[Salopbaggie]

The aforementioned Thomas-Asante is a case in point. Yes, he's doing well for Coventry this season, but is he a better player than what we have? Would he have scored those goals for us? We will never know, but I'd highly doubt it.

But what we do know for sure if that he's doing well for Coventry playing up front alongside another striker, whether that's Ellis Simms or Haji Wright. We only ever play 2 up top if we're chasing the game. Maybe we could look at his improvement in form and actually learn something.

I think the rest of your post is unquestionable, as is this point to some degree, however we all watched his progression after his arrival at the shrine and yes when he arrived he was a very rough diamond, but his journey as a striker was evident for all to see. More than anywhere that was evident in his positional awareness, unfortunately his progress was not fast enough for some, even some on here were calling for him to be sold, long before he was, while others were offering a different opinion.

Would he have scored the goals for us? Who knows, he certainly will not playing for Coventry. IMO we sold an up and coming striker preferring to keep two 'with respect' biscuit players. BTA has not suddenly started scoring miracle solo goals, he is still knocking them in just like he did for us, with glancing headers and goal line scrambles and the occasional 'dig that one out'. Take the Ipswich game that goal line scramble where it was cleared off the line would BTA been on the end of that, I like to think so?

Is he a better player than what we have? Heggebo is a different style of striker who is better than BTA with his back to the goal, but BTA is better at being in the right place at the right time. Dike, who knows? I have always had high hopes for him and still do, but I have suspicion we will never see him play more than half a season. As for Mata, they are two similar players, but Mata another player who struggles staying fit and I am not convinced he is better than BTA, yes he had a good start last season, but this year has struggled for starts. What ever you think about BTA he was rarely out injured and always gave 100% commitment on the field, I said then and I have not changed my mind, we should never have sold him but the past is the past, look out for his hat-trick against us

[BaggieSteve]

Given what has happened in the last couple of years - being in a financial mess, losing our best players on frees (Yokuslu and Kipre), the owners having to sell anyone with value and replace them for a fraction of the cost - mid table obscurity could actually be seen as a success this year, on paper at least.

However, it does feel that this squad should be capable of more...

I've seen a lot of criticism aimed at Heggebo. People saying we haven't got a striker. But for me, the problem is down to a lack of creation rather than the striker himself.

I could be wrong, but I don't think there's a striker in the land would score much in our side.

I mean, is there a team in the division who has a better trio of strikers than Heggebo, Maja and Dike? I'm not sure there is...

Admittedly, Heggebo was poor yesterday, but in other games I think he's looked good. I've seen us lump useless balls forward and he's bullied defenders, gathered and kept the ball. The lad is strong, passes well and looks good technically. But he's a target man who needs people to link up with. How many times has he had a 10 yard ball played into his feet for a one-two or link up? I can't think of it happening even once.

I've seen him make runs but the player on the ball has chosen to pass backwards. Often that has been Issac Price, a player who is supposed to be our number 10 and playmaker...

We seem to constantly want to play all of our football on the edge of our own box rather than in the opposition half. Our midfield are 20 yards too deep and as a result the wingers and constantly doubled up on and the forward is totally isolated.

That was the frustration for me yesterday, the fact we lost by a single goal that we'd handed to the opposition on a silver platter tip tapping around in our own final 3rd. Not for the first time.

What's the point? Is that supposed to be attractive football? Personally I find it attractive when a team attacks, shows flair and tries to score. I don't get anything out of watching the goalkeeper role balls into the midfielder who is on the edge of his own box. We're not Man City or Barcelona. There's no game plan to do it to bring the opposition on and break the press. We just seem to do it because it's the "in thing".

Is it Mason's fault or are we just lacking quality? I'm torn. It's probably somewhere in the middle. But the balance of the team doesn't look as good as it should with the squad we have IMO.

My gut feeling is that with the personnel we have, we might suit a 3-5-2 like what Darren Moore played to accomodate both Jay Rodriguez and Gayle.

I think if you had Heggebo up top with either one of Dike or Maja, I think we would pose far more threat.

Plus we haven't really got any decent full backs...

Phillips and Mepham both look good and the ball and could suit a 3 man defence. Bielik is a good ball playing centre half and could play between them.

Illing Junior has played left wing back before, and in my opinion, the best I've seen Issac Price play was when Tony Mowbray used him at right wing back. He's got the legs to play the role, crosses well. Plus he's never a number 10, frankly.

