if a short term option. Wonder if the one(s) we wanted just weren't available or if politically he couldn't spend big on another centre forward given he'd spunked £15m the previous Jan on Berahino.
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Post by wiggo10 on Oct 17, 2017 7:46:28 GMT
Trying to be realistic and not argumentative who was available and who is actually any better than what we have without spending mega money??
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Post by trickydicky73 on Oct 17, 2017 8:04:56 GMT
Still can't figure it out. I mean a proper one, who's ours. Sure, we have people who can chip in with goals, but we still lack oomph up front and that is criminal, really. As was starting Shaq and Jese in a "2". We are desperate for a big, mobile striker, and I am buggered as to why Hughes hasn't addressed this. I think he wanted one. Janssen was talked about. Slimani would've been perfect, if a short term option. Wonder if the one(s) we wanted just weren't available or if politically he couldn't spend big on another centre forward given he'd spunked £15m the previous Jan on Berahino. Totally agree with you on Slimani. He looks a right handful, as well as having mobility. Seems to make an impact whenever Leicester play him. He'd fit us like a glove.
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Post by davejohnno1 on Oct 17, 2017 8:12:00 GMT
The decision to deploy Shaq and Jese as a 2 up front was very strange indeed. When I saw the team on paper, it didn't look too bad and as a 4-2-3-1 with Diouf up top, I thought it looked pretty exciting with a young lad making his debut as well.
I guess Mame played wide right to give Edwards some protection because as good as Shaq can be, offering protection to the full back from a wide right position isn't his forte.
Ultimately, neither Shaq nor Jese covered across the front line and both allowed them to play out from the back far to easily.
I was furious after the game on Saturday but thinking about it with a calm head, the biggest factor in our total drubbing second half, in my opinion, was having to deploy a 2 man midfield in Afellay and Fletcher, neither of which have any legs. They were totally unable to cover the ground and plug the massive gaps created by Man City making the pitch absolutely massive with 2 wide men whose heals were always on the touch line and defenders who were happy to play football along their own 6 yard box. The gap from Diouf to those two in the second half felt like a whole pitch and we just couldn't close the gaps or get close enough to De Bruyne and Silva to stop them destroying us.
Bournemouth is a huge game. React well and get the win we need and Saturday will be forgotten fairly quickly. Turn in a horror show and lose and the knives will be out. We have the nucleus of a decent side but it doesn't take much for clubs such as ours to get themselves into trouble. Saturday, so early in the season, is quite a big game for me. We have to get a reaction out of the team.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Oct 17, 2017 8:17:21 GMT
Our central midfield is a complete disaster area. Awful.
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Post by geekenny on Oct 17, 2017 8:17:34 GMT
I suggested Chris Wood from Leeds. Scored three in six already. He would have been just what we need in my opinion.
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Post by Gods on Oct 17, 2017 8:19:24 GMT
I think the management team were probably told we had to try and make the one we signed in January for a fee of £12 million, potentially rising to £15 million, on a five-and-a-half-year contract work first before we throw more good money after bad.
That's what I would have told them anyway !
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Post by mrcoke on Oct 17, 2017 8:21:47 GMT
As a child, I always wanted other kids Christmas presents.
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Post by trickydicky73 on Oct 17, 2017 8:23:29 GMT
I suggested Chris Wood from Leeds. Scored three in six already. He would have been just what we need in my opinion. I don't think we gamble enough on Championship strikers. Josh King is another we could have snapped up. Other than that route we are looking at 25 big ones for a quality striker.
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Post by FullerMagic on Oct 17, 2017 8:24:17 GMT
Can only assume he thought buying a proper striker would have sounded the death knell on Berahino's career here before it started - which when you're committed to paying him £70k for another 5 years obviously isn't tenable
Crouch was always going to be his off-the-bench option, so a new starting striker would really have made Saido completely superfluous.
Not sure what role he had in mind for Jese, but he was always hedging his bets as he was seen as versatile, short-term and a punt. But he had no great history up front.
