It's not rocket science...

[The Bedlington Terrier]

It?s not rocket science, is it? We have the best defensive record in European football but what we don?t have is a strike force capable of scoring enough goals to secure automatic promotion.

In our role of the ultimate yo-yo club, we have had three quite recent promotions from the Championship to the English Premier League; winning it twice and finishing runners-up once.

What separates us now from the certainty of automatic promotion is the absence of strike partnerships like Sam Vokes & Danny Ings, Vokes (again) & Andre Gray, Nathan Tella, Annas Zaroury & Manuel Benson. Those three seasons saw us bag over a hundred goals because of those partnerships and that is the sole reason we will have to try for promotion through the play-offs.

Blaming Scotty Parker for the absence of a strike force is puerile nonsense. Alan Pace must shoulder the blame, he sold Chris Wood, Sander Berge, Wilson Odobert, Annas Zaroury, Wout Weghorst amongst others and failed to secure the services of the now Bayer Leverkusen frontman Nathan Tella.

Our recruitment team stand accused of sleeping on the job and one single word of criticism must go to Scott Parker for insisting on keep playing Lyle Foster. A Burnley supporter on a Clarets fan forum after witnessing the South African miss two glaring chances on Saturday at Deepdale said Foster ?would struggle to finish his tea!? Enough said.

[ClaretinBudapest]

[QUOTE=
Our recruitment team stand accused of sleeping on the job and one single word of criticism must go to Scott Parker for insisting on keep playing Lyle Foster. A Burnley supporter on a Clarets fan forum after witnessing the South African miss two glaring chances on Saturday at Deepdale said Foster ?would struggle to finish his tea!? Enough said.[/QUOTE]

Flemming and Anthony are no better BT.You keep slating Foster but he is not the only player in our forward line who could not hit a cows arse with a banjo.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

In the last two games he has missed three sitters whilst inside the six yards box. That's pathetic for what I am constantly reminded is an international striker.

[Swissclaret]

Ashley Barnes would have put at least one of the chances away last Saturday. We leave the more creative midfielder in Shelvey on the bench in favour of Laurent who is by and large anonymous in matches. Benson, who can score stays on the bench.

Whilst it is never down to one player, one decision or one element, I am bemused at times by the decisions that Parker makes.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Ashley Barnes would have put at least one of the chances away last Saturday. We leave the more creative midfielder in Shelvey on the bench in favour of Laurent who is by and large anonymous in matches. Benson, who can score stays on the bench.

Whilst it is never down to one player, one decision or one element, I am bemused at times by the decisions that Parker makes.

Why he sticks with Foster is beyond my comprehension. One goal since August and it's nearly March.

[WillPark]

It’s not rocket science… but don’t think running/managing a football club/team is easy!

[army88]

Flemming and Anthony are no better BT.You keep slating Foster but he is not the only player in our forward line who could not hit a cows arse with a banjo.

I think you?ll find he?s to blame CIB

Funny I?ve just posted the same as you on binary thread

[army88]

Ashley Barnes would have put at least one of the chances away last Saturday. We leave the more creative midfielder in Shelvey on the bench in favour of Laurent who is by and large anonymous in matches. Benson, who can score stays on the bench.

Whilst it is never down to one player, one decision or one element, I am bemused at times by the decisions that Parker makes.

Swiss - Laurent is the silent workhorse ( he?s no
Thrills I?ll give you that ) but he competes physically wins the ball and gives it ) because he?s not mentioned much means little - all I can tell you is we are a worse team without him in it when I?ve watched this season ( shelvey must not be match fit ) I do agree shelvey is a better footballer all round he?s big strong can pick a pass and has a goal in him too - and I?m afraid Parker is slow with substitutes to try and win the game.

I like Parker overall and I do believe he?s done a decent job - I think his players out of position is t working but we?re muddling through and we most definitely ( if we are writing Foster off ) should have bought / loaned a mobile big strong target man - it would have helped our game a lot if we had someone to hold the ball in the opposition s final third longer

Yes we recycle the ball well but in our final third , it?s like we don?t have the confidence to use players sometimes or we are so rigid in formation they don?t make the run and / or force the pass forwards to be made - hence why we mess around a lot in our final third, and Parker is happy with 0-0 s.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Sean Dyche (and sinkov too#) consistently said to get out of the Championship you need a couple of players who can bag 40 goals in a season. The nearest we have are Flemming & Brownhill and that's why we are now way behind Leeds & Sheffield United.

[Swissclaret]

Swiss - Laurent is the silent workhorse ( he?s no
Thrills I?ll give you that ) but he competes physically wins the ball and gives it ) because he?s not mentioned much means little - all I can tell you is we are a worse team without him in it when I?ve watched this season ( shelvey must not be match fit ) I do agree shelvey is a better footballer all round he?s big strong can pick a pass and has a goal in him too - and I?m afraid Parker is slow with substitutes to try and win the game.

I like Parker overall and I do believe he?s done a decent job - I think his players out of position is t working but we?re muddling through and we most definitely ( if we are writing Foster off ) should have bought / loaned a mobile big strong target man - it would have helped our game a lot if we had someone to hold the ball in the opposition s final third longer

Yes we recycle the ball well but in our final third , it?s like we don?t have the confidence to use players sometimes or we are so rigid in formation they don?t make the run and / or force the pass forwards to be made - hence why we mess around a lot in our final third, and Parker is happy with 0-0 s.

All fair comment, army. I do think that Parker is doing a good job - we are third in the league. However, I do not understand why he does not go to the bench earlier and use someone like Shelvey as an impact player if he is not match fit, for example. Similarly, he is sticking with the likes of Foster who, for whatever reason, simply does not score goals.

Against Preston, would it have been more productive to bring on both Brownhill and Shelvey in place of Hannibal and Laurent after say 65 minutes? Give Benson a run out in place of Foster (who will forget his curling goals from the edge of the box?). I thought that the purpose of the squad is to provide options both at the start and later in a match.