Do we really need another striker?

[SCIAG]

Pogrebnyak and Le Fondre should be very good strikers for us next season.

They are backed up by Samuel and Blackman, and maybe Roberts, and maybe Ugwu. Taylor and HRK can fill in if need be.

We're probably going to play with one up front because we have so many midfielders (10 if you include Taylor but not Leigertwood or Obita, plus Blackman) and there are only question marks over Akpan and Taylor, all the other midfielders are proven at this level or higher.

Pogrebnyak and Samuel are both capable of playing as lone strikers and I don't see why Le Fondre couldn't be with the right players around him.

AZ has already said Pog will be allowed to go if we get the right fee. We will drag that one out until we get the money we want, but no way will he still be here come the end of the transfer window.

We might not receive a satisfactory offer.

If he goes (which 3-4 months ago I would have said was nailed on) then I think we could use another striker. My first choice would be Austin because of his past connections with the club and he would probably be better value than Hooper. More realistically, I'd be fine with Ebanks-Blake or Sharp. If he doesn't go and we make a big-name signing, then we'll have three players competing for one position.

[MrCorky]

Tough one to call really. By the looks of things, Adkins likes using Hal and Blackman in behind the striker, but they are capable of playing up top. That leaves Pog (if he stays), Alf, Roberts, and Samuel as recognized strikers. With the current crop of players, we can easily rotate and plug the gaps if someone leaves or gets injured. All that being said, I wouldn't complain at all if we brought in Hooper/Austin/Sharp.

[Clyde1998]

Current Strikers

• Pogrebnyak - Looking likely he will leave.
• Le Fondre - Proven Championship goalscorer.
• Blackman - Not proven at Championship level.
• Roberts - Injured, but proven at Championship level.
• Samuel - Injured, unproven at Championship level.

We need at least one more striker, if not two.

[One8Seven1]

Current Strikers

• Pogrebnyak - Looking likely he will leave.
• Le Fondre - Proven Championship goalscorer.
• Blackman - Not proven at Championship level.
• Roberts - Injured, but proven at Championship level.
• Samuel - Injured, unproven at Championship level.

We need at least one more striker, if not two.

Especially if Alf got injured... We can't just say "well HRK can go up front and hope the goals come".

[Clyde1998]

Current Strikers

• Pogrebnyak - Looking likely he will leave.
• Le Fondre - Proven Championship goalscorer.
• Blackman - Not proven at Championship level.
• Roberts - Injured, but proven at Championship level.
• Samuel - Injured, unproven at Championship level.

We need at least one more striker, if not two.

Especially if Alf got injured... We can't just say "well HRK can go up front and hope the goals come".

We could always play Craig Levein's 4-6-0.

[NewCorkSeth]

Current Strikers

• Pogrebnyak - Looking likely he will leave. Rebuttal - Has not yet left (we should not sign a marque striker when we have one on 65k a week)
• Le Fondre - Proven Championship goalscorer. Agreed.
• Blackman - Not proven at Championship level. Rebuttal - Neither was ALF when we bought him. Same goes for Doyle.
• Roberts - Injured, but proven at Championship level. Rebuttal - Has restarted training outdoors and is most likely back up anyway.
• Samuel - Injured, unproven at Championship level. Rebuttal - See Blackman.

We need at least one more striker, if not two.

One more striker would be nice if the right deal came along but considering we are almost certainly playing with one striker up front we have 4 strikers not including the pog.
Four player for one position. And i would agree with many people on here that HRK could be a killer up front

[One8Seven1]

Current Strikers

• Pogrebnyak - Looking likely he will leave. Rebuttal - Has not yet left (we should not sign a marque striker when we have one on 65k a week)
• Le Fondre - Proven Championship goalscorer. Agreed.
• Blackman - Not proven at Championship level. Rebuttal - Neither was ALF when we bought him. Same goes for Doyle.
• Roberts - Injured, but proven at Championship level. Rebuttal - Has restarted training outdoors and is most likely back up anyway.
• Samuel - Injured, unproven at Championship level. Rebuttal - See Blackman.

We need at least one more striker, if not two.

One more striker would be nice if the right deal came along but considering we are almost certainly playing with one striker up front we have 4 strikers not including the pog.
Four player for one position. And i would agree with many people on here that HRK could be a killer up front

Need to learn to quote, mate.

[NewCorkSeth]

Need to learn to quote, mate.

Um i can but then my response would have been in the quotes.. The rebuttal parts?

[Clyde1998]

If we change the question to "Do we need more players?" for the moment.

There is a 25-man squad in the Championship, as well as in the Premier League. (U21 players don't have to be named in the squad)

I would split the squad like this and using the current players:
GK - 3 (McCarthy, Federici, Taylor)
DF - 8 (Gunter, Kelly, Cummings, Bridge, Pearce, Morrison, Mariappa, Gorkss)
MF - 10 (McAnuff, McCleary, Drenthe, Robson-Kanu, Kebe, Guthrie, Akpan, Karacan, Williams, Leigertwood)
ST - 4 (Pogrebnyak, Le Fondre, Roberts, Blackman)

Players in red, I expect to see leave.

I doubt we would need an extra central midfielder, so another space is freed up to allow for another, fifth, striker.

Two would be possible. It's just who we bring in.

[SCIAG]

Current Strikers

• Pogrebnyak - Looking likely he will leave.
• Le Fondre - Proven Championship goalscorer.
• Blackman - Not proven at Championship level.
• Roberts - Injured, but proven at Championship level.
• Samuel - Injured, unproven at Championship level.

We need at least one more striker, if not two.

Of the strikers we have been promoted with (Kitson, Doyle, Lita, Long; Le Fondre, Hunt, Church, Roberts), only three were proven at Championship level. Unless you count Church.

