Goal stats

We’ve scored 30 goals in our 12 matches this season (2.5 per game).

We only scored once in our opening 2 matches so the last 10 matches have seen us score 29 goals (2.9 per game).

We’ve had 14 different goal scorers so far:
Efete, Waterfall, Longe-King, Revan, Hunt, Coke, Fox, Clifton, Sousa, Bapaga, Wright, McAtee, Taylor & John-Lewis.

We’ve been awarded 7 penalties in 12 matches. We’ve scored 4 and missed 3.

That is bloody good going

We need a bit of practice on taking penalties 😉

I don’t think I can remember us scoring so freely then again we’ve not looked this confident for years, correlates that I reckon.

I also noticed we hit the back of the net more in the warm up too.

Quoted from GollyGTFC

We’ve scored 30 goals in our 12 matches this season (2.5 per game).

We only scored once in our opening 2 matches so the last 10 matches have seen us score 29 goals (2.9 per game).

We’ve had 14 different goal scorers so far:
Efete, Waterfall, Longe-King, Revan, Hunt, Coke, Fox, Clifton, Sousa, Bapaga, Wright, McAtee, Taylor & John-Lewis.

We’ve been awarded 7 penalties in 12 matches. We’ve scored 4 and missed 3.

Impressive.

Weve had two pens in one match 3 times

Quoted from KingstonMariner

We need a bit of practice on taking penalties 😉

Exactly this. Dress it up/ cover it up with other stats....but Its a  pretty p1ss poor return on something that could deliver 3 points/ clinch a win.
Marginal gains and all that.

You could say we are England class at penalties.

BUT

Better than Brazil at scoring goals.  

Quoted from moosey_club

Exactly this. Dress it up/ cover it up with other stats....but Its a  pretty p1ss poor return on something that could deliver 3 points/ clinch a win.
Marginal gains and all that.

i mentioned this a couple of weeks ago and got shot down in flames. It's something that needs addressing coz it is going to cost us at some stage later on

i think this is the strongest SQUAD we had for many a year

Is it twelve games and thirteen different goal scorers?

I’m not sure I can remember a time supporting Town where we had a team/squad with so many goal threats, plus such a balanced centre midfield, and quality set piece delivery! Kerr’s team that won Div 3 in 80/81 had plenty of players who scored regularly and some of Buckley’s too, but I feel very fortunate to be seeing that again because it’s rare and we’ve endured an awful lot of the opposite. There’ll be some Town fans who have maybe never seen anything like a GTFC squad with this amount of depth and quality so they must be buzzing!

We can field an outfield 10 who have all scored now. 12 games into a season. Most of the bench of that have also scored too!

We've also  got a fairly settled first 11....only problem is how good the fringe players are!

Amazing what happens when you actually pay people their worth

Quoted from chaos33

I’m not sure I can remember a time supporting Town where we had a team/squad with so many goal threats, plus such a balanced centre midfield, and quality set piece delivery! Kerr’s team that won Div 3 in 80/81 had plenty of players who scored regularly and some of Buckley’s too, but I feel very fortunate to be seeing that again because it’s rare and we’ve endured an awful lot of the opposite. There’ll be some Town fans who have maybe never seen anything like a GTFC squad with this amount of depth and quality so they must be buzzing!

I'm 36 years old, have been following Town regularly since I was 5 and based on what I've seen so far, I think this is the best Town side I have seen, pound-for-pound for the level we're playing at. That's not entirely fair on some of the teams I watched in my formative years as we were playing at a much higher level against clubs with far greater resources than our own, however it's worth nothing there are a minimum of four sides in this division with bigger playing budgets than ours and thus far we're comfortably ahead of all of them.

In my 30+ years watching Town I can never remember us really challenging for a league title. The only two sides that would even come close to arguing otherwise were Slade's team in 2005/6 and Scott & Hurst's team of 2012/13. In both cases we were pretty horrible in the new year and ended up some way off the pace in the end.

