[Thurnscoe_OWL]

If we went for Wickham he's be on 3 times what our current top earner will be on. He'd never come back (not in the champ anyway), he's a regular in the prem

[St Charles Owl]

If we went for Wickham he's be on 3 times what our current top earner will be on. He'd never come back  (not in the champ anyway), he's a regular in the prem

The point about Wickham is even if Sunderland were to offload him, first they would want the 8m back and secondly I would imagine there would be at least 2 or 3 prem teams interested in him as well, that in itself would probably rule him out from our perspective.

Finding the 20 goal striker that SG said he wants is not going to be easy and not cheap either.  Any player who is "guaranteed" to be prolific will be chased by a number of clubs and even though we now have potential, thats all we currently offer!!  Our best bet is to spend money on a striker who has good promise and then surround him with a midfield and wingers who can provide service.  Maybe we already have that striker in May or Bus, but without the service we just don't really know.  So I would concentrate on getting McGugan signed and then at the very least buy 2 solid wingers who can deliver a cross, even our strikers will score with the right service!!

[Towinjustonce]

Totally agree SCO. Would give that a like only I can't on the phone here. Also it makes SG decision (if it was his) to get rid of Antonio like MS has said before to be very very stupid. Antonio is not everyone's cup of tea but he offered more than what we currently have going forward which is daft !!! We got rid of our best player and replaced him with less quality players....ffs !!!

[madsteve]

If we went for Wickham he's be on 3 times what our current top earner will be on. He'd never come back  (not in the champ anyway), he's a regular in the prem

The point about Wickham is even if Sunderland were to offload him, first they would want the 8m back and secondly I would imagine there would be at least 2 or 3 prem teams interested in him as well, that in itself would probably rule him out from our perspective.

Finding the 20 goal striker that SG said he wants is not going to be easy and not cheap either.  Any player who is "guaranteed" to be prolific will be chased by a number of clubs and even though we now have potential, thats all we currently offer!!  Our best bet is to spend money on a striker who has good promise and then surround him with a midfield and wingers who can provide service.  Maybe we already have that striker in May or Bus, but without the service we just don't really know.  So I would concentrate on getting McGugan signed and then at the very least buy 2 solid wingers who can deliver a cross, even our strikers will score with the right service!!

I think the whole thing starts with getting our playing philosophy sorted first.

SG is committed to playing a rigid 442 yet we keep bringing in players suited to 352 or 4231. If we are going to play 442 then we need at least two genuine wingers like Antonio, JJ or BM10.

I think McGugan is a great addition but, again, he is not really suited to 442. When he has played, we have conceded on average 1.07 goals per game but when he hasn't played, we have conceded 0.86 goals per game. This might not seem much but also consider that in the 15 matches that he has played, he has only played three matches against teams in the top ten but has played five matches against teams in the bottom three. Take those matches out and the average goals conceded goes up to 1.40 goals per match.

This isn't to knock McGugan at all, I think he is great but while he is creating & scoring, in a 442, it is weakening us defensively. I still accept that though. What gets me is that if we played 352 or 433 or 4231, we would get the benefits of McGugan without the losses.

Heard an interesting interview with Johan Cruyff where he said about formations that the aim was to play with the fewest defenders that you can so that you can concentrate your efforts on controlling the midfield and creating the most chances. We seem to do the opposite - play more defenders than we need, give CM away & create very little.

On the 20 goal striker. Less of the promoted sides have a 20 goal striker these days. As more sides play 451 or 4231 then the goals are more shared around so the importance of goal scoring midfielders becomes more important and it is so much cheaper than chasing a top striker. Obviously one big goalscorer helps but looking at recent promoted sides shows it isn't the only way.

Top Goalscorers of promoted teams:

Leicester - Nugent 20, Vardy 16, Drinkwater 7
QPR - Austin 17, Morrison 6, Hoilett 4
Burnley - Ings 21, Voakes 20, Arfield 8
..............................................................................

Cardiff - Helguson 9, Whittingham 8, Gunnarsson 8
Hull City - Koren 9, Aluko 8, Simpson 7
Crystal Palace - Murray 30, Zaha 8, Phillips 7
...............................................................................

Reading - Le Fondre 12, Hunt 8, Church 7
Southampton - Lambert 27, Lallana 11, Do Prado 10
West Ham - Cole 15, Nolan 13, Vaz Te 12
.................................................................................

So of the last nine promoted sides, only four had a 20 goal per season striker. Two made it without anyone scoring ten goals (four, if you take off penalties). It actually shows that if you don't have that great goalscorer like Murray, Ings or Lambert, it is still possible to go up by having plenty of players chipping in with a few goals each.

Ideally we need two players that get close to ten goals each in midfield, like Antonio, BM10, Waddle, Sheridan or Hornsby have in the past but to do that and be solid defensively, we need a three man CM, which means sacrificing either a striker or a defender. Unfortunately this isn't going to happen under SG.

[Maddix]

As an aside , would anyone REALLY want Rhodes ???

Not really. He bottled the chance of EPL football and went to Blackburn instead. That tells its own story to me.

On the other hand, he does score in every game he plays at Hillsborough 

[St Charles Owl]

As an aside , would anyone REALLY want Rhodes ???

Not really. He bottled the chance of EPL football and went to Blackburn instead. That tells its own story to me.

On the other hand, he does score in every game he plays at Hillsborough 

Was he actually offered a transfer to the Prem??  I thought none of the prem teams came in for him, or certainly not for 8m which is what the Village wanted for him.  Still his record at Blackburn is pretty good, 66 goals in 136 games I think, we need that production form someone, but not for 12m!!!

[peiowl]

I would build the team around Nuhiu,  Maguire and Coke. Let's not forget McCabe and Zayette. Then bring in a few journeymen like sidibe and Big Leon. Is Joc still stayeside? We could use his experience.

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

makes a great spine of a team does that pei

[Maddix]

As an aside , would anyone REALLY want Rhodes ???

Not really. He bottled the chance of EPL football and went to Blackburn instead. That tells its own story to me.

On the other hand, he does score in every game he plays at Hillsborough 

Was he actually offered a transfer to the Prem??  I thought none of the prem teams came in for him, or certainly not for 8m which is what the Village wanted for him.  Still his record at Blackburn is pretty good, 66 goals in 136 games I think, we need that production form someone, but not for 12m!!!

In the words of Adele, rumour has it that Fulham made an offer and possibly West Bumitch Ablione along with one or two other lower end EPL teams. Obviously didn't fancy being a little fish in a big pond so opted for Blackburn in the SBC 

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

the like is for the Adele reference