League Cup Action: Bolton 0-1 Burton Albion (R1)

I disagree and think Madines good business, I think he needs more support at the moment though and my main concern is Feeney's end product which has been dire.

The result is disappointing as a cup run is about the only interesting thing we can hope for  but I'm not worried, we're making chances and I think we'll be okay.

Madine is league 1 at best. But we are where we are,so we have to make the best use of him.

Not worried about going down though.

Yet.

When we first came down you could probably put us in the top two or three out of twenty-four clubs in terms of being serious about going up.
I think we're certainly in the bottom twelve now in terms of ambition maybe even bottom six, and Gary Madine is symbolic of that. He's the kind of player we'd ideally bring in for no other cause than to add depth to the squad; obviously I'm basing that on various things, not just the two matches he's played in. As it is he's about the most exciting signing we've made, so the fans probably expect way more from him than he's capable of I fear. He's clearly got some good attributes but he's not the kind of player that fills you with confidence when you need goals. And the same goes for the whole team except Mark Davies and Zach Clough, neither of which can be relied upon fitness wise to say the least.

I really hope that Madine can put his past behind him and buckle down and score (us) some goals.

But I don't think he will.

He's another one who's more concerned about how cool his (Rylan?) beard looks and Tweeting his followers to worry about doing what he gets paid for, ie scoring goals.

And that's why we're fucked.

Nowadays, Johnny Footballer gets £10k a week for doing fuck all.

They don't need to strive to improve themselves anymore because they can earn fabulous wealth, live in a massive house in Pointon or Alderley Edge and develop a harem of hangers-on and wannabe starlets who tell them how "fabulous"  and "special" they are simply because they play football.

You don't need to be that good anymore.

Just stand out a bit at school.

Give it a couple of years, have pushy parents who stop you enjoying your childhood and tell you that you can never have a burger and you must train hard because some bloke who once said he was a scout for Citeh appeared at a Sunday League game you played in and keep trying!

You get scouted for Morecambe and suddenly you're a footballer!

You get a Twitter account and buy a flash car and you're happy. #madeit!

Your Dad earnt £200 a week in that factory packing fish but you're now on three grand a week for losing to the likes of Crawley and Stevenage on a regular basis.

And these are the players that we're now casting our net for (to continue the fish analogy).

Madine may possibly come good and score a shed full.

But given that we signed him (damned by faint praise) I don't think he will - he's got the beard, the Merc and the following and I fear that he's happy with that.

We are well and truly screwed and we are relying (slash hoping) that Lennon can mold this bunch into some sort of fighting unit.

The future lies with the kids.

Players who are still hungry enough to want to prove a point and who can only still dream of a Twitter following.

Earn your corn, Neil......

Mostly true bread, but that's modern football - and most of the population are similar unfortunately - so can't see that changing anytime soon, have to make do.

Purely on footballing terms though, I think Madines hold up play has looked good so no complaints from me so far.

Madine has looked good but we need someone to play off him, as i said on the chatbox last night him and Le Fondre would have been a great partnership but it's never going to happen

I'm not worried about Madine so much - he is what he is and that isn't an out and out finisher. Clough is the nearest thing to that we have seeing as we couldn't afford ALF or the other strikers we were associated with. And I suspect Clough isn't strong or good enough yet although with 7 goals last season I can understand why Lennon backs him.

Another way to score goals is to get Madine etc on the end of lots of quality balls into the box which we're not getting. Feeney doesn't seem to have the end product often enough from what I'm hearing, so perhaps he could be replaced and I believe that Pisano has the pace and ability to provide quality deliveries from the RB position so maybe he would provide part of the solution if he signs.

Plus we've got to stop hitting the woodwork when we do get chances!

Whatever the solution, Neil has somehow got to find the way to goal.

Not bothered about going out of the cup but it shows that we will struggle again this season.  You can't keep replacing players with cheaper options endlessly. The ALF situation is a good example.  Madine is not as good as ALF but cheaper.  Laughable part of this now is that we will sell Ream for 2 mill and they only wanted 1 Mill for ALF to start with.  So we will create chances but not put enough of them away...so bottom half finish it looks like.  Neil can't do much with this situation IMO.
Although last night I question bringing Heskey on with 5 mins left then the other two after we are a goal behind. Well nobody's perfect

No goals in us. We'll have a major problem unless we sign another striker soon.

Madine as done little wrong give the guy a chance, he gets in the right place and he his very good in the air, take him any day over Cravies. may not be the answer but we have had a lot worse than him.