All strikers go through periods when the goals stop coming. Unfortunately, there are three strikers on our books who are not finding the net at the moment, and they happen to be the strikers preferred by Sadler
Faal last scored on 2nd December and has played 11 times since without scoring.
Josh Gordon has failed to score in 27 appearances so far this season.
Matt last scored on 16 December, and has a total of 2 in 25 appearances
Oteh is just back after injury, and has so far scored 2 goals this season in 14 appearances, his last goal was in September
The injured DJ last scored on 1st Jan, and played 2 matches without scoring since then.
DJT has 2 goals in his last 4 appearances.
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If it were the old physio, I think there could be grounds for misunderstanding!
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Looking at those stats: why did we sign Faal, and more to the point: why did we sign Gordon?!! Gordonās stats are up there with Lavery and Makris. We need DJ back asap. We need to build the attack around him, not Faal or Gordon. It should be one of either Faal, Gordon, Oteh or Matt, with DJ or even DJT!
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Probably because we ended up being reliant on a loan striker that left in Jan, and unless we were willing to pay big money in an window that is generally over inflated you are going to end up with players who are either returning from injury (a la last season) or have got the greatest of records (a la this season). Throw in alienating a player who scored goals last season probably just feels like compounding the problem.
Fortunately we do have goals coming from other areas that we didnāt have last season as much.
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Now Draper has gone, DJ is injured and not really part of Sadlerās plans anyway, DJT is now probably our best finisher. Incremental improvements, build it and they will come.
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And for once we seemed to have squad decent enough to cope with the loss of a great loan player.
More than anything we miss his complete all round speed and bustle, Josh Gordon is probably his direct replacement and less said about that the better We must change the way we play, we are still playing like Draper is here who can do it all upfront. Stop smashing it longā¦
He couldnt have done any less than the other 2 on Saturday.
Yeah, not knocking the kid, 2 goals in 4 games is more than I expected from him at any point to be honest. Just that it was being talked about that we were stronger after the January window, no chance.
I donāt think it helps that in my opinion Oteh or Gordon arenāt really strikers, although they would probably say they are they are more wide forwards in my opinion. As you said in another post Draper was a tough one to replace, he did pretty much everything , even if he was having an off day was a handful for the whole 90 minutes.
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Id second that view God Help us if ever the hapless Doug becomes our best option
Take it you mean havenāt got the greatest record?
Faal would be on target for around 6 goals for us,13 league goals in total, if he carried on his Doncaster form from his time there. Thatās not bad really.
Gordon, apart from last season at Barrow scores about 1 in 5 though his career, so he should get 4 or 5 by the end of the season; it clicks again for him, then itāll be more like 9 (not expecting 9 myself though). But still not too bad, would be enough if the midfield get back on it too.
Itās whether we can find our groove again like Dec/New Year. Even if we donāt canāt see the massive collapse like last year happening in reality. So probably headed for around 60 points and slight improvement and our best at this level in this visit.
Still just speculation really.
We were saying the same about the top scoring partnership acquired from the FGR promotion winning team last season, it didnāt materialise though, and Stevens/Matt had the added benefit of knowing each other in terms of a partnership and understanding.
Best given Clarkes first season was curtailed by COVID, but I reckon that team would have delivered in excess of 60 points as I detailed in the Sadler Out thread.
Perhaps, but their isnāt any smoke without fire and there are signs.
Rumours on the internet?
It was noted at the time - the success of their partnership relied on crosses into the box from wingers. We didnāt play with any then.
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Or wing backs who can cross. They had Kane Wilson. (The same Kane Wilson we wasted by using as a full back.)
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It probably should be noted then, that most of Faalās goals for Doncaster this season were from headers (from crosses) and we are still playing with the same players that werenāt crossing for Matt and Stevens last season.
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Itās as if we do it on purpose, buying players to not fit a system 
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But itās all part of a project?!
Tbf to knowles sometimes he does try and cross, like a toddler tried to write their name
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TBH Knowles was better than there rwb yesterday Bowery I think converted striker who struggled to defend or cross the ball but was pretty good at pushing and shoving lol
Knowles not the best but certainly not the worst at this level and has improved imho as the season has progressed
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