The Striker Situation

[Copps is Magic]

Our manager and board have been in football a long time. I struggle to see how/why they have overlooked the striker situation. That's why I think (hope) they have an ace up their sleeves somewhere along the line.

We have 2 strikers at the club

Chris Brown: 10 goals in 47 appearances (this time round)
Billy Paynter: 13 goals in 37 appearances 

Neither are prolific and usually both aren't played together as they are of similar ilk. Not having a 3rd striker basically forces us into playing 4-5-1 or some other combination with a midfielder (Syers most likely) playing behind the striker.

Sharp? I think this is the hold up - we are waiting to see if we can strike a deal which is dependent on other clubs coming in for him.

In the meantime? We need to get a young striker in on loan from a premiership club/abroad.

Otherwise we won't score many goals this season.

[Filo]

I`m sure another striker will be recruited, but as JR explained tonight, we`ll be playing one up top, either Brown or Paynter with three behind and two holding midfielders

[Dare to dream!]

Dickov was a striker so hopefully he will know how to get them both scoring. I think Browny will surprise a few this season

[Copps is Magic]

I`m sure another striker will be recruited, but as JR explained tonight, we`ll be playing one up top, either Brown or Paynter with three behind and two holding midfielders

We're basically forced into playing this system because we don't have the cover. And it still worries me who is going to bang in 15-20 goals.

We should be actively looking to bring in a 3rd loan striker rather than keep it as a reserve fund for when Brown/Paynter inevitably gets injured.

[Viking Jack]

Weren't a few people saying that Brown was looking a lot fitter a few weeks ago? Either way it seems we're hoping to get a few more goals from midfield this season, and from what I've heard of the pre-season matches, the 4-5-1 formation is quite good.

[Leebtyler]

I`m sure another striker will be recruited, but as JR explained tonight, we`ll be playing one up top, either Brown or Paynter with three behind and two holding midfielders

We're basically forced into playing this system because we don't have the cover. And it still worries me who is going to bang in 15-20 goals.

We should be actively looking to bring in a 3rd loan striker rather than keep it as a reserve fund for when Brown/Paynter inevitably gets injured.

how do you know we're not?  stay tuned, i think we will all be pleasantly suprised.

[chrisd_123]

Anyone who saw the first half at Bradford will realise the way Dickov wants to play looks exciting. With 3 of Duffy/Cotterill/Cotts/Forrester/Syers behind Brown we could cause many teams problems. Ideally we need another striker but we have a month + loan chances to sort that. Not the end of the world at the minute. Prefer that we've signed a top class goalkeeper.

[the vicar]

17 players and no good strikers spells relegation for sure

[roverssam1879]

I`m sure another striker will be recruited, but as JR explained tonight, we`ll be playing one up top, either Brown or Paynter with three behind and two holding midfielders

I fail to understand why formation is ever announced, I mean lets just tell the whole league!

[uros-predic]

At the end of the day a prolific goalscorer at this level will cost a bomb, which we havn't got. We'll have the second smallest budget in the league this season so anyone who thinks we have a god given right to sign one of the best strikers at this level i.e sharp, needs to pull their head out their arse.

Stick to the budget and give it everything weve got, if we get relegated, so be it, we'll be back to our level!

[RedJ]

At the end of the day a prolific goalscorer at this level will cost a bomb, which we havn't got. We'll have the second smallest budget in the league this season so anyone who thinks we have a god given right to sign one of the best strikers at this level i.e sharp, needs to pull their head out their arse.

Stick to the budget and give it everything weve got, if we get relegated, so be it, we'll be back to our level!

No one thinks we have a "god given right", but you're not telling me that you can find a striker of Sharp's quality for around the same reported price tag of £1.2million. He's the only player of that calibre we can even come close to affording.

[RedArmy]

At the end of the day a prolific goalscorer at this level will cost a bomb, which we havn't got. We'll have the second smallest budget in the league this season so anyone who thinks we have a god given right to sign one of the best strikers at this level i.e sharp, needs to pull their head out their arse.

Stick to the budget and give it everything weve got, if we get relegated, so be it, we'll be back to our level!

No one thinks we have a "god given right", but you're not telling me that you can find a striker of Sharp's quality for around the same reported price tag of £1.2million. He's the only player of that calibre we can even come close to affording.

And after been told we have made enquiries for him for the next day to be told we've spent are budget is pretty hard to take!

[ad1982]

We bought Sharp before. Why not again? Maybe if we hasn't sold him for peanuts in the first place?

[ad1982]

At the end of the day a prolific goalscorer at this level will cost a bomb, which we havn't got. We'll have the second smallest budget in the league this season so anyone who thinks we have a god given right to sign one of the best strikers at this level i.e sharp, needs to pull their head out their arse.

Stick to the budget and give it everything weve got, if we get relegated, so be it, we'll be back to our level!

No one thinks we have a "god given right", but you're not telling me that you can find a striker of Sharp's quality for around the same reported price tag of £1.2million. He's the only player of that calibre we can even come close to affording.

