Is anyone else suprised Wilbraham is still here?

[Indy 3,283]

No disrespect to Aaron, but not exactly a good striker, nor young with potential, so why has he not been shown the door with the other 6?

Must be something to his game I''ve yet to see.

[Beauseant 0]

Despite the ridiculous amount of bile aimed at him by an apparent majority of posters, I think he''s a very decent target man, with an excellent first touch, and it''s good to see that he''s been getting on the score sheet in pre season.

I suppose that the issue is why do we need him AND Morison, but I''ll trust Lambert''s judgement!

[???? 0]

It''s obvious Lambert likes him and prefers to play two target men upfront, which is why i think he has signed Morison who is a simlar type player but with more strengh,skill and a better finishing ability. No harm in keeping him as back-up (for now)....

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

Did a good job for us last season, its not Lambert''s style to completely ostracise somebody from his squad when they''ve done a decent job for him recently.

[Indy 3,283]

MacNamee did a good job for us, Wilbraham did a job, not sure he was that instrumental in our promotion as Jackson & Holt.

Just don''t see Wilbraham even making any bench this season, Martin, Holt, Jackson, Vaghaun & Morrison well infront, so would it not be in Wilbraham''s best interest to find another club?

Just can''t really see the need myself, but hey Lambert is a far better judge than me.

[When Saturday Comes 0]

He only signed in January!

[LeJuge 0]

[quote user="諾維奇城"]It''s obvious Lambert likes him and prefers to play two target men upfront, which is why i think he has signed Morison who is a simlar type player but with more strengh,skill and a better finishing ability. No harm in keeping him as back-up (for now)....[/quote]I can''t really think of any time over the last two years when Lambert has played two target men up front, unless you are referring to the 5 ft 10 inch Chris Martin as a target man. I think it is pushing it to even refer to Holt as a target man, he is an all round striker who as a result is good in the air. Paul Lambert has signed Simeon Jackson and James Vaughan since arriving at the club, and we spent a season and a half with no back up to Grant Holt, so really can''t see where you are coming from there. Until Wilbraham arrived to provide a backup to Holt we only had one at the club. We all saw what Lambert likes to see up front when Jackson came into life at the end of last season, Holt and Jackson was the perfect front two for that league. The only reason Martin ended up getting as many starts as he did before injury was that Simeon Jackson took so long to settle, and dare I say it to be the slightest bit effective on a consistant basis. An off-form player was kept out of the team by a not so quite out of form player imo. I cannot imagine Lambert ever playing Holt and Morison up front together unless it is part of a three man attack, or unless one comes off the bench for the last 10 minutes when we are losing 1-0 and we have no choice but to pump ball after ball into the box..... which we may have to do a fair bit against teams that we can''t pass through.

[LeJuge 0]

I can''t see him getting rid. Maybe he should stick around until the end of August, and go on loan until January. Then we can look at where we are in the league, fitness of strikers etc, and Lambert can work out whether he needs the extra body in the squad for the run-in.Remember that we can leave him out of the 25 and put him back in when January comes. You can change your 25 as much as you want in the transfer window. If we can''t find permanent moves for players like Hughes and Smith, then we can always loan them out and put them back in on January 1st if somebody breaks a leg in November!

[CambridgeCanary 0]

Can you have too many strikers?

Do you really think that with injuries and suspensions that Holt and Morison as the other two "target" men will be available in every game?

Do you think that Wilby will have a role in reserve football but allowing that team to play with a target man and hence help other players try tactics and keep fit in a style similiar to the first team?

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

McNamee didn''t do a good job for us last season. He offered very little in terms of end product and the fact he barely featured after x-mas supports that.

Wilbraham isn''t a flashy player but his hold up play was good. He''s strong, has a decent first touch and puts himself about. In tough away games at Leicester, Boro & Leeds he took pressure from the back 4 because we were able to go back to front to gain field position and relieve pressure. Also in games where we were searching for an equaliser or winning goal he gave us another presence in and around the box. Watch the goals against Cardiff, Reading, Millwall.

[zemas tendon 0]

What is everyones problem with Wilbraham, he is Technically gifted, has a great touch for a big guy, scored the best goal in the Championship last season, he is also very quick, will probably start most Premiership games, Man Utd, Barca, Inter Milan have been monitoring his progress, and overall cost us peanuts in transfer fee

[CambridgeCanary 0]

Well LeJuge, Wilby and Holt started 3 or 4 games together last season and Holt and Vokes started at Watford so perhaps you can''t remember two target strikers starting together least season but it has happened.

