There has been much discussion on internet message boards about the merits of our two main strikers Rickie Lambert and Osvaldo and whether they can play together.

When Osvaldo arrived fro Italy a couple of months ago I gave an opinion that he was there to play as the lone striker and that he would not want to play in any other position, for a few games Mauricio Pochettino played both in the same side before deciding for the visit to Manchester United that he would drop Lambert and go with Osvaldo. This was not a great success in that Osvaldo was ineffective and Lambert was soon brought on in the second half, but it didnt solve anything and we go into the Fulham game with many questions unanswered.

There are those who would say that there isnt a problem, that I should look at the league table, however I would suggest that perhaps we would be higher in the league table if we had a functioning striker scoring goals, instead of two who cant seem to quite click when they play in the same team.

The evidence is in the goals for tally, as great as our goals against record is, it has really propped up our goals for tally, 3 goals in the against column is outstanding, but with only 8 scored it shows just where we could be if we had someone hitting the net.

Of the 8 scored, 2 have come from either dead ball situations, both from Rickie Lambert with a free kick and a penalty and 2 have come from corners with Lovren knocking the ball down for lallana on Saturday to follow up his headed winner at Liverpool and another goal has come from a Fonte header from a free kick.

That leaves only 3 goals from open play from 840 minutes of football and that is a worrying tally, of those one was by Osvaldo against Palace and the other two came in the same match against Swansea with Lallana and Rodriguez scoring.

So somewhere along the line our two strikers aren't doing there job and there has to be a reason, personally I feel that its because we have tried to squeeze both into the same side and its just not working with the formation we are playing, most of the games we have played have been against lower sides and when we have played better sides it just hasn't worked.

On Saturday Pochettino finally decided to play one or the other and went with Osvaldo, on reflection it might not have been the right choice, but to be blunt most managers would have made the same decision, the fact that Osvaldo didn't get into the game wasn't the managers fault, what was his fault though was not replacing like for like and taking off the Italian and putting on Lambert, OK we got away with it with another last minute goal, but the writing is on the wall.

Put bluntly when it comes to strikers, goals do the talking, yes there is another part to the job and that's creating goals, but again how many assists do either have ? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Under normal circumstances if a striker is not scoring or creating goals with assists from open play, then supporters question what they are doing on the pitch, but this is a strange situation, on one hand we have one of the Club greats who to be blunt was doing all of this till the latter stages of last season and on the other hand we have the club record signing, its hard to drop either of them.

Its perhaps pertinent to note that both have scored as many goals in recent games for their countries as they have Saints and from open play.

But the writing is on the wall and if we don't read it and learn from it then we cannot complain if we start to drop down the league, the options are plain and simple, 7 games together should be just about the limit for a striking duo to gel and contribute, if they aren't doing so for much longer then its counter productive, they have to start scoring from open play or we have to make changes.

Hopefully on Saturday the goals will start flowing and the problem will be solved, but if they don't then we have to seriously consider one of the others place in the team.

Im sure some people will say im wrong and point to the number of chances at Old Trafford, but anyone will tell you that the goalkeeper wasn't troubled by many of them until the equaliser, but it all comes down to one thing when you are a striker and that's goals and to a lesser extent assists.

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StEdmund added 13:07 - Oct 24 Whilst one would like our strikers to score more goals, I tend to think that the modern game is more about scoring midfielders. I fear that apart from Lallana, Saints don't have natural goalscorers in that element of the team. This is as much a weakness as non-scoring frontmen.
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ItchenNorth added 13:20 - Oct 24 We needs a number 10 behind Osvaldo (or Lambert) to unlock the goals. Lallana or Ramirez should, at home at least be in this role. I agree with StEdmund too; its the midfield too so I'd like to see JWP given far more game time than he has so far.
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slynch added 14:20 - Oct 24 The technique that Pochettino employs is that there are no strikers. And so Lambert and Osvaldo are not supposed to get a large goal tally in the traditional way. The 4 "strikers" he employs are really forward defenders; they are there to stop the opponents getting out of their own half. Should they win the ball their job is to hold on to it or pass it onto a forward running midfielder or back. If the midfield is being over run they come back to help regain possession. The idea is to maximize points won not not make stars out of strikers. Lambert and Osvaldo are quite capable of scoring goals and it wouldn't make any difference if they were replaced by anyone "better" Pochettino would make them play the same way. If Saints win the EPL, which I'm sure they will, and Lambert and Osvaldo only get 5 each then the plan would have worked. So groaning every week that they don't score is pointless which ironically is what everyone else is after they play Saints! ;-)

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Dystopia added 14:25 - Oct 24 I feel the problem has to be tactical or down to the midfield rather than the strikers. As Lambert struggled as the lone striker at the end of last season, and Osvaldo struggled as the lone striker against Man U. Clearly then it has to be either the tactics or the supply from midfield. What is clear is that with the goal scoring records of these two they should have more than 3 goals from 8 games.

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SaintNick added 14:32 - Oct 24 Firstly look at all the successful teams, they all have at least one forward scoring goals regularly. Problem is Ramirez has no one to pass to at the moment, our game last season was mainly based on getting the ball wide and then crossing for Lambert, this season we have no true wingers so that hasn't happened, Ramirez can pass forward but lambert cant run channels and I haven't seen much to say that Osvaldo can. Look at the ball hit behind our defence for uniteds goal on Saturday what a sweet ball, we have no one who can get on the end of those type of balls, its not about pace either, Rooney hasn't great pace, but knows how to make a run and here lies the problem.

