Devils Advocate: Do we need to make a major striker signing priority?

[stubbo-admin]

With much talk around the Club that Füllkrug is impressing, has got himself very fit and is raring to go with a fantastic attitude, and with Potter seemingly likely to play 3-5-2, do we need a major striker signing?

Likelihood right now is that our (somewhat) expensive striker signing from last Summer (Ze German) goes in to the season as our 1st choice with Bowen along side him in a 3-5-2.

On that basis, as striker that comes in either has to play second fiddle to Fülle, or relegate him to the bench.  And all at a time when we have limited funds, an immobile midfield, and we struggle to create chances for a striker anyway.

If we go with Fülle as first choice, and work on the basis he'll miss a few games but won't get catastrophically injured to the point he's not worth having or considering in the squad, then a 'backup' or rotation striker fits the bill, with funds saved for other areas.

Probably leaves us looking at the free agent market (someone like Wilson) or the 3rd choice squad player loan market. 

Investing big sums for someone who is 1st choice level to sit on the bench most weeks makes little sense and we're not cash rich enough to accumulate that way. 

So maybe, just maybe, Wilson is an ugly choice that fits a short term need. Offering a year with an option with mostly performance related remuneration could be explained, taking the emotion and how you feel about the individual out of it. Optics are terrible. Logic....maybe not SO bad.

Alternatively, it's probably loan to buys, for players who are we're on the bench elsewhere, and have been pushed off of it by a new signing and would see our bench as an upgrade.

And it's probably hard to find one of them who is better than Wilson (on the days he's fit) or you'd rather see given time over Marshall, Guilherme, or even someone like Soucek pushed high, or Cornet (if we can't get shot).

So am I fan of Wilson? No. But can I see why he might be seen as an appropriate stop gap at a time when GK and midfield require bigger surgery? Quite possibly.

[Lee Trundle]

I think because we've needed a striker for so long, people are numb on the whole thing now.

It's a shocking state we're in.  We have 1 Premier League quality striker on our books, and I have some doubt he's ideal for the managers set up.

[eusebiovic]

We'll end up with Che Fuckin' Adams at some point...

Check out who the agent is

[Barty888]

What strikers at the best clubs in the Premierleague and Europe might become available for transfer?

There might be hidden gems there

[fraser]

Funny what happens when he's given a chance..



Granted against shit opposition in a Pre-season match but still not bad for a debut. Couldn't have done more than that.

I'm sure going for Wilson and the like is a much better way to go though.

Didn't they literally play a local shit team and won 9-0, he was fucking awful everytime he was on the pitch. 

[Mex Martillo]

No, we should be looking for 2-3 young strickers for around 20M each. That Elliot would be a good start.

[Massive Attack]

Funny what happens when he's given a chance..



Granted against shit opposition in a Pre-season match but still not bad for a debut. Couldn't have done more than that.

I'm sure going for Wilson and the like is a much better way to go though.

[Vexed]

Fuck this. Everyone at creaming themselves because Fulkrug has finally realised that nobody else will pay him what we are for three fucking goals last season and has decided to have a 'good attitude'. Fucking good of you Nick son, but genuine good attitudes dont come and go, they are the default. I'm not convinced by Fulkrug, looked competent but that's about it for the few games we saw him last season. Looked hopeless against a piss poor Grasshoppers side. Should never be our starting striker. Will be injured by the middle of September.

Bowen, our only genuine talent, is not a striker. He's no good up top. Even in a 2 he will be wasted. He plays on the fucking right and scores a bundle from there. We just let our other right sided talent go for relative peanuts, would surely be idiotic to move Bowen from the right. 

Marshall is championship level and needs a loan.

And those are our options. So yes of course we need a fucking striker. We need a centre mid first though. Twenty odd days to go and we are considerably worse than our appalling squad was last season. Dunno about you but I'm excited. What are the odds our striker options will be Fulkrug, Wilson and Antonio next season? Thats what I'm predicting.

[twoleftfeet]

Evan Ferguson scored 4 goals on his Roma debut today.

[Massive Attack]

Rearrange these words to form a well known sentence or phrase:

piss a west to dont in pot ham have 

Don't have Ham in to a Piss Pot

[Sir Alf]

Well intentioned threads and petitions ( which I too signed) but ultimately futile.  We need a new owner before we can even think about a new striker and besides imo we need 2 new central midfielders ( defensive and attacking with pace, energy etc) and a goalkeeper before we can think about strikers.  

