Strikers - a different perspective

I thought I'd enter into this hot topic....

At the moment we have four good strikers on our books and two midfielders in Arnold and Monkhouse who can play in more advanced positions and score goals.

Barely since the days of Rees and Woods or back to Wilkinson and Lund can I remember having this sort of depth in the squad (relative to our league position).  Hurst has to take a lot of credit.  Good strikers are hard to get and last season it took until the second half of the season to get even remotely near this position - Alan Connell anyone?

At the moment we are second highest scorers in the league so Hurst and the players must be doing something right.

So what two should he have chosen last night.

He can choose from:

Pittman - together with Amond, probably the most skilful forward we have.  Injury prone so unlikely to be available all season but when fully fit and in form, why should he be dropped?  I also think JPP plays well alongside a big nuisance striker like The Shop, Ollie and Tomlinson.

Amond - has been injured, back to full fitness but is he ready to play from the start.  Why risk it when Pittman is fit and in form?

Bogle - we have to remember Bogle is a 3 year investment to the club, has loads of promise but new to professional football, full time training and has been a bit vulnerable to injury early in the season.  Hurst always said he would ease him into things.  Against some of the more 'knowing' teams in the league he may benefit from being rested and saved for the lesser matches to start with.

Tomlinson - clearly not everyone's cup of tea but he is a striker with a decent track record at this level, and with the experience to deal with a bit of pressure.  He has been playing alongside Pittman in matches where we have had some decent results.

I imagine it wasn't a slam dunk decision for Hurst last night but maybe having already decided to freshen up the right side of the pitch he decided for continuity up front.  To blast him every time he doesn't play Amond and Bogle seems crazy to me.  He has to plot success over 46 and maybe 49 league games.  He needs 4 fit and hungry strikers for all those games and it seems to me that he is managing his resources sensibly.

Good post. Most on here will not look beyond the goalscoring charts when thinking about which forwards should play but when you start to think a bit more deeply about the tactics employed by football managers and the selections made as I like to do you start to understand the decisons that pro managers tend to make.

My theory is that the powers that be have told Hurst not to play Bogle and Amond because their goalscoring bonuses will bankrupt the club if they carried on at that rate.  

I suspect the choice of strikers has more to do with improving the defensive record than the scoring record.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

I suspect the choice of strikers has more to do with improving the defensive record than the scoring record.

After last night I agree 100%

4 strikers on the books is no bad thing.Keeps players on their toes as there will be competition for places.

With regard to Tomlinson, I thought he had quite a good game last night apart from he never really looks like scoring and it took a couple of great moments from Nathan Arnold to win that game against what some of us were saying was the poorest Gateshead side seen for some time.

I would still prefer to see Amond play.

I agree with RRFC and Barra on this too.

for me v Braintree I'd like us to now give tomlinson a well earnt rest and really go for them. I've not been often enough to say which 2 of the other 3 to start but I'd like us to go there with them mindset 'we are going to score more than you' they defence are now settling so lets go for it.
reading them orginal post it kind of does make sense to me.  I've seen bogle 3 times and although he's scoring I still think he's raw and has time to learn. I think this year's a learning curbe for him and to settle and whatever division we are in, next season I can see him really kicking on and turning into a real pro.

apologise for the extra letters on words. stupid phone likes to try guess what I am going to say!