striker

I like both Pelle and Austin. They both know how to score, which is job #1 for a striker. Some slagged him for the same reasons some are now slagging Austin, he didn't have the pace of a Redmond. I say who cares. This whole pace thing is carried away now anyway. Instead of a squad capable of putting the ball in the net, which is the point, we get a team that runs very fast all around midfield, having 70% possession time, but never coming close to the goal. Maybe we should sign Usain Bolt, he'd be great.

Somewhere Puel is laughing in his Beaujolais Nouveau

Agreed. Redmond was poor, the rest were good.

+1. Our setup rely's on guys like Redmond and Tadic scoring, instead of Gabbi, Austin, and Long. I know who I would rather have out there. If we don't score we can't win.

Our players in a 1 striker system makes it way to easy on the defenders. We get no pressure. What Mope envisions about midfielders crashing into the box never happens, and we are left with one poor guy standing around with 2 defenders, getting no service. Then their defenders push forward, because they have nothing else to do, and start pressuring our midfield making the whole scenario worse. We need to play 2 or 3 upfront, basically forcing our squad to be in forward positions. At least this will pressure the defense (like you saw late in the Stoke game), and allow us to stop relying on guys like Redmond and Tadic to attack.

My main issue is MP seems to be very stubborn and wants to play a certain formation, rather than looking at our players and playing a system that works best for them. We can't play only 1 striker up front. Our mids are not attacking enough and our strikers are not the kind of player that can play alone up top. I'd still play a formation with 2, or 3, up front. At the end we had Austin, Gabbi, and Long all on and were pounding away. Sure it was defensive mode for Stoke but still, at least we looked dangerous. We can play 3 in the back just fine with VVD and Yoshida If we don't score we can't win.

I sure hope we stick with the 4-5-1 next game, we just look pretty playing it. So much pace, which of course is the most important thing.

Well we looked good in extra time, so we have that.

Rediculous

Yoshida for striker

Here comes Austin in the usual 80 minute mark

Did we not do our finishing practice this week?

pathetic header. Any player who has a chance of scoring is sitting on the bench.

Tadic is losing his temper out there

Well we sure look pretty out there with plenty of pace. Too bad all that means nothing if you never shoot. Our only two proven goal scorers are sitting in comfy chairs on the bench. If football was only about pace, then why not just sign Usain Bolt. He'd be great.

So much for changing things around. Here comes 0-0 again. Keep doing the same thing over and over again.

We look flashy but don't score like this. What good has all this pace in the formation gotten us? If we don't score we don't win. We need a combination of pace, yes with Long, and finishing with Austin and Gabbi. Have Austin in the center always around the goal keeping the defenders honest, and have Gabbi/Long/and whoever crashing into the box. Right now we fly around, yes very fast, but without any real threat. People complain about the lack of goals (or no goals) and rightfully so, but continue to want to play with the same tactics. Gabbi and Austin have both proven they are the two guys we have who can get the ball in the net, they need to play, unless of course we are trying to tie our way to stay in the PL.

This constant push by a few on Austin's mobility is getting tiresome. The guy is not a mid, but he's an around the box type striker who has shown he can score in the PL. He moved well enough to be our leading scorer last year even though he only played half the season, and he also scored 18 goals for QPR a few seasons ago (something non of our other strikers have done). He's not a pacey Long who can stretch the play, then again Long can't score like Austin. He is more like a Carrol, Pele, etc. So yes ok, get on him about pace when he has to get to far from the goal, but stop the agenda about making him sound like a plodding horse. He actually makes good runs and puts the ball on the net. Besides, where has all this wonderful pace gotten us? We still don't score, so what good is it. I want to see a 3 man front, with Austin in the middle and Gabbi and Long on the sides. This can be done in with a few different formations. If we don't score we don't win, period, no matter how "flashy" we look.

Long played ok, if he was a midfielder

Well we have accomplished looking better when we get shut out.

Don't care what formation he wants to run, he needs to get our best scorers out there.I'm all for getting more players attacking but they need to be the right ones. The only guys on this team who have showed this season, last season, and back farther that they can score consistently are Austin and Gabbi. Whatever formation we use needs to accommodate them, or else we will continue to score 0 goals.

Watford looks terrible. How did we not beat them? 3-0 after 37 minutes.

Crucial win for us. I thought defence played well and the attack did just enough.

My opinion is that we are really over rating out midfielders. We seem to think these guys are great. I don't think they are good attackers, and I think thats been proven. So we need to score or we don't win. I would like to see Gabbi and Austin together, whether its a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3, etc. If we can get Long in there too then great. A 4-3-3 with Long, Austin, Gabbi, or even a 4-4-2 with Long and Austin upfront, and Gabbi right behind them in the #10 spot. We need to get creative and we need to get the only guys who have proven they can score on the pitch. I also don't but this pace argument. What has having a good pace gotten us so far? If having Austin out there slows us down slight, but gets us a goal, then fine. Finally I think that one issue we have is with 1 striker upfront, with our current mid fielders, it puts no pressure on the defenders. They can push forward supporting the mids, and that creates issues for us in midfield. We have seen that now in at least 2 games. Having at least 2 upfront keeps the defenders honest at least.

Has anyone seen a video on our finishing practice for this week? I'm getting worried we won't do as well as last week if we don't practice again.