Current Player #9 Mark Harris

WEYellow said:
Not controversial at all, I do agree with you on this.

I would say our front line is one of the few positions that doesn't need immediate improvement in the off season (regardless of which league we are playing in). Goodwin may or may not turn out to be a good signing but we don't know until he plays substantially, from the little we've seen so far he is definitely a great alternative to Harris. Like you say we would probably need a 3rd option to be safe, and I'd be looking at Klaidi Lolos from Crawley who has been in top form all season, with the ability to play in midfield as well as a lone 9.

Harris has been absolutely fantastic and is perfect for how we want to play right now, and the experience he's gained this season will only benefit us next season too, exciting times.
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For me, we definitely need another striker. For too long, many seasons, we have tried to last 55 games with 2 strikers. We must have 3
 
Tinman said:
But.... If he'd put the effort in before, we might well have been in a much better position than we ended up in.
He's had a great end to the season and changed our fortunes, but his terrible attitude before that would leave him out of my POTS tbh.
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What terrible attitude? He has certainly never had one under Des.
It sounds as if he was rushed back too early on a couple of occasions under Robinson and then Manning immediately wrote him off.
 
andystroud said:
Does anyone know why Harris celebrated in front of the Exeter fans in the way he did? It seemed particularly antagonistic. Was he being singled out for stick?
I know opposition players have done it at the Ka$$am (I'm looking at you Sam Smith), but really don't care for it.
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Love Mark Harris but I thought it was a bit unnecessary. He has a bit of form on winding up opposition fans and has celebrated goals in front of then a few times this season. He was doing it again after Bran's penalty too. Personally I'm not a fan of it
 
Been a big fan of Harris since day one. Technically very sound, good footballing brain, unselfish for a number 9 and leaves absolutely nothing out there.

Like it or not, I’m pretty sure he will hear no end of foul mouthed obscenities directed towards him from the stands each game. So maybe he is just giving a little back in return. If that is the case, then I don’t blame him.
 
Dubai Yellow said:
Been a big fan of Harris since day one. Technically very sound, good footballing brain, unselfish for a number 9 and leaves absolutely nothing out there.

Like it or not, I’m pretty sure he will hear no end of foul mouthed obscenities directed towards him from the stands each game. So maybe he is just giving a little back in return. If that is the case, then I don’t blame him.
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If you look at the players we've actually bought - Goodwin to one side (as I cant make a judgement yet either way because of injury) - we have bought some absolute quality over the last 12 months. Mark Harris, Greg Leigh, Ruben Rodrigues, Owen Dale and Joe Bennett have all been fantastic. Josh MacEachran has made vital cameos. It's not a bad haul at all.
 
Common Villager said:
FWIW I quite enjoy Harris giving the opposition fans a bit of stick. We've lacked a bit of shithousery in recent seasons.
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I agree with this. We used to love Maguire for it, Hylton - to a lesser extent - too. Neither of those were overly aggressive players and I don't think it goes hand in hand that shushing the crowd or cupping your ear means you're a hard or dirty player. A lot of the time I'm not sure he's copping much stick from opposing fans either, it seems like he's encouraging a bit of flak from the fans to perhaps keep up his performance level. A lot of players thrive on being the pantomime villain and I think this is what Harris is attempting to create. Some higher profile players we've had - someone like Kitson for example - wouldn't have had to try to hard to be that villain but Harris, although dropping down a league, isn't going to be that widely known to EFL audiences - yet.
 
I’ve no issue with Harris celebrations. The irony of fans turning in to snowflakes when a player gives them a bit back is laughable. Nowhere else in society would the abuse hurled at footballers inside stadiums and on social media be acceptable. Yet they go over and tell them to shut up and they’re out of order? Not for me. It’s on the fans to take it on the chin and not react like brats about it. If you can’t take it don’t give it out.
 
Swaby39 said:
I’ve no issue with Harris celebrations. The irony of fans turning in to snowflakes when a player gives them a bit back is laughable. Nowhere else in society would the abuse hurled at footballers inside stadiums and on social media be acceptable. Yet they go over and tell them to shut up and they’re out of order? Not for me. It’s on the fans to take it on the chin and not react like brats about it. If you can’t take it don’t give it out.
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Absolutely.

