What Do We Lack?

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swr22

swr22

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What Do We Lack?

We've got quality throughout the team but we still have fallen short of the playoffs. So what do we lack? I can't help thinking that we could use some more strength in the middle of the park, especially against lower table and more physical teams. Some teams do try and bully us into submission. I'd also like to see Reece Cole given more of a role next year because it would be good to see more goals from midfield.

Where would you prioritise improving the team?
 

What Do We Lack?

We struggle when teams put 10 behind the ball
 

What Do We Lack?

Luck.

Of the team, possibly a striker, but given what financial constraints we have, I'm not overly fussed about that.
Maybe goals from midfield, recently anyway.
 

What Do We Lack?

Fulham are basically us + Mitrovic

Definitely a reliable striker

I hate to mention the elephant in the room, but if Vibe had stayed would things have been different? I’m not moaning, I’m still very proud of us, but you do have to wonder...
 

What Do We Lack?

Repeating things many have said before over recent months, but:

- A striker to finish off more chances.
-Shooting practice for all our attackers and more goals from midfield. The likes of Sawyers and others must weigh in with more goals.
- A reliable penalty taker.
- The 'no-nonsense, in the ref's ear' midfielder.
 

What Do We Lack?

Bixer said:
Fulham are basically us + Mitrovic

Definitely a reliable striker

I hate to mention the elephant in the room, but if Vibe had stayed would things have been different? I’m not moaning, I’m still very proud of us, but you do have to wonder...
Click to expand...

With Vibe we would have scored more goals.

Today we lacked balls.
 

What Do We Lack?

Putting Vibe and ‘reliable striker’ in the same sentence is a bit of a stretch. Don’t get me wrong thought he was great and we miss his movement but he was woeful first half of the season and there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t have had another long run without scoring..

We’ve a lot of midfielders but only 2 top quality championship ones. The others can all do a job on their day but can equally be pants. Balance needs sorting there. Bringing on Yennaris and Mokotjo when 2 down in such an important game shows up a lack of depth there despite the numbers.

Obviously a striker with better movement and composure in the box but that’s a tricky one with our budget. Defence has been pretty good recently so try and keep Bjelland or replace with a younger version (again, easy!) always worth getting more wingers in given their inconsistent nature

I don’t think we’re that far off. The start of the season and all the doubts about Jota, Dean etc is where it all went wrong for me. After that our record is pretty good really.
 

What Do We Lack?

Yeah, bit of luck and fewer distractions at the start of the season. Take away our horrendous start and we’re safe in the play offs.

I think Maupay will be better with a second year in this division, a striker like Mitrovic would be amazing but it’s just not realistic.

Keeping Rico Henry fit for the whole season would also help us a lot. Barbet has filled in really well, but Rico gives us a lot more help in attack.

Keep as much of this squad as we can, full seasons from Judge and Henry, and I think we’d give it a very good go. Would love a tall strong CM but we’ve got great depth there so it would be a large investment for not much gain.
 

What Do We Lack?

swr22 said:
We've got quality throughout the team but we still have fallen short of the playoffs. So what do we lack? I can't help thinking that we could use some more strength in the middle of the park, especially against lower table and more physical teams. Some teams do try and bully us into submission. I'd also like to see Reece Cole given more of a role next year because it would be good to see more goals from midfield.

Where would you prioritise improving the team?
Click to expand...

You've been spoilt mate, this club has been effing wonderfull these last 5 to 6 years. We are playing football of the highest calibre in a very strong league. Your assertion that playing Reece cole does not make much sense to me, The flowing football that we play will always leave us open. We are not far away, and I would sooner watch the standard of football that we play than the boring ***** that Warnock plays at Cardiff.
 

What Do We Lack?

BBC stats. Bees 64% possession 12shots. Barnsley 36%possession 12 shots. Sums up our season.
 

What Do We Lack?

To keep progressing exactly how we have been and maybe get a bit nastier. That doesn’t mean lacking discipline or giving away stupid free kicks btw. Next season will be better :)
 

What Do We Lack?

I think this was a play-off team but we have been unlucky this year. That was plainly obvious in the first 8 games and we never quite recovered. We should - fingers-crossed - have stability at the start of the new season and a set of players who do have experience of playing well at this level.
 

What Do We Lack?

Mr Cynical said:
Putting Vibe and ‘reliable striker’ in the same sentence is a bit of a stretch. Don’t get me wrong thought he was great and we miss his movement but he was woeful first half of the season and there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t have had another long run without scoring..
Click to expand...

Vibe was injured on the 4th game of the season and didn't make it back until mid October.
 
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What Do We Lack?

A leader and a decent striker who can lead the line and finish
 

What Do We Lack?

