No Wingers?

[3points]

I think Clarke played a 4-3-3 type formation at West Brom without having out and out wingers - more like wide forwards that track back. I think he would play Sessegnon as one of the wider front three with someone like James Morrison as the other one. I think we saw on occasions at the end of last season Clarke playing around with HRK and McLeary playing less wide. And that is where Stacey looked to be playing when he made a couple of appearances at the tail end of the season too.

In that formation, you could see Blackman, Taylor, Tanner, Stacey, Fosu and even Obita in those roles, or Pog or Cox playing with Sa (or AN Other as the "front man"). All assuming no GMac and HRK. The midfield three could be Williams, Norwood and Quinn, with Akpan and Kuhl as back-up. I'd be happy to see Chalobah in the three again though, rather than Norwood, but I doubt he'll be back.

[Baggie192]

winners > wingers

Did Steve Clarke use wingers at West Brom? (I don't know the answer).

Obita can play as a winger, so too can Blackman. Hopefully McCleary will stay though but I don''t think we will ever get the best out of HRK so maybe it is time to let him go and then think about signing a replacement.

For a while, yes he did 4-5-1/4-3-3 counter attack. Notably moving Odemwingie from central striker to winger, He was decent there too

[RoyallyFcuked]

Not sure what makes McCleary Premier League quality either.

He's hardly pulled up trees in the Championship let alone the season he had for us in the Premier League.

He got 12 assists in the Championship in 2013/14, just two behind the overall leader. Considering we were below par for large parts of that season despite coming 7th, I'd say that's not bad.

In the time he played last season he didnt really produce, but in the Premier League he didnt start games nearly as much as he should have. Perhaps he's not been the same since his injury but I'd say with the right team around him he has the natural abilty to be a decent winger for a PL club.

[Nameless]

I'm not a great one for these dodgy stats, but is it really the case that the most assists in the league was just 14 ? That's less than one every 3 games !,
Was there no one in the league who could do better than set up a goal every 3 games ?
Seems shockingly bad, just as a gut instinct.

[Ian Royal]

I'm not a great one for these dodgy stats, but is it really the case that the most assists in the league was just 14 ? That's less than one every 3 games !,
Was there no one in the league who could do better than set up a goal every 3 games ?
Seems shockingly bad, just as a gut instinct.

Top assist numbers are rarely far above double figures beyond the top couple of players from what I recall. Though the figures vary somewhat depending on where you get them.

ESPN: Championship 13/14
Conway - 14
Cresswell - 13
Reid - 12
Trippier -12
Bryson - 12
Nugent - 11
McCleary - 10

Statbunker: Championship 13/14
Conway - 16
Bryson - 12
Trippier - 12
Nugent - 12
Reid - 12
McCormack - 11
McCleary - 11
Cresswell - 11
Hammill - 10

Whoscored: Championship 13/14
Trippier - 14
Bryson - 13
Conway - 13
Cresswell - 12
Nugent - 12

Our top assisters for the last few seasons have been Obita (~7), McCleary (~10), McAnuff (~7 PL), McAnuff (~11), Long (~10), McAnuff (~10). None far beyond double figures and that includes a 7th, 5th and 1st placing. Even in 2005/6 Little only got 14 (Shorey 11 and Convey 10).

Interesting that RF bigs up McCleary's performance in a team he perceives as below par for a lot of the time (finishing 7th) yet elsewhere runs down McAnuff and Kebe's performances in teams finishing 1st and 5th(?).

I'm not sure what the big difference between McAnuff / Kebe getting 10/11 assists in 2011/12 is and McCleary getting 10/12 in 2013/14.

Although all this is rather pointless. McCleary is definitely our best winger at the moment, although off the back of a disappointing season and with bugger all competition for that accolade.

[Nameless]

Accept that the umbels are what they are. I still find it counter intuitive that there aren't players who create goals more often.
But then I've never really understood what an 'assist' means in football terms. Has always seemed a very contrived concept.

[Ian Royal]

Accept that the umbels are what they are. I still find it counter intuitive that there aren't players who create goals more often.
But then I've never really understood what an 'assist' means in football terms. Has always seemed a very contrived concept.

Yeah, it's horrible to measure really. I think it's because not every goal has an assist to go with it. For example, in 13/14 our players scored 66 goals, but we only had 45 assists according to Whoscored.com

[Nameless]

And on the other hand many goals should have several assists associated. The player who makes the run to draw a defender and create space has assissued every bit as much as the player who makes the final pass.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Whoscored: Championship 13/14
Trippier - 14
Bryson - 13
Conway - 13
*McCleary - 12
Reid - 12

Interesting that RF bigs up McCleary's performance in a team he perceives as below par for a lot of the time (finishing 7th) yet elsewhere runs down McAnuff and Kebe's performances in teams finishing 1st and 5th(?).

Although all this is rather pointless. McCleary is definitely our best winger at the moment, although off the back of a disappointing season and with bugger all competition for that accolade.

*Actually WhoScored has McCleary with 12 if you change the bar from "Championship play off" to "Championship" it comes up with those five, its stupid I know.

I agree with the last part and I wasnt really bigging him up IR, just thought he should have played more in the Prem considering our midfield was poor. In this case I'd just say that McCleary probably has a little bit more quality than Kebe or McAnuff did, in fairness though McAnuff was past his best when we got to the PL and Kebe not consistant enough to be a PL player, but so far they have achieved more with us than McCleary has, he hasn't really proven himself to be that good yet either.

This is about whether a PL club would take a punt on him at around probably £3-4m this summer? Based on last season I would say no, he hasnt done enough yet. If he has really good season with us then maybe, but hopefully that would mean him being in the Prem anyway

[Ian Royal]

Fair enough.

[Hoop Blah]

None of those stats make him Premier League quality though, which just my counter to an earlier comment or two.

He's our best winger, our biggest threat and a player who should be able to cause lots of problems in the Championship. He probably should've played more in the Premier League when we were last there but he didn't, for whatever reasons.

He'd represent a reasonably gamble for a Premier League team, but it just seems an odd thing to say he's Premier League quality when there's nothing to really suggest he is, apart from unfulfilled potential.

[Kuhl_Runnings]

Seems like ages ago now when we were linked with Bebe...

[Pepe the Horseman]

We were never linked with Bebe. It was a really shit joke.

[YateleyRoyal]

And yet still one of your best.

[Pepe the Horseman]

[3points]

McCleary out for a few weeks according to SC post match interview. Blackman showed today he isn't the answer on then right wing

[blueroyals]

McCleary out for a few weeks according to SC post match interview. Blackman showed today he isn't the answer on then right wing

He showed that in every game he played there last season.