[Doughnut]

bonnyman, on Aug 11 2008, 09:08 PM, said:

steve fletcher is an honest pro and an allround good bloke,but he certainly wasnt quality,he was past it,his legs had gone and he hardly scored any goals,he was absolutely useless if we broke fast from a set piece,slower than a bransons bus and playing him meant ward played out left in some games when he is an out and out striker,id like to know how many of lesters goals were from fletchs assists,id guess it would be a small percentage


if pace and guile isnt working you are probably getting beat by a better side

Surely then if your pace and guile plan isn't working you need to try a different plan?

What about the target man in this instance? It may work, it may not, but there is little point in maintaining the same tactics which are clearly not working.

[Goku]

bonnyman, on Aug 11 2008, 09:08 PM, said:

steve fletcher is an honest pro and an allround good bloke,but he certainly wasnt quality,he was past it,his legs had gone and he hardly scored any goals,he was absolutely useless if we broke fast from a set piece,slower than a bransons bus and playing him meant ward played out left in some games when he is an out and out striker,id like to know how many of lesters goals were from fletchs assists,id guess it would be a small percentage

So what? Fletcher drags defenders out of position, he was often double-marked, and that exploits a gap. Just because he didn't get the last touch fto set up a goal, doesn't mean he was any less important that the final touch.

bonnyman, on Aug 11 2008 09:08PM, said:

if pace and guile isnt working you are probably getting beat by a better side

Ah, so let's keep playing exactly the same way, and let Rico get hammered for having no "Plan B".

[Bonnyman]

Haslandboi, on Aug 11 2008, 11:17 PM, said:

So what? Fletcher drags defenders out of position, he was often double-marked, and that exploits a gap. Just because he didn't get the last touch fto set up a goal, doesn't mean he was any less important that the final touch.



Ah, so let's keep playing exactly the same way, and let Rico get hammered for having no "Plan B".

if a plan b consists solely of chucking a big felow up front and pumping the ball up to him then god help us,i sincerly hope the manager,who i hasten to add managed like the novice that he was at certain times last season has more ideas than that this year,how many decent sides resort to chucking on a big fellow?.....we certainly need another forward for sure but i am convinced a big galloot is not the answer...only time will tell

[Wooden Spoon]

h again, on Aug 11 2008, 10:17 PM, said:

I have to agree with death on this one. Any team can negate the threat of two small strikers by basically shutting up shop. They probably won't present anything much in the way of goal threat themselves, but they'll take a draw with the chance of a lucky breakaway - how many times did we see it at Saltergate last sesason?
If the defence is packed with bodies, then the only route left is over the top to a big striker. It's an option we desperately need, otherwise I can see a repeat of last season where we play teams off the park away from home but fail to break deep defences down at Saltergate. And we MUST win more at home to get the crowds and the money in.

[Bugerov]

death, on Aug 12 2008, 12:20 AM, said:

Looks like you got one right too!

[Wooden Spoon]

Bugerov, on Aug 12 2008, 12:25 AM, said:

Looks like you got one right too!

I am deeply honoured to recieve the Court Jesters seal of approval

[h again]

bonnyman, on Aug 12 2008, 12:12 AM, said:

if a plan b consists solely of chucking a big felow up front and pumping the ball up to him then god help us,i sincerly hope the manager,who i hasten to add managed like the novice that he was at certain times last season has more ideas than that this year,how many decent sides resort to chucking on a big fellow?.....we certainly need another forward for sure but i am convinced a big galloot is not the answer...only time will tell

I shouldn't get too uptight about Plans a,b,c etc. Football's basically a simple game - if a team's managed to cut out the threat of the opposition playing on the ground by putting too many bodies in the way, then the only other way is to play the ball in the air where the bodies aren't. And to do that you need a big bloke and at least one specialist winger.
I can't see why you have a problem with tall strikers - it takes just as much skill to find the head of a striker with a pinpoint cross as it does to thread the perfect through ball. Lumping it out of defence and having a chance to hang onto it instead of it coming straight back is just a bonus - but at our level very often a match-winning one.