Boro Badger 87 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Graham has scored 4 in 50. That's CB behaviour. I make that 3 goals in 10 starts for Graham. That's not bad for an isolated Boro #9 in a side struggling for attacking form. Link to post Share on other sites
p_mards 1,365 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Graham has scored 3 in 11 since we signed him. That's a hot streak compared to his time at Sunderland and Hull :p Link to post Share on other sites
Oslo_Syd 320 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Graham has scored 3 in 11 since we signed him. That's a hot streak compared to his time at Sunderland and Hull :p Not saying a lot really, is it. I'd be surprised if we tried to sign him permanently. Shocked even. Link to post Share on other sites
Prowler 197 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 If we sign him, it will be a waste of money, a waste of wages and in all honesty, a waste of a season. He's not the player we need. A few goals in a couple of games shouldn't blind people of the fact that he is a striker who has been ***e for nearly 2 seasons and, bar 2 games, has proven that he's not suited to how we play. He's not clever and he's not good at reading the game. What we need, in my opinion, is Chris Wood. :P Link to post Share on other sites
jamesp 125 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 lets not get carried away, remember graham has had about 3 good games since he came here, would be on big money and a decent transfer fee. would be a waste of money if we signed him Link to post Share on other sites
Neverbefore 10,942 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 What we need to consider is that whichever striker is playing for us next season will have a totally different support in all likelyhood. We've already seen Juke fail with our midfield and then flourish with different players behind him. Could the same happen with Graham? In my opinion, it's too soon to write the fella off. Link to post Share on other sites
Prowler 197 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Hasn't worked with the previous 3 or 4 midfields, what makes you think another would work? Face it, he's not worth the fee or the wages he'd want/it'd take to get him. We're trying to trim our expenditure, we don't need a player who is going to be wanting around £15k+ a week. Link to post Share on other sites
Neverbefore 10,942 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Hasn't worked with the previous 3 or 4 midfields, what makes you think another would work? Face it, he's not worth the fee or the wages he'd want/it'd take to get him. We're trying to trim our expenditure, we don't need a player who is going to be wanting around £15k+ a week. I agree that he's not worth much more than 15k a week, but naming a figure is just speculative at this point. Ignoring finances (because we clearly won't enter into a deal that isnt right for us since the Skippy fiasco), there's no reason why he wouldn't flourish under a different system as he has done previously at this level. As for the previous 3 or 4 midfields, I'm not sure what you mean by that? We tried a lot of different midfields under Juke and none of them worked and look at him now. It's about getting the right balance with all our attackers, and if Karanka thinks Graham would be a good focal point for whoever we're bringing in/playing next season, I have total faith in him. With regards to todays game in general, although i didn't get to see it, I think it proved that if we have a clinical forward line next season, this team will win a LOT of games. Link to post Share on other sites
Prowler 197 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Graham's goal was gifted to him, yes he still had to finish but it was a perfect ball in from Leadbitter. If he missed I would have intercepted the team bus and beat Graham to death. That's how much of a gift the ball was! What I meant by other midfields is that he has played has played for 3 other teams with no success whatsoever in the last 2 seasons. 4 teams, many different midfields, still ***. He not the best at holding the ball out and bringing others into play, he can't head the ball, he isn't quick enough both mentally and physically to play how the likes of Tomlin and like minded players are going to need him to be. Obviously the strength and the heading is only a bonus, what we really need is a clever CF but Graham is still not very good at any of it. He's a finisher and a bit of a runner and that's it, we need somebody who has more to his game. Basically, we're going to need a player who is used to the European way of playing. Not a typical English centre forward. Link to post Share on other sites
ladyspite 385 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 kennedy igboananike ;) Link to post Share on other sites
Prowler 197 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 No. Simply because I do not want to have to hear Maddison pronounce it! :P Link to post Share on other sites
p_mards 1,365 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 I'd feel uncomfortable us signing Graham for next season on a permanent deal with long term high wages(as you said it could be another McDonald situation). If he finishes the season very strongly with consistent goals and Karanka is sure that he will fit into our team next season with better players providing better service behind him then a season long loan would be the most I would like us to do to sign him. But we should prepare for without him as there will surely be very good strikers that our scouts are aware of that wont be so expensive. A large part of a strikers(in particular) game is confidence and when they are short of it a good striker can look a pub league player, Juke being a decent example of this. Graham came to us with rock bottom confidence so it was always likely that it would take him a while to get that back before the goals started flowing regularly so hopefully he can kick on between now and the end of the season. Also the players behind our strikers lately haven't been creating him too many clear cut chances regularly so it's unfair to be so critical of him. Graham's has never been the best at holding the ball up, dribbling, pacey etc. He's the sort of player that needs other players to craft out the chance for him to slot it in. When them chances aren't created it is clear that he will struggle to impress. If he is in a creative team then he will score plenty of goals as he did as Watford and Swansea. If he is in a team that doesn't create much like Sunderland(and Hull even) then he wont impress. Link to post Share on other sites
Prowler 197 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 A good striker doesn't need clear cut chances created for him. A good striker takes half chances and also makes their own. Example of this was Chris Wood today. Chased a clearance, nothing on, won the ball, took a touch, shot, scored. From nothing but a boot down field. Link to post Share on other sites
Neverbefore 10,942 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 He's also the only player in the box 90% of the time. If you've got two centre backs and a defensive midfielder looking after you, you ain't gonna get much joy no matter who you are. Link to post Share on other sites
p_mards 1,365 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Ruud Van Nistelrooy(totally different caliber but needed chances similar to Graham does) was never pacey, nor a good dribbler, couldn't score screamers from distance etc. He needed creative players around him to put chances on a plate for him, much like Graham does as he lacks the same attributes of him so needs similar service. Good strikers don't have to have pace, be able to dribble, score a screamer etc to create chances out of nothing. Link to post Share on other sites
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