BrojaWonder who it was.
We just can’t go into next season with such limited attacking options where a couple of those players are injury prone.I count 3 forwards.
Bellegarde is as much a forward as RAN is shame he is out but I'm not sure he would have made much difference now.
Hwang was injured for most of January and Neto was coming back from an injury. It is a horribly predictable scenario that we just have to ride out. Think we are over the worst of it now though.
It's completely worthless. A vanity stat to tell you how well the people who take their shots performed.It's definitely flawed. Some cases where it doesn't tell the story are where a team scores early off a less than stellar chance and then the other side racks up a decent xG number despite never being that close to scoring. In general, a team will get a decent xG if they are chasing a game.
I also think it's total nonsense to use it over a season like Poch recently where he said the advanced stats suggest they should be fourth.
However, on a game to game it's not worthless, imo. One thing it does well is account for a good counter-attacking team who generate a few very high percentage chances and concede a lot of lower percentage chances, ending up in a fairly even game.
That's what Hobbs is there for.Someone posted that Fosun took the risk of not buying in the window. What if it was the oher way round and buying would have screwed us with a points deduction.
Anyway, it is what it is, no one is phsychic.
Kilman also put RAN through with a brilliant through ball which RAN had to score.Terrible.
Too slow passing. Kilman passing horrific. Sarabia absolutely shocking , and a total lack of desire to beat the second worst team in the league
What a waste this season looks like being due to fosun, but GON must take responsibly for our dire tactics last night
Broja
I have to confess that at the end of January I said that if the right player wasn't there, then we would be better to go with what we had.
However I'm simply not buying the idea that we couldn't afford a loan player because of PSR. We've cut the wage bill and made a huge transfer profit, budgeted on finishing 17th, then loaned two well paid strikers. O'Neil was told we had money to spend in January and then that we hadn't. It's not working to a tight budget that's frustrated him, it's having the goalposts moved (sound familiar?).
Based on reports, the financial headroom was very tight, with no more than 2-3m available based on a worst case 17th finish. Gary has already said himself that we had someone lined up on loan, but that we were outbid at the 11th hour and couldn’t match without risking breaking the limit. So was money withheld, then yes in a sense, and no. Had we been sitting in the bottom three and/or missing forwards to injury at the time, then maybe the club takes the risk, spends a few million more, and we aim to finish a couple of places higher so the prize money covers the gap. But back in January, three of four forwards were fit, and the fourth was expected back imminently. Our bigger concern then was losing players to Afcon and Asia Cup, which looked bad but in practice affected only a handful of games.
As for Fabio. For a start he, through his father, made it clear he didn’t want to be here. Secondly, I’m genuinely not sure he offers much more than our two young forwards. Sasa would’ve offered something different, but wasn’t fit and, as we’ve seen since, remains injury prone.
Yes, but I have no faith whatever in the accuracy of a forecast of £2.7m headroom. The stuff the club leaks goes all over the place. Hobbs was clearly told there was money and then that there wasn't even though all that changed was players being loaned out. We might finish 13th, we aren't finishing 17th. That's £10m extra for a start, that's paying for anyone we could realistically expect.See my response on the GON thread above.
Yes, but I have no faith whatever in the accuracy of a forecast of £2.7m headroom. The stuff the club leaks goes all over the place. Hobbs was clearly told there was money and then that there wasn't even though all that changed was players being loaned out. We might finish 13th, we aren't finishing 17th. That's £10m extra for a start, that's paying for anyone we could realistically expect.
RAN's end product still remains suspect, for me anyway.Kilman also put RAN through with a brilliant through ball which RAN had to score.
i forgot though, RAN is the current poster boy and unable to be criticised whereas Kilman needs literally crucifying.
This ladies, gents and those who don’t identify either way, is the football fan of 2024.
This isn’t aimed at you per se OWTW.
RAN's end product still remains suspect, for me anyway.
