Strikers, 1990-present

[Deutsch Wolf]

1990/91 - Bull 26, Mutch 8, Taylor 2, Paskin 1
1991/92 - Bull 20, Mutch 10
1992/93 - Bull 16, Mutch 9, Roberts 5, Bradbury 2
1993/94 - Bull 14, Kelly 11, Whittingham 8, Regis 2, Mills 1, Small 1
1994/95 - Bull 16, Kelly 15, Goodman 3, Stewart 2, Mills 1
1995/96 - Goodman 16, Bull 15, Crowe 1
1996/97 - Bull 23, Roberts 12, Goodman 6, Foley 1
1997/98 - Keane 11, Freedman 10, Goodman 8, Bull 7
1998/99 - Keane 11, Connolly 6, Flo 5, Bull 3, Foley 2, Whittingham 1
1999/00 - Akinbiyi 16, Branch 6, Flo 4, Keane 2
2000/01 - Proudlock 8, Ndah 6, Branch 4, Ketsbaia 3
2001/02 - Sturridge 21, Blake 11, Proudlock 3, Roussel 2, Miller 2, Ndah 1
2002/03 - Miller 19, Blake 12, Sturridge 10, Ndah 7, Proudlock 2, Cole 1
2003/04 - Camara 7, Cort 5, Iversen 4, Ganea 3, Miller 2, Blake 1
2004/05 - Miller 19, Cort 15, Clarke 7, Sturridge 1
2005/06 - Cort 11, Miller 10, Ganea 4, Aliadiere 2, Ndah 1, Clarke 1
2006/07 - Bothroyd 9, Clarke 5, Keogh 5, Johnson 3, Ward 3
2007/08 - Ebanks-Blake 12, Keogh 8, Elliott 4, Bothroyd 3, Eastwood 3, Kyle 1
2008/09 - Ebanks-Blake 25, Iwelumo 14, Vokes 6, Keogh 5
2009/10 - Doyle 9, Ebanks-Blake 2, Keogh 1, Maierhofer 1
2010/11 - Fletcher 10, Ebanks-Blake 7, Doyle 5
2011/12 - Fletcher 12, Doyle 4, Ebanks-Blake 1
2012/13 - Ebanks-Blake 14, Doyle 9, Sigurdarson 5, Dicko 1
2013/14 - Griffiths 12, Dicko 12, Doyle 3, Sigurdarson 2, McAlinden 1, Clarke 1
2014/15 - Dicko 14, Afobe 13, Clarke 2, Graham 1
2015/16 - Afobe 9, Mason 3, Zyro 3, Le Fondre 3
2016/17* - Mason 3, Bodvarsson 2, Dicko 1

Yikes. 2000/01 (21 goals) and 2015/16 (18 goals) are our worst efforts in this league. We aren't going to get near 18 this year surely.

If you wanted to be tenuous you could say Sako/Costa/Cavaleiro are more forwards than wingers so you could include them...but we won't. Strikers only.

Will we even beat 2009/10's total of 13? That was in the Premier League, against way better defences, with eight games fewer to play, and with us deliberately playing for 0-0s towards the end of the season.

 

[Tony Towner]

Didn't the "missing piece of the jigsaw" score a goal?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He did not (Shameless plug)

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Coming up to 20 years since Bully retired. I certainly feel old now.

 

[Tony Towner]

He did not (Shameless plug)

I must have given him a sympathy goal in my memory!

 

[Alan]

Why have you included Zyro? Isn't he a winger?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Why have you included Zyro? Isn't he a winger?

We played him up front for virtually all his appearances. Same reason why Wardy's in for 06/07 but none of the other seasons.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

I had 31 Proudlock on my blue away shirt in honour of 8 fucking goals... Crazy shit Jase.. :/

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I did like Proudlock in 2000/1. Bags of effort, raw but showed he could finish, plenty to work with (we also had a horrible team so lack of goals for any striker was inevitable, and he got more than anyone else so fair play). After that...prize dickhead. Had it, blew it. Could easily have made a career as a mid-table/low end Championship striker but decided messing around with his highlighted mullet and cruising around Newport playing the Big I Am was better. His weight was disgraceful at times too, look at the state of him when he came on right near the end of the playoff final.

 

[Lupo]

Mason 3, Bodvarsson 2, Dicko 1

Truly pathetic. We may as well have Dusty Bin up front

 

[Tony Towner]

I did like Proudlock in 2000/1. Bags of effort, raw but showed he could finish, plenty to work with (we also had a horrible team so lack of goals for any striker was inevitable, and he got more than anyone else so fair play). After that...prize dickhead. Had it, blew it. Could easily have made a career as a mid-table/low end Championship striker but decided messing around with his highlighted mullet and cruising around Newport playing the Big I Am was better. His weight was disgraceful at times too, look at the state of him when he came on right near the end of the playoff final.