Alex Mowatt could then move a bit higher up the pitch and actually try to start passing forward, rather than constantly looking for safe possession football. Mikey Johnston would be effective in the 10.

Will the coach try a different system or persist with what he's been doing just changing individuals (the predictable Johnston or Illing Junior for Grant swap)?

Probably the latter, but I do think we should try something to get two forwards in the side.

The aforementioned Thomas-Asante is a case in point. Yes, he's doing well for Coventry this season, but is he a better player than what we have? Would he have scored those goals for us? We will never know, but I'd highly doubt it.

But what we do know for sure if that he's doing well for Coventry playing up front alongside another striker, whether that's Ellis Simms or Haji Wright. We only ever play 2 up top if we're chasing the game. Maybe we could look at his improvement in form and actually learn something.

I agree with your comments, Slick. I cannot understand why we are not playing two strikers (I’d be tempted to play Dike and Maja, but that’s no criticism of Hegebbo who gets precious little support or service). Currently we seem to be relying on either Johnston or Price to score a worldy, without which we are creating next to nothing.

I honestly don’t believe Coventry’s squad is twice as good as ours but they clearly are being allowed to play with a freedom and pattern that suits their players, including BTA. I honestly think he would struggle in the current Albion set up and style of play, and yet, with Coventry’s approach, he’s demonstrating the obvious talent he has.

I was delighted when we appointed Mason, after a succession of dinosaurs (Corberan obviously excepted), but I’m having serious doubts that he can get the best out of this squad, even accepting its injury hit and light on talent. I really hope to be proved wrong.

[Slick_Footwork]

The aforementioned Thomas-Asante is a case in point. Yes, he's doing well for Coventry this season, but is he a better player than what we have? Would he have scored those goals for us? We will never know, but I'd highly doubt it.

But what we do know for sure if that he's doing well for Coventry playing up front alongside another striker, whether that's Ellis Simms or Haji Wright. We only ever play 2 up top if we're chasing the game. Maybe we could look at his improvement in form and actually learn something.

I think the rest of your post is unquestionable, as is this point to some degree, however we all watched his progression after his arrival at the shrine and yes when he arrived he was a very rough diamond, but his journey as a striker was evident for all to see. More than anywhere that was evident in his positional awareness, unfortunately his progress was not fast enough for some, even some on here were calling for him to be sold, long before he was, while others were offering a different opinion.

Would he have scored the goals for us? Who knows, he certainly will not playing for Coventry. IMO we sold an up and coming striker preferring to keep two 'with respect' biscuit players. BTA has not suddenly started scoring miracle solo goals, he is still knocking them in just like he did for us, with glancing headers and goal line scrambles and the occasional 'dig that one out'. Take the Ipswich game that goal line scramble where it was cleared off the line would BTA been on the end of that, I like to think so?

Is he a better player than what we have? Heggebo is a different style of striker who is better than BTA with his back to the goal, but BTA is better at being in the right place at the right time. Dike, who knows? I have always had high hopes for him and still do, but I have suspicion we will never see him play more than half a season. As for Mata, they are two similar players, but Mata another player who struggles staying fit and I am not convinced he is better than BTA, yes he had a good start last season, but this year has struggled for starts. What ever you think about BTA he was rarely out injured and always gave 100% commitment on the field, I said then and I have not changed my mind, we should never have sold him but the past is the past, look out for his hat-trick against us

Great post. Although I wasn't a big fan of BTA personally, I think you're bang on with your assessment of him. The lad always worked his socks off, stayed fit and could sniff out a goal. He certainly has attributes we're missing currently.

I hope you're wrong about the hat trick though

The only thing I would say is that I don't think we chose to sell him ahead of the others. I think it was just a period where there was a fire sale at the club to keep us afloat financially. There was no interest in the others as they were injured (as well as probably being two of our top earners).

I think Maja would've been sold this summer had he stayed fit for the entire of last season. I think that was our plan. But of course, after another injury nobody would take a chance on him.

I share your thoughts about Dike. It's unfortunate with him because I think he's the one who has all the attributes to play at a higher level. Pace, power, link up play. Sadly I just can't ever see him staying fit.

Ultimately both Maja and Dike will leave for free this summer and most probably have miraculous recoveries for their new clubs. I don't think we've ever had the chance or will get the chance to sell them now.

---

Given what has happened in the last couple of years - being in a financial mess, losing our best players on frees (Yokuslu and Kipre), the owners having to sell anyone with value and replace them for a fraction of the cost - mid table obscurity could actually be seen as a success this year, on paper at least.