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slynch added 14:39 - Oct 24 Rooney's team has less points than Saints.
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SaintNick added 15:04 - Oct 24 slynch, if we have no strikers then I would suggest that we can find two more productive players than Lambert & Osvaldo. As for the theory that rooneys team has less points than Saints, than makes mark lawrenson look a tactical genius on motd
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slynch added 15:16 - Oct 24 Saints have more points than Rooneys team is a fact not a theory but if it makes Lawrenson look a tactical genius then I must have something wrong somewhere!?!
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mark99 added 15:30 - Oct 24 Ok, so after 8 games last season we had scored a mighty 13 goals (albeit 4 came in one game) and we had conceded 24 goals giving us 4 points and a place in the relegation zone. Frankly I much prefer seeing 8 goals scored, 3 goals conceded, 15 points on the board and sixth place in the table. Yes it would be great seeing us knock in 3 or 4 goals every game and I am sure we will give someone a real hammering in the near future. Enjoy our remarkable turnaround from last season. MP knows what he is doing and any changes he feels are needed will be addressed in the January window I am sure. Rome wasn't built in a day, just enjoy the ride, I am.

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SaintNick added 15:47 - Oct 24 Mark this is a discussion, I think its a fair topic as why two strikers who should be getting at least 15 goals each per season, have managed only one goal from open play between them. At the moment its not a problem that we aren't scoring as we aren't conceding her, but anyone at either Swansea or man utd will tell you we could have conceded 3 or 4 in either game, if we do then I haven't seen much to show that we could match that. Im sure Pochetinno will deal with it, but whilst we wait we can do what football fans the world over do and that's discuss their team, its not being disrespectful you know

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richardmdcooper added 18:42 - Oct 24 Great last post Nick - it's absolutely a fair topic for discussion. Mark99's post, and there have been posts in a similar vein on the echo website and on here, drive me crazy. Just because we're doing great at the moment, some fans feel it's wrong to question anything about the club - whether it's bad transfers (forren, mayuka, gaston) or our lack of goal scoring or how we need to incorporate players like cork more - these are great topics to discuss. Obviously everyone who supports the club is delighted with the progress we've made and big picture everything is fantastic, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't question/expect certain things. The other thing that annoys me with mark99's post (and others) is the comparison with the start of last season - we had a team new to the premier league, having to face arsenal, spurs, man u, man city all in the first few games, we didn't have a good goalkeeper and we didn't have lovren - so, yes, we conceded a ton of goals at the start of last year - an apples to oranges comparison

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AdamG added 19:38 - Oct 24 Hi all, this is my first post on here. I'Ve been a Saints fan my whole life and now live in Cyprus. Personally I feel that enough chances have been created for either player to have added to their tally this season. Putting it quite simply neither has found their shooting boots this season. I think MP made the right choice to start with Osvaldo over SRL on Saturday at Old Trafford. He needed more of a mobile attack to apply the pressing game higher up the pitch. As we saw at Anfield in the second half when the same method was applied it was more effective to play with a little more pace upfront and an extra man in midfield. I believe when we play the likes of Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal etc we'll see Osvaldo start. Against teams like Fulham this weekend I believe he will play both of them together. Lets just all get behind the team and continue to be proud of where we are at the moment and the goals will come!

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sheffieldsaint added 20:04 - Oct 24 Welcome AdamG . I will take points over goals, as Mark 99 says. BUT the lack of goals has been around since MP got here really. Having said that I think there's been an improvement .Goals from corners do count I.e cost us 2 points against Sunderland , and I think we should acknowledge the great corners from ward prowse leading to the goals. Good to to see Lalana scoring again after a long drought.

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braziliansaint added 00:41 - Oct 25 I have to tend to agree with SaintNick on most of his comments. I have watched all Saints games this season (albeit on TV in South America) and I have to say we have been lucky. We are not exactly setting the premiership on fire although we are often controlling games. Against Swansea and Manchester United we were more than lucky and as Nick mentioned we could have easily, on another day, conceded 3 or 4. Others are saying that soon we will give a team a good hiding but I am concerned that actually it will be the other way round. We do, therefore, need to get our strikers working. I think that the inclusion of Wanyama has helped us defensively but we have definitely lost something going forward. More chances were created for our strikers with Llanana, Cork and Schneiderlin playing together. Now less chances are being created and it seems we are hoping that Rickie or Osvaldo will create something out of nothing. At Roma, Osvaldo had Totti threading passes through but we have noone who is doing that and of course our team is not set-up to play that way. I honestly feel we still need a pacey winger or two plus a real creative presence in midfield who also works hard to win back the ball. My thoughts were that Ramirez could be the ideal foil for Osvaldo, threading balls through for him to run on to, but as he is out of favour it looks unlikely. Also he would need to up his game significantly. Maybe Coutinho would have been the answer. Either way i feel we need more pace (we often look slow and lethargic going forward with a lack of options) and a real creative player somewhere on the pitch!

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