WANTED: Striker

[black morse]

What are we expecting here? Derek's task this season is to improve the team and save us from relegation.
He appears to have done the first part and we must trust his judgement to achieve the second part. We can't ask more than that this season.

[BerlinWaller]

We can't look past this season. DA has signed a long term contract but everything he has to do right now is short term. He has brought in players on 6 month deals to keep us up. He will do that. The summer will be interesting. He will be able to look for players to push us forward rather than scrape enough points to keep us up.

[HALMA 1983]

What are we expecting here? Derek's task this season is to improve the team and save us from relegation.
He appears to have done the first part and we must trust his judgement to achieve the second part. We can't ask more than that this season.

Nothing more than staying up, year on year, season after season.........that's it.

[Slanester]

What are we expecting here? Derek's task this season is to improve the team and save us from relegation.
He appears to have done the first part and we must trust his judgement to achieve the second part. We can't ask more than that this season.

That is pretty much the hope of most supporters. The “illusion” created by some, has not come to fruition so far, and getting carried away so quickly, and readily, can falsely raise the bar of expectation.

[HALMA 1983]

We can't look past this season. DA has signed a long term contract but everything he has to do right now is short term. He has brought in players on 6 month deals to keep us up. He will do that.

Says who, says you?

The summer will be interesting. He will be able to look for players to push us forward rather than scrape enough points to keep us up.

IF he has a fistful of dollars he might but don't kid yourself

[BerlinWaller]

What are we expecting here? Derek's task this season is to improve the team and save us from relegation.
He appears to have done the first part and we must trust his judgement to achieve the second part. We can't ask more than that this season.

That is pretty much the hope of most supporters. The “illusion” created by some, has not come to fruition so far, and getting carried away so quickly, and readily, can falsely raise the bar of expectation.

Your posts leave me with a head ache. There is no illusion, the squad and performances are much improved. Expectations are to survive this season after a horrendous start. DA has worked miracles so far.

[BerlinWaller]

We can't look past this season. DA has signed a long term contract but everything he has to do right now is short term. He has brought in players on 6 month deals to keep us up. He will do that.

Says who, says you?

The summer will be interesting. He will be able to look for players to push us forward rather than scrape enough points to keep us up.

IF he has a fistful of dollars he might but don't kid yourself

He will have more room to manoeuvre as players will have come to the end of their contracts. He has already shown he can bring in better players from a wider area. There won't be the usual ex Bury and Tranmere cast offs.

[HALMA 1983]

He will have more room to manoeuvre as players will have come to the end of their contracts. He has already shown he can bring in better players from a wider area. There won't be the usual ex Bury and Tranmere cast offs.

You're talking as though safety is already guaranteed but unless there's more wins at Home, it won't be enough to prevent being cut adrift along with Stevenage by the clubs above.

3 points yesterday would have been a real tonic, as they lost ground once more.

[Slanester]

What are we expecting here? Derek's task this season is to improve the team and save us from relegation.
He appears to have done the first part and we must trust his judgement to achieve the second part. We can't ask more than that this season.

That is pretty much the hope of most supporters. The “illusion” created by some, has not come to fruition so far, and getting carried away so quickly, and readily, can falsely raise the bar of expectation.

Your posts leave me with a head ache. There is no illusion, the squad and performances are much improved. Expectations are to survive this season after a horrendous start. DA has worked miracles so far.

Oh dear!!!

Just scroll past, like I try to do most of yours. Very refreshing.

[HALMA 1983]

That is pretty much the hope of most supporters. The “illusion” created by some, has not come to fruition so far, and getting carried away so quickly, and readily, can falsely raise the bar of expectation.

Your posts leave me with a head ache. There is no illusion, the squad and performances are much improved. Expectations are to survive this season after a horrendous start. DA has worked miracles so far.

Oh dear!!!

Just scroll past, like I try to do most of yours. Very refreshing.

I'll get him a 49p pack of paracetamol from Home bargains tomorrow morning but sadly there's nothing on the reverse of the pack that says it cures 'headaches of your own making'

[SimplyRed MFC]

Talking about playing 2 upfront, Shrewsbury are currently playing a front 2 against the best club side in the world. And one of those 2 is a former Shrimp ! (Ok, loanee )

[BerlinWaller]

He will have more room to manoeuvre as players will have come to the end of their contracts. He has already shown he can bring in better players from a wider area. There won't be the usual ex Bury and Tranmere cast offs.

You're talking as though safety is already guaranteed but unless there's more wins at Home, it won't be enough to prevent being cut adrift along with Stevenage by the clubs above.

3 points yesterday would have been a real tonic, as they lost ground once more.

What is the big deal about being cut adrift? We have to finish above Stevenage not 17th. No point worrying about Carlisle and the others above us. We need to out point Stevenage from here on in and I have every confidence that we will under DA.

[BerlinWaller]

Oh dear!!!

Just scroll past, like I try to do most of yours. Very refreshing.[/quote]

Not sure if you have done a creative writing course or got a new Thesaurus for Xmas but your posts are like reading a Mills&Boon without the exciting bits.

[HALMA 1983]

What is the big deal about being cut adrift? We have to finish above Stevenage not 17th. No point worrying about Carlisle and the others above us. We need to out point Stevenage from here on in and I have every confidence that we will under DA.