Whatever we need costs money. You don’t get a Callum Wilson for £3m anymore from L1.
 

What Do We Lack?

Experience. All the teams above seems to have much more. It must help when it comes to the big games and when you need to turn a game around.
 

What Do We Lack?

A dreadful start to the season and 2 points thrown away at Loftus Rd. We are so close to being a play-off team.
We will probably improve the squad in the summer as we always do, so plenty to look forward too.
We dont lack much.
 

What Do We Lack?

wanderer paul said:
Whatever we need costs money. You don’t get a Callum Wilson for £3m anymore from L1.
Click to expand...

Callum Wilson, Stan Collymorr. Clayton Donaldson type striker is actually what we need but as you say the ‘finished article’ would be outside of our price range. Here’s hoping that our recruitment team can find the above type player with raw potential.

I’ve seen others have mentioned Matt Smith but IMO he is no better a player than Hoffman and a target man is not what we need. It’s someone who can win headers, hold the ball up and has strength and pace. Oh and most importantly, someone we can afford ?
 

What Do We Lack?

IMO we need experience and a bit more physicality to help us grind out results when we aren't playing well. Unfortunately, when our performance dips we lose and we need to get over that . No team can play well all the time and consistency is needed to get us over the line. We are clearly an excellent footballing outfit and that bit is largely sorted.
The players will have gained a lot of experience from this season and if we don't lose too many then that will stand us in good stead next season. We aren't going to get the striker we've been chasing for four seasons but we can improve in that area by players getting a shot off instead of trying to walk it in the net.Take the responsibility please.
But what a great season !!!!!!!
 

What Do We Lack?

In terms of our crowds and means we punch well above our weight so in one sense we don't lack, we overachieve.
Staying up very, very comfortably for four seasons is a considerable achievement.
A question will always be what can we afford - fee and then wages.
I would imagine often an agent says 'Brentford are interested and they've offered x' and other clubs ***** up their ears and offer more.
But if you want my thoughts on what could ensure we get in the top six next year: we've been light up front this year; we could do with a big, strong CM (not going to come cheap); we can lack power / height / can be a bit nice (Cardiff showed that).
I think some potentially losses e.g. Bentley, Woods, Mepham, Sawyers could be quite hard to replace straight away but our record at finding players is good.
But I'm happy with things in the main - but for some daft lost points and an awful start we could well have made the playoffs this year.
 

What Do We Lack?

I'm comfortable that those in charge will make a decent assessment of what we need, within budgetary constraints, over the summer.

Despite the slightly damp squib end to the season we're still a solidly run club that many other (larger) club's fans aspire to emulate.
 

What Do We Lack?

In answer to the title of the thread, we lack nothing except perhaps an acceptance of how far we have come, against all odds and that for us to progress further it will require a degree of good fortune and patience.
 

What Do We Lack?

As we used to sing from The Paddock in the days of dear old Freddie Callaghan:

“Attack!!! Attack!!!...............
Attack is what we lack!!!!!!!”...........
 

What Do We Lack?

I would imagine all those clubs below us in the league lack considerably more than we do, and let’s face it a number of those clubs below us have far greater income and pay far more in wages

Yes it would be great to have a fantastic striker guaranteed to score 20/30 goals plus a midfield general with considerable experience of managing refs, leading teams but also a great footballer. However in the real world they are far out of our wage bracket

We are close with the squad we have, a few tweaks and we go the next step. The club consistently improve in small steps and, as others have said, we play fantastic football unlike many in the division

We lack nothing in terms of what we can realistically afford.
 

What Do We Lack?

The Pipe said:
I would imagine all those clubs below us in the league lack considerably more than we do, and let’s face it a number of those clubs below us have far greater income and pay far more in wages

Yes it would be great to have a fantastic striker guaranteed to score 20/30 goals plus a midfield general with considerable experience of managing refs, leading teams but also a great footballer. However in the real world they are far out of our wage bracket

We are close with the squad we have, a few tweaks and we go the next step. The club consistently improve in small steps and, as others have said, we play fantastic football unlike many in the division

We lack nothing in terms of what we can realistically afford.
Click to expand...

Saved me the effort of typing exactly the same thing. Also the undeservedly poor results at the start of the season & dropping points at home v Burton/Barnsley/Sunderland prevented us making the playoffs.
 

What Do We Lack?

Is it a coincidence that we have lost 5 away games in Yorkshire this season at Sheffield United and Wed, Leeds, Hull and now Barnsley and in 3 of them we barely turned up?
 

What Do We Lack?

Just like to add the panic amonst some on here because it took us eight games to win a game. A lot were talking about relegation, so put it into context and call it a very good season.
 

What Do We Lack?