That's a reminder that this is a long season, but also raises an interesting point. In both of those seasons we did quite a lot of business in January, and in all fairness signed some decent players. We went into 2006, having just beaten Wrexham on NYE in that Glen Downey game, in second place and in touching distance of Wycombe with a game in hand. We then made a number of signings including Ben Futcher, Curtis Woodhouse and Marc Goodfellow - all good players in their own right but I don't think any were totally necessary (Junior Mendes certainly wasn't), and I feel actually detracted from rather than added to what we were as a team.

The window in 2013 was pretty exciting in fairness, as January windows go for Town. With so much focus on whether or not we'd re-sign Ross Hannah, who'd been on fire, from Bradford, we ended up signing Richard Brodie and Jamie Devitt one Friday out of absolutely nowhere. Eventually Hannah did sign, and then if memory serves a couple of hours later we announced the signing of LJL from League One Bury. That one in particular was a strange one, as his manager at Bury at the time was Kevin Blackwell, who days earlier had tried to pull a fast one with his old mates at Luton who thought they'd signed Marcus Marshall, only to then realise they weren't allowed to. Town duly re-signed Marshall.

The other big story of that window is that we lost Nathan Pond, who had been imperious, but regardless I think the big takeaway that sometimes less is more when it comes to adding to a good, or even great squad of players. A few weeks ago I was gagging for us to sign Bogle when it became clear he was finished at Donny. I still think he's a great player at this level, but would I now want him to sign tomorrow? Nope. It's just too big a risk - we seem to have a team that is greater than the sum of its parts, and adding the wrong ingredient to that mix could spoil that.

I think we have a management team that very much get that though, and the fact we've ended up in such a rosey situation is absolutely no accident. We've signed 15 players since the end of that last season. At this level, I'd argue a success rate of 50% is pretty good going. I've now seen 14 of those 15 and I'd grade all of them somewhere from 'good' to 'fùcking dynamite', with several close to the more explosive end of that scale. Grant obviously has something to prove in terms of fitness, but honestly, that kind of success ratio is absolutely off the scale. How does that compare, say, to Manchester United's in recent years, with all their money and resources?

As I said earlier, long way to go this season, but ultimately the most compelling characteristic of this team is that I literally don't want to change anything. There are no boo-boys, just a team of likeable, talented, hard working, professional players who appear to be being very well managed.

In that sense at least, this is pretty much uncharted territory for me as a Town fan.

"Slade's team in 2005/6 and Scott & Hurst's team of 2012/13. In both cases we were pretty horrible in the new year and ended up some way off the pace in the end.

That's a reminder that this is a long season, but also raises an interesting point. In both of those seasons we did quite a lot of business, and in all fairness signed some decent players. We went into 2006, having just beaten Wrexham on NYE "

Interesting you should mention the Wrexham game in 2005-06. We had also just beaten Wrexham too at Christmas 2012 (22 Dec if I remember right) in a televised game in a battle at the top.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

"Slade's team in 2005/6 and Scott & Hurst's team of 2012/13. In both cases we were pretty horrible in the new year and ended up some way off the pace in the end.

That's a reminder that this is a long season, but also raises an interesting point. In both of those seasons we did quite a lot of business, and in all fairness signed some decent players. We went into 2006, having just beaten Wrexham on NYE "

Interesting you should mention the Wrexham game in 2005-06. We had also just beaten Wrexham too at Christmas 2012 (22 Dec if I remember right) in a televised game in a battle at the top.

We had indeed; Ross Hannah with the goal. What's remarkable about the video below is just how empty BP looks by comparison with recent games, despite the fact we would overtake Wrexham to go top of the league with a win that night.