Same with Choupo to a degree
Have things changed now?
Probably - he seems to have lost whatever residual faith he had in Berahino and Jese looks as ineffectual floating around as Bojan ever did at his lowest moments.
I always kind of thought we'd have to go back to the obvious option of Diouf, and reshuffle elsewhere, some time before Christmas - and hopefully we now will.
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Post by adi on Oct 17, 2017 8:26:36 GMT
I’ve said it before and been laughed at but we could’ve found a use for leonardo ulloa for a season at least. He’s always looked decent imo and certainly better than half the options we’ve had.
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Post by trickydicky73 on Oct 17, 2017 8:30:03 GMT
The decision to deploy Shaq and Jese as a 2 up front was very strange indeed. When I saw the team on paper, it didn't look too bad and as a 4-2-3-1 with Diouf up top, I thought it looked pretty exciting with a young lad making his debut as well. I guess Mame played wide right to give Edwards some protection because as good as Shaq can be, offering protection to the full back from a wide right position isn't his forte. Ultimately, neither Shaq nor Jese covered across the front line and both allowed them to play out from the back far to easily. I was furious after the game on Saturday but thinking about it with a calm head, the biggest factor in our total drubbing second half, in my opinion, was having to deploy a 2 man midfield in Afellay and Fletcher, neither of which have any legs. They were totally unable to cover the ground and plug the massive gaps created by Man City making the pitch absolutely massive with 2 wide men whose heals were always on the touch line and defenders who were happy to play football along their own 6 yard box. The gap from Diouf to those two in the second half felt like a whole pitch and we just couldn't close the gaps or get close enough to De Bruyne and Silva to stop them destroying us. Bournemouth is a huge game. React well and get the win we need and Saturday will be forgotten fairly quickly. Turn in a horror show and lose and the knives will be out. We have the nucleus of a decent side but it doesn't take much for clubs such as ours to get themselves into trouble. Saturday, so early in the season, is quite a big game for me. We have to get a reaction out of the team. Spot on, for me. We had nothing to trouble them at the back, and while we were always going to be up against it, the formation didn't help matters.
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Post by scfc75 on Oct 17, 2017 9:13:05 GMT
"We should have bought X", or "Why didn't we buy Y" is easy to say after the event. There's no guarantee though that any other player would score regularly in our team. Plenty of examples down the years of great players moving on and becoming average (Torres for example) or average players moving on and becoming great (Stein to us). If there was a magic formula, everybody would be trying to emulate it.
For me, scoring isn't the main issue. We've scored more this season than half the teams in the league, and only failed to score in 2 league games. For teams struggling for goals, see Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Swansea or Everton. It's clear that our issues lie in midfield which in turn puts too much pressure on a defence that's short due to injuries. We badly missed Allen and Shawcross particularly on Saturday.
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Post by somersetstokie on Oct 17, 2017 9:21:35 GMT
Maybe we've got big hopes for N'Goy, who could possibly save us some money.
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Post by crapslinger on Oct 17, 2017 9:31:47 GMT
Trying to be realistic and not argumentative who was available and who is actually any better than what we have without spending mega money?? Joselu ! much better option than Berahino, Hughes sold the wrong player.
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Post by crapslinger on Oct 17, 2017 9:36:18 GMT
As a child, I always wanted other kids Christmas presents. We know Mark.
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Post by iglugluk on Oct 17, 2017 9:55:42 GMT
Diouf is clearly the best striker at the club, Hughes needs to stop fucking around and play him in his best position. He can score goals and is fast ffs!
