McSheffrey is our best striker & should start up front....... (3 Viewers)

[Sky Blue M]

He played up front twice last season I think. Against Brighton and as mentioned above Bristol. It wasn't a number of times and I can not remember any occasions when he was moved up front after starting on the wing.

I think his best position is in the hole. His late runs into the box work really well

 

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[skybluegod]

John Fleck

fleck isn't a LW

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

He played in a free attacking role for the majority of the season, most time he was effectively a third striker anyway as he rarely did any defensive work

 

[stupot07]

He played 3 games upfront last season, but apart from that hasn't played up front (as his primary position) since 2004 under Eric Black.

 

[Jack Griffin]

He played in a free attacking role for the majority of the season, most time he was effectively a third striker anyway as he rarely did any defensive work

Not really a fair comment, he was busting a gut closing down in midfield in the last few matches or the season. But by then it was too late.

 

[PVA]

Kilbane? Hussey? Fleck?

Hussey is first choice left back. Fleck plays through the middle and so does Kilbane these days.

Sheff is by far our best Left sided midfielder/winger.

 

[SkyBluePryce]

He played in a free attacking role for the majority of the season, most time he was effectively a third striker anyway as he rarely did any defensive work

He played a lot of games for rangers as a striker and a LW. He came on last year against Celtic on the LW

 

[KersleyDigs]

I have seen him around 3/4 times this season as a striker. He quite frankly pissed over anyone else we have......

No he didnt.

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

He played a lot of games for rangers as a striker and a LW. He came on last year against Celtic on the LW

Sorry, to be clear I was talking about Sheff last season

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

Not really a fair comment, he was busting a gut closing down in midfield in the last few matches or the season. But by then it was too late.

It wasn't meant to be a criticism, I am not saying he was lazy last season. It is part of an attackers job to close down defenders, I just mean he never tracked back when we were out of possession an stayed high up the pitch

 

[johnwillomagic]

I think he is our best striker had him alongside McDonald in my start XI for Yeovil......with Fleck just behind would interest me that front three in this league! I know people's comments about the two Mac's being a littlelightweight,,,,,,but under Thorn it is not as if we punt it long anyhow and both have pace and trickery.

Doubt he will play Sheff up front though which is a shame imo

 

[Sky Blue M]

He got a decent amount of goals last season but how people can say he would be good as a striker is beyond me. How many managers has he played under since black and none of them have played him as a striker. They can't all be wrong

 

[Astute]

He got a decent amount of goals last season but how people can say he would be good as a striker is beyond me. How many managers has he played under since black and none of them have played him as a striker. They can't all be wrong

How many managers that we have had since Black have done better than he did?

 

[stupot07]

How many managers that we have had since Black have done better than he did?

They can't all be wrong though - he scored 17 goals playing left wing under Adams sea
Ing his £4m move to Birmingham, where he scored 17 goals and something like 15 assess from left wing gaining promotion to the PL.

Every manager at every club he's been at since black has played him left wing.

 

[Astute]

How often has there been a lack of strikers though?

He is good on the wing, and then an extra striker.

 

[Grendel]

How often has there been a lack of strikers though?

He is good on the wing, and then an extra striker.

But the fact that he has played under many, many managers all of whom have not considered him a striker is telling. Most goals have been on the left side. Even in his heyday hewas a bit of an odd player. A spectacular finisher from distance, some surprisingly good areal ability and yet somehow lacking a poachers instinct.

 

[dongonzalos]

McSheffrey switching to striker was what gave us that little run that made a few believe we could stay up.
One thing he doesn't get credit for is how good he is off the ball. He makes curved runs off shoulders that force our midfielders to make the pass in behind, something that I didn't see any one else in our squad do last year.....

him and cody will do that, however Norwood has gone and we don't seem too focused on getting the replacement to make those passes.

I thought it would be Bigi.

Maybe the plan is, workdog midfielders and the passes to come from Malaga Edge Hussey and Clarke.

 

[Astute]

Is anyone saying Black didn't know what he was doing?

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Latter end of the season. It started when he was swithced from midfield in the last 15 minutes of a game, he scored and looked ten times better than Nimely and Platt. He had a little run then of starting up top.

It was around the time that we started to close the gap....

And when interviewed after playing up front, sounded like an excited puppy as he said "pffft, I think that's probably been the best hour of my life in the past 5 years!"

Last pre-season, he said "I'm a striker, I've always been a striker: I want to play up front".

I agree with him. He's a striker, and he's been played out of position for the vast majority of his career as English coaches always want a big man up front. He was at his best last season when he played there, as was the team, and he sure as hell can't defend. He's useless in his own half and hasn't got the legs to track back any more. We need to be making the use of his assets-and that is natural goalscoring instinct.

 

[skybluedaze]

Cody, Sheff and Elliott are all good enough to fire the club to promotion, no question about it. Fitness will be the key to who starts and who doesn't. Sheff could easily get 18 goals next season.

 

[stupot07]

Cody, Sheff and Elliott are all good enough to fire the club to promotion, no question about it. Fitness will be the key to who starts and who doesn't. Sheff could easily get 18 goals next season.

