striker

Sounds like an awful lot of money for a risky guy.

Wonder what this means for Gallagher and Long?

I agree. Much prefer we just stick with Gallagher and give him a chance

I think I'd rather stick with Gallagher. He's cheaper, younger, and offers more potential upside

Seems like a waste of money

---------------------McCarthy---------------------- ------Hoedt-----------VG----------Yoshi------------ Cedric -------------------------------------Bertrand --------Lemina-----Romeu ------Armstrong------------ ---------------------Gabbi------------------------------- ---------------------Austin-----------------------------

Personally, and with no ITK data, I get the feeling he's going. Fulham must believe they have a real shot at him if the price is raised. It doesn't seem like the Saints have said no thank you, it seems they have said "give us a little more".

No way for 10 Million

Does anyone have any facts to support him having a temper tantrum rather than being sick? Its all speculation. Cedric is a very good player and someone we need out there.

In how many minutes? Lots of those games he only played 10 minutes 2.5 years ago, and he's been injured.

Putting the fact that he has been hurt for half the past 2 seasons aside, which is an issue, he still scores a goal every 1.5 games or so. This is way better than anyone we have, and near the top of the PL strikers. You can say we can't trust him due to injuries, but you can't say he can't score and is no longer a good striker. The facts show that when he is on the pitch he scores goals at a much faster rate than anyone we have.

Agree. He's gotten 6 goals playing 1/2 a season two years in a row. Whether you think hes slow, lazy, or whatever else, he's the only guy we've got who has shown he can score 15 goals in the PL.

Not sure I agree with this. Any team needs a certain number of goals to survive, and there are only so many positions where the players are in a place to score significant goals. Strikers are one of them, and they are the closest to the goal. If you are relying on wide players, or players that usually are 30 yards from the goal, you are not going to score much. Sure its important to play as a team and move things around to create opportunities, but if you aren't getting scoring from your strikers then you are in a real hole.

Well Crouchy thinks we're safe, so there's that. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6028679/Peter-Crouchs-Premier-League-team-team-guide-2018-19.html

I think Hughes sticks with the same starting lineup as Borussia, with the possible exception of Yoshi, and just goes back to the more basic 3-5-2 where the wingers stay back more on D (like the previous 2 matches). I think he just chalks up Borussia to a failed experiment.

Based on Hughes comments and Bertrands actions I'm pretty sure they knew this was happening. Bertrand kept yelling to the sideline. Hughes said he wanted to stick with it to see if they could figure it out (I'm paraphrasing his words in one post match interview) since it was preseason, and if it was a real match he would have switched much much earlier. My take is they wanted to see if they could get away with being more aggressive with the wingers. It was a preseason test, and now they know they can't.

And while I'm out it let me add that the is why you see this constant "whiplash" back and forth of fan perception after every match. Gabbi is great, oh Gabbi sucks, Austin is great, now he sucks (depending on who is writing). Its because both our strikers are "formation" or "scheme" guys (at least by PL standards). So depending on the way the match is going you can almost tell if they will look good or not. If you don't have a Salah or Aguello, then you likely have guys like Austin and Gabbi, and need to build your attack accordingly. Luckily we have two and can switch between them.

Good afternoon Pal. You know if you're going to respond to everything I write you really need to read them first. I have said numerous times I like Austin if we have have the possession and get him the ball in our attacking 3rd. He is by far the most prolific scorer we have. I like Gabbi if we don't have lots of possession and are playing more of a counter match. Gabbi is obviously a lot better in open space. Its called using players where they fit best. Austin looks like a world beater in one scenario and a slug in the other. Gabbi goes invisible playing the crossing/header game, but looks really good attacking from farther out. The point is for these guys to score goals, and IMO these are the only two who have shown they can score goals in the PL, not just run around and complete passes. We have enough of that already. In a game like yesterday, where we are doing neither possessing or countering, I don't see how anyone could look good or play well (and they didn't). That was my point. Until Hughes straightens out the mid with formation changes (whether its more mids, 4 at the back, etc.) neither the strikers or CB's will look any good. I think coaches and players know this already.

With the way the midfield played I have to give the CB's and strikers a pass. There was no attack, unless you call getting the ball at midfield with your back to the goal an attack, and no shelter for the 3 CB's who were always under duress. My hope is it was the formation, which Hughes acknowledged wouldh ave changed much earlier if it was a real match. Its very simplistic to just blame the strikers in a match like this, but people always do. Its a team.

I think the team that Hughes played today is the same one that will start against Burnley, just with a tweaked formation/strategy.

After hearing Hughes comments about the formation, seeing he eventually did change it, and reading above about Bertrand gesturing to the bench, gives me more hope. I think this was Hughes trying a formation more than us being overmatched. If this was next week he would have switched to a 4-3-3 (or something else) early on. Its preseason, its a time to try things out and determine what the current players can/can't do.

Likely he didn't change it because he wanted to see how the players adapted, including the subs. In preseason sometimes its more important to give a formation a full run, and with different players, than to just win. Now he knows that formation sucks.

Borussia also subbed out their whole line-up. The last 15 minutes were just an after thought. What I hope Hughes took away was that he needs to do something different scheme-wise in midfield. You can't just let the opposition run uncontested right down the middle of pitch. The CB's are exposed time and time again, and of course we never get to switch into an attack without the ball.

+1, agree

Hughes needs to find the right formation for this group, and I'm not sure our mids are up to what has to happen with the 3CB's, 2 Strikers setup. With our midfield group I'm beginning to think Puel had it right all along with the "diamond" -LOL. One striker, but more players covering the midfield. Boring football, but at least we won't have the other team driving uncontested through the middle of the pitch playing through ball after through ball. This puts the CB's under pressure and backpedaling all the time. It also means the strikers are just getting touches at midfield with their backs to the goal, not many scoring opportunities there.