[Salopian 1]

I am slightly surprised that he could be in the squad, - lacking pace. He has only one more year on his contract and probably has little sale value.

In his defence, he did not have many games before his back problem, so we have porbably yet to see him fully fit and acclimatised.

Perhaps he displays more in training then he has revealed on the pitch. His goal attempts last season were not brilliant, but he did score with a brilliant volley in Germany, I think.

Who know what PL has in mind for AW. Perhaps we shall see fairly early in the season. As a conventional striker he has to be sixth in the pecking order, so....

[NeonYellow 4]

Wilbraham is better than we think.

He has clearly improved under Culverhouse and raised his game, he looks sharp in pre-season training, I remember he was pretty effective in some of the games and scored the winner against Leicester something which no doubt helped us clinch promotion.

He will be a great squad player with a good attitude in case Holt get''s injured. What''s unbelievable about that?

We can''t really compare him to players on the way out like MacNamee and Oli who are more easily knocked off the ball and struggled in the Championship, they simply wouldn''t have as much to offer the Premiership an would need more games than we can offer in The Championship to build up to that level.

[???? 0]

[quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="諾維奇城"]It''s obvious Lambert likes him and prefers to play two target men upfront, which is why i think he has signed Morison who is a simlar type player but with more strengh,skill and a better finishing ability. No harm in keeping him as back-up (for now)....[/quote]I can''t really think of any time over the last two years when Lambert has played two target men up front, unless you are referring to the 5 ft 10 inch Chris Martin as a target man. I think it is pushing it to even refer to Holt as a target man, he is an all round striker who as a result is good in the air. Paul Lambert has signed Simeon Jackson and James Vaughan since arriving at the club, and we spent a season and a half with no back up to Grant Holt, so really can''t see where you are coming from there. Until Wilbraham arrived to provide a backup to Holt we only had one at the club. We all saw what Lambert likes to see up front when Jackson came into life at the end of last season, Holt and Jackson was the perfect front two for that league. The only reason Martin ended up getting as many starts as he did before injury was that Simeon Jackson took so long to settle, and dare I say it to be the slightest bit effective on a consistant basis. An off-form player was kept out of the team by a not so quite out of form player imo. I cannot imagine Lambert ever playing Holt and Morison up front together unless it is part of a three man attack, or unless one comes off the bench for the last 10 minutes when we are losing 1-0 and we have no choice but to pump ball after ball into the box..... which we may have to do a fair bit against teams that we can''t pass through. [/quote]

After we signed Wilberham, Lambert seemed to prefer starting with Wilberham and Holt upfront especially away from home

[Bill 1,788]

Lambert signed Wilbraham with an eye to the possibility of us being in the Premier League and certainly the Championship.

i have a feeling he may be another one in the mould of Fox, R Martin and Jackson. Derided by many yet after a fair bit of work at Colney began to deliver the goods once he got into the team.

One of the noticably facts of Lamberts recent signings is the height and strength of the players. I expect Wilbraham to surprise a few come next autumn.

As to MacNamee then no, he never really achieved much. Saw him at Oldham away and he didn''t really look committed. hasn''t done since. I doubt he will be missed and it seems pointless him and the others staying. Still, shame he wasn''t ten years older, otherwise he could have joined the paupers down the road.

[William Darby 0]

We''ll need Father Abraham, he''s part of the ''win ugly'' plan when we resort to hoofball.  FACT...

[ryan1992 0]

I don''t know if anybody else has said this, but I haven''t got enough time to read through 2 pages of posts just to find a quote! I believe Lambert is a very big fan of AW. After he got his injury last year, PL said that was the biggest blow he''s had since taking charge at NCFC, and that Wilbraham is a very big part of the club. I don''t know what he''s like in the changing rooms etc, but Lambert obviously rates him. He has had a good pre season, and maybe he could surprise a few next year

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

Deserves his day in the sun. Cost little and modest wages. We all know he will only be back up and that will probably only be for a season

[Howson is now! 0]

[quote user="Indy"]MacNamee did a good job for us.[/quote]

 

I''m sorry but what good job did McNamee do for us? In 5 starts and 12 sub appearances he didn''t have a single assist.