Don't know about you but I'm used to relegation battles every year in both towns

The idea is this, you try and keep as many down near the bottom as you possibly can, thus giving yourself the best possible chance that someone else will fall away.

Get cut off........well, we live by the seaside and it doesn't end well,
If your reliance is on that alone and Stevenage either start picking up points or worst still, manage a win at the Globe..........it's a whole new ball game or is that 'end game'?

[mrpotatohead]

"You will never see 2 up front again in the modern game"

That is soooooo funny!!!!!

[HALMA 1983]

"You will never see 2 up front again in the modern game"

That is soooooo funny!!!!!

Obviously been exposed to this for far too long and still it continues

[BerlinWaller]

Not in the conventional 442 you won't
Teams play 3 at the back in order to get a front 2. Maybe with you both having more clubs than Tiger Woods, you have superior football brains.

[HALMA 1983]

Not in the conventional 442 you won't
Teams play 3 at the back in order to get a front 2. Maybe with you both having more clubs than Tiger Woods, you have superior football brains.

We all want the same as you but you just can't see it

Truth is, your passion is infectious and because I owe this town a hell of a lot, I promise to put plenty of money into 'your' club by attending all of the remaining Home fixtures (plus those 2 aways) to the end of the season, standing shoulder to shoulder on your wall of dreams
In order that I am there in person to witness another favourable outcome with 'likeminded' town folk

[mrpotatohead]

I move that the open terrace be renamed "the wailing wall" in honour of Morecambe FCs only real fan , his opinions may be shite and he may have a full fish supper on his shoulder but hey, he a true "sandgroanin'un"

[HALMA 1983]

I move that the open terrace be renamed "the wailing wall" in honour of Morecambe FCs only real fan , his opinions may be shite and he may have a full fish supper on his shoulder but hey, he a true "sandgroanin'un"

[Vinny]

You lot should not be allowed out at playtime.

Back to topic. We have one of the best strikers in L2 in AJ. What ever the formation, 4-4-2, 3-5-2, playing another striker along side Cole for more of the game than 5 or 10 mins seems imperative. A new (better) striker / cover would be great, but I'd say we still need 2 up front, at least to get a cushion of a couple goals.

[Ntini]

I understand what Cole offers and there's no doubting the hard work he's put in, but for me we need to try someone else. He has spurned so many good chances for too long now. I'd much prefer AJ (hoping he runs towards their goal rather than ours!) or even Mendes Gomes who has proven his worth in finding the target.

We can't keep missing these golden opportunities to get ourselves out of trouble. Perhaps there's someone coming in soon, but until then I feel a change up top is needed.

[Shrimpy]

I understand what Cole offers and there's no doubting the hard work he's put in, but for me we need to try someone else. He has spurned so many good chances for too long now. I'd much prefer AJ (hoping he runs towards their goal rather than ours!) or even Mendes Gomes who has proven his worth in finding the target.

The problem is you can't just replace Stockton for AJ and Carlos, there is a whole system and style of play that Derek will want to implement that we need to adhere to. Derek may want to have a physical presence playing up top as Cole is doing at the moment. If you just swap Cole for AJ then that changes the whole approach.

Personally I think whoever comes in as a striker would be in a similar mould to Cole, a big man that can hold the ball up and bring others into play but hopefully be a bit more of a goal threat.

[HALMA 1983]

You lot should not be allowed out at playtime.

Back to topic. We have one of the best strikers in L2 in AJ. What ever the formation, 4-4-2, 3-5-2, playing another striker along side Cole for more of the game than 5 or 10 mins seems imperative. A new (better) striker / cover would be great, but I'd say we still need 2 up front, at least to get a cushion of a couple goals.

Bar the first line, it's bang on,
cole is a superb target man, holds the ball up well but can't be getting through that amount of work on his own, usually against 2 giant defender's.

So, two up front it is from here on in, both home and away........could be the difference between remaining or crashing out.

[Ntini]

I understand what Cole offers and there's no doubting the hard work he's put in, but for me we need to try someone else. He has spurned so many good chances for too long now. I'd much prefer AJ (hoping he runs towards their goal rather than ours!) or even Mendes Gomes who has proven his worth in finding the target.

The problem is you can't just replace Stockton for AJ and Carlos, there is a whole system and style of play that Derek will want to implement that we need to adhere to. Derek may want to have a physical presence playing up top as Cole is doing at the moment. If you just swap Cole for AJ then that changes the whole approach.

Personally I think whoever comes in as a striker would be in a similar mould to Cole, a big man that can hold the ball up and bring others into play but hopefully be a bit more of a goal threat.

I agree to a certain extent, but look at the home game against Port Vale. I don't feel we have to play with a target man. No chances that I can remember came from a ball pumped up to our target man (as they were immediately given as a foul against Cole if he so much as breathed on the defender). We ran at the defence, turning them and causing them problems from balls/runs made from midfielders/wingers.

Cole is a fantastic professional who clearly works hard and holds the ball up really well. My issue with Cole is that he doesn't take his chances and he makes poor decisions in front of goal. That's costing us points.

On Saturday he put a regulation sitter wide of the goal (just look at his reaction to see he should have buried it). He also had a chance on the edge of the area as the ball rolled across that he put almost over the stand. A bit of composure and he would have knocked it past the defender who couldn't lunge in and he would have had an easier shot with the ball under control.