Will we stifle the Canaries song ?

Yet another marathon away for the Travelling Jack Army .
Norwich are well placed for a top 6 perch and will surely be looking to take 3 points from this game .

If we are solid at the back and Rushworth halts his suicide passes we could take something fro this game as Norwich aren't going to play from behind a defensive wall and we can hurt them on the counter .

Walsh and Lowe deserve a start , they made a huge difference last time out .
COYJB let's finish the season strongly and give us hope for next year .

Can't see us getting anything tbh. They'll be going balls out to secure a top 6 finish and we've got bugger all to play for and that after a route march to get there followed by another one to get home. Mind you, one of my clients had several stores in this general area and we left home crammed in a car at about 4:30 am, drove there, did 6/8 hours work on site then drove home. We did this several times a year in this part of the world, as well as other journeys almost equidistant, whereas our players will travel up the day before in a de-luxe coach, stay in a nice hotel, enjoy a tasty meal, relax to recover after their 'arduous journey', have a game of football then back home in their comfy coach. Beggars belief that they moan about 'over-work', particularly those in the Premier League. They should try existing in the real world for a couple of weeks. It would kill most of 'em!

Anyway, I guess we'll get sod all from the game and the players will return home with an air of, "what did you expect after a journey like that". Happy to tell them - we expect you to act like professionals, do your best for your club and your fans and, if you do lose, at least go down fighting. Any chance of that?

Club have triggered their option on Cullen. He's with us for next seasons. Now it's up to him. Bust a gut and stay for longer or not and get dismissed. IMO, Club took the cheap and low risk option. Smart move.

For me, and I appreciate Cullen's potential given limited playing time, he's now 25 and should be leading the line with aplomb. He should be one of the first names on the team sheet .... and he's not at that level for us. Frankly, if we are to get promotion we need a much better #9 than we have on our books. Cullen might be good enough to help us get into the playoffs. I don't think he's strong enough to get us automatic promotion. And, I don't he's strong enough to make it happen in the Prem were we to get promoted. And, that's the rub, at a minimum we need players that can function for a mid-table Prem club to get promoted and stick.

Yates is not the alternative barring a Jekyll and Hyde transformation. Not going to happen.

Myk is the mystery man. Looks the part. Has scored a true #9 goal in the first of his brief cameos. Will he get the chance; more importantly will he make Williams give him the chance.

Thomas looked good in the last pre-season; in fact he looked better than Piroe; scored more goals than any other forward. Can he make the next step up?

Yankee_Jack said:

For me, and I appreciate Cullen's potential given limited playing time, he's now 25 and should be leading the line with aplomb. He should be one of the first names on the team sheet .... and he's not at that level for us. Frankly, if we are to get promotion we need a much better #9 than we have on our books. Cullen might be good enough to help us get into the playoffs. I don't think he's strong enough to get us automatic promotion. And, I don't he's strong enough to make it happen in the Prem were we to get promoted. And, that's the rub, at a minimum we need players that can function for a mid-table Prem club to get promoted and stick.

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Agree. For all the Ra Ra promotion he gets here (particularly you @ivoralljack) he comes off as 'still developing'. However, he's had a lot of first team time for the latter half of this season and to me he doesn't look to be developing much more. While I appreciate a 'fox in the box' needs good service from the wings he hasn't really capitalised on that when he's had it, e.g. before Placheta got injured or when Key is on song.

It's definitely make or break for Cullen next season, and he won't even get the whole season. He'll get maybe 3 months. If I'm Williams and the club will allow it, I'm buying a new striker regardless just for the competition, but then if I'm Williams I'd have played Big Myk a lot more by now and might have discovered I don't need to buy a new striker.

Interesting stat fact: Yates is a more dangerous striker than Cullen this season. Seems crazy? Yates puts 42% of his shots on target (16 of 38); Cullen has 35% (18 of 52). Yates scores 50% of the shots he puts on target; Cullen 39%.

The bigger issue for me is that none of players shoot nearly often enough.

3 shots per game is the bare minimum a striker needs if he plans to show up on paper at all. Bony managed that during his first Swans spell, and Piroe managed that (or near enough) throughout his Swans career, and look at their goal returns.

This season, Yates is shooting 1.52 times per 90 mins (which is amazing because I'm not sure he even touches the ball 1.52 times per 90 minutes some games), while Cullen shoots 2.11 times. If Cullen only puts 35% of his shots on target then he needs 3 per game just to work the keeper once, and he's only getting 2. No wonder Swansea have an anaemic frontline.