Elliott has scored 24 goal's in the last 5 seasons.....

 

[KersleyDigs]

Absolutely agree 100%!

And when interviewed after playing up front, sounded like an excited puppy as he said "pffft, I think that's probably been the best hour of my life in the past 5 years!"

Last pre-season, he said "I'm a striker, I've always been a striker: I want to play up front".

I agree with him. He's a striker, and he's been played out of position for the vast majority of his career as English coaches always want a big man up front. He was at his best last season when he played there, as was the team, and he sure as hell can't defend. He's useless in his own half and hasn't got the legs to track back any more. We need to be making the use of his assets-and that is natural goalscoring instinct.

 

[oldskyblue58]

Sheffers, Elliot, Cody, Jeffers, Ball do any of them have real pace ? ROD is quick but lacks in other ways. Sheffers or Cody are probably the most natural goal scorers ..... but will need quick service from team mates as I dont think any of the strikers can rely on pace to get away from defenders. Am sure AT is aware of this though.

If we set up to be as deliberate as last year then the strikers wont score enough goals but we will be hard to beat. AT has said he is looking to play differently so hopefully has a solution. McSheffery will score goals but we need a contribution from all parts of the team. The key is pace of movement and thought..... have we got it ?

will wait and see what happens in the season but there is nothing there as yet that says we will score a lot of goals in League 1 or that McSheffery is the answer imo.

 

[wingy]

Totally agree here OSB, tempo is everything, all of our decent home results/performances last year were dictated by this.

 

[covcity4life]

if you can get final third passing nailed on you dont need pace as much

dont get me wrong i would welcome it! but dont think its the be all and end all.

 

[oldskyblue58]

If you dont have pace in the legs then you need pace on the ball and speed of thought.

I dont mean the ball has to ping around the pitch all the time like a pin ball machine. But at the right time the ball needs to be shifted quickly to create pressure and space. That takes good movement (that doesnt have to be usain bolt style) and speed of thought from players that have the vision to make a telling pass to profit from the movement.

Fleck & Kilbane may have that vision, i dont know yet, but there are not many in the squad that you would say could play a quick intelligent pass.

for many seasons it has seemed to me that the teams movement generally has been reactive not proactive. Players wait for the ball, play the ball slowly, carefully, without risk, it isnt often you see players take the ball infront of them on the run driving into space beyond defenders. Hopefully that will change........ will be interesting to see

 

[covcity4life]

as said in the other thread this is all obvious to fans but not to AT it seems, no more excuses we must rectify this

hopefully a winning mentality will give the confidence that helps the above click into place

 

[Marty]

I think AT failed with us last season but I don't want to dwell on the past. We need to look into the future, I don't think hes the right man at all for the job, I think hes made some poor signings and expect more of the same, but i'm willing to give him 1 last chance. If we aren't top 10 pushing for play offs by Christmas then he has to go.

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

Mcsheff and Cody are hardly slouches, both are fairly quick over short distances. Not sure what Elliots speed is like

 

[Astute]

I think hes made some poor signings and expect more of the same

We are now in Div3 and paying Div3 wages. We have got some new players that could be good in this division. We can't say the players are poor before they play. I prefer our strikers to any other clubs if we count sheffers. Don't know of a better midfield. We still have a decent defence by the look of things. Murphy is a half decent GK.

If you look at our squad and consider them against Championship players then our players don't look as though they could have a good season. We will be against teams though that will rarely have Championship quality players. We have a few.

 

[skyblueman]

We are now in Div3 and paying Div3 wages. We have got some new players that could be good in this division. We can't say the players are poor before they play. I prefer our strikers to any other clubs if we count sheffers. Don't know of a better midfield. We still have a decent defence by the look of things. Murphy is a half decent GK.

If you look at our squad and consider them against Championship players then our players don't look as though they could have a good season. We will be against teams though that will rarely have Championship quality players. We have a few.

Spot on Astute - really sums up well what we are now

 

[Marty]

We are now in Div3 and paying Div3 wages. We have got some new players that could be good in this division. We can't say the players are poor before they play. I prefer our strikers to any other clubs if we count sheffers. Don't know of a better midfield. We still have a decent defence by the look of things. Murphy is a half decent GK.

If you look at our squad and consider them against Championship players then our players don't look as though they could have a good season. We will be against teams though that will rarely have Championship quality players. We have a few.

You're correct in saying we can't call them poor before they play, but I feel we should have built a team with top draw, hardened league one players. Signing unknows at this level (pritty much every signing) and expecting them to perform from the off is asking a lot, probably too much. Now, I'm sure we'd all agree that not all signings will work out but I can't help but feel he's set himself up for a fall.

You can say until you're blue in the face how 'decent' our squad is, but surely the same applies and we can't judge until we've actually seen them play. AT has never got the best out of them, and not once played a formation that suited the style of the players we have.

 

[Grendel]

Careful you are coming close to criticising thorn. That's only allowed on special threads.