Garner needs to be very, very careful with those sorts of comments, they will come back to haunt him if the results go badly.
Like it or not, English fans, especially at League One level, like to see their teams going forward and being aggressive in attack, they don’t really want to see aimless passing of the ball at the back.
We have seen this before with Karl Robinson, plenty of passing but mediocre results and very little penetration up front and sloppy goals conceded.
If we think back to the success under Bowyer it came when the team became more direct and looked for second balls off Taylor in the final third or hit Grant in the channels, we didn’t play possession football at all.
It was the same deal in the Powell promotion team, hit Yann and then play off him, we had a very physical team that basically bullied most of our opponents, the likes of Taylor, Morrison, Cort and Kermorgant were absolute battering rams in the final third.
I’m backing him all the way, as should the rest of the fanbase. We have a clear plan, a style we want to play. Either the club commits to it fully or we end up chasing individual results without a clear focus on the underlying strategy.
Playing more direct happened to work for us in one off seasons in 11/12 and 18/19, but guess what? We went up a level, struggled and got relegated back into the third tier again. Because there wasn’t a long term game plan.
We’re trying to be better than that.
Lastly I’ll repost this rebuttal of the typical, English “get it forward” / “plan B” type comments. Funnily enough, coming out of the mouth of Saturday’s opposition manager, Russell Martin.
Garner needs to be very, very careful with those sorts of comments, they will come back to haunt him if the results go badly.
Like it or not, English fans, especially at League One level, like to see their teams going forward and being aggressive in attack, they don’t really want to see aimless passing of the ball at the back.
We have seen this before with Karl Robinson, plenty of passing but mediocre results and very little penetration up front and sloppy goals conceded.
If we think back to the success under Bowyer it came when the team became more direct and looked for second balls off Taylor in the final third or hit Grant in the channels, we didn’t play possession football at all.
It was the same deal in the Powell promotion team, hit Yann and then play off him, we had a very physical team that basically bullied most of our opponents, the likes of Taylor, Morrison, Cort and Kermorgant were absolute battering rams in the final third.
Don't think it's about the level we're at. You highlight the main point, that most of our managers have been somewhat direct. Even Curbs loved the long ball and flick-on. We're not used to real possession football.
For the record I thought the football under Bowyer in his last year was painfully bad. (Pratson anyone?) He needed Taylor to make it work and once he lost him it fell apart.
.Enjoyed the game and I think the football is going to be a lot more pleasing on the eye this season. The lack of clinical finishing could be our undoing. We probably should have won that 5-2
while Stockley is a proven goalscorer in L1, from what we have seen he is not a goalscorer in the type of football we now play. One solution is that the coaches will help him improve his abilities and the other is to replace him. If it is the intention to replace him the club will no way advertise the fact, the first that we will know about it is when it is done. However if nothing is done then a mid table finish at best.
I am a great believer in creating a style which suits your best players but I can't hope to have Sandgaards fantastic knowledge of the game.
I'm grateful we're not building a team around Stockley.
So what striker are we building it with them in mind?
You're advocating to build a team around the style of one player (who is not even that great) when we've arguably got 18+ others that don't fit that style. That doesn't seem logical so not for me.
No, I suppose you are purposely misunderstanding. If you accept we need a striker or strikers, you have to set up for that striker. Which other striker are we setting up for if not Stockley. Leaburn? If you think we don't need a striker or strikers you are living in cloud cuckoo land.
You just didn't communicate your point well. Read your first post again. You said best players, not building around a striker.
At this point we seem to have only one weak link. I said before the season even started that I hoped we brought in someone to replace Jayden and I'm still hoping, as he is the odd one out in this system. Should we instead build around him, since he's here? I hope not.
No, I suppose you are purposely misunderstanding. If you accept we need a striker or strikers, you have to set up for that striker. Which other striker are we setting up for if not Stockley. Leaburn? If you think we don't need a striker or strikers you are living in cloud cuckoo land.
Over the past week or so the consensus is that we dont need strikers. That we are only playing "1 up front" and it will be the midfield & wide players that will be defaqto strikers. Problem is that they arent good enough either - certainly the ones here last season arent. Payne is part of the answer but I doubt he'll score enough on his own to carry the rest of them.
You just didn't communicate your point well. Read your first post again. You said best players, not building around a striker.
At this point we seem to have only one weak link. I said before the season even started that I hoped we brought in someone to replace Jayden and I'm still hoping, as he is the odd one out in this system. Should we instead build around him, since he's here? I hope not.
I am typing quickly on a forum, I expect people to understand the basic point or at least make the effort, whether they agree or not. Anyway, work out the number of goals we are likely to need to score and divide them by the players we have. Strikers are a pretty important contributor to this and have we really got masses of goals in our non strikers.
