Noel Hunt, 20+ goals -2011/12 Championship

[Ian Royal]

That's the sort of thing my sister would have said when she was 12.

[cmonurz]

How many different striker pairings have we had on the pitch this season?

Long-Hunt
Long-Manset
Hunt-Manset
Hunt-Church
Hunt-Le Fondre
Hunt-Roberts
Hunt-HRK
Roberts-Le Fondre
Church-LeFondre
Manset-Alf

it's not really a surprise that we haven't had a brilliant partnership
if we keep changing it around

Equally if we had had a brilliant partnership, we would not have kept changing it around.

[Ian Royal]

Church - ALF - 7 consecutive games (total 12)
Hunt - Roberts - 6 consecutive games
Hunt - Church - 3 consecutive games (total 6)
HRK - Hunt - 2 consecutive games
Manset - Hunt - 2 consecutive games

Tells a pretty sad story IMO. Surprised Hunt & ALF never got a run together personally. I think we can say that Church - ALF is the only partnership that really got given a proper chance to get established (before Roberts arrived) and it didn't work nearly well enough.

Not that I'd really expect Manset or HRK to be given 5 games to prove themselves upfront unless we were having serious injury worries. But I would have expected Hunt - Church or Hunt - ALF to get a proper try.

[cmonurz]

I think there's a reason for the chopping and changing, which is (to state the bleedin' obvious) no-one has scored goals consistently enough. Now my point is slightly more nuanced than that - with the exception of perhaps now maybe Roberts, we don't have a striker you might consider creative, inventive, physical - if the likes of Le Fondre, Church and Hunt aren't scoring a goal every other game, then perhaps with the exception of Noel if I'm being kind, they aren't really contributing much at all. Shades of Cureton all over again.

[Snowball]

That's the sort of thing my sister would have said when she was 12.

Pillow-Talk?

[Snowball]

How many different striker pairings have we had on the pitch this season?

Long-Hunt
Long-Manset
Hunt-Manset
Hunt-Church
Hunt-Le Fondre
Hunt-Roberts
Hunt-HRK
Roberts-Le Fondre
Church-LeFondre
Manset-Alf

it's not really a surprise that we haven't had a brilliant partnership
if we keep changing it around

Equally if we had had a brilliant partnership, we would not have kept changing it around.

Equally, if we had given one partnership longer to develop (like developing Shane Long)?

My point, anyway, was not so much about partnerships, but simply we've chopped and changed so much
and NO striker has been able to settle into goals

[Snowball]

Not that I'd really expect Manset or HRK to be given 5 games to prove themselves upfront unless we were having serious injury worries. But I would have expected Hunt - Church or Hunt - ALF to get a proper try.

It's odd that we, and the manager have such negative thoughts about Manset.

He is still way up there on minutes per goal and has won us a fair number of important points
considering how few minutes he has had.

I know the alleged fitness issues (and maybe there are off-the-field issues) but he gets goals.

[Snowball]

I think there's a reason for the chopping and changing, which is (to state the bleedin' obvious) no-one has scored goals consistently enough. Now my point is slightly more nuanced than that - with the exception of perhaps now maybe Roberts, we don't have a striker you might consider creative, inventive, physical - if the likes of Le Fondre, Church and Hunt aren't scoring a goal every other game, then perhaps with the exception of Noel if I'm being kind, they aren't really contributing much at all. Shades of Cureton all over again.

I think maybe we just haven't had the right BLEND.

Church will never be a big target man type.

Alf is a classic nippy striker works off a big man.

Hunt is a second striker like Kuyt, lots of work, reasonable number of goals, a great foil for a Long or Doyle but not really a main man.

Now, with Roberts, we have the target man (even if he doesn't jump much!)
and a chance to find the right partner for him.

My instincts say Alf but Hunt started well with him.

[Ian Royal]

I think there's a reason for the chopping and changing, which is (to state the bleedin' obvious) no-one has scored goals consistently enough. Now my point is slightly more nuanced than that - with the exception of perhaps now maybe Roberts, we don't have a striker you might consider creative, inventive, physical - if the likes of Le Fondre, Church and Hunt aren't scoring a goal every other game, then perhaps with the exception of Noel if I'm being kind, they aren't really contributing much at all. Shades of Cureton all over again.

I think there's an element of that involved. We did have a few injuries to contend with and the delight of strikers only scoring from off the bench for a while too. Although you're being harsh to ALF given he has a few assists. I think McDermott couldn't tell who was best of the three, so just chucked in whoever scored off the bench for a while.

-> ALF scord against Donny, started against Coventry. Hunt scored against Birmingham, starts against Cardiff. ALF scores against P'boro, starts against B'pool. Church scored twice against West Ham, starts against Leeds.

Three of those changes happened in a six game period.

I think it's clear McDermott doesn't rate an ALF - Hunt partnership for whatever reason.

[Pepe the Horseman]

That's the sort of thing my sister would have said when she was 12.

Pillow-Talk?

[The Rouge]

For those at the games.... Hunt is the one they aim for for flick-ons, rather than Roberts. When a ball goes up that either could go for, Hunt goes up for it and Roberts peels off him. It is pre-planned.

[Ian Royal]

That's the sort of thing my sister would have said when she was 12.

Pillow-Talk?

Wow, by throwing enough shit he's actually said something funny!

[Ian Royal]

I think it's clear McDermott doesn't rate an ALF - Hunt partnership for whatever reason.

Playing two small guys together only works if we play click-clack pass-to-feet. As we all know, we don't. So we need big man / small man, not small man / small man.

Yeah, Church is enormous.

[Snowball]

That's the sort of thing my sister would have said when she was 12.

Pillow-Talk?

Wow, by throwing enough shit he's actually said something funny!

Touched a nerve there.

[Ian Royal]

yeah, I often laugh at something when it's upset me.

You've discovered my secret, woe is me.

[Snowball]

Rattled...

[Maguire]

He laughed at your joke

Why are you so totally graceless?

[Snowball]

He laughed at your joke

Why are you so totally graceless?

Because I wasn't joking.

[loyalroyal4life]

He laughed at your joke

Why are you so totally graceless?

Because I wasn't joking.

lol

[Cobi]

That's the sort of thing my sister would have said when she was 12.

Pillow-Talk?

Wow, by throwing enough shit he's actually said something funny!

Touched a nerve there.

Rattled...

And you were doing so well (statistically speaking).