Bugger - are we looking at other strikers? E.g. Arron Collins or Colby Bishop mentioned on here before?

Ah I see what you mean! I suppose the counter argument is if 442 is viable why does virtually no one play it?

Not sure if you misread my post - I was saying 442 is very rare. I was not saying we don't play 4231 - it's our favorite formation, and probably most favored formation in world football imo.

Front two does happen quite a lot in the modern game in 352. Indeed we've played three or four games in that structure this season. 442 is dead due to the lack of number in the centre of the pitch but 352 get's round that.

Yes - this exactly.... for Gally, BBD and Vale a combination of not being able to win a contested ball and being poor at finding space in the box (or even getting in the box at all) leads to no opportunity for crosses whatsoever. It seems a very straight forward solution for our ills to find someone whose reason for living is to get in the penalty box and beat a centreback to a cross or a through ball. Why are we not looking for that player? In fact we could really do with two.

I guess my problem with it is that where we struggle is not really so much on the transition... we have players who can break and run with the ball. Obviously getting a player who is (hopefully) better at doing that is good. But it doesn't really solve the major problem which is having the right players in the box to finish off. We had a quality crosser for half a season in Giles but got very little out of him as we had no one to get on the crosses. This could be very similar. So I'm hoping this Sorba is the Conway to an as yet unnamed Gestede who will turn up imminently.

Or how about the last Hibbee we missed out on - John McGinn... We can't compete with Watford financially due to parachute payments. Not a lot we can do about it.

Um didn't Chris Wood sign for Forest a couple of days ago??? And he's on loan from Newcastle anyway...

Why are we signing a winger on loan?? I get it if its someone whose become available who is decent for the long term and we sign perm even if we don't need them right now. But why sign a player in a position we are well covered for half a season. Especially when we desperately need central strikers? Looking forward to eating my words if he turns out a good un. But seems strange.

So odd... in the "wide forward" role we have BBD, Dolan, Hedges, Markanday all fighting for two spots. Plus Szmodics and Gallagher fill in there. I guess it's a case of him being good and available so we've gone for him even though it's not an immediate need.

I was dead against him when he joined as I couldn't really see the need, but he's grown on me. Like Dack he knows how to find space in the box - just him and Brad have that ability. Also works very hard. Decent technically too. I wonder if when he's fit if we will play him and Dack together up front? Would seem a bit odd as they are similar players and neither of them strikers, but can see it happening as Vale is struggling and Gallagher unfit/unfavoured.

Yeah agreed..... not at all a priority position for us even if he's decent. So strange if we sign him.

Yes this was always good - just the links, no comment allowed...

Sadly true, can't think of any player who has regressed so much. He did fine under JDTs system at the start of the season, I am not really sure it's the system thats an issue... seems like confidence.

Problem with that is we lose all our width... I don't really want to change our system again but if we wanted to play two up top the way to do it is 352 as then the wingbacks can provide the width.

Huge respect to Dack for coming back from two ACLs and probably putting in more yards each game than he ever has for us. Dack's been well managed by JDT imo. Shame we don't have someone up top like Graham who Dack could thrive working with. I am still really bemused that we don't seem to be looking for an old school number nine - it's what the team really really needs from lots of different angles (partner to Dack, someone who can get on the end of crosses and worry defences, a plan B if the opposition are defending deep and we can't pass through them).

To qualify this miserable post I would try a couple of things actually... let's give Morton a rest, try Adam Wharton in there, bring back Dolan and Gallagher. Give BBD a rest as he has been really struggling for form. Gallagher gets a lot of very valid stick - poor touch, lacks scoring instincts, not good in the air. But he gives defences a lot more to worry about than Vale just through his athleticism. I cant really see why Vale would ever start ahead of him tbh. Team for me Kaminski JRC Carter S Wharton Pickering Buckley A Wharton Hedges Dack Dolan Gallagher

I just dont really see where the chances let alone goals are coming from at the moment and we're shaky at the back.... Cant even think of any potential changes to the side that will make an inpact - unless we sign someone. Not confident. But Ill go and freeze my knackers off anyway.

I think other clubs have figured out if we cant get behind them weve got very little to offer. So as long as they keep a pretty deep line then we arent scoring. Also explains why we cant back into games as oppo just sits deep. Figuring out how to create chances when the opposition is sitting in is our number one challenge imo. Thats why Id say our number one recruitment target is someone who really worries the opposition in the box, who makes them want to push out. If we had someone like that it then 1) theyll score goals from crosses 2) the opposition trying to push up in turn makes opportunities for others to score on the break. That said, as you say, we seem to have gone backwards on our bread and butter which is breakaway goals. For a long under Mowbray then JDT we were really really good at them, but last few months we slow the move down or misplace passes.

Id say really we need 2 strikers before any other positions. Undav and a proper Graham/Gestede style target man. Indeed of we only signed those two Id be happy enough. I think if we had more teeth up front our midfield issues would melt away and we don't really need a CB or GK at all tbh.

Thought JDT looked angrier and more pissed off on the sidelines yesterday too, which is good to see.

Yeah that is it really... but instead of "clearly not ready" the idea is that as they get game time they will improve. Agree Jury is out on this theory as Scott Wharton has gone backwards, and theres been no real recent discernible improvement from Buckley, Garrett, Vale, Dolan etc. But this is the direction of travel, so we will see how it works over a longer time fram. What I am a bit confused by is why many are so keen to sign "experienced players", how many of them over the last 10 years have been better than the players we have now? If I look across the last 10 years of experienced signings theres only really a handful Id choose us to sign now - Gestede, Rhodes (not that we'd have the money at the moment), Josh King, Scott Dann (again would we have the money?), Graham (would be absolutely perfect for us now). We have however signed loads and loads of "experienced" players not any better than we have now (Etuhu, Murphy, Evans, Smallwood, Bennett etc etc) I don't really think singing experienced players will necessarily solve our problems.

JDT's took the job, so obviously subscribes to the idea that you can build a successful team without big investment as that was the brief, and he would have had other opportunities if he wasn't on board. Also people are saying the players aren't good enough, but we've spent the majority of the current and last couple of seasons in the top six. So while I guess its possible to ague it's been a bit fortunate (but for two seasons in a row under two different managers?) it seems reasonable to say the players are broadly there or thereabouts. Obviously we need additions - especially at striker - but it doesn't seem like a total overhaul.

Thought we were very lucky to get a draw really. Very tight offside call. In generally worried about just how toothless we are. ... If we had a really effective central striker I think a lot else in the side would improve as a side result. But teams can just sit deep and we play in front of them. Need to do everything we can to find one, if not two, good strikers who worry a packed defence.

we are really really bad at generating chances.....