Our Strikers - An Appraisal

With the new signing of Simon Cox and the news we seemingly are also looking at Chris Wood and or Simon church, its begs the question what are we intending to do with our current stable of forwards, and where they fit in with the scope of the team and squad as a whole.

Simon Cox
As the big new signing and seemingly high cost involved it is almost certain Cox will regularly start. As well as playing front he can also get pushed to the wings too, as shown at Euro 2012 for Ireland. Apart from this Cox is somewhat of a mystery to me, I do not know a great deal side looking at his stats and what Wikipedia says, but that doesn’t always cast a true story. A lot of Baggies fans have told us we have a good player on our hands and that’s good enough for me, and the fact he was good enough to be in the Irish squad for 2012, although Ireland didn’t do a great deal, the fact he was there performing on a very grand scale footballing event speaks volumes.

Dexter Blackstock
The Antigua international was recently handed the captains armband in the Villa friendly. An indicator he is regarded as one of the senior pros at the club, and he is similarly well regarded by the fans. I see Dex as being the target man for Cox, holding up play and feeding the new man. But Dex has an eye for goal too, and can score a lot of gals at this level. He seems to love the club quite a lot, and is hungry after such a long layoff with injury to get back to the fore front. He will definitely play a role in the squad, and start more than he does not in games.

Ishmael Miller
For me this should have been his season to shine and lead the line. Maybe Cox is replacing him. Miller was definitely intended to be the power house forward and be a focal point, due to injuries and poor form it hasn’t happened. Whether this is down to managers not knowing how to implement him, or maybe the element of resentment of his inflated wages is true. Miller is on double many of team mate’s wages. Aside from this he struggled with fitness never able to be build a head of steam form wise and merely flit in and out the side regularly. Very much under used in the second half of the season he does though have a good record. Add to that though there was other clubs apparently interested and due to his hefty wages, and despite now having money we may look to move him on should the right offer come in. Maybe we were just the wrong club at the wrong time.

Matt Derbyshire
Where do you even begin? In and out of the treatment room, and apparently had been carrying a very long term injury when even in the side Derbyshire has said he is fully fit and raring to go, that may well have to be at another club. Like Miller he is on a hefty slice, more than many team mates and the fact he has done next to nothing to justify these wages, which have so well funded Vue and Showcase cinemas it seems. He gets a lot of abuse, probably unwarranted, he’s just doing his job, it’s just he’s so bad at it, falling over continually, seemingly unaware of the big net thing at the far end of the pitch. Most fans have been lost in terms of him, it would take an amazing turn in form for the fans to take him to heart, and the majority of McClaren signings are like this. Regarded with complete indifference, because frankly they have all failed. Derbyshire’s record in the past is mixed at best anyway, and it seems he isn’t quite in love with this club, always on twitter about Blackburn or Olympiakos, and seemingly on match days when Forest are on twittering about whatever else he is getting up to. The problem is on his wages he will be difficult to unload, either on loan or permanently.

Robbie Findley
All pace and no end product. He has scored a few goals admittedly, often in cups versus lower league opposition. His most famous achievement with Forest is missing from2 yards with an open goal. A clearing off the line any defender would be proud of, he was trying to score. Also for spending his first few months with the club permanently injured. I’m not sure he is as fast as people said he was, He doesn’t seem as fast as Tyson say for instance, and at least Tyson had a powerful shot, Findley doesn’t seem to have this. He also seems very much a confidence striker, which when you’re in and out the team is hard to for you build that. MLS fans on 24-7’s forums’ warned us he wasn’t that good. A warning that seems to have come true. It might be worth moving him on or loaning him to a League One level side. Or Barnsley, because they take practically anyone on, especially when foreign.

Marcus Tudgay
As I said last week he seems to have been bookmarked as Blackstock's back up for a target man to hold the ball up who can also finish well. Just as I thought his time would be up he looked good against Villa. The thing I’m not sure he is top Championship striker, he’s perfectly reasonable for some teams, but not if you want promotion as he can drift out of games. That said he has scored some very important and good quality goals in his couple of years at the club. Plus it’s always nice to have ex Derby players who have a bait of scoring against them. I see him as having a limited future; maybe see his contract out as a fringe squad player.

David McGoldrick
You don’t get nicknamed McGoaldrought for nothing. I genuinely would be elated to see the back of him as I can’t help thinking he must demotivated. He scored goals before us, but something is holding him back, as whenever he plays for us he is mostly anonymous. Occasionally a good game marks people saying he’s turned the corner only to not hear his name again for weeks on end. Needs to move on quickly, like Garner did once he was out the loop.

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