My point with Stockley is who else is there? Stockton? No he isn't here. Aneke, he is always injured. Kanu and Leaburn are youngsters and may not be ready. Criticise Stockley all you want but he is our main striker.
And to add. Gallen said we needed defenders & so we have brought in a new CB, a RB & a LB. Plus a DM & a GK that weren't a neccesity. Just one attacking player in Payne. No strikers although we've let 2 go.
As you say.....Sandgaard has this fantastic knowledge of football so he must be right. I'm just sad that Golfie Jnr never got to see Killer, Mendonca or even D Bent.
I can't read your mind mate. I can only read what you type. It's a bit much to accuse someone of deliberately misunderstanding when they've taken what you've written as it's naturally interpreted.
We can agree to disagree. I don't think we should build around one striker who isn't that good. We've built to a system that does look good. I also think it will take more than this window to get it right.
I wonder if the people who a few weeks ago were confident about Stockley in this system have changed their minds having seen him a few times now?
And to add. Gallen said we needed defenders & so we have brought in a new CB, a RB & a LB. Plus a DM & a GK that weren't a neccesity. Just one attacking player in Payne. No strikers although we've let 2 go.
As you say.....Sandgaard has this fantastic knowledge of football so he must be right. I'm just sad that Golfie Jnr never got to see Killer, Mendonca or even D Bent.
A Goalkeeper was a necessity though.
We dropped too many points last season because of clangers from Macca, whilst AMB is too injury prone.
You are just trying to look smart which I advise against.
I read it the same way, it came across to me as a different point to building a team around your main striker. It could be argued CBT is our best player so we’re now using wingers - that was the type of point I initially thought you were making.
You are just trying to look smart which I advise against.
I read it the same way, it came across to me as a different point to building a team around your main striker. It could be argued CBT is our best player so we’re now using wingers - that was the type of point I initially thought you were making.
As superb as he was at times, CBT wouldn’t have seen the ball as often as he did yesterday if it wasn’t for Stockley and Leaburn drawing the Swansea defenders across the width of the pitch and giving him the space that the Charlton midfield had to pump the ball in his direction so effectively.
l've said from day 1 this pre season that i can't see how stockley fits into the way BG wants to play / as a lone striker - my bet is we bring a prem loan striker in, sell stockley and bring a new permanent striker in - stockton maybe? that, for me, would be the perfect solution to happen this week
l've said from day 1 this pre season that i can't see how stockley fits into the way BG wants to play / as a lone striker - my bet is we bring a prem loan striker in, sell stockley and bring a new permanent striker in - stockton maybe? that, for me, would be the perfect solution to happen this week
Ok, but the season starts in 6 days. Will it happen? I suspect not.
l've said from day 1 this pre season that i can't see how stockley fits into the way BG wants to play / as a lone striker - my bet is we bring a prem loan striker in, sell stockley and bring a new permanent striker in - stockton maybe? that, for me, would be the perfect solution to happen this week
Out of interest which club would be willing to sign Stockley and can afford his wage and transfer fee. It’s a fair assumption that he won’t get a move to a championship club.
Comments
For the record I thought the football under Bowyer in his last year was painfully bad. (Pratson anyone?) He needed Taylor to make it work and once he lost him it fell apart.
The lack of clinical finishing could be our undoing.
We probably should have won that 5-2
However if nothing is done then a mid table finish at best.
Ed- Sco put it much better than me.
At this point we seem to have only one weak link. I said before the season even started that I hoped we brought in someone to replace Jayden and I'm still hoping, as he is the odd one out in this system. Should we instead build around him, since he's here? I hope not.
My point with Stockley is who else is there? Stockton? No he isn't here. Aneke, he is always injured. Kanu and Leaburn are youngsters and may not be ready. Criticise Stockley all you want but he is our main striker.
As you say.....Sandgaard has this fantastic knowledge of football so he must be right. I'm just sad that Golfie Jnr never got to see Killer, Mendonca or even D Bent.
If TS had said we need to sign a striker he’d be called naive for letting agents and clubs know we’re desperate.
With Chuks needing a scan it’s even more important so I’m hoping they’re working on it despite not shouting about it.
At the very least I expect we’ll sign a goal scoring wide player.
We can agree to disagree. I don't think we should build around one striker who isn't that good. We've built to a system that does look good. I also think it will take more than this window to get it right.
I wonder if the people who a few weeks ago were confident about Stockley in this system have changed their minds having seen him a few times now?
We dropped too many points last season because of clangers from Macca, whilst AMB is too injury prone.