He was fine until he grew the mullet, which was 10 years out of date even then. We have had a long line of forwards over the last two decades or so that you think are going to break through but don't. A succession of 'the next Bully. Proudlock, Crowe, Mills, Bradbury, Foley, Mcalindon, Roberts, Taylor are the ones that spring to mind. Keane being the exception to the rule.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Not to defend Mason, Bodvarsson, Dicko (this iteration of him) and Gladon at all - I really don't rate any of them that highly, the romantic in me hopes Nouha does go on a run now but I doubt it - but you look through that list and who would actually thrive in this team?

Bully would score in any team because he was bloody brilliant. Keano's innate talent would lead to him scoring goals all on his own. We do cross the ball quite a lot so Fletcher and Goodman might do ok, Cort and Roberts (Iwan) to a lesser extent too. Akinbiyi might get by as we didn't do much other than lamp it into the channels when he was there and he scored a respectable number. But then you look at Miller, Sturridge, Freedman, Kelly, Blake, Doyle, Ndah and above all SEB and Afobe - who range from very good Championship strikers to exceptional Championship strikers - would they be scoring goals for us right now, if we had them transported as then into our team now? I don't think they would. They'd probably be doing better than a cumulative six goals in 68 games (make no mistake, that is atrocious and the strikers in question have to carry the can for that), but they wouldn't be scoring at the rate that they did while they were here, and it's not like many of those teams were really particularly good. We went over the mid-90s central midfield options the other day and concluded that picking between that and now was like picking between being shot in the face or shot in the bollocks, so the supply clearly wasn't especially brilliant back then.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He was fine until he grew the mullet, which was 10 years out of date even then. We have had a long line of forwards over the last two decades or so that you think are going to break through but don't. A succession of 'the next Bully. Proudlock, Crowe, Mills, Bradbury, Foley, Mcalindon, Roberts, Taylor are the ones that spring to mind. Keane being the exception to the rule.

Taylor was the archetypal "6'3'' when he was 14 so battered youth teams around" striker, when it came to playing against men he just wasn't very good.

Foley always looked alright to me when he did play, he didn't get enough opportunities at a critical time and stagnated. I suppose his subsequent career wasn't especially brilliant but he seemed to do ok in Belgium. Roberts (I assume you mean Jason? Darren was fucking crap, Blues aside) being stuck behind fucking Paatelainen and Claridge was scandalous, no doubt he was raw then (straight from non-league) but unbelievable we never gave him a go. I maintain we messed up McAlinden's development, maybe he'd never have been quite up to it but parking him behind Leon I will never understand as long as I live.

Crowe was slower than Lawrie Madden, Lee Mills was utter pony for us but went on to develop elsewhere. I only ever saw Shaun Bradbury once and he scored those two goals against Millwall! Odd how he just drifted away and was never heard of again.

I do hope Ennis makes it, he's obscenely talented and when he's fit he needs to be in and around squads. I don't think Wilson or Collins will ever be Championship players, Bradley Reid will end up in the Conference at absolute best.

 

[Tony Towner]

Not to defend Mason, Bodvarsson, Dicko (this iteration of him) and Gladon at all - I really don't rate any of them that highly, the romantic in me hopes Nouha does go on a run now but I doubt it - but you look through that list and who would actually thrive in this team?

Bully would score in any team because he was bloody brilliant. Keano's innate talent would lead to him scoring goals all on his own. We do cross the ball quite a lot so Fletcher and Goodman might do ok, Cort and Roberts to a lesser extent too. Akinbiyi might get by as we didn't do much other than lamp it into the channels when he was there and he scored a respectable number. But then you look at Miller, Sturridge, Freedman, Kelly, Blake, Doyle, Ndah and above all SEB and Afobe - who range from very good Championship strikers to exceptional Championship strikers - would they be scoring goals for us right now, if we had them transported as then into our team now? I don't think they would. They'd probably be doing better than a cumulative six goals in 68 games (make no mistake, that is atrocious and the strikers in question have to carry the can for that), but they wouldn't be scoring at the rate that they did while they were here, and it's not like many of those teams were really particularly good. We went over the mid-90s central midfield options the other day and concluded that picking between that and now was like picking between being shot in the face or shot in the bollocks, so the supply clearly wasn't especially brilliant back then.

I think the difference between our forwards now and say Sturridge or Kelly from your second list is they would gamble and make runs assuming a good ball, so would have scored more goals in this team by the law of percentages as much as anything. Bod for example plays the game on his heals, he doesn't have a centre forwards instinct at all.

 

[Tony Towner]

Taylor was the archetypal "6'3'' when he was 14 so battered youth teams around" striker, when it came to playing against men he just wasn't very good.

Foley always looked alright to me when he did play, he didn't get enough opportunities at a critical time and stagnated. I suppose his subsequent career wasn't especially brilliant but he seemed to do ok in Belgium. Roberts (I assume you mean Jason? Darren was $#@!ing crap, Blues aside) being stuck behind $#@!ing Paatelainen and Claridge was scandalous, no doubt he was raw then (straight from non-league) but unbelievable we never gave him a go. I maintain we messed up McAlinden's development, maybe he'd never have been quite up to it but parking him behind Leon I will never understand as long as I live.

