A look at our signings - Forwards

Grant Holt

There’s no doubt Holt is a good player, and his argument to be involved in the England squad is certainly valid, however, based on recent form... no, I don’t think so. I was very excited to hear he had signed for us, he is exactly the type of player we needed – the big man up front. He’s one of the best choices for Coyle’s boot-it-to-the-forward strategy, though I personally hate that format. The problem with Holt, however, is that he’s not playing to the best of his abilities. He’s scored twice which is good, just not great. He scored in the 4-0 victory over Barnsley and scored a penalty against Middlesbrough. He needs to be putting more away; there are no two ways about it. I want this guy to be the man for us, he certainly has the ability but whether he’s being lazy or suffering from the change of teams, I can’t quite tell. He’s also a bit of a mouthy sod, he argues too much with ref’s for my liking, that’ll be trouble one day I’m sure of it. Something needs to change to make this great talent the biggest threat in front of the goal the Championship has. Ironically, we’re probably the only team that has the ability to make that happen. With Maloney feeding from behind and solid wing play, it’s a sure thing but Coyle doesn’t seem to see the benefit of it! I hope that soon something will change, and Holt will start finding the net as he usually does, god knows we need the goals.

Holt arrived from Norwich City for £2,000,000

Marc-Antoine Fortune

As it stands at the moment, I think Fortune has been the better signing of our two forwards. He’s working hard, getting involved, he’s surprisingly quick for his age and he genuinely seems like he wants to play every game. He’s a very different player to Holt, playing a quicker and more fluid sort of game, which was a very smart move, however unlike Holt, he’s not a big goal scorer, which is a problem. We need those goals desperately. I’m not trying to say that he doesn’t try enough in front of goal, he certainly does, he’s had some cracking shots but at the end of the day none have hit the back of the net. Maybe it’s the same as Holt, maybe he hasn’t quite settled yet, but hopefully soon the net will be found and the goals will start rolling.

Fortune arrived from West Bromwich Albion on a Free Transfer.

Side note

Honestly, I don’t think two forwards is enough, Coyle needed to sign one more. A big name would have been brilliant to spark competition for the Forward role as well as add depth and versatility to the team. I hope that in January this problem will be fixed. I’m so worried one of the lads will get injured and what then? One man can’t play every game and the youth subs we have aren’t up to first team centre forward positions. A diverse squad is vital for success in all competitions, especially Europe.