I think we are crying out for another Hearn/Bogle type striker who can score goals out of nothing.In both cases neither player cost us a lot in cash terms and both at their peak where worth a lot of money to Town if sold. I was hoping Asante would fill this role and that`s still a remote possibility but we clearly need a striker with some pace who can hit the net with some regularity. Our current strikers are all much of a muchness and non will fill the opposition with fear Bogle last season regularly commanded the attention of 2-3 defenders which created space. This area surely must be priority for RS and Wilko?

Completely agree.

But Slade has signed JJ Hooper and Matt on top of what he knew he already had in Asante, Vernon and Sam Jones.

I don't see us signing another striker before Jan.

And even if he did, who makes way for the extra wages? Asante's out on loan but I doubt Solihull are covering his wages. Vernon?

Quoted from RichMariner

Completely agree.

But Slade has signed JJ Hooper and Matt on top of what he knew he already had in Asante, Vernon and Sam Jones.

I don't see us signing another striker before Jan.

And even if he did, who makes way for the extra wages? Asante's out on loan but I doubt Solihull are covering his wages. Vernon?

I know I hear you BUT we clearly need something of quality up top in addition to what we have it`s blindingly obvious.I would lose either/both of Hooper/Matt unless we see a dramatic improvement they are the type of player that got us relegated previously and for those two see Vernon he has contributed little in his time here. Mcallister I would pay off and if we are never going to play him Tombola also. RS needs to clear the decks what is the point in a 30 odd man squad when at least 8 of them never get a look in? His job is to assemble and manage the team/squad and a quarter of this squad never get played so they are draining the Club.

I noticed that Podge made it into the EFL team of the week. Just saying.

The thing is, it isn't very easy to find cheap strikers who can score 20+ goals a season. It's easier when you're in non-league because it's easier to score goals there. In the league? Not so much.

Every team is looking for a Hearn/Bogle that's the problem!

Makes you wonder what would have happened if we had nurtured and developed Andy Cook, far better than we what we currently have now and still only 26. ( Yes he was a bit fat)

Quoted from livosnose

Makes you wonder what would have happened if we had nurtured and developed Andy Cook, far better than we what we currently have now and still only 26. ( Yes he was a bit fat)

You forgot the word 'lazy'. I seem to recall that he admitted he wasn't fit enough after he left us?

We either need players who create lots of chances, in which case it doesn't matter if your strikers are not always lethal in front of goal. Or we need strikers with a high conversion ration of chances. Unfortunately, we seem to have neither! There are still players who have not been used much yet, and other things could be tried like Dembele could be given a spell up front. There are a few weeks before the transfer window, we might as well chance our arm with some new ideas to see if we stumble into something that works well. There have been plenty of teams where the sum of the parts is much bigger than the individual components. When I look at the current Town line-up it doesn't often resemble a tightly knit team. I don't think it ever has done since the promotion season, even the early PH games we were a work in progress. But it could do, and RS has managed to have good teams in the past, including his last time here

No chance with slade here.. his interviews with players would probably be... how far can you kick a ball  and how high

Quoted from RichMariner

But Slade has signed JJ Hooper and Matt on top of what he knew he already had in Asante, Vernon and Sam Jones.

And he signed Cardwell too.

The board get some stick, and for good reason. But in their defence, they have allowed the manager to bring in Matt, Hooper and Cardwell. We already had Asante, Vernon and you could say Sam Jones (although I prefer him behind the out and out centre forward).so we have plenty of numbers, probably one or even two too many strikers.

The problem is, Cardwell and due to not playing, Asante are something of unknown quantities. If they aren't better than Matt and Hooper, then we have problems as Matt and Hooper are both shite. We don't know the budget the manager has, but I'd have preferred to have added one striker and used the wages given to Cardwell, Matt and Hooper to pay for someone that has a clue where the net is.

I'd have thought we will be able to recall Asante if he hits the ground running and looks the business, maybe keep a close eye on him for the next month as hopefully he builds his fitness up. Let's hope so as the lad will want to start his FL career, he must be frustrated.

Quoted from 75

The board get some stick, and for good reason. But in their defence, they have allowed the manager to bring in Matt, Hooper and Cardwell. We already had Asante, Vernon and you could say Sam Jones (although I prefer him behind the out and out centre forward).so we have plenty of numbers, probably one or even two too many strikers.

The problem is, Cardwell and due to not playing, Asante are something of unknown quantities. If they aren't better than Matt and Hooper, then we have problems as Matt and Hooper are both shite. We don't know the budget the manager has, but I'd have preferred to have added one striker and used the wages given to Cardwell, Matt and Hooper to pay for someone that has a clue where the net is.

I'd have thought we will be able to recall Asante if he hits the ground running and looks the business, maybe keep a close eye on him for the next month as hopefully he builds his fitness up. Let's hope so as the lad will want to start his FL career, he must be frustrated.

Every manager keeps saying we need quality not quantity then proceeds to get in more and more players. I just don't get it. None of our strikers are remotely good enough, that is obvious. Jones would be better employed as an attacking midfielder. I would so much prefer it if we could have a substantially smaller squad of better quality players - just what is the point of having a squad of 30 or whatever it is were a good 10 of those will never get near the first team?

I hope Slade starts to put this right at the next available opportunity and can persuade Fenty to invest in a bit of quality in terms of wages.

Compared to the likes of Bogle and Podge for that matter I think the current crop is average at best, not sure about Hearn as he failed at EFL level but I get what the OP is saying.

In defence of them the service they have been getting does not help their cause as punting it up to them whilst bypassing the mid field will only get you so far and it has to be said none of them appear great in the air.

