Lack of attacking options..

[TorquayBoy]

I have thought, for all of last season and by the looks of the Tiverton game, that the squad has one striker too short! You can play much more threatening football with two strikers up front and with the squad we have at the moment- it would be a risky move because what if either Rene or Ryan got injured? Do you think another striker is needed and if so, who?

[markw]

How about that young lad we had on loan last season ... Billy Bodin ???

Sarcasm being lowest form of wit ....

in all seriousness , I would like to see how the squad shapes up over the first few league games ... It looks like ling is offering Macklin a way back in with his comments , Craig could , could be a gem ..

The thing that struck me most about last season was the team spirit and there is always a danger that by bringing in a new strikers of which most by their very nature are selfish and arrogant ( they need to be!!) could upset that

[AustrianAndyGull]

We,ve got rid of Atieno and McPhee haven't we? Fresh air is more potent in the box than those two!

On a serious note, i am more than happy with Jarvis replacing those two and we have a few others that could step up so i am not worried in the slightest. Last season we NEEDED Jarvis a few months earlier and then who knows but now i believe we have enough.

[ferrarilover]

Well, we've £175 large that needs spending, so, once again, I'm going to point us in the direction of Izale McLeod. Ok, ok, pipe down at the back, I know he's moved on to Pompey, but by the time we play Leicester, they will have been liquidated (thank God), so he won't actually have a club to play for. Accordingly, and since a club 10 minutes away from certain death is clearly the best offer he could get, it would seem that no bugger wants him. This being the case, we'll have him. I seem to recall that no one really wanted Eunan at one time in his life. It's a bit of a gamble, perhaps, but I imagine that he will be pretty frantically searching for employment, being so close to the start of the season by the time he realises that Portsmouth FC doesn't actually exist anymore, so perhaps it will be a case of any port in a storm and the bag of sand a week that we give him being considerably in excess of the current rate of what is laughably called "Jobseekers Allowance".

Matt.

[cambgull]

Maybe Eunan leaving is not such a bad thing. We have two players capable of the task in Morris and Craig so it could leave a bit of spare cash to either bring in another forward option or perhaps add a couple players in January to make a push for a potential play-off place.

[ferrarilover]

We have two capable players certainly, and Craig is definitely one of them, but Morris as the other, really? Unless he has altered dramatically since the end of last season, he isn't even close.

Matt.

[cambgull]

I'm sure you're referring to Easton as the other option. I haven't seen him play since he was at Swindon so I can't comment, but I don't remember him being the type of player to surge forward and put a beautifully weighted through ball up to Rene or dictate the pace of the match from the middle of the park. I more remember him as a solid, battling midfielder who would be a perfectly capable replacement for Manse or Damon, if not take their place in the team. I'd like to see NC given the chance with Morris as the back up.

[stevegull]

Ling mentioned Stevens as an option to fill that role. Not sure where you guys stand on this but I'm not sure that would work. He doesn't seem to be intelligent enough on the pitch to fill that role for me and I also think that maybe he is too short to play through the middle.

In some games we will inevitably have to hit the long ball up to Rene and as capable as he is at holding up play it would be difficult to see how Stevens could get involved in the move unless Rene immediately gets the ball on the deck.

[ferrarilover]

I am indeed. Thus far, Easton has looked far too good for everyone he has faced, and well capable of picking a pass. You're not the first to mention a direct link up between Rene and Eunan, but I've yet to hear any advance on two as the number of goals that particular combination created last year, so I'm not too fussed about O'Kane's departure from that, very specific, point of view. Agree, however, that NC is a distance ahead in the race to fill EOK's boots.

Matt.

[cambgull]

I am indeed. Thus far, Easton has looked far too good for everyone he has faced, and well capable of picking a pass. You're not the first to mention a direct link up between Rene and Eunan, but I've yet to hear any advance on two as the number of goals that particular combination created last year, so I'm not too fussed about O'Kane's departure from that, very specific, point of view. Agree, however, that NC is a distance ahead in the race to fill EOK's boots.