These are special times right now. Hopefully they are just the beginning and there will be many more, but let's not take them for granted either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAofjD9xL9w

Quoted from Poojah

In my 30+ years watching Town I can never remember us really challenging for a league title. The only two sides that would even come close to arguing otherwise were Slade's team in 2005/6 and Scott & Hurst's team of 2012/13. In both cases we were pretty horrible in the new year and ended up some way off the pace in the end.

That's a reminder that this is a long season, but also raises an interesting point. In both of those seasons we did quite a lot of business in January, and in all fairness signed some decent players. We went into 2006, having just beaten Wrexham on NYE in that Glen Downey game, in second place and in touching distance of Wycombe with a game in hand. We then made a number of signings including Ben Futcher, Curtis Woodhouse and Marc Goodfellow - all good players in their own right but I don't think any were totally necessary (Junior Mendes certainly wasn't), and I feel actually detracted from rather than added to what we were as a team.

The window in 2013 was pretty exciting in fairness, as January windows go for Town. With so much focus on whether or not we'd re-sign Ross Hannah, who'd been on fire, from Bradford, we ended up signing Richard Brodie and Jamie Devitt one Friday out of absolutely nowhere. Eventually Hannah did sign, and then if memory serves a couple of hours later we announced the signing of LJL from League One Bury. That one in particular was a strange one, as his manager at Bury at the time was Kevin Blackwell, who days earlier had tried to pull a fast one with his old mates at Luton who thought they'd signed Marcus Marshall, only to then realise they weren't allowed to. Town duly re-signed Marshall.

I've always thought this, but in 2013 both Kidderminster and Mansfield went on ludicrously good runs post-Christmas and I'm not sure we ever stood a realistic chance. I actually think 2014/15 was a bigger opportunity, we were 1 point off top after we won at Welling in early to mid-April and were in terrific form until we tailed off towards the end of the season a little bit.

Even still, I expect Hurst will have learned his lesson and won't want to disrupt the side very much at all in January. Although I suspect he'll still probably want to sign a striker and central midfielder as cover, especially if Grant and Scannell's current fitness records continue. Similar to Pond though, his hand may be forced a bit if Towler and Hunt go back to their parent clubs. Having both been allowed to play this weekend though I think there's half a chance we'll get to keep them.

We do have goals coming from all over the pitch and that is preferable to being reliant upon one player for goals as you can't double up on everyone. I, like others have said, can't remember a Town team looking so threatening and confident going forward, nor can I remember us being such a threat from set-plays. We are able to win games in different ways and score a plethora of different types of goals, hopefully, this bodes well for the winter when sides get more injuries and games perhaps become tighter.

Some really good points poojah and I had the exact same thought about Bogle the other week - a couple of months ago I'd have thought it'd be a risk worth taking on him. Now no chance, could easily upset the apple cart. I do however think yesterday underlined the importance of getting in that other striker as backup to taylor, I.e  replacing lennie rather than taylor. Lennies lay off and hold up play is still good but his finishing this time around is even worse than  last time. Lennie is great if we already have a lead but being without taylor for more than a game or two gives me the shivers.

As far as Hursts comments after the game about if he was an attacking player who ended up without a goal he'd be disappointed cos they should all have scored - people have assumed that was lennie but technically he did score. Yeah I'm sure he meant lennie too but I think he was referring to sousa as he was the only attacking player who played the majority of the game who didn't score. He has mentioned him needing to score more before as well. I would have been amazed at myself saying this just a month ago but possibly bapaga has just nudged ahead of sousa in the battle for the first eleven spot.

I feel they are different kinds of players and are better under different circumstances. For a team that parks the bus and defends deep I think bapagas trickery inside the box from a standing start and better eye for goal is best suited. For a team were more evenly matched with or against a team pushing forward sousas faster pace with the ball, his more direct running and better crossing seems better suited. He would scare any team leaving space in behind them. Its a fantastic pair of options to have on that right side. Perhaps bapaga can also be the mcatee position option too.

