PH wants big physical striker

[url]http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/Paul-Hurst-waiting-calls-Grimsby-Town-striking/story-22944665-detail/story.html[/url]

So paul describes he wants a physical striker I presume so he can serve up his hurstball but we played so well on Tuesday apparantley and maybe because we couldn't lump it forward.

i know we are light up front but why is he obsessed with having to have a big striker , it just tempts the longball and we seem to play so much better when we don't have that option.

I'd guess tounkara then

Keep it on the deck, we play better. Fact.

Yeah did anyone really think he'll bring anyone in who different to this??? PH history of signing s prove he has wet dreams over big forwards!!!!

Quoted from jonnyboy82

[url]http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/Paul-Hurst-waiting-calls-Grimsby-Town-striking/story-22944665-detail/story.html[/url]

So paul describes he wants a physical striker I presume so he can serve up his hurstball but we played so well on Tuesday apparantley and maybe because we couldn't lump it forward.

i know we are light up front but why is he obsessed with having to have a big striker , it just tempts the longball and we seem to play so much better when we don't have that option.

Why this has been red crossed is beyond me? Another excuse for the defenders to lump it to Lennie/whoever and bypass the midfield.

Well I do think a physical forward has a place in this league.  There is a defensive value too, from opposition corners etc.,LJL always useful here for example.  I'd give Tonk a chance, but I wouldn't call him "physical" in the true sense, but certainly stronger than any of our available front line if LJL and JPP out

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Why this has been red crossed is beyond me? Another excuse for the defenders to lump it to Lennie/whoever and bypass the midfield.

Just some keyboard warrior  

Michael Gash would be ideal - good size, strong, can hold it up well and can finish! Seems ideal but doubt Kiddy will let him go!

Reading the telegraph report just sounds like a bloody shambles.

Someone asked on another thread, if PH has learnt anything from Tuesday night.  I think if this story is correct and no mis-quotes, then the answer is a big fat NO!

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Why this has been red crossed is beyond me? Another excuse for the defenders to lump it to Lennie/whoever and bypass the midfield.

Red crossed by PH ?

After a few seasons watching Conference football, a couple of things occur to me:

1. The referees don't tend to be very good and often allow all sorts of manhandling of the forwards by defenders.
2. The defenders in this division tend to be big and brutish.

The quotes from Hurst in the GET article show nothing but common sense. Have people even bothered to read it? It's like there is a disconnect with reality and this board sometimes.

Saying it would be useful if we had a striker with strength to hold up the ball is sensible. Saying it would be helpful to have a striker who can win some headers at times is sensible.

Somehow, these comments seem to have been conflated into the theory that we are going to play route one every game when we get a new striker in, which is clearly utter nonsense!

He doesn't even mention getting a tall player in, just somebody with some physicality and the comments from the Halifax game were that we needed a bit more strength up front, so what the heck is wrong with Hurst's comments in the GET?

The mind really boggles sometimes.

Quoted from Maringer

After a few seasons watching Conference football, a couple of things occur to me:

1. The referees don't tend to be very good and often allow all sorts of manhandling of the forwards by defenders.
2. The defenders in this division tend to be big and brutish.

The quotes from Hurst in the GET article show nothing but common sense. Have people even bothered to read it? It's like there is a disconnect with reality and this board sometimes.

Saying it would be useful if we had a striker with strength to hold up the ball is sensible. Saying it would be helpful to have a striker who can win some headers at times is sensible.

Somehow, these comments seem to have been conflated into the theory that we are going to play route one every game when we get a new striker in, which is clearly utter nonsense!

He doesn't even mention getting a tall player in, just somebody with some physicality and the comments from the Halifax game were that we needed a bit more strength up front, so what the heck is wrong with Hurst's comments in the GET?

The mind really boggles sometimes.

Hi paul.

Quoted from Mighty_Mariner

Michael Gash would be ideal - good size, strong, can hold it up well and can finish! Seems ideal but doubt Kiddy will let him go!

Of course they will but not for Saturdays game he is just what we want and Kiddy will want the money, he is out of favour with their manager it seems, oh hang on we want a freebie don`t we?

Quoted from Maringer

After a few seasons watching Conference football, a couple of things occur to me:

1. The referees don't tend to be very good and often allow all sorts of manhandling of the forwards by defenders.
2. The defenders in this division tend to be big and brutish.

