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I lot of people seem to think we need the "classic 20 goal a season striker" to get promoted.  I dont. I think we already have the strikers cabable of getting the goals to send us up.

It would help if Fola connected with crosses from 2 yards out though  :x

For me, the problem is poor service to the strikers. We all know shakes cant cross the ball, and although Jack Smith has a decent right foot on him he is normally too deep and the oppposition defence is already back in place to defend the ball. We all know crosses from deep are much easier to defend than ones from near the touchline.

On the left, Vincent has put a few decent balls in, but again normally from too deep. It dosnt help that he seems very relectant to get forward. Monky is clearly our best crosser of the ball and possibly our most creative player. Sadly his hamstrings last about 2 weeks before going ping again.  Aaron Brown was shit on saturday. considering he is capable of putting a decent ball in I've no idea why he looked so fucking reluctant at times.

In centre mid Pook and Weston have been doing alright, I really rate Weston and Pook has looked much less clueless recently. The trouble is neither really have the vision or ability to deliver a defence splitting pass like Evans does

To summarise my jibbering - our strikers get very little in terms of though balls (I'm not counting semi-hoofs into the channels - yes I'm looking at you vincent) and generally only crosses from deep.  So is it any surprise that they dont score many - All season we've not been creating bucket loads of chances although I admit some have been spurned.

As much as I like Shakes for his workrate - he is a major part of the problem for me. He cant pass, cross or shoot which turns our right side into a black hole of creativity. We have no-one to replace him as Brownlie is shit on the wing, Weston is wasted there. Sadly, I dont see anything changing here in the near future. :cry:

Shakes is atrocious, possibly the worst player in the first team squad by a long way.

The only problem is that if Shakes doesn't play we seem to prefer to Brownlie as his replacement. Which is probably worse. Not a criticism of Brownlie, more that he is not a right sided midfielder/winger.

Evans in for Pook for me any day, even though Pook has played reasonably well. Evans goal contribution is invaluable if we are to go up without a 20 a season goal machine.

I'd rather play Brownlie than Shakes.  

Actually I'd rather play David Blunkett at tennis play watch Ricky Shakes play in a swindon shirt again.

Dare i say it, but we could do with Sammy Igoe, or even Brian Howard! They both had a good cross on them and Igoe was great at counter attacking and then playing the ball off to the strikers.
I think Monkhouse provides good service into the box and we have seen the likes of Peaocck benefit from this. Shame he's always injured  :|

Agreed, he makes a fat drunken Sunday League player look Maradonna-esque.

Thanks 8)

We know Ricky is limited, if he wasn't he wouldn't be here, but he does do a lot of work for the team, and although he's frustrating, I'll  continue to offer him support.

   There's always some poor sod who our fans get on the back of.....sometimes with little real justification.....

Such is life. Fans need a scapegoat who they can vent their frustrations on. If enough join in it don't matter who it is and there's no need to justify it. The momentum can even suck in otherwise right thinking folk who ought to know better but are desperate to be seen as part of the bandwagon.

I'm not starting some kind of witch hunt against shakey here, like I said he works hard for the team, despite his failings.

The lack of worthwhile options on the right wing is a worry to me though, especially when we are not getting any quality in the box for two six foot plus strikers

Am I completely alone in thinking Holgate deserves a go there from the start? He's back at the club after getting injured at Newport.

He might be woth a go. He'd struggle to be as ineffective as Brownlie is there

That said, I think most will agree that by far his most impressive performance has come in central midfield

Has been the problem on both wings all season.

Westons runs on Saturday convinced me enough that he could cause teams problems on the right. Fair enough you lose something in the middle but he does tend to run for a bit then look for an outlet to pass to. With our wingers being ineffective this means when they get the ball from him often the move gets broken down.

I'd give him a go on the right especially as he's hit a bit of form, although the risk is that he loses his form by playing on the right instead of the middle. Then we're back to square 1.

Vincent put two or three really good crosses in from deep on saturday but the forwards don't attack the ball.

Did he? I must have missed those in amongst the mass of crappy hoof balls he played.

we miss Paul Evans. i think thats something a lot of people will agree with. Weston hasn't been great this season but he is slowly getting back to the form he showed in pre-season. for me the big problem area is the right side of midfield. id like to see Fola on the right if im honest. Brownlie is awful in that position. i find Shakes can't cross the ball for shit. he misses good chances which he should bury too often. he has pace but that's about it. Fola started his career as a right winger according to the programme on saturday. so why not play him there? he has pace and a bit of skill. he can't score so why put him up front? if Brownlie is a "natural goalscorer" then why doesn't he play up front instead of on the right? the left side is a small problem too. with Monkey and Caton out we have to put up with Brown whom i thought had a complete mare on saturday. id like to see Rhodes on that left hand side.

Fola started life (and still sees himself) as a right winger.

He must be the tallest winger ever then.... :o

brownlie and shakes are both dire.evans in the middle with pooky,weston wide right with brown out left.
for me our best midfield combo

shakes is nowhere near as bad as some are making out, he's nothing special but he's half-decent at least. better option on the right than brownlie or even weston, as for holgate?! don't make i larf.

the boy lacks confidence, which is hardly surprising given the way people get on his back. some bloke sat near me on saturday called him a "shit black cunt", which was nice.

anyway, the service isn't awful - if it was, we'd not have had 3 golden opportunities on saturday spurned by rubbish finishing.

the biggest problem is that we no longer have a striker who can make something happen. parkin could create a chance out of a shit pass and would usually tuck it away. fallon, for all his faults, scored plenty of goals in a shit team; another sign of a striker who can make things happen.

the only player i can see in the squad who could do that sort of thing is roberts...but he can't finish.

for me the answer would be stick monkey on the right and leave brown/caton out left. at least that way you've got two out-and-out wingers. perhaps even stick rhodes on the right, he's likely to cut inside onto his left-foot anyway given his ability to play as a striker as well.

fola's not the answer, he's a donkey - albeit an athletic one.

Our service isnt brilliant, but our most creative player was missing saturday and probably will be for a few weeks.