The Hotel End

Why do we have to play Richards (who doesn't win a header) or Revell (who only flicks a ball on, which is easy to read)? They contribute very little to getting goals and it invites route one football.
I believe Waters playing on the last defender and Long would give more movement but it would still need support from our midfield.
Obviously we need O'Toole next week playing alongside Crooks.

If JE is going to play wing backs then it has to be Moloney (Phillips) and Smith so they supply the crosses.
Please some goals because even the Kettering and Rushden friendlies we were bereft of chances!

Good sensible post.

Agree totally.

First game for me although I saw the feed from the Derby friendly.
I still think Rico can do a job for us, not so much Revell. People who accuse Richards of being lazy miss the point, he will score goals if he gets the supply. Crooks looks like he could be a very important player for us, similar to JJ in his presence but with quicker better feet. The two together will should be very good for us although I do wonder if they are a little too similar to each other. Having said that we are missing those late runs into the danger area from JJ.
Would agree it needs to be Smith (because is not a wingback) and Phillips who I thought was excellent today or Maloney, though Maloney works better as an attacking fullback rather than wing back for me.
Pierre, A Taylor, Poole all upgrades on last year's central defence.
Rest of the new boys looked OK without particularly impressing.
We need a goal and 3points. With a little bit of luck we could have been sitting on 4 points this evening.
Don't see JE going anywhere unless we are in the bottom four and in danger of losing contact with the teams above us but only after at least 12 games.

Only Long is going to do anything upfront this season!

Been saying for a couple of seasons Richards is overrated and he is.

Revell also not good enough.

Also the insistence on being playing Rico/revs means having to shoehorn waters in the attacking midfield position which I don't feel gets the best out of him. Waters got 15 odd goals for a struggling team last year so how about playing him up top? I know it's fantasy football but what about a fluid front 3 of long, waters and harry forrester?!

Both Richards and Revell are too imobile, its not because they are bad players its their age. Its easy to defend against them and whilst both will still score goals their contribution won't be enough. We need another player like Long who is in comparison a breath of fresh air. Or we go with Waters and Long and another player picks up the role behind them two (JJOT when fit), the issue then is what if they pick up an injury, we woudl be back to Revell and Richards, Apprecaite Rico has been a good servant for the Club but we really shouldn't have extended his stay.

           Good post. Richards has been a very good servant, But he is well past his best, Revel is not and never has been good enough, JED seems to have the defending  sorted, Which is the right way to go. But we must find a good centre forward, not easy, but it has to be done

I think we need two decent quality strikers
Move revell on if he can no longer do it at this level and put rico out on loan to a league two/conference club till Jan.
It's all well and good investing in the squad but we all know that goalscorers win matches.
Three games
Three defeats
No goals

It's also well known that strikers are the most expensive commodity to bring in which is why we as a club haven't.
Fancy trumpeting an investment but not purchasing decent attackers for the final third!!
Let's just stick with the ones who nearly got us relegated and couldn't score for toffee at the backend of last season when we desperately needed goals to save our skin!!!

We spent money on a striker.

If we have spent money on a striker why on earth do the old farts get a game? They are past it and any insistence to play them will just drag the team down.

And why pay money for a striker who scored 15 goals in a poor side last season and then play him in a withdrawn role where he is nowhere near as effective.

For me I would have let Rico go and brought in M Smith from Pompey, far more mobile and can play the role of a lone striker if needed.
The problem though is not the strikers, Revell and Long are decent for this level, it's the service they are getting or not getting.
The system we are playing is dreadful to watch no width, no midfield, no chances created.
What it does make you is hard to break down because most of the time you have 5 at the back.
With Charlton away and then boro at home I can't see a goal let alone a win.

If you are going to play either then give them what they thrive on, crosses into the box. I don't think we have enough quality in the wide area's, which in turn is depriving our old school centre forwards scoring opportunities

 What about James Collins from Luton, he looks like a good bet to me.

The same one that Luton just paid £250,000 for?

I've said it before but the only way I'd play either of them would be the central striker in a front 3. I'd instruct them to just sit right between the opposition centre backs and make a nuisance of themselves to create room for the wider 2 and midfield. Turn any decline of mobility into a strength basically.

I agree, Waters should be up front.

What do we know though eh!

Give Rico the service into the box and he'll score plenty, play him up front on his own and he won't. Simple.