It has been getting a bit better but it reared it’s ugly head again today. We can’t defend corner. The big ugly teams bully us and we don’t have the right manpower to counter it.
Also we have been getting more creative in our corners the end result is the same, we get very little from them.
 

What Do We Lack?

A striker. I'm not too fussed about the "midfield general" as i dont think thats what we have lacked this season. Our game management was an issue but that has been sorted.
 

What Do We Lack?

Goals.....compared to the last 3 seasons where we've been well into the 70's in the goals for column this season has been a fairly low 61.....we need more goals from midfield and defence and another forward.
 
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What Do We Lack?

The midfield 3 have to contribute goals. The 3 we ended the game with yesterday - Woods, Nico, Kamo - have probably scored 5 between them all season. 2 or 3 from Sawyers? 1 from MacLeod although granted limited playing time. 0 from Josh.

They are all decent on the ball but none are a serious goal threat. Needs to change.
 

What Do We Lack?

Lacking 6 points this season
 

What Do We Lack?

Whilst vibe was not the most clinical I feel even though it would have cost £2m to keep him it was worth the risk to marginally make the play offs more likely but he was a decent chap and had been patient with us so it was a tough decision to enable his move.

We lacked:-
Two decent sized efficient strikers
Ability to close out a game from a lead evident in the first half of the season until ra ra s
Successful set piece routines
Penalty taker
Capability to push through at pace rather than get to the edge of the area and go sideways
Ability to avoid silly red cards
Players that last the full 90.

We had:-
Harmony and focus across the whole club players management support eta
Fantastic pace and skill in abundance and quality interplay our rivals would die for
Energy to out work most sides
Strength in depth in most positions and a B team that could do well in L1.
Loyal and supportive fans who in the main even at the end of Sept could still see the future was bright.
An owner who is prudent and measured but also generous.

In summary fine margins, consistency and a larger player budget is the difference between 7 - 10th and the PL.
 

What Do We Lack?

Of course we need a 20+ goal striker...literally every team in the Championship does. In fact in this division only Vydra and Grabban have scored 20 league goals this season. Maupay is joint 13th in the league which isn't too shabby given the minutes he's had on the pitch and, whilst I don't think he's a natural number 9, he could easily kick on next season and get close to 20.

Another point here is that strikers are always the most sought after commodity. If we unearth someone that's scored 15 goals by January next season you can almost guarantee a big club will come in with stupid money for him. Yes that would help us financially but it could end up killing our promotion chances.

Our best chance of promotion next season is to have a well balanced team with no big superstars so we can keep the squad together. I think we were very very close to getting that this season, so what do we actually need? In my opinion it is just to keep the current group of players together (who by and large will only get better). And hopefully that extra year's experience will also help us close out games better. The 6 points dropped from Bristol City, QPR and Burton would have us in 6th place right now.
 

What Do We Lack?

We definitely need another striker, plus a midfielder who is a class above Nico and Mokotjo. Possibly the full back positions also need some thought, though the return of Rico Henry should help on the left side.
 

What Do We Lack?

We're just a bit short of goal threat. Interestingly the main striker position hasn't been unproductive - Maupay with 12 and Vibe with 7. That's a very respectable 19 goals from that position. The problem lies elsewhere.

Our wide men have contributed reasonably well though Jozefzoon and Canos might have done a bit better. The real issue is the lack of goals from the midfield three and from defenders. We have too many players who hardly ever score and one who hasn't even got one to his name in his whole career! With Sawyers it is particularly frustrating as he has good shooting technique.
 

What Do We Lack?

Isleworth_Bee said:
A striker. I'm not too fussed about the "midfield general" as i dont think thats what we have lacked this season. Our game management was an issue but that has been sorted.
Click to expand...

We dont need a striker, we havent got anybody that plays the Vibe, Hogan & Gray role. Dont tell me Watkins and Maupay can.
 

What Do We Lack?

I don't think we lack anything major, we have the players that fit the style of play and our very watchable approach to our game. We didn't miss out on the play offs because of not having a big striker or a nasty defensive midfielder as these type of players do not fit our style and I don't expect us to sign either type in the summer. We didn't lose out because of the Barnsley game either as those sort of results happen.

We lost out due to the poor start results wise and maybe the odd moment of madness like that last 5 minutes at QPR (those two dropped point alone would have meant we could have at least approached next week with something to play for).

Fine lines more than anything else and it is about refinement than anything more radical.

Key to next season will be who is going and who we will replace them with.
 

What Do We Lack?

............a few more half glass full type fans.........sitting in the away end yesterday with the negative comments flying around ,you would have thought Brentford were bottom three............astounding mentalities..............
 

What Do We Lack?

The balance of the squad. To many similair players.
 
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