It's down to you - Corney

SIMON CORNEY

THE ONUS is on Athletic’s current crop of strikers to dig out their shooting boots, after chairman Simon Corney ruled out a new loan signing.

Though Lee Johnson’s side have only failed to find the net in one of the last seven fixtures in league and cup — the 2-0 loss to Wolves at Molineux — the lack of penalty-box instinct was pinpointed by many as a main reason behind Athletic acquiring one point rather than three from Bristol City.

Charlie MacDonald has struggled with injuries and is out of action but none of Adam Rooney, Jonson Clarke-Harris, Danny Philliskirk or Kirk Millar has managed to cement a striking spot in the line-up.

Speaking to the Chronicle from New York, though, Corney was emphatic, saying it is up to the current squad of players to lift their level on a consistent basis.

“Absolutely not,” he said, when asked if a loan signing was in the offing. “Some have talked about a striker, but we have four or five strikers already.

“Lee (Johnson) knows what he has got and while we are always looking, we have already brought players in to a squad many were happy with at the start of the season.

“Matteo Lanzoni, Genseric Kusunga, Joseph Mills and Danny Philliskirk have all come in to supplement what we already had.”

Corney watched Wolves see off Athletic two weeks ago, but he is insistent that the players he bankrolls have the talent to progress past Kenny Jackett’s side and into round two of the FA Cup on Saturday.

“We are absolutely good enough,” he added. “But the issue is, we haven’t shown it nearly often enough.

“The manager can only do so much. A few players are out there living on the edge and there are only so many non-performances you can take before you say ‘enough is enough’.

“For some reason, the same players don’t seem to be able to get up for some games.

“Look at the example of someone like Korey Smith.

“He may have had the occasional bad patch but generally he gives you the same good level every single week. The same is true of James Tarkowski.

“But others aren’t giving that seven-out-of-10 performance every week.”