Striker for Saturday

[PakefieldBlue]

It seems that the safe money is on Smith to start on Saturday with Chaplin on the bench. From the sounds of the match reports from Tuesday that seems fair to Smith, and I suspect that deep down that has always been Cook's preference in his first choice team.

Do those who regularly get to games think that Chaplin's Pompey future (however long that might be!) might lie more in being one of the three behind a more physical striker?

[Pompey1985]

His future is providing us with the money to get promoted.

It wouldn't upset me either.

[Selsey Bill]

I was at the Mansfield away game last season where it was the first time I'd seen Smudga play a full 90 minutes for us. He'd come on at HT the week before at that awful 3-0 drubbing from Newport at home but by the end of the Mansfield game I was questioning why on earth we'd taken him on loan. However, with time (and confidence) I began to see a different player. Remember him away at Wimbledon last season? He was outstanding. Following his first few games for us he just got better and better, and I felt we really missed him when we had to give him back to Swindon just before the play-offs started. We looked a different side without him. I'm hoping these last two games (and goals) will give him the impetus to go on a decent goal-scoring run in the team - I love Chaplin, but Smith adds a different dimension and when in form adds more to the team. It'll probably not happen, but I wouldn't mind seeing the two on the pitch together.

[Selsey Bill]

His future is providing us with the money to get promoted.

It wouldn't upset me either.

[Pompey Penguin]

Do those who regularly get to games think that Chaplin's Pompey future (however long that might be!) might lie more in being one of the three behind a more physical striker?

I agree with Pompey1985 that Chaplin is probably the next on the production line to get sold, especially if we can get 2-3 clubs bidding against each other and get someone to over-pay. Moreover, if we don't get promoted, then I would expect Chaplin to push for a transfer in the summer.

However, if we look at the alternative and we don't get a silly offer and we get promoted, then it wouldn't hurt Chaplin to stay and play in L1 rather than sitting in someone's reserves. I would then see him taking Roberts's position sitting behind a more traditional striker and having lots of freedom of movement; his strength is the ability to drift into little pockets of space, and this is not so easy when he is the "main striker" and closely watched.

Just my opinion; lots of ifs, buts and maybes involved.

[Locky_McLockface]

I don't think it matters which of Smudga or Little Conor that plays, so long as the people behind pass the ball in a way that suits that player.

Against Notts County and Wycombe, the majority of the time, the ball was played long and high, and the only thing that Conor could do was gamble that the CB would miss the header. I don't recall one time that they did - although in fairness, the Cambridge CB did, and he scored a great header, but purely because the CB missed it. However, against County, pretty much the one time that someone got to the goal line, and sent over a low cross, Conor scored.

In the pre-season friendly v Bournemouth, Smudga was playing, and we were sending long balls up to him - the kind of thing that they were trying to do against County and Wycombe. Smudga, being a tall bloke, was able to at least challenge the CBs for the ball. A lot of the time he was winning, sometimes it went to one of our players, sometimes it wasn't. But Conor wasn't getting anything.

[<dj.>]

I think Conor's role is at No10 (not Downing St, although he probably wouldn't be the worst person to do that job!).