If we change the question to "Do we need more players?" for the moment.

There is a 25-man squad in the Championship, as well as in the Premier League. (U21 players don't have to be named in the squad)

I would split the squad like this and using the current players:
GK - 3 (McCarthy, Federici, Taylor)
DF - 8 (Gunter, Kelly, Cummings, Bridge, Pearce, Morrison, Mariappa, Gorkss)
MF - 10 (McAnuff, McCleary, Drenthe, Robson-Kanu, Kebe, Guthrie, Akpan, Karacan, Williams, Leigertwood)
ST - 4 (Pogrebnyak, Le Fondre, Roberts, Blackman)

Players in red, I expect to see leave.

I doubt we would need an extra central midfielder, so another space is freed up to allow for another, fifth, striker.

Two would be possible. It's just who we bring in.

Jake Taylor?

Have an U21 as the fourth centre back, or Samuel/Ugwu as the back up strikers.

[Clyde1998]

Current Strikers

• Pogrebnyak - Looking likely he will leave.
• Le Fondre - Proven Championship goalscorer.
• Blackman - Not proven at Championship level.
• Roberts - Injured, but proven at Championship level.
• Samuel - Injured, unproven at Championship level.

We need at least one more striker, if not two.

Of the strikers we have been promoted with (Kitson, Doyle, Lita, Long; Le Fondre, Hunt, Church, Roberts), only three were proven at Championship level. Unless you count Church.

We've got three currently, but Pogrebnyak looks like he's moving on and Roberts is injured.

If we change the question to "Do we need more players?" for the moment.

There is a 25-man squad in the Championship, as well as in the Premier League. (U21 players don't have to be named in the squad)

I would split the squad like this and using the current players:
GK - 3 (McCarthy, Federici, Taylor)
DF - 8 (Gunter, Kelly, Cummings, Bridge, Pearce, Morrison, Mariappa, Gorkss)
MF - 10 (McAnuff, McCleary, Drenthe, Robson-Kanu, Kebe, Guthrie, Akpan, Karacan, Williams, Leigertwood)
ST - 4 (Pogrebnyak, Le Fondre, Roberts, Blackman)

Players in red, I expect to see leave.

I doubt we would need an extra central midfielder, so another space is freed up to allow for another, fifth, striker.

Two would be possible. It's just who we bring in.

Jake Taylor?

Have an U21 as the fourth centre back, or Samuel/Ugwu as the back up strikers.

Jake Taylor is U21 still.

I would prefer to see more proven striker brought in though and send Samuel and/or Ugwu out on loan to League One clubs.

[SCIAG]

Jake Taylor is U21 still.

What are the rules for U21 then? He'll be 22 in December.

[Clyde1998]

Jake Taylor is U21 still.

What are the rules for U21 then? He'll be 22 in December.

It's if you're 21 or under on September 1st.

[blythspartan]

We do need to get one more striker, may be two if the Pog leaves.

I am hoping that Blackman will deliver the goals this season.

I know Blackman gets a lot of stick but I remember a certain Bobby Convey being written off by a lot of fans and he was a revelation in his second season.

[RoyalBlue]

As for the suggestion that we wait to see whether Pog goes - utter insanity! Have people still not learned the hard lessons from the past?! Pog goes with just a day left in the transfer window - then what?!!!

We get a loanee in a couple of weeks later.

Oh yeh! Because clubs are always looking to loan out proven goalscorers!

What a daft argument!

Clearly some haven't learnt from the the mistakes of the past.

[NewCorkSeth]

Oh yeh! Because clubs are always looking to loan out proven goalscorers!

What a daft argument!

Clearly some haven't learnt from the the mistakes of the past.

John Guidetti is 5th in line at man city and seems a good player! He would def be available on loan and actually could be played in the exact same role as POG. Hes tall, physical and is still only 21! could well have a bright future just needs that opportunity!

[CrispyRoyal]

We need a striker, because at the moment these are our options.

Pogrebnyak - who might leave.

Samuel - untried

Blackman - still rubbish

Roberts - still injured

Meaning our only strikers of real quality are Pog and Alfie, and Pog might leave yet, though the signs are good as he has played a part in pre season. At least one more striker is a must. Otherwise we will have to be very careful with what we've got till January, and with two games a week that is not a sensible option.

[winchester_royal]

We need a striker, because at the moment these are our options.

Pogrebnyak - who might leave.

Samuel - untried

Blackman - still rubbish

Roberts - still injured

Meaning our only strikers of real quality are Pog and Alfie, and Pog might leave yet, though the signs are good as he has played a part in pre season. At least one more striker is a must. Otherwise we will have to be very careful with what we've got till January, and with two games a week that is not a sensible option.

If we'd signed Blackman this summer everyone would have been very happy with it as a 'sign of ambition'. If we want to give youth a chance then we'll have to give 'untried' players a chance to prove their worth. Roberts will come back from his injury by September. And as you say Pog and Alfie are both excellent options. That's 5 strikers competing to fill 1 spot. Yeah, another one is definitely a must.

[NewCorkSeth]

If we'd signed Blackman this summer everyone would have been very happy with it as a 'sign of ambition'. If we want to give youth a chance then we'll have to give 'untried' players a chance to prove their worth. Roberts will some back from his injury by September. And as you say Pog and Alfie are both excellent options. That's 5 strikers competing to fill 1 spot. Yeah, another one is definitely a must.

Agreed.

[CrispyRoyal]

Blackman had one good spell in League One in an otherwise completely uneventful and uninspiring career. You want to know how many goals he scored for Sheffield United? 11. That was his best total of any club he has played with. His touch is awful, his finishing awful, his passing awful, real good player for Brian to spend £1.2m big ones on.

He won't come good, of course humble pie will come my way if he does come good, but he won't. We need to invest in another option, and fast.