Cullen's work rate / huff'n'puff / willingness to dirty his shirt and pick up unnecessary yellows makes him preferable to Yates's unending Claude Rains tribute act, but if none of it puts the ball in the net then it's flattering to deceive.

I'd tell him to get 3 shots minimum per game and give him those 3 months to see if he can notch the numbers a team with a lone striker absolutely needs, but at 25 if he's not hitting his stride at this level soon, then he's not at this level.

Caveat: blocked shots which could well have been on target had they not been blocked don't count as official shots on target, so it's entirely possible Cullen is not shooting as wild as the numbers suggest, but a blocked shot still isn't a goal. Sure, you might say the build-up play is too slow and that allows the defence to get in position to make those blocks, but I'd remind you Piroe didn't have any problems scoring while playing under the slowest build-up since diamonds were first formed.

Agree that this season is make or break for Culls. For starters he should start being more selfish. His work rate is right up there with pressing and closing down etc. He needs to cut back on this, let the midfield and defenders do their jobs and concentrate on their own whilst he'll have more energy and sharpness to do his. I also accept that he misses big chances but ALL strikers do that; unfortunately because we create so few, those missed chances are costing us. As for Piroe, I see he hasn't kicked on at Leeds with far better players around him and he rarely starts a game these days. He's probably going through one of 'those patches' as maybe is Cullen. But you don't lose your talent for no reason and Cullen's been a goal scorer ever since I first saw him. That said, goals are a strikers currency and if Culls isn't delivering then he has to be benched or sold for someone who can. If that happens, for his sake, I hope he goes to a club who have players who are good enough to supply the service he needs.

Victoria Swan said:

While I appreciate a 'fox in the box' needs good service from the wings he hasn't really capitalised on that when he's had it, e.g. before Placheta got injured or when Key is on song.

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For me neither Cullen, nor any of our strikers for that matter, rarely get good service on a CONSISTENT basis. Now and then, in the odd game, occasional flashes, doesn't cut it. Cullen needs such service for him to be effective and he needs it often. If he was that good that he could regularly score without it, he wouldn't be playing for us - he'd be at a much bigger club.

As for the game on Saturday, it will be a close one if we show up. Currently in the form table over the last 6 games, Norwich are 5th and we are 6th.

however, Norwich are 1st over the last 6 home games. We are 9th over the last 6 away games. We need to show up.

An ordinary striker needs 3 big chances to score a goal, a good striker needs half a chance. We definitely need more quality up front. Cullen and Yates are the same type of striker, they both score tap-ins from rebounds etc. We need a complete striker. One who can dribble, score with both feet from different angles and distances, and score from headers. But we also need our wingers and attacking midfielders to score a lot more, at least ten goals each.

See here how the goals and assists are shared among Leeds strikers, wingers and attacking midfielders.



We can see a similar pattern at Leicester. Wingers Mavididi and Fatawu have each had 18 goal contributions so far this season. Central midfielder Dewsbury-Hall has had 26 goal contributions!!!



And here is our lot.

We've done well against Norwich in recent seasons.

What do CM and KG stand for?

Yankee_Jack said:

What do CM and KG stand for?

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Centimeters and kilograms

ivoralljack said:

For starters he should start being more selfish. His work rate is right up there with pressing and closing down etc. He needs to cut back on this, let the midfield and defenders do their jobs and concentrate on their own whilst he'll have more energy and sharpness to do his [...] As for Piroe, I see he hasn't kicked on at Leeds with far better players around him and he rarely starts a game these days.

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I agree that Cullen is sabotaging himself by trying to do too much. He clearly wants to earn his starting place, and realises that if he plays like a pure poacher he'll look invisible if he doesn't get a goal and then get dropped. Thing is, the team could use a pure poacher. There are plenty of good build-up players (Tymon, Key, Pato, Cooper, Ronald, Placheta).

In the Stoke game, Josh Key ran the entire pitch to get on the end of Lowe's ball and score - he ran past Cullen on his way. Cullen's tendency to drop deep is commendable and all, but he lacks the pace to get back up top. His positional play needs tweaking.

As for Piroe, he's mostly victimised by Farke's allegiance to Bamford. When Bamford was injured, Piroe slotted right in and they didn't miss a beat. And despite all the bench time, he's still Leeds third top scorer.

CroJack said:

We need a complete striker. One who can dribble, score with both feet from different angles and distances, and score from headers.

