Waggy

[Ric Flair]

he's utter dog shit

 

Hahahahaaa hello pal!

[FrankieWorthoYaggedMyWife]

Hahahahaaa hello pal!

How's it going matey?

Been keeping my head down but think its time to start forcing out again!

[RonnieTodger]

I thought at the start of the season we played some of our best football with Nugent and Vardy upfront. I think Vardy will get another chance. Waggy is useless, cannot control the ball, useless in the air and doesn't score goals. He's had enough chances

I think that's a really good point. A lot of people forget that we were actually top of the league without Wood & Beckford. Nugent & Vardy seemed to do well.

 

Also, at the very start - it was Nugent & Beckford battling to play alongside him.

[inckley fox]

Except for Fryatt obviously.

And Nugent.

 

Even though neither of them has managed twenty second tier goals in a season under Pearson.

 

In fact, in 3.5 seasons, no striker has.

 

Unless I'm mistaken our coaching staff is made up of ex-defenders / goalkeepers. Sometimes it shows!

[Col city fan]

Even though neither of them has managed twenty second tier goals in a season under Pearson.

In fact, in 3.5 seasons, no striker has.

Unless I'm mistaken our coaching staff is made up of ex-defenders / goalkeepers. Sometimes it shows!

I have to agree and as I've said before, the form of Wood became very worrying. Over time, a player who couldn't stop scoring, appeared to become a donkey. Fair enough, this may have been due to injury. But if Wood doesn't start next season like a striker who looks like he's gonna get 20 goals I will still be worried.

Wood became a player who looked slow and unhappy IMO. If we don't go on to get the best out of an obviously talented player, then questions must be asked.

[inckley fox]

I think that's a really good point. A lot of people forget that we were actually top of the league without Wood & Beckford. Nugent & Vardy seemed to do well.

 

Also, at the very start - it was Nugent & Beckford battling to play alongside him.

 

We also reached the top of the Premier League with Ade Akinbiyi in the side, won promotion with the likes of Jimmy Willis, Brian Carey, Colin Gibson, Gary Coatsworth, Julian Watts and Alan Rogers, but it doesn't make any of them any good.

 

Good sides, especially in the second tier, contain some awful players. Last season we were, at times, decent in spite of Vardy. And let's not rewrite history - even when we were top of the table the vast majority of supporters were rightly critical of him.

 

We're talking about a 26 year old million pound player who scored 4 goals in 17+9 appearances. In terms of how the rest of the team played with him in the side, well he featured in about 40% of the season's total match-time. The side scored 27 goals during his time on the pitch, 44 without him, so technically we were just about better off without him - and far, far less likely to score goals while he was on the pitch in the second half of the season.

 

On top of that he gave away a late penalty against Boro which nearly cost us two points, and he was rightly criticised for failing to close down his man against Cardiff, which DID cost us two points.

 

This may explain why he hasn't played a minute of football since early March.

 

Other than that, though, he did great.

[Fox92]

I thought at the start of the season we played some of our best football with Nugent and Vardy upfront. I think Vardy will get another chance. Waggy is useless, cannot control the ball, useless in the air and doesn't score goals. He's had enough chances

 

Agree with all of this, you've got it spot on.

 

Waghorn isn't good enough, and I wouldn't be fussed if he left.

[Happy Fox]

Neither Vardy or Waghorn are good enough, we need a third choice striker that can score goals (that man could of been Beckford but his attitude is questionable). if Wood and Nugent go through barren spells again.

 

Perhaps an oldie baldy like Kevin Phillips or Ebanks Blake.

[Deucalion]

Neither Vardy or Waghorn are good enough, we need a third choice striker that can score goals (that man could of been Beckford but his attitude is questionable). if Wood and Nugent go through barren spells again.

 

Perhaps an oldie baldy like Kevin Phillips or Ebanks Blake.

 

I know it's surprising, but I don't think Ebanks-Blake is 25 yet...or bald !!  

[Ric Flair]

How's it going matey?

Been keeping my head down but think its time to start forcing out again!