Quoted from toontown

Some really good points poojah and I had the exact same thought about Bogle the other week - a couple of months ago I'd have thought it'd be a risk worth taking on him. Now no chance, could easily upset the apple cart. I do however think yesterday underlined the importance of getting in that other striker as backup to taylor, I.e  replacing lennie rather than taylor. Lennies lay off and hold up play is still good but his finishing this time around is even worse than  last time. Lennie is great if we already have a lead but being without taylor for more than a game or two gives me the shivers.

As far as Hursts comments after the game about if he was an attacking player who ended up without a goal he'd be disappointed cos they should all have scored - people have assumed that was lennie but technically he did score. Yeah I'm sure he meant lennie too but I think he was referring to sousa as he was the only attacking player who played the majority of the game who didn't score. He has mentioned him needing to score more before as well. I would have been amazed at myself saying this just a month ago but possibly bapaga has just nudged ahead of sousa in the battle for the first eleven spot.

Equally, I think there are several teams in this league where we need to play them both, pace and trickery on both wings will be too much for some of the more typical non-league type defenders.

I feel they are different kinds of players and are better under different circumstances. For a team that parks the bus and defends deep I think bapagas trickery inside the box from a standing start and better eye for goal is best suited. For a team were more evenly matched with or against a team pushing forward sousas faster pace with the ball, his more direct running and better crossing seems better suited. He would scare any team leaving space in behind them. Its a fantastic pair of options to have on that right side. Perhaps bapaga can also be the mcatee position option too.

Perhaps but then your dropping clifton. We're at the top of work rate stats too arentbwe from what Hurst has said,and that's been a big part of our success this season, and clifton is a huge part of that. Clifton is also very pacey at this level. Not saying your wrong mind but just that everybody in the team is bringing something to the table right now - it's not easy to drop anyone!

Quoted from Poojah

I'm 36 years old, have been following Town regularly since I was 5 and based on what I've seen so far, I think this is the best Town side I have seen, pound-for-pound for the level we're playing at. That's not entirely fair on some of the teams I watched in my formative years as we were playing at a much higher level against clubs with far greater resources than our own, however it's worth nothing there are a minimum of four sides in this division with bigger playing budgets than ours and thus far we're comfortably ahead of all of them.

In my 30+ years watching Town I can never remember us really challenging for a league title. The only two sides that would even come close to arguing otherwise were Slade's team in 2005/6 and Scott & Hurst's team of 2012/13. In both cases we were pretty horrible in the new year and ended up some way off the pace in the end.

That's a reminder that this is a long season, but also raises an interesting point. In both of those seasons we did quite a lot of business in January, and in all fairness signed some decent players. We went into 2006, having just beaten Wrexham on NYE in that Glen Downey game, in second place and in touching distance of Wycombe with a game in hand. We then made a number of signings including Ben Futcher, Curtis Woodhouse and Marc Goodfellow - all good players in their own right but I don't think any were totally necessary (Junior Mendes certainly wasn't), and I feel actually detracted from rather than added to what we were as a team.

The window in 2013 was pretty exciting in fairness, as January windows go for Town. With so much focus on whether or not we'd re-sign Ross Hannah, who'd been on fire, from Bradford, we ended up signing Richard Brodie and Jamie Devitt one Friday out of absolutely nowhere. Eventually Hannah did sign, and then if memory serves a couple of hours later we announced the signing of LJL from League One Bury. That one in particular was a strange one, as his manager at Bury at the time was Kevin Blackwell, who days earlier had tried to pull a fast one with his old mates at Luton who thought they'd signed Marcus Marshall, only to then realise they weren't allowed to. Town duly re-signed Marshall.

The other big story of that window is that we lost Nathan Pond, who had been imperious, but regardless I think the big takeaway that sometimes less is more when it comes to adding to a good, or even great squad of players. A few weeks ago I was gagging for us to sign Bogle when it became clear he was finished at Donny. I still think he's a great player at this level, but would I now want him to sign tomorrow? Nope. It's just too big a risk - we seem to have a team that is greater than the sum of its parts, and adding the wrong ingredient to that mix could spoil that.

