At what stage does Bloom question the recruitment set up?

[London Irish]

Let's not kid ourselves Ulloa was an incredible find and took the best part of 2 seasons to find and get in. If we could find another overseas option that would be cheaper but for every Ulloa you are just as likely to get a Rodriguez or Colunga.

On paper Baldock for £2m with his scoring record is by no means expensive not when you compare to Rhodes, Deeney, McCormack or what Palace paid for dwight gale.

Ulloa and Baldock were both gambles in that they both had good scoring records outside of the championship but one paid off and the other the jury is out on.

Strongly disagree - Baldock is very expensive given the player he is, a player who got most of his goals exploiting the slowness of League 1 defenders

 

[Bold Seagull]

Where Reed obviously had the final say, doing what Burke is doing at Brighton.
Have you noticed he has not been in any of these positions for long at Fulham, Man City and Southampton and only stays short times in the jobs.
In my working career, I have seen many good number two's who have failed when promoted to being the top man.

He's not been in each job that long because each time he's been offered a BETTER role. That isn't a sign of failure, that is a sign of success.

In my working career I've seen some brilliant number 2's who've gone onto make even better no.1's. There is no hard and fast reason why someone will be a success, and others you'd expect to do well don't. Do you think Bobby Robson suspected his interpreter would go on to become one of the top managers in the world!? Perhaps Bob Paisley would never step up from the number 2 job either under your logic..

 

[Bozza]

Strongly disagree - Baldock is very expensive given the player he is, a player who got most of his goals exploiting the slowness of League 1
defenders

Strongly disagree - If Ulloa was not a gamble he would have been picked up long before we did by a club with far greater resources than our own.

4 goals in 18 in the Spanish second division was his tally when we picked him up.

 

[Bozza]

Strongly disagree - Baldock is very expensive given the player he is, a player who got most of his goals exploiting the slowness of League 1 defenders

...and also Britt Assombalonga had only scored in non-league and in the slow reaches of League One. Forest paid £5.5m for him. What idiots, eh?

 

[spanish flair]

He's not been in each job that long because each time he's been offered a BETTER role. That isn't a sign of failure, that is a sign of success.

In my working career I've seen some brilliant number 2's who've gone onto make even better no.1's. There is no hard and fast reason why someone will be a success, and others you'd expect to do well don't. Do you think Bobby Robson suspected his interpreter would go on to become one of the top managers in the world!? Perhaps Bob Paisley would never step up from the number 2 job either under your logic..

OK so Burke is a success in your opinion, which you correctly have a right to have. But I believe he has struggled to get talent into the club without Gus and that is my opinion which I am entitled to also.

 

[KZNSeagull]

When did his time become stretched, when he sacked Mervyn Day who went on to get the same job as Burke at that other little Albion, West Brom.

[h=4]Head of Football Operations[/h][h=5]Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club[/h]January 2012 – Present (2 years 11 months)The Amex StadiumManaging the football aspects of the Club,on behalf of the Chairman working closely with the head coach and CEO, including:

Player and transfer negotiation.
Player budget
Player audits
Scouting and recruitment
Performance analysis
The Academy and player development
Player support services, education, welfare and liaison
Kit management
Women and girls elite football

 

[Seasider78]

Strongly disagree - Baldock is very expensive given the player he is, a player who got most of his goals exploiting the slowness of League 1 defenders

You could say the same about Assombalonga who with a similar scoring record in league 1 was sold to Forest for a reported £5m rising to £8m. Like it or not league 1 is not somewhere you get players cheaply anymore (see CMS as an early indication of that)

 

[Guinness Boy]

Strongly disagree - Baldock is very expensive given the player he is, a player who got most of his goals exploiting the slowness of League 1 defenders

I don't have nearly as much of an issue with Baldock on his own as some of the others. He needs a Barnes or Ulloa to play off / with. It's square pegs in round holes and, as [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION] states, getting rid of some of the round pegs.

 

[spanish flair]

[h=4]Head of Football Operations[/h][h=5]Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club[/h]January 2012 – Present (2 years 11 months)The Amex StadiumManaging the football aspects of the Club,on behalf of the Chairman working closely with the head coach and CEO, including:

Player and transfer negotiation.
Player budget
Player audits
Scouting and recruitment
Performance analysis
The Academy and player development
Player support services, education, welfare and liaison
Kit management
Women and girls elite football

Youre point is?