 

Haha yeah I was asking Avent and Wardy what you'd been up to but they said you'd been behaving. Last weekend was the pits pal! Let me know when you fancy a swig. Riiiice n pea

[inckley fox]

I thought at the start of the season we played some of our best football with Nugent and Vardy upfront. I think Vardy will get another chance. Waggy is useless, cannot control the ball, useless in the air and doesn't score goals. He's had enough chances

 

I think Vardy is criticised too much and prefer him to Waggy - who I see as overrated. I also agree that we did play better when Vardy was up front too.

 

Agree with all of this, you've got it spot on.

 

Waghorn isn't good enough, and I wouldn't be fussed if he left.

 

Personally I'm not a huge fan of Waghorn either, but-

 

Vardy played 17+9 and scored 4. He is 26 and has never done any better in any of the four leagues.

 

Waghorn played 9+19 and scored 3. He is 23, has played in the Premier League and once scored 10+ goals in a season for us, in this league.

 

Quite aside from the fact that the two of them had very similar seasons on paper (both, incidentally, were in part to blame for that late goal against Cardiff and neither have played since), it should be pointed out - with regard to the 'we played better football with Vardy in the team' argument - that our form was better in the games that Waghorn started. In fact we only lost 1 out of the 9.

[smudgerfox]

There's an optimistic case for either but depending how ruthless you want to be, there's also a case for getting rid of both. Certainly we can't stagger through another season with both struggling for goals.

 

1 Waghorn

The optimistic case is that he's scored regular goals at this level before and he has been terribly messed about in the Sousa/Sven eras, then injured, and having found some sort of form just kept hitting the woodwork. If some of those efforts at the back end of 2012 had gone in, we'd have had a whole lot more points on the board and we'd probably not have signed Wood or Kane. Wood's arrival marked NFP admitting he could no longer afford the luxury of an energetic and skilful striker seemingly incapable of scoring goals (remember the one he did score was at the end of a thrashing when the damage had already been done). At this stage, I feel Waghorn should have been returned to the bench and given the chance to make a claim from there. The arrival of Kane was something more fatal - a striker less adept at linking up play and no more prolific in front of goal but clearly preferred by the manager (mysteriously), at which point Waghorn concluded, probably quite rightly, that  it was all over. for him.

 

2 Vardy

The optimistic case for him that he's made a big step up  and struggled with it. If he's learned a lot and can make a fresh start in August then clearly the knack for scoring goals could yet return. On the other hand his lack of know-how and subtlety and even touch could mean he'll never achieve at this level.

 

Wood and Nugent are a terrific pair of first choice strikers but we need players on the bench who can come on and change the course of a game. I've seen Waghorn do that (in his first spell) and for that reason I'd prefer to keep him and lose Vardy but because Waghorn is more likely to feel unhappy and will have more moving options I suspect it will be the other way round.

[inckley fox]

There's an optimistic case for either but depending how ruthless you want to be, there's also a case for getting rid of both. Certainly we can't stagger through another season with both struggling for goals.

 

1 Waghorn

The optimistic case is that he's scored regular goals at this level before and he has been terribly messed about in the Sousa/Sven eras, then injured, and having found some sort of form just kept hitting the woodwork. If some of those efforts at the back end of 2012 had gone in, we'd have had a whole lot more points on the board and we'd probably not have signed Wood or Kane. Wood's arrival marked NFP admitting he could no longer afford the luxury of an energetic and skilful striker seemingly incapable of scoring goals (remember the one he did score was at the end of a thrashing when the damage had already been done). At this stage, I feel Waghorn should have been returned to the bench and given the chance to make a claim from there. The arrival of Kane was something more fatal - a striker less adept at linking up play and no more prolific in front of goal but clearly preferred by the manager (mysteriously), at which point Waghorn concluded, probably quite rightly, that  it was all over. for him.

 

2 Vardy

The optimistic case for him that he's made a big step up  and struggled with it. If he's learned a lot and can make a fresh start in August then clearly the knack for scoring goals could yet return. On the other hand his lack of know-how and subtlety and even touch could mean he'll never achieve at this level.

 

Wood and Nugent are a terrific pair of first choice strikers but we need players on the bench who can come on and change the course of a game. I've seen Waghorn do that (in his first spell) and for that reason I'd prefer to keep him and lose Vardy but because Waghorn is more likely to feel unhappy and will have more moving options I suspect it will be the other way round.

 

I'd go along with this.