Decide on and stick to a style of play and you might get a better result. Would like to see Cardwell get a go though but doubt Slade would be brave enough to start him unless we have an injury crisis.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Every manager keeps saying we need quality not quantity then proceeds to get in more and more players. I just don't get it. None of our strikers are remotely good enough, that is obvious. Jones would be better employed as an attacking midfielder. I would so much prefer it if we could have a substantially smaller squad of better quality players - just what is the point of having a squad of 30 or whatever it is were a good 10 of those will never get near the first team?

I hope Slade starts to put this right at the next available opportunity and can persuade Fenty to invest in a bit of quality in terms of wages.

Do you think it will be him who gets to spend during the next pre season ?
He is on a clear target of achieving promotion isnt he ?  Fails and i dont think he will be here.
If he had a clean slate this time around, ie no existing players sat on contracts who we couldnt shift out for love or money then i think we may have seen a different strategy.

I'd like to see us experiment with combinations of Sam Jones, Dembele and Cardwell.

Jones and Dembele are both good at running at players with the ball but don't get given it to feet in the last third very often - if we played the two of them upfront then it would maybe remove the easy option for our defenders to just launch balls head high into the last third.

Cardwell is a big lad and also very quick, in the limited amount of time I've seen him play I thought he showed some promise, i'd like to see him start making a sustained run of appearances from the bench if Jones and Dembele doesn't work out.

I suspect none of the above will happen though as Slade seems to base everything on "staying in the game" and hoping to get lucky by getting a flick on from the big man. Playing a big man upfront is great if wingers/full backs are regularly getting to the bye-line and putting in crosses but that's just not happening either.

Really the posts on here get more bizarre by the day.

Do you think RS and PW are deliberately trying to sign strikers who can't score 20 goals in a season?

There is no such thing as a cast iron guarantee in football and especially in strikers.  Right now Harry Kane is being touted as no3 striker in the world but a year ago he was in a goal drought and questions being asked.

RS has a few options:

1.  Sign a player banging them in in lower league.  Great in theory but chances are there's a dozen or more clubs watching that player, and why would they choose a mid table L2 team?  Ironically we were maybe better placed to sign these players when we were in non league challenging for promotion.  We could get a player from the tier below who would see us as a step up, a chance of promotion and being in the shop window for the next move.  Now it's a big gamble to take a player from the 6th tier to L2 and one doing well in 5th tier will set their sights higher than us.

2. Sign a player who didn't quite make it at a higher level.  Again, a risk.  It might come off but it might not.  

3. Sign a promising youngster on loan from a bigger club.  Same as for no2.

4. Bring someone from youths.  Same as for no2.

5. Sign someone doing well in L2.  Why would they join us if doing well already in L2?

Over the years we have had some success with all these options but every club is looking for the same bit of alchemy.  

In any case, who is to say that none of the strikers currently on the books won't be that 20 goal striker.  Strikers rarely hit the ground running and we may yet see one or more of them come good.

Quoted from Maringer

The thing is, it isn't very easy to find cheap strikers who can score 20+ goals a season. It's easier when you're in non-league because it's easier to score goals there. In the league? Not so much.

Could have got Amond easily

Quoted from Garth

Could have got Amond easily

Yes, agree. If Newport can sign him, I'm sure we could have. He probably is on a decent wage, the reason he left us. But we're paying six centre forwards a wage, none of them are anywhere near as good as Amond. But Amond isn't six foot plus, but let's just say he doesn't fit Russ's player profile.

Quoted from livosnose

Makes you wonder what would have happened if we had nurtured and developed Andy Cook, far better than we what we currently have now and still only 26. ( Yes he was a bit fat)

The same Andy Cook that's scored 4 this season in the National League in a side that has only managed 11 goals in 15 games with him being their main striker? No thanks.

Quoted from Roast Em Bobby

I'd like to see us experiment with combinations of Sam Jones, Dembele and Cardwell.

Jones and Dembele are both good at running at players with the ball but don't get given it to feet in the last third very often - if we played the two of them upfront then it would maybe remove the easy option for our defenders to just launch balls head high into the last third.

Cardwell is a big lad and also very quick, in the limited amount of time I've seen him play I thought he showed some promise, i'd like to see him start making a sustained run of appearances from the bench if Jones and Dembele doesn't work out.

I suspect none of the above will happen though as Slade seems to base everything on "staying in the game" and hoping to get lucky by getting a flick on from the big man. Playing a big man upfront is great if wingers/full backs are regularly getting to the bye-line and putting in crosses but that's just not happening either.

If he's determined to play wingers (or players who are supposed to be wingers" then we need a "clever" player who can drop off at the right time in the box, none of ours currently fit the bill

Well we seem to have scored some goals today :-)

Strikers haven’t

Why do we need a Hearn or Bogle when we have a Dembele  8)

Quoted from grimsby pete

Why do we need a Hearn or Bogle when we have a Dembele  8)

Hopefully Pete you are right he got his first ala Hearn and he is off and running long may it continue ;D Great 3 points at Cheltenham a team who seem to have had our number for a while and seeing that twit Pell`s celebration makes it all the sweeter.UTM

Did Pell give the Town fans "the big in" again ?

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Did Pell give the Town fans "the big in" again ?

Did the ear cupping thing. Notice he has the full sleeve tattoo like a 'proper' footballer. twit!

I read somewhere that his best friend is John-Joe Shelvy peas in a pod them two I reckon.

Don’t wish injury on any player but I was secretly delighted when he was decked by one of our players last night and was then later subbed. I think he has scored against us for Cheltenham every time since he left us. He would have been useful to them in the dying moments of last nights game.

Though I also don't  wish to see any player injured the only issue I have with Pell getting clattered is that it's 3 games over due.