And after been told we have made enquiries for him for the next day to be told we've spent are budget is pretty hard to take!

Exactly. The amount of contradictory statements that come out of the club is hard to believe.

[graingrover]

If we can  cobble together enough to compensate Billy for what he would lose in salary from  Southampton where he still has a contract for 2 years ... plus £1.2 million

[RedJ]

We bought Sharp before. Why not again? Maybe if we hasn't sold him for peanuts in the first place?

He chose to stay when he turned down Southampton in the summer when they met the original release fee clause, then the release fee tumbled in January and we had no choice. Would have been better losing him that summer.

[vaya]

We bought Sharp before. Why not again? Maybe if we hasn't sold him for peanuts in the first place?

'We'/Rovers didn't buy Sharp - he was bought by Ryan/Bramall/Watson directly. He went 'for peanuts' because of an inversely-proportional release clause in his contract that dropped the trigger price the closer towards the end of this contract.

Edit - beat me to it RedJ

[Al4475]

I thought it was made pretty clear tonight (though I can't say whether it's good news or not) that we don't expect to have a 20 goal a season striker as the goals are going to come from Duffy, Cotterill, Forrester, Paynter and Brown with Syers and Copps chipping with a few too.

We're looking at options but we're not likely to be signing one!

[chrisd_123]

At the end of the day a prolific goalscorer at this level will cost a bomb, which we havn't got. We'll have the second smallest budget in the league this season so anyone who thinks we have a god given right to sign one of the best strikers at this level i.e sharp, needs to pull their head out their arse.

Stick to the budget and give it everything weve got, if we get relegated, so be it, we'll be back to our level!

No one thinks we have a "god given right", but you're not telling me that you can find a striker of Sharp's quality for around the same reported price tag of £1.2million. He's the only player of that calibre we can even come close to affording.

And after been told we have made enquiries for him for the next day to be told we've spent are budget is pretty hard to take!

Exactly. The amount of contradictory statements that come out of the club is hard to believe.

To be fair, they're hardly going to come out and say "we have X amount to spend" are they? That'll alert clubs to what they can take from us etc. I bet there's a surprise or two still to come

[IDM]

And after been told we have made enquiries for him for the next day to be told we've spent are budget is pretty hard to take!

Why?  Perhaps the approach for Sharp was investment dependent and additional to the budget already set.  No investment (yet) means no extra budget for players like Sharp (yet).  That doesn't mean the club has mislead us in any way does it?

Folks are reading far too much into things IMHO.

[roverssam1879]

We bought Sharp before. Why not again? Maybe if we hasn't sold him for peanuts in the first place?

I have been saying this for a while now... it was possible before, why not now!? have we gone backwards!?

[karldew]

I thought it was made pretty clear tonight (though I can't say whether it's good news or not) that we don't expect to have a 20 goal a season striker as the goals are going to come from Duffy, Cotterill, Forrester, Paynter and Brown with Syers and Copps chipping with a few too.

We're looking at options but we're not likely to be signing one!

JR also said don't rule a deal for sharp out, he speaks to him regular and he knows billy would love to be back at Doncaster. Anything could happen. Also a 20 goal striker or 40 goals from 4/5 players up top chipping in..not much difference and within our current budget

I think the top 4 on saturday will be

            Brown.
Duffy.    Cotts.     Copps.

[Dare to dream!]

I thought it was made pretty clear tonight (though I can't say whether it's good news or not) that we don't expect to have a 20 goal a season striker as the goals are going to come from Duffy, Cotterill, Forrester, Paynter and Brown with Syers and Copps chipping with a few too.

We're looking at options but we're not likely to be signing one!

JR also said don't rule a deal for sharp out, he speaks to him regular and he knows billy would love to be back at Doncaster. Anything could happen. Also a 20 goal striker or 40 goals from 4/5 players up top chipping in..not much difference and within our current budget

I think the top 4 on saturday will be

            Brown.
Duffy.    Cotts.     Copps.

Cotts is not a CAM neither is Copps. Duffy or Bennett will play center with Cotts on the right and Copps on the left

[IDM]

Those 3 behind Browny will be mobile and interchanging positions.  Copps can easily play centrally.

[Dare to dream!]

Those 3 behind Browny will be mobile and interchanging positions.  Copps can easily play centrally.

Copps played central under DS. I can't rember when It was though either start of last season or the end of the season before but anyway he played centre for a few games and it just didn't happen for him

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Use your head tonight the keepmoat was full of fans and journalists. Think logically.  Dickov has made it clear he wants a striker or two that won't change. But it may take time and we can't spend silly money. 

[Donnyrovers]

We need another striker a more natural goalscorer, there were many times last season we only won by one goal with many been 1-0 victories we need more goals because we can't be trying to hold out for 1-0 wins this season because it will bite us in the arse.

[knockers]

It could be worse,we could be swfc.talking to an owls fan tonight and he reckons that they've only signed two players and one of those is injured. They fear for the coming season.