Matt.

I used the link up to explain a part of the game which I think we need, not that Eunan did that. I will miss Eunan as a player but I think we relied on him having a good day for the team to have a good day. I believe we'll be a more balanced team without him. Either that, or we'll be rubbish all the time.

Ling mentioned Stevens as an option to fill that role. Not sure where you guys stand on this but I'm not sure that would work. He doesn't seem to be intelligent enough on the pitch to fill that role for me and I also think that maybe he is too short to play through the middle.

In some games we will inevitably have to hit the long ball up to Rene and as capable as he is at holding up play it would be difficult to see how Stevens could get involved in the move unless Rene immediately gets the ball on the deck.

Hmm... not sure on that one. Maybe if he was given a totally free role without having to do anything defensively, then yeah, I could see him being quite dangerous given the opportunity to run with the ball and take pot shots. I can't see him dictating the game's tempo and playing an intelligent passing game though. I think he'd have too many off days every time a battling midfielder gave him a quick kicking at the start of the game. He's rubbish enough with bruiser full backs, midfielders will be worse.

[Gullscorer]

Danny Stevens too short..? I believe Nobby Stiles in England's 1966 world Cup team was rather short, and he was a football legend. And not intelligent enough ? You mean, like Wayne Rooney or David Beckham..?

Danny Stevens can win us promotion single-handed this season..

[cambgull]

Midgetitus as a winger is fine, which is where Stiles played. And it's not so much the height, but the strength and tackling ability, as well as the fancy stuff. You only have to look at Dennis Wise for that one. Stevens doesn't have tough tackling in his repertoire.

As for intelligence, Rooney is a moron, but you cannot doubt his footballing brain. He reads the game well and knows where he needs to be in the box. Beckham isn't actually that stupid, he just sounds stupid.

[TorquayBoy]

What I meant by this post was not the fact that we have lost Eunan, sad to see him go but I thought people expected way too much of him like a chance would just come out of thin air- but I was more meaning not having two strikers to keep the ball upfield. Yes 4-3-3 is all well and good when your team is pressing an is more dominant but when recieving threats from more dominant teams (such as Leeds today) it seems to fall into more of a 4-5-1 and it's hard to fight back having just Howe in the middle of the pitch. It was only in the second half that we had a little more confidence and actually became a threat. If we played a 4-4-2 it would be more balanced and reliable, because the ball could be held upfield better by passing between strikers and also you would have two players built for striking the ball. Your replies have been great and I look forward to few more! And the somewhat sarcastic comment and the start was one of irrelevance, because Bodin is clearly a winger, not a striker Peace out<3

[Dave]

With the system that Lingy prefers to play I really do not think there is a need to bring in another striker , think it is more of a case of seeing how the season pans out first.

Having seen the game last night remembering it was against a Championship team all in all can see us scoring a lot more goals this coming season , my reason behind that in the first 20 minutes or so last night thought we were playing the name Leeds united rather than the team they have, the ball was being sent quick and long to Rene Howe and we were not committing enough players forward to support him hence Howe was ending up 1 against 5, as the half wore on and we starting getting more players forward as a team we came more and more into the game.

The second half for me was the proof that their is enough attacking opitions, with no Rene Howe on the park the team started to pass the ball through midfield more, and with Bodin/Tompson, Stevens and Macklin up their all players with some or more pace and who all are prepared to get hold of the ball and run direct at defenders the team started to cause Leeds all sorts of problems.

Hold some money back and suck it and see, thats my opinion.

[brooker]

I'd like to see NC and Morris give it a go. Bit worried though that Ling sees Danny and Bodin as candidates in the centre. There was a few games last year, where Danny kept getting sucked inside, and he lost the ball every time this happened. He hasn't got the strength or vision to battle through the middle, and instantly loses his pace advantage. Same with Billy, we're short up top, why drag him back?