Is the idea of a striker flawed? Does Stam believe in total football?

[SCIAG]

There are Vardys, Kitsons, Longs, Doyles all over the place.

No there aren't.

Ten years ago, sure, you could pick up a good striker for a £100-200k without much trouble.

Vardy cost Leicester £1.7m despite never playing professional football. In his first season he only scored four goals and had to be talked out of retiring.

That was five years ago. Since then, the combination of huge amounts of money pouring into the game and Mr Vardy's well-publicised fairytale story mean that any non-league club with a half-decent striker wants £2m, League 2 clubs want £3m, and League 1 clubs want £5m. It's just like how we had to pay more for Karl Sheppard and David Mooney than for Doyle and Long combined. If there's a bargain out there then it's someone who is unwanted at his current club, or someone playing somewhere that nobody has thought to look yet.

We haven't signed a striker who has hit the ground running since Roberts. Before him, Le Fondre. Before him, Noel Hunt. That's, what, three in ten years? Even if you throw in loanee Murray then we sign a striker who makes an immediate impact about one window in five. Think how many random punts we've made in that time - Mooney, Sheppard, Manset, Baseya, Appiah, Brett Williams, Yakubu, Blackman, Afobe, Liburd, Sa, Rakels - and even proven strikers like Pogrebnyak, Sharp, Cox, Kitson, Kermorgant, and Vydra. Signing good strikers is not easy. We've taken a bit of a punt on Bod and smashed our transfer record on Aluko. I really don't know what else you expect.

[Hound]

good post SCIAG

[John Smith]

.

good post SCIAG

Said no one. Ever.

[Hound]

.

good post SCIAG

Said no one. Ever.

ha, wanted to be the first

[Maneki Neko]

Clearly there was money to be spent this window and he didn't get anyone in, so I can only imagine he knows what he's doing

he said he wanted a forward, we tried to sign forwards, we couldn't sign forwards, so ended up going for wingers and attacking midfielders instead. again.

but to say it was his decision seems a bit one eyed

[Crotts]

Clearly there was money to be spent this window and he didn't get anyone in, so I can only imagine he knows what he's doing

he said he wanted a forward, we tried to sign forwards, we couldn't sign forwards, so ended up going for wingers and attacking midfielders instead. again.

but to say it was his decision seems a bit one eyed

He tried to sign a forward. Yes in the last 2 weeks of August right before the window closed. He had plenty of time since the play off final in May but waited 3 months.

[Hound]

Do you actually believe that? That BT and co only started trying to sign a striker in the last couple of weeks and the rest of the time they just sat around, occasionally scouting another winger?

[Oilroyal]

I think Jaap and Brian Teverden had Oliveira as their main target early in the transfer window and after early negotiations Norwich accepted a bid, and then pulled out. Jaap then tried to unsettle the player, as he did Aluko with comments throughout the transfer window. This approached worked for Aluko although at a price to RFC. but in Oliveira’s case, Jaap simply pushed the price of the player beyond RFC’s financial comfort zone. In the meantime, we put LATE bids in for Hemed and Jordan Hugill, both were publicly rejected by their clubs but did unsettle Hugill but not in our favour as it was all too late in the transfer window. The shortcomings of this past transfer window is clear for all fans to see but don’t expect Jaap or BT to publicly admit to us needing a striker, this would only highlight their lack of experience in management and transfer dealings. Jaap and BT should have had a realistic back up plan, a cheaper option early in pre-season and that option should have been someone like Daryl Murphy. Although the fee for Murphy was undisclosed, he went from Newcastle to Forest for a reported 1.5m (3yr deal). We ultimately missed the boat on a proven striker at a realistic price and then, when it was all too late, we made a bid for Bod. By not considering a cheaper option early, as an insurance in case we didn’t get out main striker target, has cost us. Out of sheer arrogance and inexperience Jaap and BT instead fixated on Oliveira which has since proved naïve and left us wanting.

