Yeni as a striker?

[Shania]

Problem is that Sylla is for sale. Like it or not.

[knocker]

Yeni needs to be played more, one of the only players in the squad with abit about him technical wise that could change a game for us.

If Yeni one of the only playérs in the squad with something about him that can change a game, God ####ing help us.

[davieqpr]

Smith is very good at winning headers but is absolutely useless at directing a header. Hence misses some good chances and very rarely finds a colleague.
Ollie plays him because of his defensive work at corners.

[nasser95]

Smith off bench for last 20mins is good option but he simply should not be considered as a starter if other players are fit. His presence kills our game as our players can't resist punting it

Sylla is a better player, better striker and better finisher and he has knack of scoring goals after smithies he should be first name on team sheets as strikers win you games.

What someone mentioned above about sylla and attacking three off him is spot on

I've been saying this for years and it's one of my qualms with the whole argument that Luongo, faurlin, etc didn't score enough goals. If we played a proper attacking quartet ahead of them, we wouldn't be complaining about the defensive midfielders doing their defensive duties.

There's not much that can be done when we have managers think they've found the right solution, only to play Washington and Smith as part of that attacking quartet and then, when they don't score goals, people blame the midfielders for not pitching in. Very simply, you play 4-2-3-1 with the 3-1 having good attacking instincts and chemistry, the 4-2 then don't become a burden to our goalscoring potential.

Have darting full backs who can actually run past the midfield duo to deliver crosses to switch things up, and because you now have two defensive midfielders who are focused on defending, they can drop deeper to cover.

[72bus]

lynch hitting it up to smith i can't take much more of that if it's what we're going to be served up , most on here would want smith coming on as a late sub if bring him on if we need to nick a goal . but defenders can work him out easily and to watch the ball being punted up to him is torture

[Hitman34]

lynch hitting it up to smith i can't take much more of that if it's what we're going to be served up , most on here would want smith coming on as a late sub if bring him on if we need to nick a goal . but defenders can work him out easily and to watch the ball being punted up to him is torture

Better get used to it.

#puntball

[knocker]

I've been saying this for years and it's one of my qualms with the whole argument that Luongo, faurlin, etc didn't score enough goals. If we played a proper attacking quartet ahead of them, we wouldn't be complaining about the defensive midfielders doing their defensive duties.

There's not much that can be done when we have managers think they've found the right solution, only to play Washington and Smith as part of that attacking quartet and then, when they don't score goals, people blame the midfielders for not pitching in. Very simply, you play 4-2-3-1 with the 3-1 having good attacking instincts and chemistry, the 4-2 then don't become a burden to our goalscoring potential.

Have darting full backs who can actually run past the midfield duo to deliver crosses to switch things up, and because you now have two defensive midfielders who are focused on defending, they can drop deeper to cover.

Sounds like we need a whole new team then according to you. Wouldn't disagree.

[nasser95]

Sounds like we need a whole new team then according to you. Wouldn't disagree.

Not really, just need a couple of full backs. Everything else is generally pretty in place, with the exception of depth.

The issue is that managers never used their best combination of players together. If we call Yeni, Sylla, Freeman and Wszolek our ideal front 4, the only times last season where they played together on the same pitch were:

vs Wigan for 14 minutes
@ PNE for 10 minutes before Freeman got sent off
vs Barnsley for 70 minutes before Wszolek got subbed off for Washington

The other times we generally had someone like Washington or Mackie or Smith in there for at least one of them. We literally managed a full match with added time with our best attacking quartet playing (and most of that time was with Freeman deployed deeper)

If I want to get one thing out of the side this season and us having a mediocre season around it, I'd wanna see more stability in the side. Have a solid team playing regularly together and then we can say that we're looking long term, because then we are building something and seeing the results in the form of an actual team.

[knocker]

Not really, just need a couple of full backs. Everything else is generally pretty in place, with the exception of depth.

The issue is that managers never used their best combination of players together. If we call Yeni, Sylla, Freeman and Wszolek our ideal front 4, the only times last season where they played together on the same pitch were:

vs Wigan for 14 minutes
@ PNE for 10 minutes before Freeman got sent off
vs Barnsley for 70 minutes before Wszolek got subbed off for Washington

The other times we generally had someone like Washington or Mackie or Smith in there for at least one of them. We literally managed a full match with added time with our best attacking quartet playing (and most of that time was with Freeman deployed deeper)

If I want to get one thing out of the side this season and us having a mediocre season around it, I'd wanna see more stability in the side. Have a solid team playing regularly together and then we can say that we're looking long term, because then we are building something and seeing the results in the form of an actual team.

well as someone who witnessed every minute that Yeni played home and away last season, I have to say that 90% of the time he was absolute dogs poo.

[nasser95]

well as someone who witnessed every minute that Yeni played home and away last season, I have to say that 90% of the time he was absolute dogs poo.

And as someone who saw the same thing, I can understand that, but it doesn't help when a player is pigeonholed away from his best abilities. He was not played to his strengths and when he finally is, we'll see the consistency we want from him. He is certainly much better than Washington Mackie or Smith

[stanistheman]

i like the sound of that and its the sort of thing that should work but sadly i think tarbs is right and smith will play over sylla. dont get me wrong, smith is a good target man but hes too one dimensional, if anything he should be a sub coming on for the last 30 minutes or so to try nick a goal or preserve a lead

You are correct and so is Tarbie, Ollie is not interested in what Yeni & Sylla can do, but more in having Smith in the team as a target man for Lynch and others to hoof the ball towards.

Still, it could be worse, he could have them hoof the ball towards Washington and Mackie, as he did with Gallen and Cureton about 12 years ago.

[stanistheman]

Smith is very good at winning headers but is absolutely useless at directing a header. Hence misses some good chances and very rarely finds a colleague.
Ollie plays him because of his defensive work at corners.

Here's a novel idea, how about signing a defender who can do that instead.

[stanistheman]

And as someone who saw the same thing, I can understand that, but it doesn't help when a player is pigeonholed away from his best abilities. He was not played to his strengths and when he finally is, we'll see the consistency we want from him. He is certainly much better than Washington Mackie or Smith

You are correct .

for example, Lineker and Bergkamp were both played out wide at Barcelona and Inter Milan and flopped, however playing in their correct positions, they were not so bad afterall.

[nasser95]

You are correct .

for example, Lineker and Bergkamp were both played out wide at Barcelona and Inter Milan and flopped, however playing in their correct positions, they were not so bad afterall.

Look even closer to home at one Eduardo Vargas as an example. Played out wide and did alright, plays up front and scores non stop

[Shepherds Mush]

Still, it could be worse, he could have them hoof the ball towards Washington.

The Hasslebaink tactic