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Worst case scenario planning: If SRL suffers a serious injury.

Giordano

By Giordano
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Giordano

Giordano

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Posted (edited)

Was just thinking if MP has done this exercise.

 

Imagine Rickie breaks down with something serious and cannot play for six months. What do you do?

 

At present we do seem very lightweight up front. Surely we cannot go into a new season with essentially three forwards - SRL. Jrod and Mayuka plus a couple who don't even train with the main squad as emergency cover ( ie Lee and Sharp)?

 

The only way I can see us planning for that in the absence of a new recruit is by flooding the pitch with midfielders a la Barcelona. A rickie-less line up might have standard back four plus Jrod as the striker surrounded by a midfield perm 5 from these 6 : AL, Cork, Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Ramirez and Puncheon?

Edited by Giordano
Giordano

Giordano

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Of course - my apologies. Guly is a like for like in terms of size and strength plus he can run faster. Not as good in the air though or at shooting I'd say. But would put a shift in at cf if asked in emergency im sure and he can hold the ball up.

The9

The9

Posted
Posted

Presumably (without signing anyone else), we play with Mayuka up top and reap the benefits of Gaston having someone to pass to.

 

Or we could use Rodriguez there - he's no kind of target man, but as the gameplan involves busting a gut to close down in the attacking third and rapidly transition the ball to players in scoring positions when the opposition is still out of position, you'd have to expect a hard-working and pacy runner in behind to have obvious benefits.

Window Cleaner

Window Cleaner

Posted
Posted
Wasn't he the same last pre-season?

 

Probably, don't remember, didn't see a lot of last pre-season, seen 3 games this time round. I know Adkins dropped him for the openning game though, that seemed to spark him into life when he came on against Citeh. Got the impression that SRL needs a bit of a kick up the ass from time to time.

Chez

Chez

Posted
Posted
Sad to say, but I don't think losing Lambert would actually be our worst case scenario any more.

 

I really hope we don't get to test this theory.

ant

ant

Posted
Posted
This happened to me in Football Manager. I played Ramirez false 9. He was mustard!

 

That's the ticket. Not ideal but workable.

 

Signing a striker is my only 'wish' before the end of the window. While I'd love for Mayuka to step up, it seems a bit risky to rely on it.

Appy

Appy

Posted
Posted
SRL getting a serious injury wouldn't worry me a jot. We might even score more goals; He's had a very average pre-season.

 

He's pish every Pre-Season to be fair, don't think he scored one in the Pre-Season before we got promoted from the Championship.

Horley CTFC Saint

Horley CTFC Saint

Posted
Posted
Was just thinking if MP has done this exercise.

 

Imagine Rickie breaks down with something serious and cannot play for six months. What do you do?

 

At present we do seem very lightweight up front. Surely we cannot go into a new season with essentially three forwards - SRL. Jrod and Mayuka plus a couple who don't even train with the main squad as emergency cover ( ie Lee and Sharp)?

 

The only way I can see us planning for that in the absence of a new recruit is by flooding the pitch with midfielders a la Barcelona. A rickie-less line up might have standard back four plus Jrod as the striker surrounded by a midfield perm 5 from these 6 : AL, Cork, Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Ramirez and Puncheon?

Loan him out to Pompey? Should still get a game that way

Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Posted
Posted

I'd be happy enough with JRod playing off the last man and Gaston in the hole for now. It's all a bit pointless debating this at the moment, we will sign another striker this month and he would probably displace Rickie as first choice striker anyway.

Joensuu

Joensuu

Posted
Posted
Clearly we are in the market for a new striker.

 

This.

 

Until the transfer window shuts and proves me wrong, I'm confident that we will sign another forward. I'm sure we have lined up a few 'second-choices' if we can't land one of our first picks. And I'm sure there are probably some 'worst-case' options to back them up.

 

We might well play the first few games without making any further additions, but I'd be surprised if we let the window close without bringing in the best player we can convince to join us.

studentsaint

studentsaint

Posted
Posted

IMO its ridiculous to undermine Lamberts importance to our team. Ever since e has been here he has been the most prominent reason for our success. Last season people wrote him off and he proed them wrong. A team without rickie lambert, unless replaced with a quality striker, is significantly weaker. He has got us out of the brown stuff many a time. Plus, he shouldnt be judged on pre season form, he is working on fitness and always turns it on when it matters. I dot believe we have any other attacking player that can do that. Howeer I agree with the OP that a striker is needed but we still have a month to get our primary target, rather than worrying and going for a weaker option just because we hae entered august.

wild-saint

wild-saint

Posted
Posted

i really donth think it matters. reading this forum it seems a fair few think he is immobile, a plodder, past it, average, too old etc etc.