Hence the upcoming season depends heavily on selling as at least 2 from Guido, Irvine, Soucek, JWP,  Alvarez and Paqueta to raise funds. That is looking unlikely perhaps due to the current DOFs ( Sullivan snr and jnr) who cannot give them away or are just asking too much or there is simply no interest due to having to having to deal with the Sullivans once again?   Despite selling Kudus, it seems 25 million remaining ( after deducting sign on and agent fee for KWP ) is not being made available to Potter and Macaulay?  Or is it earmarked for the keeper from Leicester?  And we just borrowed. £145 million, is that just for servicing debt and other operational costs only?

Rearrange these words to form a well known sentence or phrase:

piss a west to dont in pot ham have 

[eusebiovic]

If we sign Callum Wilson then every last person at the club who thinks that is a rational well reasoned decision given the bloke's horrendous injury record - deserves shooting

I mean FOR FUCKS SAKE!

[RBshorty]

No.

[stubbo-admin]

To reiterate the point.

The question isn't "do we need a striker?"...but, "should we make spending big on a top striker a priority?".

We clearly need at least another forward.

But with Fullkrug having got in good shape, losing some timber and looking fit, and Bowen likely to be used as part of a 2 up top with Fullkrug, as well as our pedestrian midfield needing major surgery, is spending what budget we have on a major up top signing the right priority.

For me it probably isn't. Callum Wilson...still a bad idea, but not in playing profile, but purely because of the state of his injury history. 

But if someone like Neal Maupay had been available on a free, a backup player like that would probably make some sense.

[RBshorty]

No.

[Gank]

If Potter is going to stick to that system, then no,we don't need another striker, we have young strikers who need to play when we need to rest Fullkrug otherwise we might as well get rid of them all. 

Personally, I'd prefer a more dynamic system and a totally different Plan B to this one for when teams work us out, but I have no idea how flexible Potter is with this. Is he playing the best system for the players at his disposal or has he got so rigid a philosophy that he will seek signings to support that?

I don't know either way so I can't really offer a reasoned response to the question.

[El Scorchio]

Jut read back through one of those 'all the forwards we've bought under Sullivan' articles. You almost couldn't make it up, how much of a fucking shitshow it's been. Countless managers, countless strikers, ONE common factor in it all.

[Massive Attack]

i don't think Fullkrug is injury prone 

The geezer broke down upon arrival taking an age to recover from a fucked achilles, then by the winter his hamstring popped after a 13 minute sprint in the cold in 2 totally separate types of injury.

All that bulk he has to lug around with him at his age, it's no surprise it doesn't take much to break down.

He's very injury prone, now more than ever and he's going to be 33yo during the season as well. We never fucking learn as a Football Club. Premier League, my arse.

[Massive Attack]

That we are still discussing this in every window for the last *10 years proves just how badly the club is being run!

Correction *15

[threesixty]

When he was fit Fullkrug still wasn’t the 1st choice for our team under Potter. You might be right that we don’t need to buy another striker because it’s looks like Potter doesn’t want to play with one at all if he can help it! He didn’t give Fergusson much time or Ings so I don’t see why he’d give Wilson much time either. 

the worrying thing is I see nothing different strategically from Potter. He seems to want to start the new season the same way he ended the last. 

If he starts Fullkurg for 3 games in a row I might believe. But from last season I think he sees strikers as “options” or emergency goal getters and not an integral part of our team. 

 

[RootsRadical]

That we are still discussing this in every window for the last 10 years proves just how badly the club is being run!

[El Scorchio]

It's always a good statement to sign a name striker so for 'morale' it would be a good move, BUT it seems pointless without fixing the midfield first. The striker isn't going to get any service with the current shortcomings in the middle of the park. He'll be feeding on absolute scraps so he's going to have to be one that can create for himself, and those are rare.

So, in the face of what some others are saying, no. At least not before at least one players in who 'fixes' or at least upgrades midfield, enabling us to actually play in a way we can service a striker. I'd call it second priority. For me it's basically a waste of money at the moment as they aren't going to be getting consistent opportunities to score regardless of who or how good they are.

[Mad Ferret]

Yep, we defo need a striker and it's not often that a player of Cwilse's ability comes available.

[fraser]

Füllkrug was a fucking disastrous signing.. Two departing past it strikers leaving the next season and we spent our striker budget on similar who would be left by himself... 

We've kicked the can so far down the road the can is fucked and the road has finished 

[THUNDERCLINT]

Nick from C&B spoke about this, social media puppets whoring themselves for the Sully shekel.

Never thought I'd see it here.

When did it start? The mysterious benefactor who weighed in a monkey a few years back to keep the lights on?

[goose]

i'd rather we built a proper squad capable of still playing to a high level even if we have a couple of injuries. why do we need to make excuses for the club to be run properly?

i don't think Fullkrug is injury prone, but all it takes is one bad tackle or landing and we're done.
Bowen is our best player and should always be played in his best position.