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Post by PB1863 on Oct 17, 2017 9:58:07 GMT
I suggested Chris Wood from Leeds. Scored three in six already. He would have been just what we need in my opinion. I don't think we gamble enough on Championship strikers. Josh King is another we could have snapped up. Other than that route we are looking at 25 big ones for a quality striker. Totally agree we should have signed Chris Wood. Reminds me of Lee Chapman
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Post by davejohnno1 on Oct 17, 2017 10:00:27 GMT
I don't think we gamble enough on Championship strikers. Josh King is another we could have snapped up. Other than that route we are looking at 25 big ones for a quality striker. Totally agree we should have signed Chris Wood. Reminds me of Lee Chapman When his name was mentioned on here, there weren't many, if any, enamoured by the prospect. When it was rumoured he we'd had a substantial bid turned down there was even expressions of relief
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Post by trickydicky73 on Oct 17, 2017 10:14:39 GMT
Totally agree we should have signed Chris Wood. Reminds me of Lee Chapman When his name was mentioned on here, there weren't many, if any, enamoured by the prospect. When it was rumoured he we'd had a substantial bid turned down there was even expressions of relief That's not necessarily a bad thing, Johnno. We could field a pretty good side with players who have been scoffed at on here!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2017 10:22:26 GMT
Because we always go for the cheap option in the hope of a bargain. That's Stoke Bargain Hunt in the guise of a football club.
Also because Peter Crouch is a Dunedain and will play top class for another 40 years yet.
Honestly because we believe that Stoke is a little club and that things will never change as if it's set in stone. Funny how the Bet 365 business grew from a porta cabin into a global concern but the owners think the Football Club has to stay small time and local.
Maybe it's rise can not be as meteoric but I do hate to see just how much we seem to advertise the gambling almost at every other ground as well as sponsoring TV shows while the Club gets told to be self sufficient with little prospect of growth.
It's their money but it seems clear as to where their real passion is to me.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Oct 17, 2017 10:28:37 GMT
Diouf is clearly the best striker at the club, Hughes needs to stop fucking around and play him in his best position. He can score goals and is fast ffs! I think Bera is better than Diouf but until the team/Hughes finds a way to create chances for him we'll never know.
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Post by boskampsflaps on Oct 17, 2017 10:32:37 GMT
Re the o.p. its poor management however you look at it, there was glaring deficiencies in the squad in the summer and the only one that was sorted were the cb's, the rest have arguably got worse since, striker, midfield and wing backs, to not get any of these sorted given the formation Hughes wants to play is incompetent.
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Post by iglugluk on Oct 17, 2017 10:33:56 GMT
Diouf is clearly the best striker at the club, Hughes needs to stop fucking around and play him in his best position. He can score goals and is fast ffs! I think Bera is better than Diouf but until the team/Hughes finds a way to create chances for him we'll never know. It'd be nice to think you may be right but there's scant evidence to go on after 10 months, let's face it.
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Post by crapslinger on Oct 17, 2017 10:53:39 GMT
I think Bera is better than Diouf but until the team/Hughes finds a way to create chances for him we'll never know. It'd be nice to think you may be right but there's scant evidence to go on after 10 months, let's face it. He has had chances this season and last apart from the penalty, he hides too often to be the striker we need Diouf on the other hand never hides always looks to be positive and causes defences problems with his pace and movement. Berahino does non of these things lacks the pace and strength Diouf has and is all but useless in the air, really can not see the justification for buying him myself, we could have signed Gabbiadini for the same price
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Post by shrewspotter on Oct 17, 2017 10:55:40 GMT
Not convinced by Diouf but lets face it he is probably the best of a bad lot right now. Saying that Crouch at 37 still offers us something. Really not sure what Jese has done so far to be honest
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Post by crapslinger on Oct 17, 2017 11:02:41 GMT
Not convinced by Diouf but lets face it he is probably the best of a bad lot right now. Saying that Crouch at 37 still offers us something. Really not sure what Jese has done so far to be honest Playing him as a RWB makes no sense at all, testament to his attitude the lad get's on with it he must be pissed off watching what is going on with the strikers we have playing ahead of him in his rightful position, Pulis got blasted for hammering square pegs into square holes and rightly so, Hughes is doing the same thing if you decide on a system that relies heavily on wing backs you need to sign them or it will fail, hardly feckin rocket science is it.
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