Revell and Richards are past it. Simple.

He needs to get shot of Revell and quick. We shouldn't be carring both.

Both should go we need to look towards the future. We need to start Long and rotate Icao and Lobjoit

Rico has been a great servant to the football club but I was very surprised when he was offered a new contract at the end of last season. If the investment had arrived in April I can bet he wouldn't still be here.

Richards and Revell are yesterdays people and even the way they play is yesterdays tactics.
Possesion is valuable NOT lumping up to a centre forward for knockdowns.
We have good players this year with the addition of a goalkeeper and new pacey striker.

PACE is king!

Rico should never have been given a new contract and Revell should have been offloaded .
Neither should be starting a game .
Waters has played well in the hole and I would keep him there but he needs to get forward more and not play too deep .
Maybe Lobjoit should start alongside Long .
Our problem is width and midfield energy . Not sure where Powell and Bowditch fit in at all unless we play 442

I AGREE, SAD BUT TRUE.

Anyone getting on Ricos back needs to do one! I made that mistake last season and wont be again!!

Man scored 13 goals in an awful team last year and he will get goals this year no doubt. Added to that he bring experience to the team for players like Long and Walters. If we got rid of him the crys wouls be 'we need experience to bring on the pitch' blar blar

Rev however i agree

2016/17;
Rico 13 goals in 45 appearances (14 Sub)
Revs 10 goals in 39 appearances (4 sub)

Am I the only one who doesn't see a massive difference in those stats?

Definitely true!!

Not one player in our team will get 12 goals a seaso, let alone the 20+ season striker a side needs to compete at the top end of the table. The question is two weeks into the season where does Jed get one from???

The truth of the matter is it should have been sorted weeks ago (as with the keeper). The only way I can see it happening is a panic buy, shelling out a safe of cash on someone like akinde or Bogle, which are prob neither the answer

Facts are there, neither are good enough

I'm not fighting to have either in the team, just don't think the stick Revell gets in comparison to Rico is proportionate.

Agree mate for me nothing between them really.

Not just about stats. Ricos a leader , offers more bite and is more consistant. Reves goals came mainly at start if season a nd he tailed off big time.

The problem is more so the set up of the team rather than these two old horses being the route 'issue'.

Put it this way. Rico's strength in the main (other than scoring goals) is his link up play. In this formation and set up he's got no one to link with. So that essentially neutralises his presence. Whilst Rev's strength is his worth ethic and arial ability.At Shrewsbury, we didn't get a single cross into the box from open play. On Saturday it took almost 30 minutes to get one in, which was a rubbish delivery. The first one we did get in that was decent, Waters nearly scored from it. In the Second half, a few 'lofted balls in from the likes Of DB', but zero quality.

People should be looking beyond the forwards if they are trying to work out what the issue is. Its very early days, but the two games I've seen (both league ones) we are playing the entire game with every player behind the ball, theres no width at all, no outlet, Waters is dropping back to help the defence and our advanced forward (Rev/Rico) is totally isolated and surrounded by several defenders.

Until we either make this system more fluent or its chucked in the scrap heap (my preference, we would have a great team with a flat back 4 in my opinion) we won't score many goals.

Correct. Despite being the year younger, appears to have declined heavily since last autumn. Could still be recovering from injury much like Rico was at this point last season though...

Only two players last season scored 20+  ;D

I think it was right to offer Richards a contact, but mainly so that he can coach, help and mentor the younger strikers but also give us an option when needed. The best way to use him is mainly as a sub, or if any team have big aggressive centrehalfs as he has the experience to deal with them that some of the younger players may not.
I have only seen Saturdays game so cant really say who should be playing but Long and Waters both look useful and the likes of Lobjoit as a quick impact sub.
I like Revell but agree its maybe time for him to go

I'm curious as to when the last time Rico or Revs actually had a clear cut chance created for them... or when a ball with any sort of quality was given to them in the box... everything is launched to them in the air and they have no choice but to flick it on or try and bring it down on the chest.

I actually feel sorry for them both. I'd hate to play up front in a team that creates the amount of chances we do for the Strikers.

Wide men that can cross a ball would be a start, and central midfielders/attacking midfielders willing to run with the ball or split a defence with a pass would be a good start.

Give them the service and they will score.

Do you know that Revell is not a leader as well?

