VisionleonVision
Little point in the club appointing Gomes and then expecting him to go all "Pulis" though surely.
Like it or not, Gomes has a way he wants us to play and we've committed ourselves to it. In that sense if one of the two signings so far fulfils the potential they showed at a younger age (Baker in particular) and we can find that all elusive goalscorer for this system then it will give us our best chance to survive.
Also this is still a squad who from a footballing point of view is far more suited to how Gomes wants to play than say a Pulis or a Parkinson. Our best bet is to utilise what we already have and supplement it. If we want to be more direct then I'd suggest we'd need even more of an overhaul in personnel than we do right now.
I don't think anyone would deny for the last season and a half (probably even earlier) we simply haven't created enough chances for the strikers we have. Adding these two attempts to address that. Of course it's all moot if we don't bring in ( or develop from within) a goalscorer who also fits the style and can benefit from it. But signing these two players doesn't mean that player won't arrive or emerge.
FWIW, as much as I realise this is a minority view, I think McNulty might well have been that player but I guess we'll never know.
I'd also like to see how Barrow would get on down the middle but that's even more of a minority view
Whilst I get your points re playing style (but not Barrow...) we're not even doing the basics right. I think any decent coach/manager drilling the team could improve that area.
The fear is that Gomes will make the same mistakes that Clement (and to an extent Stam and Clarke) made in not bolstering the defensive side of the midfield (JVdB was just not any good at it) and we'll lose possession and be overrun by teams in the middle.
I honestly think it's a mental thing as much as ability or even signings. Swansea was obviously an aberration but Gomes himself recognised that and highlighted the issues pretty succinctly. Other than that there was no sign against a physical Millwall with only 10 men, an inform QPR and Manchester Utd at Old Trafford that we aren't organised enough not to be overrun in midfield. In fact I'd say the main reason we didn't get better results in those games was more down to lack of killer instinct both in creativity and execution in the final 3rd.
and the inability of our defence to stop silly mistakes turning into goals at the other end
or: we don't score enough and let in too many