When I posted a week or so before the window shut about whether we needed to sign another striker, when I asked if that was necessary, I had no idea the Gods of Fate were laughing at me, about to strike down Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele both.
I had no idea that was coming. Who did? Even if we had, could we have done anything about it? I would suggest not. Henry Onyekuru is in one of those standoff’s with his club that no-one wants to back down on. Only a Dembele style fee would have moved them, and that simply wasn’t going to happen. We weren’t going to make some kind of panic buy.
So where does that leave us?
Well big Moussa looks like he’s on the way back; thank God, because we looked stale last night without a proper front man.
Yet, this club does have options without Dembele or Griffiths.
Let’s take a look at what they are.
First, you could play James Forrest or Scott Sinclair through the middle.
That’s exactly what Brendan has been trying to do the last couple of games, and it’s worked but not as well as having a genuine striker. Actually I think if we had to do it for a few more weeks (and we’ll definitely need to at the weekend) he could do worse than to give the centre forwards position to Forrest because I’ve long believed that’s going to prove his best role.
Scott Sinclair will score goals, but we miss his creative spark wide when he’s played through the middle and he drags defenders after him when he’s out there. That opens opportunities up which our attacking midfielders tend to capitalise on.
Without those two, we seem to be left without options as Ryan Christie has left on loan, but in point of fact there are, of course, two.
First is young Jack Aitchison, who I think is going to be a fantastic player.
But is he ready for this?
He will be, and the best way to get him ready is to play him.
Ironically if we were simply on a good run I think he’d have started one of the two last games. But because it’s a record breaking run the manager won’t put that kind of pressure on his young shoulders; I can wholeheartedly understand why, even if I do think he’d prove up to it.
The other option, of course, is Nadir Ciftci. I would have put money on him leaving during this window and that would have been that. But he’s still here, still hanging in there, and as long as he is I wonder. I wonder if we’ve really seen the last of him.
Of course, Armstrong has scored goals for us and Rogic has too, so it’s not just the two front men we are missing. But Aitchison and the forgotten man Ciftci could yet find themselves in the mix, even when Tom and Stuart are back in the side.
Good teams don’t depend on only one or two players, which is why we could continue to win even without a recognised striker in the team. But we’ll all feel more comfortable when either Moussa or Leigh Griffiths is fit again and leading the line.
In the absence of that, what do you think our option should be?