Where are the goals going to come from this season?

[Tes]

2 goals in 3 league games. I know it's very early in the season and we have quite a few new players, but is anyone else feeling uncomfortable with the situation going forward (no pun intended)?

[Juan]

2 goals in 3 league games. I know it's very early in the season and we have quite a few new players, but is anyone else feeling uncomfortable with the situation going forward (no pun intended)?

Very uncomfortable Tes.

To call a spade a spade Ngog although has started the season very well isnt a striker that will have us challenge for the league.

Torres isnt there yet and even if he was he is getting zero service. His goal today was more a moment of magic from him than anything else.

Stevie just doesnt look the goal threat we have known him to be. Lucas rarely scores, Kuyt gets goals in patches.

And with the defence looking very leaky if we go behind in games I think we will struggle to turn some games around.

If Torres got injured tomorrow top 7 might even be a struggle.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

Tes, I agree that at the moment we don't look that impressive. But yesterday neither did Man City and compare their talent to ours.

I think when you add several new players to a team not to mention a new manager it takes time for them to gel. Once Meirles has a few games under his belt and we see his potential then things may look better. I still think Roy is trying to work out our best formation.

After 3 games we have the same number of points as Spurs and Man City so they've not been without their problems. And with Bolton, Birmingham and Wolves above us the table is very skewed at present.

Give it another few games and I do see us improving. At least Torres scored a good goal yesterday and WBA are not the push-over side they've been in the past. In comparison Rooney still hasn't scored in open play since March. I know which striker I'd rather have. 

[Tes]

Tes, I agree that at the moment we don't look that impressive. But yesterday neither did Man City and compare their talent to ours.

I think when you add several new players to a team not to mention a new manager it takes time for them to gel. Once Meirles has a few games under his belt and we see his potential then things may look better. I still think Roy is trying to work out our best formation.

After 3 games we have the same number of points as Spurs and Man City so they've not been without their problems. And with Bolton, Birmingham and Wolves above us the table is very skewed at present.

Give it another few games and I do see us improving. At least Torres scored a good goal yesterday and WBA are not the push-over side they've been in the past. In comparison Rooney still hasn't scored in open play since March. I know which striker I'd rather have. 

There seems a definate top 3, at least in terms of the start they've had and we are in that second grouping, which as you say ASI, we're also pretty even with eachother. Our match with City is taking on a more exceptional aspect, especially where City are concerned. I'd be more worried if I was a City supporter.

It's hard to keep our hopes in line with what is our less than ideal reality. I just hope Roy can build a team, not a collection of players, along the same lines as Wenger does. Some of his signings have not been quite so exciting as others I guess, but if Cole comes good and Meireles settles quickly, Poulsen copes with the pace of the game and Maxi can build on his first season, then maybe we can have more highs than lows.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

There seems a definate top 3, at least in terms of the start they've had and we are in that second grouping, which as you say ASI, we're also pretty even with eachother. Our match with City is taking on a more exceptional aspect, especially where City are concerned. I'd be more worried if I was a City supporter.

It's depressingly familiar at the top after only 3 games but hopefully we can gel our players into a formidable force in the near future. I think Roy will do better in this respect than Rafa.

It's hard to keep our hopes in line with what is our less than ideal reality. I just hope Roy can build a team, not a collection of players, along the same lines as Wenger does. Some of his signings have not been quite so exciting as others I guess, but if Cole comes good and Meireles settles quickly, Poulsen copes with the pace of the game and Maxi can build on his first season, then maybe we can have more highs than lows.

That's the tricky bit isn't it? Anyone can buy players but it takes real skill to blend them into a team. I think Konchesky will help enormously at LB. He's familiar with that position and has played in the PL for several years so is proven quality. We just need to be aware that at 29 he hasn't got the legs of a younger player.

Pity we couldn't sign Gomez on loan but hopefully Babel can extract his digitum and do what we pay him for. I think Cole would have been a backward step.

[Ed]

Yeah, looks like we're short another striker unless Pacheco (short?) is ready to step up (i liked his attitude when he came on there recently away to Trabonzor). Anyway besides that IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT BIG Martin Skrtel and BIG Danny Agger GET SOME GOALS FROM CORNERS (Set pieces) THIS SEASON??? Again someone from midfield should be chipping in (don't think we've had that for ages as well).

For f**ks sake I remember Molby, McMahon & Whelan doing their share not to mention Souness. How do these modern players think they are fit to wear the shirt is beyond me, where's the ambition? (sorry i was going to go on a big rant along the lines "first is everything, second nothing" etc. then i remembered our grim reality

[Tes]

Yeah, looks like we're short another striker unless Pacheco (short?) is ready to step up (i liked his attitude when he came on there recently away to Trabonzor). Anyway besides that IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT BIG Martin Skrtel and BIG Danny Agger GET SOME GOALS FROM CORNERS (Set pieces) THIS SEASON??? Again someone from midfield should be chipping in (don't think we've had that for ages as well).

For f**ks sake I remember Molby, McMahon & Whelan doing their share not to mention Souness. How do these modern players think they are fit to wear the shirt is beyond me, where's the ambition? (sorry i was going to go on a big rant along the lines "first is everything, second nothing" etc. then i remembered our grim reality

Cash before medals. There's not need for medals anymore as they're not needed to be cashed in in later life as they are set up for life (or at least should be) with a couple of contracts.

[Tes]

It's depressingly familiar at the top after only 3 games but hopefully we can gel our players into a formidable force in the near future. I think Roy will do better in this respect than Rafa.

That's the tricky bit isn't it? Anyone can buy players but it takes real skill to blend them into a team. I think Konchesky will help enormously at LB. He's familiar with that position and has played in the PL for several years so is proven quality. We just need to be aware that at 29 he hasn't got the legs of a younger player.

Pity we couldn't sign Gomez on loan but hopefully Babel can extract his digitum and do what we pay him for. I think Cole would have been a backward step.

ASI, I agree about both Cole and Konchesky. I'd rather Babel be given the chance than us lose on the deal all ways up and their's no 'gelling' period either.
Whilst Konchesky doesn't set the pulse racing, despite his continental sounding name, his a solid defender that does what a defender's supposed to do. Of the 'homegrown' leftbacks, him, Bridge, Shorey, Warnock and Baines are much of a muchness and we're not going to get Cashley or Clichy. So that leaves Bale, again, out of reach and not really a left back these days anyway.

 

[the dude abides]

it was always gonna take time for woy to find a balanced team.

sadly, by the time he does so (at the earliest, Xmas), the league will once again be out of sight.

but we are in a period of transition (aren't we always).....and new players will need to bed-in.

[Tes]

it was always gonna take time for woy to find a balanced team.

sadly, by the time he does so (at the earliest, Xmas), the league will once again be out of sight.

but we are in a period of transition (aren't we always).....and new players will need to bed-in.

Exactly, Dude.  With players coming back in dribs and drabs and the pre-season being further interupted by the need to qualify (though a qualifier and then a play-off is surely over-egging the pudding) for the UEFA Cup, new players getting used to their team mates and vice versa and everyone getting used to a new manager's methods, including a large core of the squad having to be de-programmed from Rafa's ways, it was always going to be a stuttering and unsure start. Even then until the cancer that infects our club has been removed, it's going to be impossible to move forward in any meaningful way, unfortunately.