Oh dear.....

[kwik-silva]

This had all been confirmed on Wikipedia.

not exactly the best source...

FFS we're taught not to use it at university, but this is a matter on football and it is reliable enough. Consider to yourself who could possibly think "I'm bored, I know what I'll do, I'll put up a load of fake crap on the Drumaville Consotium on Wikipedia. That'll be a bloody great laugh." Somehow I don't think so.

fair point...

[Archie's penalty]

This had all been confirmed on Wikipedia.

not exactly the best source...

FFS we're taught not to use it at university, but this is a matter on football and it is reliable enough. Consider to yourself who could possibly think "I'm bored, I know what I'll do, I'll put up a load of fake crap on the Drumaville Consotium on Wikipedia. That'll be a bloody great laugh." Somehow I don't think so.

Wiki is a great way into any subject.

If you're citing it in a university essay then there's something wrong.

However most of the journos in this country use it constantly - and thus the poor state of a lot of journalism here...

[rhroyal]

You can't cite Wikipedia, however you can cite the references they've researched for you at the bottom.....I've never been desperate enough to stoop that low.

[kwik-silva]

You can't cite Wikipedia, however you can cite the references they've researched for you at the bottom.....I've never been desperate enough to stoop that low.

was wondering about that

[papereyes]

In a hobnob setting ...

You type something you know to be correct, some retard questions it, you go to the easiest source to back yourself up, they complain that you went there.

If they weren't stupid in the first place ...

[TommyF]

I get why people are despondant, but I'm far more worried about central and right midfield to be honest (unless we do lose a striker before end of August!)

Look at what we have for a strike force:

Doyle : Proven at Championship and Premiership level
Lita : Certainly proven at Cham level, and could do it at prem when head screwed on right
Hunt : Proven at SPL level, 12 goals in 32 plus 5 in 5 in league cup. I think SPL is comparable to Championship given there are effectively 4 prem quality sides (Celtic and Rangers x 2 each) then a mix of OK (motherwell and Aberdeen) to appalling (Gretna). Noel got 2 against both Rangers and Motherwell last season.
Long : Still scored 3 goals last year, 2 before and 3 in Championship from few starts and still not a lot of sub appearances. Needs to step up a gear this season though but he has always given the opposition something else to think about when on.

Long is clearly our weekest here, and we'll miss Kitson for sure, but lets face it - most of the championship would love to have our strikers.
If only we had someone who could give them the ball!

[Tails]

Still think the fact that all our strikers struggle to get on to all the rides a Thorpe park could be a problem...

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

Still think the fact that all our strikers struggle to get on to all the rides a Thorpe park could be a problem...

'greed!

[Vision]

I get why people are despondant, but I'm far more worried about central and right midfield to be honest (unless we do lose a striker before end of August!)

Look at what we have for a strike force:

Doyle : Proven at Championship and Premiership level
Lita : Certainly proven at Cham level, and could do it at prem when head screwed on right
Hunt : Proven at SPL level, 12 goals in 32 plus 5 in 5 in league cup. I think SPL is comparable to Championship given there are effectively 4 prem quality sides (Celtic and Rangers x 2 each) then a mix of OK (motherwell and Aberdeen) to appalling (Gretna). Noel got 2 against both Rangers and Motherwell last season.
Long : Still scored 3 goals last year, 2 before and 3 in Championship from few starts and still not a lot of sub appearances. Needs to step up a gear this season though but he has always given the opposition something else to think about when on.

Long is clearly our weekest here, and we'll miss Kitson for sure, but lets face it - most of the championship would love to have our strikers.
If only we had someone who could give them the ball!

Agree with most of that. I genuinely believe that the calibre of Marek is on a par with anyone in this division as well. I think the tricky thing is finding a system in which he can flourish and my worry is it aint gonna work in Coppell's favoured rigid 4-4-2.

[Southbank Old Boy]

I get why people are despondant, but I'm far more worried about central and right midfield to be honest (unless we do lose a striker before end of August!)

Look at what we have for a strike force:

Doyle : Proven at Championship and Premiership level
Lita : Certainly proven at Cham level, and could do it at prem when head screwed on right
Hunt : Proven at SPL level, 12 goals in 32 plus 5 in 5 in league cup. I think SPL is comparable to Championship given there are effectively 4 prem quality sides (Celtic and Rangers x 2 each) then a mix of OK (motherwell and Aberdeen) to appalling (Gretna). Noel got 2 against both Rangers and Motherwell last season.
Long : Still scored 3 goals last year, 2 before and 3 in Championship from few starts and still not a lot of sub appearances. Needs to step up a gear this season though but he has always given the opposition something else to think about when on.

Long is clearly our weekest here, and we'll miss Kitson for sure, but lets face it - most of the championship would love to have our strikers.
If only we had someone who could give them the ball!

Agree with most of that. I genuinely believe that the calibre of Marek is on a par with anyone in this division as well. I think the tricky thing is finding a system in which he can flourish and my worry is it aint gonna work in Coppell's favoured rigid 4-4-2.

I'm not also sure that "proven" really applies to any of our forwards purely because one season doesn't actually mean a hell of a lot.

[Vision]

I get why people are despondant, but I'm far more worried about central and right midfield to be honest (unless we do lose a striker before end of August!)

Look at what we have for a strike force:

Doyle : Proven at Championship and Premiership level
Lita : Certainly proven at Cham level, and could do it at prem when head screwed on right
Hunt : Proven at SPL level, 12 goals in 32 plus 5 in 5 in league cup. I think SPL is comparable to Championship given there are effectively 4 prem quality sides (Celtic and Rangers x 2 each) then a mix of OK (motherwell and Aberdeen) to appalling (Gretna). Noel got 2 against both Rangers and Motherwell last season.
Long : Still scored 3 goals last year, 2 before and 3 in Championship from few starts and still not a lot of sub appearances. Needs to step up a gear this season though but he has always given the opposition something else to think about when on.