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Absolutely agree but does anyone think for even a single moment that our owners will pay the cash required to get such a player/s? Not a chance in hell I'm afraid!!! And that certainly also applies to wingers and attacking midfielders who can get 10 goals a season. WE WON'T PAY THE MONEY! Period! End of debate! Leicester, Leeds and other clubs do have the money and will pay it, but we are stuck with loan players, producing our own through the academy or buying cheapies. Fact of life for us I'm afraid.

jackodiamonds said:

Centimeters and kilograms

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There you go ... proof that Patino is a light weight.

ivoralljack said:

Absolutely agree but does anyone think for even a single moment that our owners will pay the cash required to get such a player/s?

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Top young players CAN be found and bought for almost nothing.

ivoralljack said:

Leicester, Leeds and other clubs do have the money and will pay it...

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Yes, they have invested money in Rutter, James, Piroe and Bamford, but they also bought Crysencio Summerville from Feyenoord, Holland, in 2020, when he was 19 years old. They didn't pay much for him.They also signed Gnonto, when he was 18 years old, from Zurich. Fatawu is on loan at Leicester from Sporting.

We signed Piroe for what? £2m?
It can be done.

jackodiamonds said:

Cullen's tendency to drop deep is commendable and all, but he lacks the pace to get back up top. His positional play needs tweaking.

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I've always said that Cullen should be nowhere except in and around the box - between the goalposts as some pundits say. I've also always said that Cullen is too short to be strong in the air; too slightly built to be a target player; is not blessed with pace and nor has the skill and trickery required to beat a defender. So what IS he good at then? He's a finisher and that's a specialised position which has many facets that can never be coached - instinct being one of them. He needs to be selfish. Gary Lineker never tracked back; never got involved with defensive duties. He saved his energy and sharpness for where and when it mattered - action in the penalty area.

Now, before anyone starts, I AM NOT comparing Cullen's ability with that of Lineker who was obviously far superior. I'm just saying that their styles and roles are similar and I think that Culls should be as selfish as was Lineker and concentrate solely on his job of scoring regularly. If he succeeds maybe people will get off his back. If he doesn't then he can't complain that he wasn't given his chance.

ivoralljack said:

Absolutely agree but does anyone think for even a single moment that our owners will pay the cash required to get such a player/s?

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It doesn't have to be about big money aquisitions. It's about decent scouting, and Swansea really aren't doing too badly in that department. Piroe was a great find for cheap and was sold for a big profit. Ronald for not much money looks like he'll be a success. Placheta on a free is an absolute steal, provided he can stay healthy. Tymon for not much money has been worth every penny. Key for even less has been great. The naysayers point to Yates and Humphries but Swansea's scouting has been more hit than miss by my reckoning of late.

A club in Swansea's position would be foolish to spend big on a striker anyway, because that implies they'd be paying for a proven talent which means marginal resale value, and that doesn't fit with a selling club model. And there's nothing shady about being a selling club because literally every single team in Britain is a selling club except the Prem big six. Also, if a small club spends big and the player flops, it's very hard to recover financially.

There's nothing to say Swansea can't find a good striker overseas or in lower leagues or on the reject pile (still baffling why Big Myk doesn't get a proper go).

Just for the sake of conversation, when I was in Bulgaria recently, I watched all four of Sofia's top division teams, and was surprised at the talent. I wouldn't complain at all if either of these two came to Swansea:

Umeh Emmanuel
19 years old, played as a left-sided forward when I saw him. Like Lowe only shorter, stronger and faster.

Tobias Hientz
25 years old. Versatile forward who can play anywhere among the front four. Through balls and long shots are a speciality.

There were a couple of other stand-out players who are at a reasonable age to represent good value: Olaus Skarsem (25, midfielder), Patrik-Gabriel Galchev (23, right back)

CroJack said:

Top young players CAN be found and bought for almost nothing.

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Yes and all the clubs in football, every one of them in fact, are all looking for them. And very many of those clubs are far more attractive propositions than we are right now. Leeds and Leicester have spent far more than us and should reap the rewards in the Premier League next season. They choose to invest in the future; our owners choose to pay their investors.

ivoralljack said:

Yes and all the clubs in football, every one of them in fact, are all looking for them.

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No, they're really not. Look at Michu. Everyone said "wow, where'd you find him?" like he was living under a rock down Caswell, when actually he was the highest scoring midfielder in La Liga at the time. You'd think that would make him a priority target for half the teams in Europe, but Swansea got him and I don't think there was even any competition for his signature.

I still remember Arsene Wenger trying to save face, saying "oh we knew about him". Arsenal knew about him and yet didn't buy him? For £2 million? Sure. There are far more players out there than there are scouts, and there are always diamonds in the rough (or in Michu's case, established goal scorers in high profile leagues that nobody else wants ).