I think we have a management team that very much get that though, and the fact we've ended up in such a rosey situation is absolutely no accident. We've signed 15 players since the end of that last season. At this level, I'd argue a success rate of 50% is pretty good going. I've now seen 14 of those 15 and I'd grade all of them somewhere from 'good' to 'fùcking dynamite', with several close to the more explosive end of that scale. Grant obviously has something to prove in terms of fitness, but honestly, that kind of success ratio is absolutely off the scale. How does that compare, say, to Manchester United's in recent years, with all their money and resources?

As I said earlier, long way to go this season, but ultimately the most compelling characteristic of this team is that I literally don't want to change anything. There are no boo-boys, just a team of likeable, talented, hard working, professional players who appear to be being very well managed.

In that sense at least, this is pretty much uncharted territory for me as a Town fan.

Before your time PooJah but 1979/80 was my favorite. We played 31 home games that season, W 23, D4, and L4, scoring 57 goals at home. League champions and promoted to Div2, today's Championship. George Kerr was the manager and a promising physio was right back, Dave Moore.

https://www.11v11.com/teams/grimsby-town/tab/players/season/1980/

https://www.englishfootballleaguetables.co.uk/final/f1979-80.html#d3

With the current squad, lead by Hursty, we now have to opportunity to replicate those times. Let the good times roll and enjoy them, it was 40 years ago ( how time flies) when that happened. In forty years'  time I'll be pushing up daisy's but many of you will say I remember that 2021/22 season.

Lots of talk on here about Paul Hurst being more relaxed, experienced and having learnt / grown as a manager - and who could disagree?

Keeping up momentum after Christmas is going to be crucial, doubly so in a league with only one automatic promotion spot.  I seem to recall his Shrewsbury team fell away after the new year too, let’s hope he’s learnt from that experience as well.

We are in a great position so we need to do whatever it takes to see this through.  Whatever it takes to keep Hunt and Towler.  Loans are great but they make us vulnerable - remember when Luton ‘stole’ Scott Nielson?  (He only played 8 times for them and was released at the end of the season.)

That’s the kind of ruthlessness needed but it can work in reverse.  Hurst wants another striker, I don’t know if Billy Waters is all that -  not seen him play - might be out of our league fee wise - but if we have resources and he’s a Hurst kind of player weakening one of our promotion rivals as we strengthen ourselves would be a double win.

A few careful additions may not be a bad thing over a long season.  The way Hurst has spoken suggests he doesn’t feel his squad is complete - suspensions, injuries can soon take their toll and change the balance of a team.  Margins are fine, it doesn’t take much for three points to become one.

We are in a great position, times like these don’t come around very often, from top to bottom we need to do whatever it takes - let’s hope Hurst has learnt, so far, the signs are good.

Honestly I'd say Clifton is pretty much undropable in his current form, the amount of pressing and tracking back he does allied to his seemingly new found ability to score goals and dribble at pace makes him a vital player imho.

Him McAtee and Fox are towns metronome, I'd be amazed if any opposition player could outwork those three.

McAtee lazy pffft.

Difficult to compare teams from different eras, but we had teams in the 80’s and 90’s that played in the second tier with players who were competitive at that level.

However, I’d say the current squad is as good as any we have had since we dropped out of the Championship in 2003.

I can’t remember a time recently when we could make 7 changes and still put in a performance like the one we saw on Saturday.

Quoted from grimsbybrown

Lots of talk on here about Paul Hurst being more relaxed, experienced and having learnt / grown as a manager - and who could disagree?

Keeping up momentum after Christmas is going to be crucial, doubly so in a league with only one automatic promotion spot.  I seem to recall his Shrewsbury team fell away after the new year too, let’s hope he’s learnt from that experience as well.

