The striker situation seems a bit odd

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

I do not understand these references to 'replacement' and particularly 'like for like'.

All players are unique and so like for like means the role anticipated by the coaching staff.  Fulham for example purchased MS with RM because of the similar partnership enjoyed at Leeds but it wasn't successful.  That is what team building, formations and styles are about.  Some players can adapt but others are not very comfortable out of what they feel is their best role.  Hodgson developed a 'striking' partnership between Zamora and Johnson using the formers ability to hold the ball up and the latters ability to find space quickly, with both players benefitting but Zamora in particular as Johnson already had a good track record.   That potency was a distinctive mark of Hodgson's ability to get players to improve beyond their former level.   As Slavisa develops his team and his style we may see more partnerships developing particularly in defence and midfield and any and all of these will help the team play much much better.   I hoping we will see a tighter and more resilient formation this season with less goals being conceded and scored but with the latter exceeding the former by a very comfortable amount.  Being hard to break down is a very proven way of making a team win more often than they lose.  It may not be pretty to start with but it is a means to an end in achieving success on the pitch.   We are due a better season and I believe that is what we will see.  Whether it is good enough for promotion remains to be seen but I think we will see the best of Jokanovic in the next few months.

I think your first sentence highlights the point that I tried to make about McCormack: that he does not fit any normal role so that it will not be possible to find a like-for-like replacement. What we will have to do is find a 15+ per season goalscorer who will bring different qualities who we can integrate into the team and that will inevitably mean we adopt a different formation and style.

[toshes mate]

I do not understand these references to 'replacement' and particularly 'like for like'.

All players are unique and so like for like means the role anticipated by the coaching staff.  Fulham for example purchased MS with RM because of the similar partnership enjoyed at Leeds but it wasn't successful.  That is what team building, formations and styles are about.  Some players can adapt but others are not very comfortable out of what they feel is their best role.  Hodgson developed a 'striking' partnership between Zamora and Johnson using the formers ability to hold the ball up and the latters ability to find space quickly, with both players benefitting but Zamora in particular as Johnson already had a good track record.   That potency was a distinctive mark of Hodgson's ability to get players to improve beyond their former level.   As Slavisa develops his team and his style we may see more partnerships developing particularly in defence and midfield and any and all of these will help the team play much much better.   I hoping we will see a tighter and more resilient formation this season with less goals being conceded and scored but with the latter exceeding the former by a very comfortable amount.  Being hard to break down is a very proven way of making a team win more often than they lose.  It may not be pretty to start with but it is a means to an end in achieving success on the pitch.   We are due a better season and I believe that is what we will see.  Whether it is good enough for promotion remains to be seen but I think we will see the best of Jokanovic in the next few months.

I think your first sentence highlights the point that I tried to make about McCormack: that he does not fit any normal role so that it will not be possible to find a like-for-like replacement. What we will have to do is find a 15+ per season goalscorer who will bring different qualities who we can integrate into the team and that will inevitably mean we adopt a different formation and style.

I absolutely agree with your comments about McCormack and I believe Jokanovic saw it straight away at a time when to rearrange his inherited side and change the leading goalscoring partnership - Dembele and McCormack- mid-season would have been more suicidal than trying to patch up midfield and defence.  As with Hodgson before him, Jokanovic managed to avoid relegation via a brief 'golden' period of games.  We have now seen a lot of changes to personnel and the impending loss of McCormack, which is not in the hands of the head coach whatever his preferences may be, demands a satisfactory Plan B.  Jokanovic has given us some width and pace in the team suggesting a more counter attacking style which if coupled with a defence playing a higher line (because it has the confidence to do so) can be a much tougher proposition for an opposition to breakdown.  Much will depend upon the ability to put passing moves together to either a) hold the ball and probe until an opening appears or b) to split a defence via front runners who know how to create space.

It's going to take a lot of hard work, and some reasonable fortune along the way, to put it all together because this football club is not used to winning week in and week out and players need to know that is a mental block they must overcome as individuals as much as having a coach showing them the best way to achieve it as a team.