[Hound]

A lot of assumptions there fella. Some possibly true, some not. Bod came in relatively early, I don't think that was a panic buy at all

I suspect you're not far wrong with Oliveira and we thought we had him in the bag, but I doubt it was a case we didn't have any other back ups. Hemed esp was a target for a while and no doubts he would have come had Brighton managed to bring in one of their striker targets

[Oilroyal]

A lot of assumptions there fella. Some possibly true, some not. Bod came in relatively early, I don't think that was a panic buy at all

I suspect you're not far wrong with Oliveira and we thought we had him in the bag, but I doubt it was a case we didn't have any other back ups. Hemed esp was a target for a while and no doubts he would have come had Brighton managed to bring in one of their striker targets

I don't expect you to see things in the same way as I do, or read situations the way I read them but my assumptions point to our current circumstance.

[Hound]

No of course, no arguments it's a valid opinion and could be right. I think your last sentence is a little harsh in your OP though

[Ascotexgunner]

Let's look at this constructively shall we.
De Boer......sacked.....nil goals.
Koeman......fantastic and expensive team.....bad performances, bad results.....playing no striker......facing the sack.
Dick Advocaat.....great Munich side playing awful football and results.....sacked
Stam....awful football, terrible results, no striker......?

Wonder if there's a link to this dutch total football?

[Snowflake Royal]

I think Jaap and Brian Teverden had Oliveira as their main target early in the transfer window and after early negotiations Norwich accepted a bid, and then pulled out. Jaap then tried to unsettle the player, as he did Aluko with comments throughout the transfer window. This approached worked for Aluko although at a price to RFC. but in Oliveira’s case, Jaap simply pushed the price of the player beyond RFC’s financial comfort zone. In the meantime, we put LATE bids in for Hemed and Jordan Hugill, both were publicly rejected by their clubs but did unsettle Hugill but not in our favour as it was all too late in the transfer window. The shortcomings of this past transfer window is clear for all fans to see but don’t expect Jaap or BT to publicly admit to us needing a striker, this would only highlight their lack of experience in management and transfer dealings. Jaap and BT should have had a realistic back up plan, a cheaper option early in pre-season and that option should have been someone like Daryl Murphy. Although the fee for Murphy was undisclosed, he went from Newcastle to Forest for a reported 1.5m (3yr deal). We ultimately missed the boat on a proven striker at a realistic price and then, when it was all too late, we made a bid for Bod. By not considering a cheaper option early, as an insurance in case we didn’t get out main striker target, has cost us. Out of sheer arrogance and inexperience Jaap and BT instead fixated on Oliveira which has since proved naïve and left us wanting.

That's bullshit. We didn't get Bod in late at all. And Stam openly said we were after another striker throughout the window, including post signing Bod. It's obvious we wanted to sign another striker and we failed to do so because we were priced out of the market on the targets we wanted.

Would people really be any happier if we'd signed any old second striker for another £3m and they weren't scoring either?

Of course they wouldn't. They'd be sat at their keyboards insisting we should have persisted with Oliviera, or Hugill or Hemed and that if we'd just offered a few million more than we paid for X we'd have got them and they'd solve all our problems.

It's always the same story. Just spend a bit more. The players who aren't with us / aren't starting would be our saviour.

[From Despair To Where?]

Dick Advocaat.....great Munich side playing awful football and results.....sacked

Looking at it constructively, I spy a fcuking huge flaw in your arguement.

[alfie9]

This ideology will once again be proven right today when we almost score

[Hound]

Watching Fonte last night have an absolute rancid shocker in an otherwise impressive Fulham side also suggests just splashing out on an expensive striker is no guarantee of anything much

[Ascotexgunner]

Let's look at this constructively shall we.
De Boer......sacked.....nil goals.
Koeman......fantastic and expensive team.....bad performances, bad results.....playing no striker......facing the sack.
Dick Advocaat.....great Munich side playing awful football and results.....sacked
Stam....awful football, terrible results, no striker......?

Wonder if there's a link to this dutch total football?

HAHA.....I screwed that up. Can't believe I got Ancelotti mixed up with Advocaat.

[Avon Royal]

Is the idea of a striker flawed? Is Stam instilling total football?

I’m going to say no...........