We are in a great position so we need to do whatever it takes to see this through.  Whatever it takes to keep Hunt and Towler.  Loans are great but they make us vulnerable - remember when Luton ‘stole’ Scott Nielson?  (He only played 8 times for them and was released at the end of the season.)

That’s the kind of ruthlessness needed but it can work in reverse.  Hurst wants another striker, I don’t know if Billy Waters is all that -  not seen him play - might be out of our league fee wise - but if we have resources and he’s a Hurst kind of player weakening one of our promotion rivals as we strengthen ourselves would be a double win.

A few careful additions may not be a bad thing over a long season.  The way Hurst has spoken suggests he doesn’t feel his squad is complete - suspensions, injuries can soon take their toll and change the balance of a team.  Margins are fine, it doesn’t take much for three points to become one.

We are in a great position, times like these don’t come around very often, from top to bottom we need to do whatever it takes - let’s hope Hurst has learnt, so far, the signs are good.

I’m not sure Billy Waters is the type of striker we need in our preferred system. If we’re looking in this division, I’d be tempted to have a look at Josh Umerah at Wealdstone - big, quick and appears to be able to finish.

Interesting that young Bapaga had a good cup game in the same role as McAtee does so well.

That would keep a similar team shape if McAtee was rested or god forbid injured for any length of time.

Perhaps just the elusive striker position to fill if a suitable candidate comes up?

Quoted from Poojah

I’m not sure Billy Waters is the type of striker we need in our preferred system. If we’re looking in this division, I’d be tempted to have a look at Josh Umerah at Wealdstone - big, quick and appears to be able to finish.

I’m sure you’re right - It was more an example than a ‘he’s our man’ comment - I guess by Christmas Hurst will also have a clearer sight on the form of players whose progress was curtailed by the pandemic.

Whichever way, what I’m saying is we have a great opportunity and whilst I’m not suggesting we cross ethical boundaries - we need to show the ruthlessness of winners.

This could be our best chance for years.

Thankfully none of the missed pens have had an affect on the result at the end of the game. Can’t see McAtee taking one for a while now!

Will also be interesting to see what Hurst & Doig learned from their season at Shrewsbury where they were flying before dropping into the playoffs and losing in the final.

That year they won 11 of their first 15 and didn’t lose until 28th Oct. After that they won 3 of their next 7, but really tailed off at the end of the season winning only 3 of their last 10. Not helped by Wigan & Blackburn having mental seasons finishing on 98 & 96 to Shrewsbury’s 87, which was 8 clear of Rotherham in 4th.

Momentum is great but it won’t carry you through a full season realistically. Resilience, on the other hand, will and it was good to hear Waterfall recently talking about the attitude they had at Lincoln where they knew they’d lose games, but the important bit was to win the games in between those losses. Like we all know, in the past Hurst always seemed a bit too keen on not losing and probably taking a point where 3 might’ve been on the table.

Loooooooong way to go yet, so just enjoy the wins when they come.

Quoted from ska face

Will also be interesting to see what Hurst & Doig learned from their season at Shrewsbury where they were flying before dropping into the playoffs and losing in the final.

That year they won 11 of their first 15 and didn’t lose until 28th Oct. After that they won 3 of their next 7, but really tailed off at the end of the season winning only 3 of their last 10. Not helped by Wigan & Blackburn having mental seasons finishing on 98 & 96 to Shrewsbury’s 87, which was 8 clear of Rotherham in 4th.

Momentum is great but it won’t carry you through a full season realistically. Resilience, on the other hand, will and it was good to hear Waterfall recently talking about the attitude they had at Lincoln where they knew they’d lose games, but the important bit was to win the games in between those losses. Like we all know, in the past Hurst always seemed a bit too keen on not losing and probably taking a point where 3 might’ve been on the table.

Loooooooong way to go yet, so just enjoy the wins when they come.

