Striker

You are, of course, right Fatfox. The trouble is that many people, myself included, believe that another decent striker may be the final piece of the jigsaw (I nearly said a 20 goal a season striker, which has almost become a cliche - a 19 goal striker is clearly not worth having).

Until we sign someone I feel a bit like I've got a Sunday roast, but someone's forgotten to make any gravy.

I'm trying not to panic!

I quite like it that Nugent isn't in the spot light and isn't really being thought of as a scorer. I think he will be one to watch this season, He has no pressure from the fans (from what I can see) and I think he will come good

As I said in another thread. I'm not concerned by the 20 goal striker, I'm not sure I can see the player that is going to create 20 chances for him.

If I had a choice between a top winger or a top centre forward to complete our team, I'd take the winger.

Otherwise we may be relying on Matt Mills as our top scorer all from corners!

I think we just want the striker in because we will feel complete right from the off.

Nugent won't score anywhere near enough goals for us this season to get promoted!

Don't get me wrong – I'd like it to be all done and dusted, and me relaxing with a smug smile on my face. But Sven has good instincts and money to back that up with, and all we can really do is trust that he has a cunning plan that may not be obvious to mere mortals.

My one worry, as I've said elsewhere, is that we might miss second and third choice targets while continually pitching for Maynard. But for all we know, the Maynard saga is a conjuring-style misdirection while he quietly signs Wayne Routledge and Robbie Keane.

Just posted this on another thread but I think it applies to Merseyside's point of creating chances:

Merseyside - There were times last season when we did struggle to break down teams who came and parked the bus (Cov and Palace spring to mind).

However, I think a key reason for those shortcomings was that Yakubu, our focal point in attack on those two occasions was very static in his movement when our midfield was in possession. This made it very hard to create chances because the opposition could press higher up the pitch and close the space for our midfield to play without any fear of Yak running in behind them. Our attacks then became slow and stagnating as we passed back and sideways looking for openings.

This is one of the main reasons why I would be cautious about the Yakubu signing but the strikers we have now (Nugent, Waghorn etc.) are all full of movement and will always be looking to run in behind and stretch the defence which will in turn create more space for the more creative players like Gally, Wellens, King etc. to create chances.

So, providing we have strikers willing to stretch defenses and create space for the team, we should create enough chances to win most games. Whether we have the players to finish those chances is another matter though...

The timing of when we choose to pull out of the Maynard deal is vital. I think this last offer that we're reported to have put in is the last take it or leave it offer - hence Bristol haven't refused yet because they aren't sure they'll get a better one from anyone else or that Maynard will commit his future to them. As fatfox said, we must make sure we don't miss out on the 'back-up' options as well and not get too focused on this Maynard chase.

"Nugent won't score anywhere near enough goals for us this season to get promoted!"

Come on man, lets not decide whether a striker is or isn't good enough to get us enough goals to contribute to promotion.

After all, he did score 13 from the wing in a team that only scored in 53 in total. So I think there's a reasonable chance at the very least, that he may surpass that total if we played him up front on a regular basis.

There is also the point that over the past five years teams like Swansea, Blackpool, Birmingham, Burnley, Stoke, Hull, Sunderland, Birmingham and Derby were all promoted without a 20 goal a season striker; in fact some didn't even have a 15 goal a season player.

We scored plenty under Sven last year and have added quality to the sqaud, so I don't have an issue with is scoring enough goals in total. Therefore, as I mentioned previously, I don't think it will be necessarily be about having individual players who can score 20/30 goals, but perhaps having a striker who can pop up and get the vital goal in a few 1-0 wins when we are playing poorly. In a way, I kind of wish we'd put a bid in for Phillips from this perspective.

*Sorry, few grammatical errors in there; being distracted by Jessica Alba in some God awful channel 5 movie.

What happened to the Andy Johnson rumours?

There are some really good points in this thread - couldn't resist sticking my oar in!

Sven could well be playing a waiting game and financially this makes sense. Prices should level out before the end of August, particularly for players with shorter terms remaining on their contracts - no names, no pack-drill.

However, there is also a very strong argument that whilst we wait on the one main target, others players are moving elsewhere and we have all seen in the past how the first six games can mould a season.

So if Maynard is the one he wants, the logical thing to do would be to go for another player on loan - I like the Keane suggestion.

Have we forgotten Nugent? I don't think so but he has had a couple of seasons of not firing on all cylinders and expecting him to lead the line in the first few months is a risk. Equally, I am still to see enough from Waghorn to believe he is anything but a bench player for the forseeable future.

So yes, I am concerned - particularly if we aspire to an automatic spot. "Not yet" suggests to me that he still wants and expects to get Maynard. But please please get someone in to fill the gap in August or risk having to play catch up for the rest of the year.