 

personally i think the man is mustard and will yet again show the watching football world that writing off sir rickie is just plain stupid. i kind of hope we dont sign an expensive striker with a view to easing him out of the team as i love watching him play football

s0108787

s0108787

Posted
Posted
i really donth think it matters. reading this forum it seems a fair few think he is immobile, a plodder, past it, average, too old etc etc.

 

personally i think the man is mustard and will yet again show the watching football world that writing off sir rickie is just plain stupid. i kind of hope we dont sign an expensive striker with a view to easing him out of the team as i love watching him play football

 

This.

Cabrone

Cabrone

Posted
Posted

Not sure how it works with registering the squad but if we don't end up getting another striker I'd bring Billy Sharp into the squad.

 

He might not be quite prem standard but he does know where the goal is and would be well capable of doing a useful backup job for us. I'm sure he'd get a few goals too.

 

Hopefully we'll get someone as it's looking as threadbare up front as it was in defence+goal this time last season.

s0108787

s0108787

Posted
Posted
i really donth think it matters. reading this forum it seems a fair few think he is immobile, a plodder, past it, average, too old etc etc.

 

personally i think the man is mustard and will yet again show the watching football world that writing off sir rickie is just plain stupid. i kind of hope we dont sign an expensive striker with a view to easing him out of the team as i love watching him play football

 

This.

sotonjoe

sotonjoe

Posted
Posted

Rickie is expected to play second fiddle next season. Jay is expected to do great things and the new man will be our talisman. All this from a good source.

Rebel

Rebel

Posted
Posted

Rickie is more of a second striker than a centre forward anyway - he's better with someone playing in front of him so he can drop deep or go wide to pick up the ball and make the play.

 

Lambert's best games were always those when he had Connolly, Barnard or Sharp playing in front if him so he could find the space in he hole for the shot, drift to he back post for the header or make the killer through pass for the assist.

 

If we don't sign mother striker I'd expect us to start this season with Rodriguez leading the line in a 4-2-3-1 using his pace and movement across the front - with Ramirez in the hole flanked by Lallana and Puncheon - or as the central striker in a 4-3-3 with Ramirez and Lallana alongside him and Cork as the holding midfielder with Morgan and Wanyama pressing and driving forward.

 

Lambert will be our Plan B when we need to go more direct or use the long ball - using him as the second striker to recieve the ball from the back and link the play

EBS1980

EBS1980

Posted
Posted

People just need to relax! We will sign a new forward before the window shuts.

 

The situation we find ourselves in is that we are trying to sign players for which we may not be their first choice. Would u rather we just lower our targets and settle for someone not as good? If we buy too early we may then miss out on someone else who may become available later in the window because their club has signed someone else.

 

We aren't Man U or City or Chelsea where if they want someone 99% of the time they get them.

 

If Rooney goes to Chelsea then perhaps Torres Ba or Lukaku will be available. I'd take any of them but right now they aren't available. This is why so many deals happen right at the end of the window

SNSUN

SNSUN

Posted
Posted
Clearly we are in the market for a new striker.
This. I don't for a second think we'll see the window shut on the 3rd September without another striker in the ranks and I'd quite happily put money on that. This is now a well run club that would not make a silly error like that, and looking at our aim of signing Damiao shows that we're interested in bringing another striker in.

 

All the bedwetting about the striker situation is premature. We still have a couple of weeks before the season starts and a whole month before the window closes - as it stands we're fine for what we have, so even if we start the season with the current crop of strikers it won't be the end of the world.

 

As per the OP's question, if Rickie got injured tomorrow, we'd still have JRod, Mayuka wouldn't be sent on loan, and Guly can play up top too. Worst case scenario we chuck someone like Jake Sinclair in there. If he DID get injured tomorrow though, I would expect we'd very swiftly pull a loan striker or quick transfer out of the hat.

 

The time to panic over the OP's question is if it happens on the 4th September AND we didn't bring anyone else in. Then you can worry. I can't see that happening though. My thoughts on it are that football fans love a transfer in general, and as Wanyama signed quite some time ago, that we're all craving another.

saint si

saint si

Posted
Posted
Sad to say, but I don't think losing Lambert would actually be our worst case scenario any more.

 

Perhaps losing the new bus over a cliff on the way to WBA? Should have signed a better driver in july FFS.

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