2010/11 strikeforce or our current new crop?

Gotta say I think Chops, Bothroyd, Bellamy, Burke, JET etc had amazing potential & pulling power, but possibly the attitude was very suspect. Goals, but also strops and often poor workrates. On song, they were amazing.

This year, Mason, Velakonja, Gestede, Helguson (possibly) & Earnie I see as harder working, younger and good attitide. Possibly add to that Bellamy and I think you have a much better UNIT, but not so much individual quality. I think I know which I would rather week in week out.

When you throw Whitts & Kim into the picture, we have goalscoring speedy players this year. I do still worry for the defence, but am surprised and was last year, that Keinan did not seem part of the plans. Could we save some money and give this guy a run? He was never given a chance under Malky.

I’ll reserve judgement on this Velikonja chap until I’ve seen him play a few times, but if Bellamy was added then there are some useful attacking options. Hopefully the young wingers Kadeem Harris and Kevin St Luce can make the step up to the first team squad.

I agree about Keinan; it’s a real puzzle why he didn’t get a look-in last season. He’s much better than that scally kent Gerrard.

I adored Chopra. If you ignored all his background issues as you said I thought he was tremendous, and would definetely have him back given the chance. I would also take Burke back and the reasons are obvious, his assist tally was mind blowing for Birmingham last season. Bothroyd was the real downside to that otherwise all star line up. I found him lazy. Talented, no doubt, but the man seemed to have no desire to chase anything unless it was dropped straight at his feet. He hasn't changed at QPR, there's no off the ball movement, no attempt to work an offside trap, just a slow walk for 90% of his time off of the ball.

As G-Star pointed out for Etien, the problem is many of our new squad are unproven at this level. English football is really really physical, id dare say much more so than Slovenian and Japanese leagues. Earnie is still under performing, and I'd worry about Helguson's work rate after being dropped from the premier league (I much prefer young starlets from lower leagues with something to prove than older players dropping down because try aren't good enough, more desire generally IMO). Mason is meant for big things, quite possibly with Arsenal and the like before long, and actually I feel he is potentially still the starlet in our striking line up.

So yeah, whisper it, but this years line up COULD be a flop performance wise. As you stated originally in pure star power we are nothing on our 2010 lineup. But I feel the potential in this squad is limitless. Kyung, Etien, Harris and Mason while possibly a disappointment waiting to happen, could also provide some of the best football this league has seen for a while. We'll just have to wait and see. I've got my fingers crossed.

Red 614

Whilst i can see where you are coming from i have to disagree with you about the 10/11 forward line.
I thought chopra was never the same on his second coming and i find it impossible to ignorehs off field problems when evaluating him.
Burke often flattered to deceive and faded badly after 70 minutes of every game (though i think this was more down to alex armstrong's training regime rather than down to the player himself).
Bellamy was far better when he played up top towards the end of the season, and when he played on the wing he often left our full back (often naylor) far too exposed.
I think Bothroyd was by far our most important player of the four. granted he had his head firmly rammed up his own arse after the england call up, but the fact remains that when jay played well we played well. So much so that we didnt even look like a decent team when he didnt play. Everything came through him.

As for this years team. I think mason will get better. Bellamy looks on fire for GB. Ihaven't seen enough of etien but i do trust malky's judgement. helg will give us a new option but i do hope we add one more.

I think all signings are a gamble but i am glad malky has turned his attention to the international market where the value is far better and as malky said, you're not competing with 10 other championahip teams.

That year yes I completely agree. But I was looking at the players that were there for that season and deciding whether I'd prefer them back over our new ones. As you said, Bothroyd was brilliant and Burke lacked a little that season and that's completely true. But on current form, there's not a better winger in the championship than Burke for pure assists, and Bothroyd has been lazy as hell. I believe in the soon to be three years that have passed, Burke has significantly improved and Bothroyd has stagnated somewhat.

Granted, I do think i see Chopra the same way I see Earnie, I refuse to hold either of them to any critiscism no matter what due to their history, and brilliance in their peak. Though I would say least season Chopra has an awesome start for Ipswich, albeit it kind of flat lined later.

All our signings this year are brilliant, I didn't say they were bad, just risky. Unproven it could, potentially go either way. You probably know the whole Messi in the premier league discussion, we will probably need really be truly sure whether he would struggle or not in the premiership with the size problem. That's the only issue, it could be the same for Etien and Kyung. I don't think they will struggle, afterall I'm as positive as anyone about next season. I'm just aware they potentially could.

I can't argue with none of that red

What I like about the youngsters in the line up is that they all have talent and huge potential... It'll be great to see how they perform over the coming season without the burden of over expectation or the disappointment of underachieving against a colossal reputation... one of the big joys for me last season was watching Mason transform from an unknown youngster to a dependable first term performer... Can't wait for the season to start now

Had Malky been in charge of the 10/11 crop they would have been unstoppable.
The jury is out on this year's team partic the new signings from abroad but with Bellamy back too the potential is exciting. Also the midfield looks stronger and more goals from midfield will take pressure off the new boys in attack.
By the way Burke was a far better player for Birmingham than he ever was for us and thats more a comment on Dave than him!

Caer y Glyn wrote:Had Malky been in charge of the 10/11 crop they would have been unstoppable.
The jury is out on this year's team partic the new signings from abroad but with Bellamy back too the potential is exciting. Also the midfield looks stronger and more goals from midfield will take pressure off the new boys in attack.
By the way Burke was a far better player for Birmingham than he ever was for us and thats more a comment on Dave than him!

I agree with you about burke but i think our midfield, especially centrally is far far stronger than it ever wasunder jones.
I think dave jones never managed to sort out the middle of our midfield while he was here. This year midfield is unbelievable.

Dave's fixation with McPhail was his undoing and he never replaced Scimeca!

Caer y Glyn wrote:Dave's fixation with McPhail was his undoing and he never replaced Scimeca!

And the mighty gavin rae!