I'd say Revell end of last season/start of this is a good resemblance to Rico 12 months before. Revs was over used by Page the first half of last season, his Dad passed away and he got a pretty bad injury, there are strong mitigating factors to him tailing off. If he hadn't have had all that he may well of outscored Rico comfortably last year

this is the crucial bit - you can be as quick as you want (waters) - but he missed 2 sitters from inside the 6 yard box on saturday, and that inevitably cost us.

We've got to play Long and Waters as the front 2.

Playing long, direct, aerial balls to long and Waters would probably yield worse results than current ones.

The whole manner of play needs to change as the first priority IMO

Charlton boss Karl Robinson on signing a prolific striker:

“We’ve spoken to one or two strikers. For every club from the top of the Premier League to the bottom of the conference, they are looking for a striker to score 20 goals a season.
“So, we’re fishing in the same pond as every other football club. We just hope we find the right one that’s competitive.
“We know there are four or five that we've spoken to who we like. There are two or three where we think we've been out-priced so we won't be chasing them. So we just need to get it right.
“To buy a striker that’s going to score you 25 goals, it’s going to cost £1.5m to £2m - when do you see a team in League One do that?”

Despite Charlton's problems in recent years, I'm sure they have more money than we do and they are being priced out of players. Those hoping we can bring in a 20-25 goal striker just like that are living in a fantasy. You either hope you've got a decent youth prospect, loan in a prem/championship striker and hope you've hit gold (and hope they don't recall him) or fork out serious money. I don't think any of these are going to happen, Chris Long being out most likely option.

Reality checks don't work on here, stop it...  :o

Totally agree by the way.

How the hell can playing long. direct aerial balls to Long and Waters yield worse results ? We have'nt scored for over 5 games, how much worse could it get ?

Long and waters are not tall, strong aerial players who can physically battle and hold a ball up, so would likely mean that we won even less of the long balls that we played. This in turn could mean that the opposition would spend even more time in possession, create more chances themselves and score more goals against us. Instead of losing 1-0 we could be losing by more.

But yeah, i take your point, in terms of scoring our own goals, it cant get much worse

Bayo for a start,Taylor Bristol City(only cost them 300k),Chris 0'Grady, Jay Simpson,Danny Hylton
Most of those except Taylor not up to it. What price Collins and /or Marquis now?

Will be interesting to see how Marquis does with the step up this season, it's all hindsight but signing Revell over him was a daft decision. Collins has probably found his level at League 2 now, Shrewsbury were pretty quick to get rid of him after they got to League 1.

I completely agree with both your above posts. I've always been a big fan of Rico and I continue to be- he's been a prolific goalscorer in this division since God was a boy and he buries chances when he gets them, which is more than can be said for 90% of the strikers our club has had in the last 10 years. His movement is good, he has an eye for goal and is still capable of a brilliant finish, as evidenced by his backheel against Oxford United and his wondergoal against Sheffield United last season.

Rico has been our top scorer in the league for three consecutive seasons. The experience he has is invaluable on the pitch, especially as he is captain. He will score goals for us in this campaign.

Revell on the other hand looks one-paced and lacking League One qualities. Richards is simply a far better version of Revell. Time for Revell to move on, particularly if the rumours of League Two clubs wanting to sign him are true.



Exactly. I'm of the opinion that we don't need any new strikers, or any other new players for that matter, bar a goalkeeper. We could have Antoine Griezmann up front for us and he would still struggle to score from the service that this formation is currently providing to our strikers. It is the formation which is causing all these issues because we clearly have a lot more quality in the squad than last season and yet can't create anything. Change to a 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 and watch the results improve.


Richards has a lot of experience at this level and I can see him moving into a coaching role at the Cobblers once he decides his playing days are over. But right now, he's our best striking option in the squad.


Completely right and I also feel sorry for our strikers, they often have to huff and puff for 90 minutes chasing lost causes, then they are provided with one half-chance out of the blue and are berated for not scoring it when really it's the lack of service which is the major issue.


Same with Hoskins. He's always going to be the fastest player on the pitch at this level but his first touch is woeful and he can't hit the target for toffee.

That would make Man Utd's Pogba buy back seem cheap.

Bayo and O'Grady have never hit 20 goals. Taylor had a release clause in his contract so hardly a proper gauge on the market price. Hylton is a good shout and has done well for Luton. The point is if you want a current 20 goal a season striker then it will cost you an arm and a leg.

             I agree with you.