The quotes from Hurst in the GET article show nothing but common sense. Have people even bothered to read it? It's like there is a disconnect with reality and this board sometimes.

Saying it would be useful if we had a striker with strength to hold up the ball is sensible. Saying it would be helpful to have a striker who can win some headers at times is sensible.

Somehow, these comments seem to have been conflated into the theory that we are going to play route one every game when we get a new striker in, which is clearly utter nonsense!

He doesn't even mention getting a tall player in, just somebody with some physicality and the comments from the Halifax game were that we needed a bit more strength up front, so what the heck is wrong with Hurst's comments in the GET?

The mind really boggles sometimes.

He does make comment on Hannah's weakness in the air and although he praises Pittman for his abilities you only need to read between the lines to see what he really wants is a LJL clone. PH is traditional - big lad to lead the line plus nippy lad up front for the flick ons. Nothing wrong with that as long as the passing is good and accurate. Trouble is that your LJL type does encourage defenders to launch it up there in the hope he can turn a hopeful punt into a good ball and we seem to breed defenders who don't need much encouragement to do that.

Quoted from jonnyboy82

Hi paul.

Embarrassing.

Quoted from Maringer

After a few seasons watching Conference football, a couple of things occur to me:

1. The referees don't tend to be very good and often allow all sorts of manhandling of the forwards by defenders.
2. The defenders in this division tend to be big and brutish.

The quotes from Hurst in the GET article show nothing but common sense. Have people even bothered to read it? It's like there is a disconnect with reality and this board sometimes.

Saying it would be useful if we had a striker with strength to hold up the ball is sensible. Saying it would be helpful to have a striker who can win some headers at times is sensible.

Somehow, these comments seem to have been conflated into the theory that we are going to play route one every game when we get a new striker in, which is clearly utter nonsense!

He doesn't even mention getting a tall player in, just somebody with some physicality and the comments from the Halifax game were that we needed a bit more strength up front, so what the heck is wrong with Hurst's comments in the GET?

The mind really boggles sometimes.

I agree with you on this one, in this league you do need a strong person up front,

He does not have to be 6ft 3in but able to withstand a battering from the thugs that call themselves defenders,

Not that our defenders are thugs mind you.

My advice to PH for Saturday (assuming he can't get his physical striker, and he's having problems there according to GET) is:

Play Toto up front, and tell Hannah to stay close to him and onside (Pearson & Magnay CBs). Tell the fullbacks (Walker & Winfarrah)
to launch it up to him as soon as they get inside the opponent's half (this stops them being caught too far forward out of position) and
instruct Nielson to get to the edge of the box to knock in the weak defensive headers which will drop there periodically.

I estimate this will yield 3 goals which ought to win us the game.

B*gger the fans' desire to see the ball passed around on the deck - this works best with with a pressing game which our players
seem unable to achieve consistently (top players are athletes with footballing skills; our players are footballers with varying amounts
of athleticism). It may not be pretty but if it gets 3 points...

Quoted from 137

My advice to PH for Saturday (assuming he can't get his physical striker, and he's having problems there according to GET) is:

Play Toto up front, and tell Hannah to stay close to him and onside (Pearson & Magnay CBs). Tell the fullbacks (Walker & Winfarrah)
to launch it up to him as soon as they get inside the opponent's half (this stops them being caught too far forward out of position) and
instruct Nielson to get to the edge of the box to knock in the weak defensive headers which will drop there periodically.

I estimate this will yield 3 goals which ought to win us the game.

B*gger the fans' desire to see the ball passed around on the deck - this works best with with a pressing game which our players
seem unable to achieve consistently (top players are athletes with footballing skills; our players are footballers with varying amounts
of athleticism). It may not be pretty but if it gets 3 points...

no. sorry but just No

Size doesn't matter it's technique that's important  

Quoted from grimsby pete

I agree with you on this one, in this league you do need a strong person up front,

He does not have to be 6ft 3in but able to withstand a battering from the thugs that call themselves defenders,

Not that our defenders are thugs mind you.

Pearson isn't a thug, but he could certainly take up wrestling if his footballing career doesn't work out! I'm always amazed that we don't concede more penalties at corners from his endless grappling. I know everyone seems to be at it these days, but surely the referees are going to begin do something about it at some point?