Crowe was slower than Lawrie Madden, Lee Mills was utter pony for us but went on to develop elsewhere. I only ever saw Shaun Bradbury once and he scored those two goals against Millwall! Odd how he just drifted away and was never heard of again.

I do hope Ennis makes it, he's obscenely talented and when he's fit he needs to be in and around squads. I don't think Wilson or Collins will ever be Championship players, Bradley Reid will end up in the Conference at absolute best.

Yes I did mean Jason, although being at St Andrews that day there was a small moment in time when you did believe in Darren, ridiculous debut, but the classic flash in the pan in reality.Similarly when Mills scored the winner in the Cup at Portman Road, you wanted to believe.

I can't disagree in any of your other comments and agree particularly on Mcalindon, but he'll drift into non league in the next year or so, small margins and all that.

You are right on Reid, I don't think he will make it at Conference level to be honest. Collins that level at best, as we've discussed before I think we keep on young players for too long when they clearly aren't going to make it. I've not seen enough of Wilson to form a true opinion, but his U23 record would suggest he's only been close to the first team due to lack of alternative options rather than wonderful form.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Definitely a fair point on instinct. But I really do think loads of strikers would struggle here where they'd do fine in even moderate teams. It puzzles me how Lambo - who is a pretty intelligent guy as far as I can work out and has plenty of exposure to European football so not exactly a stuck in his ways, dinosaur coach/manager - can't see this, I mean we all said under Hoddle that we could have had a prime Marco van Basten in that team with that bullshit football and he'd have struggled, but look there, 29 goals from his strikers and Miller/Cort didn't even play properly up front half the time and we used poor old Tomasz for most of the second half of the season, scoring nothing.

Look at Danny Graham - Blackburn are terrible, they'll probably end up going down but he's scored respectably, 11 in 27 in the league. When he was here in Nov/Dec 2014 and we were about as bad then as we have been over the last month, he got one goal but was otherwise a bit lost.

Also 100% agreed on keeping young players for too long, it's like we're scared of another Scott Malone/Sam Winnall but both of those being sold/released was perfectly understandable at the time. Extended contracts for Kellermann, Hayden, Reid and O'Hanlon recently have been just plain odd, none of them are even close to being what we need, they wouldn't be close if we were in L1 again.

 

[Siggy]

An interesting comparison for me would be strikers goals scored when KMac was in the team and same number of games since he left. We haven't had a proper creative midfielder since he left. We do get plenty of crosses into the box but very little in the way of throughballs for a striker to run on to (Barnsley is the only one I can think of Bright putting Bod through)

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

 

[Paul]

I think the difference between our forwards now and say Sturridge or Kelly from your second list is they would gamble and make runs assuming a good ball, so would have scored more goals in this team by the law of percentages as much as anything. Bod for example plays the game on his heals, he doesn't have a centre forwards instinct at all.

I honestly think we have strikers at the moment that are muzzled by mediocrity, take the Brum game for example, at least twice Dicko was pleading for the ball to be played between defenders so he could turn them, but we are stuck with a midfield that either wasn't looking, couldn't make the pass or opted for the safer sideways/backwards option. The strikers are hardly going to gamble on a run hoping for a defence splitting pass when they know it's not going to come. I love Bod, but what they're expecting him to do on his own is ludicrous !

 

[Tony Towner]

I honestly think we have strikers at the moment that are muzzled by mediocrity, take the Brum game for example, at least twice Dicko was pleading for the ball to be played between defenders so he could turn them, but we are stuck with a midfield that either wasn't looking, couldn't make the pass or opted for the safer sideways/backwards option. The strikers are hardly going to gamble on a run hoping for a defence splitting pass when they know it's not going to come. I love Bod, but what they're expecting him to do on his own is ludicrous !

I think it's both. I posted this on a different thread last night.

From the 5 games last month we scored 2 goals. In addition to that I can remember the following fair to good saves from the opposition keeper:
Burton 0
Newcastle 1 and that's being generous to Costa's tame effort.
Wigan 2 - one from the Edwards header, one from the Ronan swerving shot in injury time
Chelsea 0
Blues 1 from the Dicko header.
We create decent positions, but our issues are much bigger than not having a goalscorer, although clearly this would help. We actually create very little in terms of clear chances because our delivery in the main is poor.

 

[Premier Quality]

I agree about the delivery - Edwards and saville don't have any kind of delivery either crossing or passing, coadys crossing appalling, Doherty had a good patch but now either tries to go round one too many and loses it, or shoots into a
Defender and weimann doesn't do anything at all.

That leaves price who's too deep to do much and Costa who has to do everything on his own whilst double marked.

It's no wonder we don't score goals..