some will say its only pre season

Quoted from oldun

Yes because none of the midfield players got up top or into the area to support him. Also we were not able to play any natural wingers to provide more attacking options.

Whilst I would agree in part to your comment, the midfielders couldn't do much to the long balls lumped up to the poor lad who may be fast but doesn't look like he is strong enough to hold the ball up.

The loss of Toto's pace will be difficult to replace, but I'm surprised anybody is claiming Gowling is somehow slow? He's always been quite quick for a centre-half and his poor game on Saturday was just down to errors and not a lack of pace. I'm more concerned that Davies looked a bit leaden-footed and he's not going to be getting any quicker. He looks physically powerful, but I hope his positioning is up to the job or pacy players might find it easy to get in down the side. Andrew looked useful to me - quick, good in the air and with a nice, long throw.

That said, their tall No. 14 who scored their first goal caused both Gowling and Pearson all sorts of problems in the air and on the ground during the first half and his movement and hassling of the defence created all sorts of space for Sharp who just had too much quality for us. That sort of tall and athletic player is just the sort we need for our 'Plan B' this season but, if we can't get somebody big and quick, we at least need somebody big. Bogle just isn't capable of holding off strong defenders and isn't great at playing with his back to goal either. He needs to be facing the goal when he receives the ball.

As for the midfield, I'm hoping McAllister will work well as the holding player - Sheffield United's No. 4 was just better than him on Saturday but hopefully he won't encounter too many opponents as capable so will be able to be effective. Both Berret and Summerfield look to have some ability and a decent touch, but I don't think either is strong enough defensively to play together.

Hopefully, with a bit more time training together, we'll see the midfield become a bit more of a cohesive unit and we could certainly do with seeing a striker or two joining us before the season. Jackson a willing runner and hard worker, but we can't just whack it long for him unless there is space for him to run into.

I didn't actually think Chambers did too badly - hard-working and one or two decent passes but not much different than an average Arnold performance from last season. Obviously, Arnold on his day looks a better player, but those days didn't come too often. At least with Bolarinwa and Browne in the squad we have options on the wing this season.

Strikers soon, please Hursty!

Quoted from arryarryarry

Whilst I would agree in part to your comment, the midfielders couldn't do much to the long balls lumped up to the poor lad who may be fast but doesn't look like he is strong enough to hold the ball up.

True, but when he did have the ball he was isolated. Same happens to some extent when Bogle is on his own, although he is able to hold it up a bit better to give others the time to get there. Also I guess the midfielders had more defensive/ball winning work to do on Sat because of the opposition.
If we go 5 across the middle then 2 of them have to be wingers and they were not available on Sat. Another option, especially at home is to go 433 with Bogle, Jackson and Bolawinra in forward positions. We have to trust The Management to sort this out and get the players to adapt.

haven''t seen them yet so can',t give my opinion but what you say makes footballing sense. I'm just waiting for some encouragement before the season starts.

Quoted from Maringer

Bogle just isn't capable of holding off strong defenders and isn't great at playing with his back to goal either. He needs to be facing the goal when he receives the ball.

That is inaccurate. His strength is receiving the ball to feet with his back to goal. At the start of last season I lost count of the number of times he would receive the ball to feet with his back to goal. Turn the defender and set up a chance for himself or someone else. Later in the season as we started to hit the ball longer and longer he had less opportunities to do this.

The problem he has at the moment is the support around him, when he receives the ball he tends to be isolated. He  does need to learn how to hold the ball up better bring others into play without trying to do it all to him. Hitting long balls to him is also useless and I hope Hurst learned this lesson last season. I believe he can be developed to play the lone striker role quite well, he has most of the attributes, he needs to improve his aerial strength more though. as not every ball can be to feet.

We definitely need another striker. Something a bit different. Tom Pope would be ideal but perhaps a bit out of our reach?

Quoted from MarinerMal

That is inaccurate. His strength is receiving the ball to feet with his back to goal. At the start of last season I lost count of the number of times he would receive the ball to feet with his back to goal. Turn the defender and set up a chance for himself or someone else. Later in the season as we started to hit the ball longer and longer he had less opportunities to do this.

The problem he has at the moment is the support around him, when he receives the ball he tends to be isolated. He  does need to learn how to hold the ball up better bring others into play without trying to do it all to him. Hitting long balls to him is also useless and I hope Hurst learned this lesson last season. I believe he can be developed to play the lone striker role quite well, he has most of the attributes, he needs to improve his aerial strength more though. as not every ball can be to feet.

Unfortunately, I'm not convinced by the view he's good at receiving the ball into his feet. Just doesn't quite seem to have the touch to bring it under control when under pressure. On first viewing on Saturday, he did look to be a little bulkier than last season, so perhaps he'll have a bit more strength to help him in this (not that he was ever a weakling!), but it certainly isn't his forte.

Regardless, the question remains if we're going to be good enough at passing to play into the feet of the forwards at the moment. If not, the acquisition of a more physical presence up front becomes even more important.

I agree the pre- season is primarily about fitness and trying out tactics/formations. Results are not the be all and end all. Though winning more often than not is nice and builds up morale /confidence.

But what you want to see as you progress through pre-season is to see performances improve and see some chemistry developing  and ideally some positive results. Getting better game by game so you peak when the league action starts.

So far i have not seen this . Performances have been a bit disjointed and the lack of attacking options is becoming glaringly obvious. We have bought some potentially exciting players in Bolarinwa, Jackson, Browne, Vose, Chambers but none as well as Bogle have a proven record at this level. That does concern me. We need another 2 forwards who have experience of league football. Be them target men type strikers or a fox in the box type. Either way a proven record of being able to find the back of the net is a must. I fear a lack of goals could be our undoing.

I am not saying its panic time at all but we now have only 2 friendlies left to figure it all out. Because after that the real stuff begins and points are stake. Not time to be tinkering with line ups/tactics/formations etc and trying to figure out how to win games. Just saying.

Good post mate, I agree.

I have yet to see us play but I am not concerned with the results,

We won all pre season games last season,

Then started the league very slowly,

This season we have been beaten 3 times already,

So I am sure we will start the league season on fire.