Pittman did reasonably well up front on his own because he is strong and compact and had a good leap so he could manage to win some headers. If not a big targetman, we certainly need somebody with this sort of strength who can cope with the buffeting from the meaty defenders in the Conference.

Wouldent mind Enoch Showunmi in.Know Lincoln are interested but would be a good signing in my opinion bearing in mind what I have heard about him  

I rate Adam Cunnington, what's he up to?

not realy bothered if we get a big target man,, the rewal issue here is.. can he hit the back of the net instead of the score board/ corner flag

Quoted from 75

I rate Adam Cunnington, what's he up to?

On loan at Bristol Rovers

Rovers eh? How about Akinwenwa? The ultimate man mountain.

"In general, it would be best if there is an element of physicality to the striker,"

I personally don't see how this really translates to some of the statements made.

We need a striker who can hold it up no doubt, probably get shot down for this but someone in the mould of Lee Trundle (when he was decent)  doesn't have to be tall, just intelligent with a bit of strength about him.

Quoted from 75

Rovers eh? How about Akinwenwa? The ultimate man mountain.

Paul hurst`s wet dream.

I don't know what the fuss is about - we do need the option of a strong striker that can hold the ball up.
I enjoyed Tues night and we played some great football but in every game defenders have no option but to 'get rid' from time to time and pump the ball away. On Tuesday we were unable to hold it up with Ross (Who played his part and showed great effort) so the ball came back with Halifax on the ball.
The other point is that LJL is useful in our own box to mark a tall player (and there are plenty of them in the Conference) at Free kicks and corners.  I'm sure that's what is in Paul's mind.
It doesn't mean that we still can't play most of our football on the deck.

Quoted from jonnyboy82

[url]http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/Paul-Hurst-waiting-calls-Grimsby-Town-striking/story-22944665-detail/story.html[/url]

So paul describes he wants a physical striker I presume so he can serve up his hurstball but we played so well on Tuesday apparantley and maybe because we couldn't lump it forward.

i know we are light up front but why is he obsessed with having to have a big striker , it just tempts the longball and we seem to play so much better when we don't have that option.

You could work for the daily mail or the sun.

Hurst is saying that we need a striker in with a bit of presence about him. At Halifax we played some awesome stuff. Especially first half. Best I have seen in a while, but lacked a little up top as Hannahs link play and aerial ability wasn't good enough. If we want to play 433/451 then we need another option than Hannah so getting someone in who offers something different to him makes sense doesn't it?

What is the problem with this?

Quoted from 3610

You could work for the daily mail or the sun.

Hurst is saying that we need a striker in with a bit of presence about him. At Halifax we played some awesome stuff. Especially first half. Best I have seen in a while, but lacked a little up top as Hannahs link play and aerial ability wasn't good enough. If we want to play 433/451 then we need another option than Hannah so getting someone in who offers something different to him makes sense doesn't it?

What is the problem with this?

That's fair enough. The only problem I can see is that the big lumps that appeal to PH for size, strength and work rate are incapable of hitting a barn door with a shot and if they do happen to have a fair goal record they seem to leave it behind at their previous club.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Why this has been red crossed is beyond me? Another excuse for the defenders to lump it to Lennie/whoever and bypass the midfield.

Maybe it was for the spelling

The people who criticize the ( obvious ) suggestion that teams need a physical presence up front will also be the first to criticize when we get don't have a big physical presence up front if we don't win.

Let's all get a fantasy conference team together based on the principle that majority vote wins so that all posters get to choose the players. A shadow town team chosen by a show of hands and then see if that performs better than the one that PH, in charge, picks.

I doubt it and there'll be sandwich trays flying early on

John Grant
Enoch Showumni
Danny Webber
Justin Richards

Big physical doesn't necessarily mean hoof, but I hope whoever ends up signing isn't another Damian Spencer or Michael Rankine.

Quoted from GrimRob

Size doesn't matter it's technique that's important  

Take no notice of her, she says that to everyone

With Gash and Neilson we'd be bankrupt by the pie bill. UTM

Posters on here that I have a lot of time for in their reports back from Halifax talked about the lack of presence that Hannah had on his own up front. It seems eminently sensible to get someone in who can use his upper body strength to hold on to the ball and provide the service Hannah needs....