[Syteanric 1]

aaron Whoops-raham! He is a pain in the backside for opposition defenders though which is why i guess he has been kept on. there will be games (Stoke) where we will need to give as good as we get and having come on off the bench to rough up defenders could work well for us.

[Chelmsford Canary 0]

I think he is perfect target man if Holt is injured. Also hungry, as never been in premiership.

Most people on here see Morison as replacement for Holt. Don''t think PL sees it that way, and Morison has more to offer than just a target man.

[LeJuge 0]

[quote user="CambridgeCanary"]Well LeJuge, Wilby and Holt started 3 or 4 games together last season and Holt and Vokes started at Watford so perhaps you can''t remember two target strikers starting together least season but it has happened.[/quote]That still in no way supports the statement: "It''s obvious Lambert likes him and prefers to play two target men upfront".In fact, I suspect that Lambert is one of the least obvious managers in the game. The only obvious thing about Lambert is that he doesn''t like to make things obvious. Obviously! Vokes started against Watford because Hoolohan was out, he effectively played three strikers because Pacheco played behind the strikers. So, like I said, Lambert will only play two target men in a front three. As for Wilbraham starting with Holt, at the time we only had three strikers fit.... Vokes got recalled after only a few games and Chris Martin was injured. It is inevitable that he wouldn''t want to start So, ''obviously'' prefers to play two target men? Or does so when he has to? I will put £100 on Lambert playing a Morison/Holt & Vaughan/Jackson front two at least twice as frequently than a Morison/Holt/Wilbraham & Morison/Holt/Wilbraham partneship next year. I''d genuinely have that bet, but doubt many people would want to give me £100 that easily!!

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="Who Let The Fox Out "]

[quote user="Indy"]MacNamee did a good job for us.[/quote]

 

I''m sorry but what good job did McNamee do for us? In 5 starts and 12 sub appearances he didn''t have a single assist.

[/quote]

Barnsley at home?

[AJ 1,218]

chasing a game into the last 10 minutes or so, throwing everything forward, pop him on upfront, lets see what happens after that!

[Mahogany 0]

Wilbraham is the only real like-for-like backup for Holt we have, as Holt himself said Morison is a very different sort of player.

Also remember we are in a proper reserve league this year so need enough players to field a team. I''d imagine we''d want the reserves to play in a similar way to the 1st team and having Wibraham in that will allow us to do so.

[birchfest 397]

I can imagine the type of situation he will be used, for example the relief that the stoke team will feel will be short lived when jackson or Vaughan get subbed to realised that they are then up against him and holt or Morrison! Your going to know youve been in a games against any of those three!

[Indy 3,283]

I really hope your right, but I just don''t see it myself. I don''t think there will be too many defenders dreading the thought of playing against Wilbraham, Drogba or Van Persie perhaps but Wilbraha!

I''m not knocking the lad and being a NCFC fan really want him to do well, as any City player, but I was suprised to see him kept after we got promoted given the standard he was playing at.

Come Aaron prove me wrong.......

[G 0]

[quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="諾維奇城"]It''s obvious Lambert likes him and prefers to play two target men upfront, which is why i think he has signed Morison who is a simlar type player but with more strengh,skill and a better finishing ability. No harm in keeping him as back-up (for now)....[/quote]

I can''t really think of any time over the last two years when Lambert has played two target men up front, unless you are referring to the 5 ft 10 inch Chris Martin as a target man. I think it is pushing it to even refer to Holt as a target man, he is an all round striker who as a result is good in the air.


[/quote]

 

I think Lambert played Wilbraham and Holt upfront together a couple times, not sure though. Against QPR?

[G 0]

[quote user="G"]

[quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="諾維奇城"]It''s obvious Lambert likes him and prefers to play two target men upfront, which is why i think he has signed Morison who is a simlar type player but with more strengh,skill and a better finishing ability. No harm in keeping him as back-up (for now)....[/quote]

I can''t really think of any time over the last two years when Lambert has played two target men up front, unless you are referring to the 5 ft 10 inch Chris Martin as a target man. I think it is pushing it to even refer to Holt as a target man, he is an all round striker who as a result is good in the air.


[/quote]

 

I think Lambert played Wilbraham and Holt upfront together a couple times, not sure though. Against QPR?

[/quote]

 

Wasn''t QPR but it was somebody.