Tommy Smith - Gazumped by Pompey - Thread

[Geekins]

Personally i don't see him as a striker. I'd be happy not to have him here but if we did get him then i don't want him to be our main striker. I'd prefer Hunt up there for sure.

[Hoop Blah]

Personally i don't see him as a striker. I'd be happy not to have him here but if we did get him then i don't want him to be our main striker. I'd prefer Hunt up there for sure.

Agree to a certain extent.

I'm sure Rodgers played him out on the right as much as he played him upfront after taking over last season (be interested to hear if that's a fair reflection from those a bit closer to Watford).

Not sure I'd prefer Hunt up there over Smith though. Hunt probably needs to play off another forward because he goes haring about the place so much and you probably need someone to be a bit more disciplined if they're the lone forward to keep some sort of presence in the box. I'd worry a little over Hunts ability to last a full 90 or a full season as well.

All good options though, especially if we sign a big man to give us that missing physical option too.

[Royalwaster]

Personally i don't see him as a striker. I'd be happy not to have him here but if we did get him then i don't want him to be our main striker. I'd prefer Hunt up there for sure.

Agree to a certain extent.

I'm sure Rodgers played him out on the right as much as he played him upfront after taking over last season (be interested to hear if that's a fair reflection from those a bit closer to Watford).

Not sure I'd prefer Hunt up there over Smith though. Hunt probably needs to play off another forward because he goes haring about the place so much and you probably need someone to be a bit more disciplined if they're the lone forward to keep some sort of presence in the box. I'd worry a little over Hunts ability to last a full 90 or a full season as well.

All good options though, especially if we sign a big man to give us that missing physical option too.

Agree about the big man thing - it's the thing that worries me most, as none of the current crop nor TS are particularly big.

[Royalee]

Interesting to note that Smith didn't play in either Watford side over the weekend.

[silas]

Interesting to note that Smith didn't play in either Watford side over the weekend.

'Injured'

[Ian Royal]

For clarification I only have Smith down for the left as I don't know which flank he favours and because I rate Henry higher than Kebe.

[Snowball]

My understanding is Smith plays right or middle or a striker, but not left.

[BR2]

I'm not massively enamoured of Kebe, but he could be a big player.

Personally (assuming Smith can play on the left - a big if) I'd be inclinded to go with a forward line of:

Henry................................Smith
...................NHunt

With Kebe and Long/Church on the bench.

Looking at those names there has hit me again that we are now some way from being a Premiership club.

[Royalee]

For clarification I only have Smith down for the left as I don't know which flank he favours and because I rate Henry higher than Kebe.

I'd agree with playing N Hunt up top as he's clearly the best player we've got at holding the ball up and playing the lone role. I'd opt for Smith on the right and Robson-Kanu on the left though at the moment.

[Ian Royal]

Smith would have to be a starter for sure. I'm just finding it frustrating that the players likely to be starters that I consider to be the biggest weak links; Rosenior and Kebe are mot those that we are picking up new signings for. Instead we're picking up players for the opposite side of the pitch where I consider us either stronger, or we have a very promising youngster I'd like to see finally get his chance.

Maybe I'm just wrong, it wouldn't be the first time. Maybe Kebe is being left alone until we lose SHunt.

But I REALLY want to see Henry and NHunt playing this season and they surely can't both play, if we get Smith because he obviously will.

[Terminal Boardom]

Having got caught up in the utter bollix of the other thread, does anyone have any "genuine" info on the Tommy Smith saga?

[Royal Rother]

I'm not massively enamoured of Kebe, but he could be a big player.

Personally (assuming Smith can play on the left - a big if) I'd be inclinded to go with a forward line of:

Henry................................Smith
...................NHunt

With Kebe and Long/Church on the bench.

Looking at those names there has hit me again that we are now some way from being a Premiership club.

We would all have said the same thing about the starting line up in August 2005.

[Victor Meldrew]

I'm not massively enamoured of Kebe, but he could be a big player.

Personally (assuming Smith can play on the left - a big if) I'd be inclinded to go with a forward line of:

Henry................................Smith
...................NHunt

With Kebe and Long/Church on the bench.

Looking at those names there has hit me again that we are now some way from being a Premiership club.

We would all have said the same thing about the starting line up in August 2005.

Not with Dave kitson leading the line.

[Southbank Old Boy]

We would all have said the same thing about the starting line up in August 2005.

Not with Dave kitson leading the line.

Accompanied by the hot record signing Lita and the quality of Little on the wing

I dont think we thought it would pan out quite the way it did though thats for sure!!!

[Terminal Boardom]

The problem of the last two second halves of seasons has been the supply to the strikers drying up. Can you see our "traditional" wingers / wide players (shunt, Kebe) scoring 10 goals plus in a 442? Neither can I. Now, if we can get Tommy Smith in and performing as well as he did for twatford last season then 10+ is achievable. The key is for us to remove the predictability - unles the predictability is that we are going to anihilate the oppo - and for our more skillful players to become more creative.

[Ian Royal]

I could see Shunt, or Henry getting that many in the 4-3-3 we're likely to play. It's certainly a possibility. Henry seems to have the scoring touch and Shunt has popped up with a fair few goals each season.

Even Kebe scored a couple, and more importantly got quite a lot of chances where he could and possibly should have scored. If Brendan can improve him (massive question marks) then he has the potential too.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Henry, SHunt, Kebe, Harper, Matejovsky & Cisse are all capable of 5-10 goals in the season if they play the majority of games. Possibly even Karacan & Tabb as well.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Tommy is off to Spain with Watford this week. For the record he has a shin injury at the moment.

Therefore expect naff all to happen for at least another 7-10 days.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Bump

[bigmike]

I suspect that if we dont improve our offer for him he will remain at watford until then end of his contract being that he seems to be turning down the other clubs

[Ian Royal]

I suspect it may all come together around 3 August. Assuming we are still interested.

We NEED to bring in somesort of goalscorer. And / or a left winger.