To be fair to him he's a full back being played out of his normal position, he's got the tricky feet until it comes to shooting where he really hasn't got a clue, he's had 3 sitters lately and missed them all. I doubt he'll be here next season so it won't be a problem.RAN's end product still remains suspect, for me anyway.
he’s a hell of a player, just needs to learn the how’s!RAN's end product still remains suspect, for me anyway.
Agreed, thought he was all over the place in the 10 mins before he got taken off. He needs a loan I think, he’s not a bad player he’s just barely played any football.Anyone a bit disappointed with H Buenos performance? Thought he was really poor & genuinely can see why Doc has been picked ahead of him.
Hope he gets a run though to see if he can improve but needs to do way more than last night.
Effectively we have 9 PL forwards (Cunha, Hwang, Neto, Bellegarde, Sarabia, Guedes, Podence, Fabio, Sasa). For a variety of reasons, some you can blame the club and some not, only one of those was available to start today.
Its hard to count the ones who arent here, but it does show how poor our transfers have been in this department.
Kind of my point really, with the investment from Fosun we shouldn’t be in the position we’re in, but a lot has been spent poorly.Its hard to count the ones who arent here, but it does show how poor our transfers have been in this department.
That's fine though isn't it because he's a LWB being asked to be our main threat up front. Of course he's not a finisher. Scored one last night, missed a sitter, and put one on a plate for Lemina which he just hit the post with. Sounds about right for a defender that likes to get forward.
Mostly under Sellars tenureKind of my point really, with the investment from Fosun we shouldn’t be in the position we’re in, but a lot has been spent poorly.
Agree, Hobbs has so far been much better.Mostly under Sellars tenure
I think he actually watches players rather than going off recommendations from agentsAgree, Hobbs has so far been much better.
Hobbs’ background is in scouting and recruitment, Sellars’ background was academy football.I think he actually watches players rather than going off recommendations from agents
You could make the same argument about the Jeff Shi out brigade, everything that is wrong is down to Jeff personally and there are no outside factors possibly at playThe yahoos who always support the board, no matter how stupid their policy might be, are in general not worth debating with, as they are
not open to rational discussion or acceptance of reality.
There are plenty of intelligent people to debate with, thankfully.
This is what is forgotten in the rush to blame Jeff and Fosun. We had two strikers lined up after Sasa and Fabio left. The agent scuppered the one deal and Chelsea the other by insisting on a £4m must play clause we were never going to agree to with the front 3 playing so well. It would have been sheer lunacy to have agreed to that deal and get a points deduction just to have a half fit back up striker on the benchYuri Alberto also was about $1m off happening due to rogue agents in Brazil
I get all my information from my IPad.The yahoos who always support the board, no matter how stupid their policy might be, are in general not worth debating with, as they are
not open to rational discussion or acceptance of reality.
There are plenty of intelligent people to debate with, thankfully.
Even “forwards” miss the type of chance that RAN had last night. Antonio missed a one on one last night for West Spam against Spuds. And who can forget the miss by Che Adams against us last season from a yard out when it was easier to score than to miss? We’ve been heavily linked to both players in the past.I think the position he's been playing in the last couple of matches unleashes the best from him. And that is more central, further forward. The only problem is that his finishing is not that of a forward.
I thought his performance when starting against Newcastle 2-2 was excellent but we haven’t got to see much of him sinceForgot to add, Boubacar is great at charging around and putting pressure on the opposition, and with that in mind I'm always pretty happy to see him coming on, but I've always found it baffling how he can't trap a ball or run with it just a few yards. If it's not a tackle or first time pass/hit, he can't seem to do it. Really strange.
A good backup midfielder in there though.
A stiff criticism of one of our best players, but undeniably true. A player couldn't ask for better chances than the one-on-ones against Villa and Burnley, yet he panicked and slapped both of them straight at the keeper when the opposite bottom corner was yawning. He scores those two, and we might well have been sitting on as many as 47 points. Seeing as we are fashioning him to be one of our main attacking outlets, he seriously needs to work on his finishing in training.Kilman also put RAN through with a brilliant through ball which RAN had to score. i forgot though, RAN is the current poster boy and unable to be criticised whereas Kilman needs literally crucifying.