Long is clearly our weekest here, and we'll miss Kitson for sure, but lets face it - most of the championship would love to have our strikers.
If only we had someone who could give them the ball!

Agree with most of that. I genuinely believe that the calibre of Marek is on a par with anyone in this division as well. I think the tricky thing is finding a system in which he can flourish and my worry is it aint gonna work in Coppell's favoured rigid 4-4-2.

I'm not also sure that "proven" really applies to any of our forwards purely because one season doesn't actually mean a hell of a lot.

Think thats a bit harsh to be honest. Doyle followed up the championship season with a highly successful Premiership one so despite struggling last season i'd say that demonstrates his pedigree for this level.

Equally Lita may have also struggled in the Premiership last season but he's got goals at all levels apart from that one season. Even his record on loan at Charlton in the Championship isn't too shoddy after taking a couple of games to settle in.

Long, on the other hand certainly needs to step up on a regular basis this season whilst obviously we have to wait and see with Hunt.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Think thats a bit harsh to be honest. Doyle followed up the championship season with a highly successful Premiership one so despite struggling last season i'd say that demonstrates his pedigree for this level.

Equally Lita may have also struggled in the Premiership last season but he's got goals at all levels apart from that one season. Even his record on loan at Charlton in the Championship isn't too shoddy after taking a couple of games to settle in.

Long, on the other hand certainly needs to step up on a regular basis this season whilst obviously we have to wait and see with Hunt.

Yeah it is a bit harsh, mainly on Doyle, but the original post did say proven at both Championship and Premiership level. I think he's shown he can cut it at both levels, but a proven performer? I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. To me proven means a consistently reliable performer at that level, I think even Doyle has some way to go to say that at Premiership level.

Lita is a typical streaky scorer who would probably score goals at any level given a long enough go at it, but again he's only had one season in the Championship so personally I just don't think that you can prove yourself in such a short space of time.

[Skyline]

Long, on the other hand certainly needs to step up on a regular basis this season whilst obviously we have to wait and see with Hunt.

How long do we give it before the jury is 'in' on Long?

[Ian Royal]

Long, on the other hand certainly needs to step up on a regular basis this season whilst obviously we have to wait and see with Hunt.

How long do we give it before the jury is 'in' on Long?

After 15 first team starts this season or at least 5 consecutive starts would be acceptable IMO

Hard to judge a player until they have a run in the team. He is also still fairly young.

[brendywendy]

for what we payed if he continues improving he can be our fourth choice striker for as long as he likes
he does have an impact late in games-
he did score in the championship
he did score in the premiere league
considering he was late to the game ive seen eneough of him to think he could be very special

saw him score from between the corner flag and the penalty box before from the daftest of angles

[Bill Oddie's Beard]

for what we payed if he continues improving he can be our fourth choice striker for as long as he likes
he does have an impact late in games-
he did score in the championship
he did score in the premiere league
considering he was late to the game ive seen eneough of him to think he could be very special

saw him score from between the corner flag and the penalty box before from the daftest of angles

Was that against Burnley in the FA cup? I was listening to the game, but still haven't seen the goal, sounded a bit special tho.

[Southbank Old Boy]

for what we payed if he continues improving he can be our fourth choice striker for as long as he likes
he does have an impact late in games-
he did score in the championship
he did score in the premiere league
considering he was late to the game ive seen eneough of him to think he could be very special

saw him score from between the corner flag and the penalty box before from the daftest of angles

I think he's fine as a fourth choice forward and a useful weapon to bring off the bench. Anymore than that and he's out of his depth.

When will he start to want to play a bigger part though? That's when we'll probably need to see the back of him or start to set our expectations a little down the league because if he is a regular starter then we're probably not operating at the right end of this division.

He seems a nice lad and yes he's still inexperienced and could improve, but for some reason I just don't think there is a lot more to come from him beyond the ability he's already shown.

[papereyes]

Lita is a typical streaky scorer who would probably score goals at any level given a long enough go at it, but again he's only had one season in the Championship so personally I just don't think that you can prove yourself in such a short space of time.

Lita's Premiership record is quite frankly hilarious.

He scored in his and our first game.

He then went months without scoring before getting goals amidst a very fine performance against Chelsea (26/12), he went on a creditable run before capping it with a brace against Man City (3/2), a run of 6 goals in 7 games.

He then failed to score again until his and our last Premiership game.

[TommyF]

To me proven means a consistently reliable performer at that level, I think even Doyle has some way to go to say that at Premiership level.

Luckily we're not in the Premiership so he'll have to wait! Doyle is a fantastic striker to have for the Championship and I reckon is Premiership class - he's no Torres, but they're rare even in he premiership

[brendywendy]

for what we payed if he continues improving he can be our fourth choice striker for as long as he likes
he does have an impact late in games-
he did score in the championship
he did score in the premiere league
considering he was late to the game ive seen eneough of him to think he could be very special

saw him score from between the corner flag and the penalty box before from the daftest of angles

Was that against Burnley in the FA cup? I was listening to the game, but still haven't seen the goal, sounded a bit special tho.

i was thinking a reserve game
but youre right twas the cup.
pretty awesome- i was right behind him in the corner, and he looked up-saw the keeper about a ft off his line and rifled in from about 25 yards, and about 7.9 degrees

thats how it seems in my head anyway