And it's even better when they win the battle but you win the war (e.g. Lincoln's keeper giving it the big won at full-time at our place when they won 1-0).
 
tonyw said:
Here's a controversial statement - if we don't win the playoffs, and if we believe Goodwin is going to be fit for the start of next season (i.e. he's not nursing anything chronic), I wouldn't sign an out-and-out striker this summer, and rather would save that money for GK/RB/CM/Wingers.

Because if we are in League One next year, then with Des at the helm I'm sure we're only going to employ one striker. And Sparky has done enough since the turn of the year to ensure that it should be him, at least to begin the season. Goodwin is then our 400k backup (and competition).

I would want to sign someone who was comfortable playing across the front three (like a Dan Agyei, only.....you know.....better) for extra injury cover. But spending money on three players for a single position would be extravagant, especially when we'll still have some glaring holes in other areas needing patching.

(though if we do win the playoffs, I would want to sign an experienced Championship marksman)
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I think relying on Goodwin is a big risk, he's been done over by Cheltenham in terms of treatment for his injury and it's something that could have long term consequences. Hopefully we can get him fit and sorted over the summer but it's a big doubt whether we'll ever see him fully fit. Otherwise I broadly agree that we will likely be pretty wedded to one up top but we need proper back up and alternatives so we can rest Harris rather than running him in to the ground, and the backups themselves need to be reliable or we're in the same situation we've been in since January with Goodwin unable to help much.

Also a little harsh on Agyei, who was good when he was here and given a chance before it all went particularly sour. Had some big injuries this year but his minutes per goal is actually quite a bit better than Harris has been under Des and that's off the back of scoring 16 last season in his first proper run in a team as a striker. We won't go back and I'm not suggesting we do for a second but I always thought he was a talented player and I suspect under a better manager he'd be a top end League One or Championship player by now.
 
Joey said:
Hopefully we can get him fit and sorted over the summer but it's a big doubt whether we'll ever see him fully fit.
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A big doubt? Who has said that? I would imagine that the club and their medical experts would totally disagree with that, so I am interested where this came from?
 
billyturleyscurlywurly said:
I don’t think you’ve watched us since Christmas if you think his attitude is terrible.

Think it’s become very clear his attitude issues in his first year were because of a certain manager he had to work under.
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Just like to point out that Josh played 46 times for 'a certain manager' at MK Dons in the 2015/6 season and won player of the season there.
His problems were much more complex than the manager. But I do think Des has shown he can get a tune out of a player who we know is very talented.
 
Joey said:
I think relying on Goodwin is a big risk, he's been done over by Cheltenham in terms of treatment for his injury and it's something that could have long term consequences. Hopefully we can get him fit and sorted over the summer but it's a big doubt whether we'll ever see him fully fit. Otherwise I broadly agree that we will likely be pretty wedded to one up top but we need proper back up and alternatives so we can rest Harris rather than running him in to the ground, and the backups themselves need to be reliable or we're in the same situation we've been in since January with Goodwin unable to help much.

Also a little harsh on Agyei, who was good when he was here and given a chance before it all went particularly sour. Had some big injuries this year but his minutes per goal is actually quite a bit better than Harris has been under Des and that's off the back of scoring 16 last season in his first proper run in a team as a striker. We won't go back and I'm not suggesting we do for a second but I always thought he was a talented player and I suspect under a better manager he'd be a top end League One or Championship player by now.
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"A big doubt that we'll ever see Goodwin fully fit."

Where are you getting that from?
 
Foley said:
A big doubt? Who has said that? I would imagine that the club and their medical experts would totally disagree with that, so I am interested where this came from?
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Sheik djibouti said:
"A big doubt that we'll ever see Goodwin fully fit."

Where are you getting that from?
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Sorry, poorly worded from me. Semantics but should have read as having doubts about how likely he will be to get fit (ie I'm not fully confident as you would be with, say, Brannagan returning at full strengh) as opposed to outright doubting it. Like I say semantics but there is a subtle difference. I think we're hoping he'll be fit for the away game and anything before is a bonus.

Fingers crossed that we do get him sorted and see the best of him, and he can knock these injuries on the head but he wasn't helped by the medical team at Cheltenham. This part is supposition from me but I wonder if we panicked slightly when we signed him, we were light on strikers at the time and hoping his injury wasn't all that serious. It was after we had done a bit of an internal investigation into injuries and therefore the likes of Routledge weren't in the building so not sure we were at full strength in the medical department.
 
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