Somewhat perversely I’m almost pleased we had that defeat at Bromley. To get that out of the way, and then to go on to win our next four games (scoring 15 goals in the process, and not conceding with 11 men on the pitch) shows that we have mental resilience, but also softens the blow when another defeat inevitably arrives.

It’s a long long time since we’ve had the “strength in depth “ that we’ve got at the moment .

We've got a few players in the squad who are proving how versatile they are. We all know about Clifton, and now Bapaga has shown another side to him. We've got left backs who can potentially play left wing too remember (so Revan could play in front of Crookes, potentially).

I'm happy with who we have in the centre of the park. It's just so well balanced throughout. If Grant and Scannell were fit, would we really still be looking for that out-and-out striker than we seemed to need at the start of the season?

Poojah has covered pretty much what I was going to say on the matter. A new addition may unsettle the harmony we have in the squad and may take away more than it adds.

Given the way we're playing, I don't feel the pressing need for that striker. LJL got a bit of criticism for his finishing on Sat but we need to stop looking at him in isolation. We all know his goals-per-game ratio isn't great, but it's what we achieve as a team when he plays.

I'm not glossing over the fact that he missed a pen and should've had maybe a couple more goals, but at the end of the day he started up front, scored and played in a 5-0 win. We know his strength is his hold-up play, and bringing others into play, so as long as that's working, and the goals continue to be shared around the team, I think we can be excited by the return to fitness of Grant and Scannell and ponder how they get into a team when the likes of McAtee, Sousa and Bapaga are all firing.

Just a bit more calmness and a little care with his finishing The Shop could of well come away from Bromsgrove with a hat - trick

Really looking forward to Saturday now and a big chance for another home win and a goal or two
Yeovil seem to be better away from home so far this season - but can Town make it 6 from 6 at home?!?

Also looking at the Top 10 a few sides play each other - so chance to pull away from other sides - all exciting stuff!

UTM

Quoted from RichMariner

We've got a few players in the squad who are proving how versatile they are. We all know about Clifton, and now Bapaga has shown another side to him. We've got left backs who can potentially play left wing too remember (so Revan could play in front of Crookes, potentially).

I'm happy with who we have in the centre of the park. It's just so well balanced throughout. If Grant and Scannell were fit, would we really still be looking for that out-and-out striker than we seemed to need at the start of the season?

Poojah has covered pretty much what I was going to say on the matter. A new addition may unsettle the harmony we have in the squad and may take away more than it adds.

Given the way we're playing, I don't feel the pressing need for that striker. LJL got a bit of criticism for his finishing on Sat but we need to stop looking at him in isolation. We all know his goals-per-game ratio isn't great, but it's what we achieve as a team when he plays.

I'm not glossing over the fact that he missed a pen and should've had maybe a couple more goals, but at the end of the day he started up front, scored and played in a 5-0 win. We know his strength is his hold-up play, and bringing others into play, so as long as that's working, and the goals continue to be shared around the team, I think we can be excited by the return to fitness of Grant and Scannell and ponder how they get into a team when the likes of McAtee, Sousa and Bapaga are all firing.

I agree but think that we could still do with another striker but, for the reasons you mention, this would be better to be more in the same bracket as Hunt, Bapaga, Revan etc ie, 18-21, with a good pedigree from a higher level but who is hungry to play and learn, rather than an older, more experienced striker with a set of expectations about wanting to be playing all the time or with a bigger ego. Just a thought.

Quoted from chaos33

I agree but think that we could still do with another striker but, for the reasons you mention, this would be better to be more in the same bracket as Hunt, Bapaga, Revan etc ie, 18-21, with a good pedigree from a higher level but who is hungry to play and learn, rather than an older, more experienced striker with a set of expectations about wanting to be playing all the time or with a bigger ego. Just a thought.

I'd echo that

Quoted from toontown

I'd echo that

Quoted from toontown

I'd echo that