‘We do still need a new striker’

Part of my weekly task in completing this blog is to assess the results of the last seven days. Since I last wrote this, City have played twice, losing to Newcastle and winning at Scunthorpe. Now I am, in all honestly, not too sure what I can read into these games. If anything, they have left me with more questions than answers.

The Newcastle game was something of a watershed moment for the new look Ashton Gate, as we witnessed the biggest crowd in over 25 years at our beloved church. City played well, there was no question about that; Johnson’s critique was that we didn’t do enough in the final third, and I wouldn’t take any issue with that assessment either.

The question is this; Newcastle defend well and were very well organised at the back, as you’d expect from a Benitez side. So, what do we need to do to break down a team like that? Some will say we need another quality striker and it looks like we may indeed be looking for a new player in that position, whereas others would think we are a tricky winger or creative central midfielder short of breaking down such teams. Again, I wouldn’t disagree, but realistically, how much would these types of players cost (in both wages and transfer fees)? We have a good young squad who are not quite capable of beating a quality Newcastle side managed by a former Champions League winner; that is where we are.

Equally, I would have been very disappointed had we not beaten Scunthorpe away in the EFL cup this week. We managed to somewhat scrape through after extra time and fingers crossed we can get a big Premier League team at home in the next round and break that attendance record again.

So, having derided the potential waste of money any new signings might represent, I am now going to widely speculate about any more new signings. The window closes in the coming days, so please forgive me. We do need a striker; Abraham has started very well but he is young and won’t be able to play in every game. Kodjia was slightly injury-prone last season and very may well be heading off to the African Cup of Nations in January. Wilbraham can still do a job, but I doubt that he will feature all that much this time round.

So, what type of player do we need? Personally I’d like to see someone with experience up there; someone in the Gary O’Neil mould, who has experience at this level and who would be accepting of not playing every minute of every game.

I also think we are slightly short at the centre of defence. Flint and Magnuson look like they will be our settled back pair with Derek Williams our third choice. Again, some more Championship experience at the back wouldn’t go amiss. I have to say, as I did last week, I feel letting Ayling go was a mistake and with a new injury to, dare I say it, ‘sick-note’ Mathews, we look short in that position.

Aston Villa visit Ashton Gate this weekend and sadly I will not be in attendance, but it looks like we will have another bumper crowd and fingers crossed we can buck the trend of losing one-nil to relegated sides. If you are going to the game, enjoy your afternoon and give it a ‘come on you reds’ for me!

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