Pittman is strong especially upper body, much better than Hannah in that respect, so strong does not necessarily mean a 6 foot 6ins target man. Liam Hearn too was strong, could win the ball and look after it.

No problem with a big striker as long as he can play a bit and score a few. Gash would be ideal.


Problem is that Hurst seems to sign huge muscle bound battering rams with no technique like Spencer, Rankine or Pearson.

Perhaps Hurst likes big players because he himself is Hobbit size.  

Spencer and Rankine were big lumps, but Pearson wasn't. He was very mobile and scored 18 for Burton in their promotion season and 14 the following year. I remember him giving us a chasing in the terrible relegation game at Burton - not difficult with that defence, admittedly, but he was still a decent player at his best.

Truth be told, I was surprised how disappointing he was for us, but I recall he had fitness problems from the start and it seems he has never got back to his best form. Probably down to injuries.

If Gash is available then I can not understand why we have not signed him already,

Unless he does not want to come to sunny Cleethorpes.

Quoted from Maringer

Spencer and Rankine were big lumps, but Pearson wasn't. He was very mobile and scored 18 for Burton in their promotion season and 14 the following year. I remember him giving us a chasing in the terrible relegation game at Burton - not difficult with that defence, admittedly, but he was still a decent player at his best.

Truth be told, I was surprised how disappointing he was for us, but I recall he had fitness problems from the start and it seems he has never got back to his best form. Probably down to injuries.

So he was another striker with a good scoring record elsewhere that was bottom when he played for us. Says something about the management here then/the approach his team takes.

Quoted from 137

My advice to PH for Saturday (assuming he can't get his physical striker, and he's having problems there according to GET) is:

Play Toto up front, and tell Hannah to stay close to him and onside (Pearson & Magnay CBs). Tell the fullbacks (Walker & Winfarrah)
to launch it up to him as soon as they get inside the opponent's half (this stops them being caught too far forward out of position) and
instruct Nielson to get to the edge of the box to knock in the weak defensive headers which will drop there periodically.

I estimate this will yield 3 goals which ought to win us the game.

B*gger the fans' desire to see the ball passed around on the deck - this works best with with a pressing game which our players
seem unable to achieve consistently (top players are athletes with footballing skills; our players are footballers with varying amounts
of athleticism). It may not be pretty but if it gets 3 points...

Well thanks for that Sir Alec. It's a shame you've retired because we could really do with you at Grimsby.

Quoted from Maringer

After a few seasons watching Conference football, a couple of things occur to me:

1. The referees don't tend to be very good and often allow all sorts of manhandling of the forwards by defenders.
2. The defenders in this division tend to be big and brutish.

The quotes from Hurst in the GET article show nothing but common sense. Have people even bothered to read it? It's like there is a disconnect with reality and this board sometimes.

Saying it would be useful if we had a striker with strength to hold up the ball is sensible. Saying it would be helpful to have a striker who can win some headers at times is sensible.

Somehow, these comments seem to have been conflated into the theory that we are going to play route one every game when we get a new striker in, which is clearly utter nonsense!

He doesn't even mention getting a tall player in, just somebody with some physicality and the comments from the Halifax game were that we needed a bit more strength up front, so what the heck is wrong with Hurst's comments in the GET?

The mind really boggles sometimes.

He doesn't mention getting a striker who knows where the net is either.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

So he was another striker with a good scoring record elsewhere that was bottom when he played for us. Says something about the management here then/the approach his team takes.

He had a decent goalscoring record three years before he joined us. The two seasons before he joined, he didn't score many at all. Is that Hurst's fault as well, then?

Wow, Hurst is such a bad manager that he stops strikers scoring goals two years before they join us.  

Quoted from KingstonMariner

He doesn't mention getting a striker who knows where the net is either.

He doesn't mention getting a striker who doesn't know where the net is either.

Now, which sort of striker do you think he is trying to sign? One who can score goals or one who can't?

"In general, it would be best if there is an element of physicality to the striker," said Hurst, outlining his ideal targets.


"In general, it would be best if there is an element of physicality goal scoring to the striker," said Hurst TAGG, outlining his ideal targets.

Quoted from TAGG

"In general, it would be best if there is an element of physicality to the striker," said Hurst, outlining his ideal targets.


"In general, it would be best if there is an element of physicality goal scoring to the striker," said Hurst TAGG, outlining his ideal targets.