I'm hoping once we have Bailey fit and Buendia playing regular Ings will be scoring for fun. Add a fit Traore and in form Watkins, ditch the experiment of three at the back and we'll be just fine.
Quote from: Ian. on October 18, 2021, 05:48:49 PMI'm hoping once we have Bailey fit and Buendia playing regular Ings will be scoring for fun. Add a fit Traore and in form Watkins, ditch the experiment of three at the back and we'll be just fine.Quite. Anyway, I'm still fucked off about Saturday.
Quote from: nick harper on October 18, 2021, 12:22:00 PMI think we messed up signing Ings. Not that he’s not a top striker and that we needed to beef up the squad given we were fortunate Watkins got through the whole of last season, but he’s 29, at the peak of his career and is not going to want to rotate and sit on the bench.It wasn’t a smart signing in the context of the shape Smith has always played.I couldn't disagree more. These pages were full of people complaining about our lack of depth up front last season, with really only Watkins as a tried and tested option for a central striker. The fact that we're struggling to find a formation that lets us play both of our England forwards isn't an indication that signing him was a mistake, it's an indication we now have a squad with more good players than we've previously had, and we're still trying to find a way to use them all at the same time.Centre-forward was a key squad weakness last season, and we strengthened that position about as well as we possibly could, given we don't offer European football. Will Ings have a significant sell-on value? Almost certainly not, but that doesn't automatically make his signing a mistake. At his current scoring rate he'll end up with 12-15 goals for the season - which is pretty good, and I think we'd all agree he's not played that well yet, either.I think when Bailey is fit, and takes a wide-forward position, it'll likely be either Watkins OR Ings playing centrally, maybe Ollie wide left of the three.It's also entirely possible that Ollie and Ings will just 'click' at some point. But whatever happens, I don't view Ings as a bad signing at all.
I think we messed up signing Ings. Not that he’s not a top striker and that we needed to beef up the squad given we were fortunate Watkins got through the whole of last season, but he’s 29, at the peak of his career and is not going to want to rotate and sit on the bench.It wasn’t a smart signing in the context of the shape Smith has always played.
Is he out of form or out of position?
If Watkins is out of form (I haven't seen us much recently) then he ought to be dropped now that we have alternatives.