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I just did not realize how much we would miss Deano when he was first injured but it is now clear what a miss he is to us, we are simply not scoring the goals that we would with his ability to clinicaly finish off moves. Styche is OK but he tends to create his goals with beating players etc, Danny is all effort, Birchy will score classic center forward goals, but Deano is just one look and bang its a goal.
I think that if he was fit we would be almost out of site by now, yet we have taken 1 point from the last 2 games with him I am sure it would have been 6 ...Hurry up back.

I have to agree that we just arent scoring enough goals this season. In 10 out of our 15 league games we have scored 1 goal or less and 5 of these we have failed to score in. Take out the 13 we scored against Spalding and Quorn who were truly awful and we have only scored 13 in 13 games. In many games we are dominating possession but simply arent getting shots on target to test their keeper.
I will disagree with you over Reece however as i think the lad is class and his record of almost a goal a game is impressive. Just wish we could have had him in the team as soon as Deano became injured. I do know where you are coming from though as he is a different type of player to Deano.
Of equal concern to me though is the lack of clean sheets we are keeping this season. After last nights game thats now 8 games we have gone without keeping a clean sheet. This then puts added pressure on the strikers who know that they have to score at least 2 in each game for us to win.
Would just like to say though that i thought John Branch was absolutely outstanding last night. Superb wing back play. Was absolutely everywhere and was getting forward constantly and whipping some great balls into the box throughout.
A vital game coming up now on Saturday and one that we just CANT afford to lose if we have any ambitions on taking the title.

Agree about class of Perrow, missing him and some. He has that instinct to be in the right place at the right time.

Also agree with you about John Branch on Tuesday, not sure if thats a first for me Windy!!

I think it's fair to say we knew we'd miss Deano when he got injured for such a space of time, even with several others you're going to miss a player with his scoring talent.

We've not had much luck with strikers either, with the number of injuries up front, but even so it is slightly disappointing that our conversion rate seems so low.

The link between midfield and attack is a pivotal one and it has broken down in the past and is perhaps one of our biggest weaknesses. It's been the case often that when Deano didn't look like scoring, you kind of wondered who would...I'm not knocking who we are playing up top, the effort's there from what I've seen and heard, but you can't deny that we've been unable to fill the void.

It would be unfair to expect too much of Deano when he returns, it's going take a few matches at least to get him sharp again, but it really does highlight how much of an asset he is to the squad as a proven goalscorer.

For the moment though, I wouldn't mind grinding out 1-0 wins, but that's based on a solid defence that's been shown up too often already this season.

To be fair i dont think we can hold the forwards solely to blame for our shortage of goals. Birchy, Reece and Danny have got 22 between them so far which aint bad. However we need goals from other areas of the pitch too. The midfield should be chipping in every now and again too but the return from midfield this season has been virtually non existent.
Like i said in an earlier post if Reece doesn't score then the team doesn't score at present. We need the midfielders to be chipping in with their fair share too.
We need to get a few shots in on goal too as in too many games we seem afraid to shoot and are trying to walk the ball into the net. Keepers arent being tested enough despite all our great approach play.

Strikers
Gary Birch 18+3 Apps 10 Goals
Danny Smith 15+7 Apps 6 Goals
Reece Styche 7+1 Apps 6 Goals
Grant Ryan 3+3 Apps 1 Goal
Craig Marshall 2+2 Apps 1 Goal

Midfield
Ben Steane 19+1 Apps 0 Goals
Dave Egan 17+3 Apps 1 Goal
Richie Batchelor 15+5 Apps 2 Goals

After the strikers, the next top scorer is Craig Milligan (3) while Harry Harris has 2 like Batch

Discuss...

Just backs up my point. 24 goals so far from the forward line isnt bad but that return from the midfield is letting us down badly.
Some of the pressure needs to be taken off the forwards. If they dont score then you are relying on the defence to keep a clean sheet which just aint happening this season hence all the dropped points.
Last season we had Harry, Batch, Ollie and even Ben chipping in with a few goals. We need the same to start happening now.

So is the players not taking chances or the system not working????

Noticed Tuesday Ben received the ball in some dangerous areas but he always had his back to the goal !! Problem is Ben gets pushed of the ball to easily, problems of not being like birchy

Persoanlly feel we sit to deep so it takes an age for the midfield to join the attack quickly and with a cutting edge.

Also noted that Ben has had a 7 day approach mad by Leamington We now he wanted to go at start of season, where would that leave the master plan

Any team would miss a Dean Perrow he is class pure and simple.

As for Ben having his head turned by Leamington if he was that bothered why did he stay?

I firmly believe that the 3-5-2 system stops goals from midfield as we dont get forward with as many players as we should.

That said i think there are goals in the midfiled lads but the defence duties are holding them back at the moment.

Come tomorrow though its going to change.

Steane and Egan hat trick each and hopefully Batch back in with a brace

fillyfog wrote:
As for Ben having his head turned by Leamington if he was that bothered why did he stay?

He stayed because he loves us lol


fillyfog wrote:
I firmly believe that the 3-5-2 system stops goals from midfield as we dont get forward with as many players as we should.

That said i think there are goals in the midfiled lads but the defence duties are holding them back at the moment.

Come tomorrow though its going to change.

Spot on Filly... we didn't play 5 3 2 and we created goalscoring chances aplenty. Would've been a Birchy hat-trick but for a dodgy linesman's decision. Not quite Egan hat-trick, he'll save that for Rushall