However, it does feel that this squad should be capable of more...

I've seen a lot of criticism aimed at Heggebo. People saying we haven't got a striker. But for me, the problem is down to a lack of creation rather than the striker himself.

I could be wrong, but I don't think there's a striker in the land would score much in our side.

I mean, is there a team in the division who has a better trio of strikers than Heggebo, Maja and Dike? I'm not sure there is...

Admittedly, Heggebo was poor yesterday, but in other games I think he's looked good. I've seen us lump useless balls forward and he's bullied defenders, gathered and kept the ball. The lad is strong, passes well and looks good technically. But he's a target man who needs people to link up with. How many times has he had a 10 yard ball played into his feet for a one-two or link up? I can't think of it happening even once.

I've seen him make runs but the player on the ball has chosen to pass backwards. Often that has been Issac Price, a player who is supposed to be our number 10 and playmaker...

We seem to constantly want to play all of our football on the edge of our own box rather than in the opposition half. Our midfield are 20 yards too deep and as a result the wingers and constantly doubled up on and the forward is totally isolated.

That was the frustration for me yesterday, the fact we lost by a single goal that we'd handed to the opposition on a silver platter tip tapping around in our own final 3rd. Not for the first time.

What's the point? Is that supposed to be attractive football? Personally I find it attractive when a team attacks, shows flair and tries to score. I don't get anything out of watching the goalkeeper role balls into the midfielder who is on the edge of his own box. We're not Man City or Barcelona. There's no game plan to do it to bring the opposition on and break the press. We just seem to do it because it's the "in thing".

Is it Mason's fault or are we just lacking quality? I'm torn. It's probably somewhere in the middle. But the balance of the team doesn't look as good as it should with the squad we have IMO.

My gut feeling is that with the personnel we have, we might suit a 3-5-2 like what Darren Moore played to accomodate both Jay Rodriguez and Gayle.

I think if you had Heggebo up top with either one of Dike or Maja, I think we would pose far more threat.

Plus we haven't really got any decent full backs...

Phillips and Mepham both look good and the ball and could suit a 3 man defence. Bielik is a good ball playing centre half and could play between them.

Illing Junior has played left wing back before, and in my opinion, the best I've seen Issac Price play was when Tony Mowbray used him at right wing back. He's got the legs to play the role, crosses well. Plus he's never a number 10, frankly.

Alex Mowatt could then move a bit higher up the pitch and actually try to start passing forward, rather than constantly looking for safe possession football. Mikey Johnston would be effective in the 10.

Will the coach try a different system or persist with what he's been doing just changing individuals (the predictable Johnston or Illing Junior for Grant swap)?

Probably the latter, but I do think we should try something to get two forwards in the side.

The aforementioned Thomas-Asante is a case in point. Yes, he's doing well for Coventry this season, but is he a better player than what we have? Would he have scored those goals for us? We will never know, but I'd highly doubt it.

But what we do know for sure if that he's doing well for Coventry playing up front alongside another striker, whether that's Ellis Simms or Haji Wright. We only ever play 2 up top if we're chasing the game. Maybe we could look at his improvement in form and actually learn something.

I agree with your comments, Slick. I cannot understand why we are not playing two strikers (I’d be tempted to play Dike and Maja, but that’s no criticism of Hegebbo who gets precious little support or service). Currently we seem to be relying on either Johnston or Price to score a worldy, without which we are creating next to nothing.

I honestly don’t believe Coventry’s squad is twice as good as ours but they clearly are being allowed to play with a freedom and pattern that suits their players, including BTA. I honestly think he would struggle in the current Albion set up and style of play, and yet, with Coventry’s approach, he’s demonstrating the obvious talent he has.

I was delighted when we appointed Mason, after a succession of dinosaurs (Corberan obviously excepted), but I’m having serious doubts that he can get the best out of this squad, even accepting its injury hit and light on talent. I really hope to be proved wrong.

I think the jury is certainly out on Ryan Mason right now. I've not go to the stage where I'm calling for his head yet, because I acknowledge the squad does have it's limitations, but I just don't see what our identity is.

I regard Tony Pulis as the most anti-football manager I've seen at the club in my time. However, even he had a better goal-per-game ratio than we have under Mason this year and that was in the Premier League. At least he had us posing a threat from corners and free kicks. As you suggest, relying on worldy's isn't a strategy that's going to deliver long term.

We'll have to wait and see if things change, but it really has been dour recently.