 

[Easy 10]

I thought we were after Baldock before Same even came here

We probably were.
You'd think that if Hyypia really didn't fancy him, he'd speak up though. Especially given the major outlay (in our terms) we were committing to the deal. So I'd assume Hyypia was happy for the club to go ahead with the Baldock signing - but he hasn't yet managed to fit him into a system that produces a decent ratio of chances for him.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Youre point is?

Answering your question about when his time got stretched. So I have posted his responsibilities for you so that you can determine for yourself what he does all day. Hope it helps.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Youre point is?

He is responsible for a lot more than just buying players.

 

[spanish flair]

He is responsible for a lot more than just buying players.

I fully understand that but that was his role from the start.
So why did he sack Day, who went on to get a better job than Burke at WBA

 

[spanish flair]

Answering your question about when his time got stretched. So I have posted his responsibilities for you so that you can determine for yourself what he does all day. Hope it helps.

I wasn't the one who claimed he was stretched, that was Bozza. But if the job is too big for him, that may explain some of the sh*te signings he has recommended and signed.

 

[Rookie]

Are the players that have been brought in since last season really that bad (all data from Wikipedia)?

Stockdale - 21 appearances last season in the premier league for Fulham and previously 24 for Hull in the season they went up from the Championship
Hughes - 11 appearances last season for QPR and previously spent pretty much all his career in the premier league
Bennett - Only 5 appearances last season for Aston Villa but 25 the previous season
Holla - 54 appearances (covering two seasons) for Den Haag in the Dutch top flight
Colunga - 27 appearances in La Liga (I think) last season
O'Grady - 40 appearances (15 goals) in the Championship last season
Baldock - 42 appearances (23 goals) in League One
Toko - 33 appearances in the Swiss top flight

While the team is clearly not as good as previous season, beating the recruitment side because the manager has so far struggled to get the best out of the players that have come in, is in my view, not the way to go.

 

[glasfryn]

We probably were.
You'd think that if Hyypia really didn't fancy him, he'd speak up though. Especially given the major outlay (in our terms) we were committing to the deal. So I'd assume Hyypia was happy for the club to go ahead with the Baldock signing - but he hasn't yet managed to fit him into a system that produces a decent ratio of chances for him.

good point .......but he is still a square peg in a round hole , needs someone tall and who can hold the ball up for him to come on to .....where is Spider Mellor when you need him, does not have to be a known goal scorer just someone who can get in there and mix it up a bit, does not have to be fast either just be there when when the balls come in from the wings or down the middle ........I know he is old and slow but I still think Emil Heskey could do a job for the rest of the season or someone just like him.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

So I'd assume Hyypia was happy for the club to go ahead with the Baldock signing - but he hasn't yet managed to fit him into a system that produces a decent ratio of chances for him.

Baldock gets SUCH an easy ride on here.
Saturday, off the top of my head, from the first half alone (minutes are very much guesswork):

02: E.Bennett slips Calderon down the right channel. Calderon whips a superb low cross, right across the six yard line, begging to be finished off. Baldock, in the centre, makes no real effort to get in front of the single defender.

20: Lualua picks the ball up on halfway and drives at the defence, before rolling the ball to Baldock, left of the penalty spot. Baldock could shoot first time, but takes a touch and gets closed out by the two defenders.

25: E.Bennett slips the ball to Baldock, just inside the box, left of centre. Baldock mis-hits a side-foot shot first time, tamely at the keeper.

42: Calderon plays Baldock into the box, right of the goal. Could have taken a quick shot, but choses to take a touch, and the defender forces it out for a corner (which praise the Lord, we score from).

43: (immediately after the goal) J.Bennett picks up the ball just in our half, and drives to the edge of the box, then lays it right to the unmarked Baldock. Baldock declines to shoot first time. Gets closed down, and has to turn away from the goal to keep the move alive.

That's five opportunities in 45 minutes of football - from which he got one shot away. Note I say 'opportunities', rather than 'chances'. Oppourtunities are what you need to work with at this level. If you can only score from tap ins and clear one-on-ones your level is League One, where the defenders are shit.

 

[Bozza]

beating the recruitment side because the manager has so far struggled to get the best out of the players that have come in, is in my view, not the way to go.

That's probably where I am pretty much, I think.

This thread completely ignores the tactics deployed by Hyypia until very recently which were largely derided by everyone.

Now our full-backs are able to focus on the "back" bit of their job description and we're playing with some genuine width, it should provide a better platform to assess what we have.

 

[nwgull]

Baldock gets SUCH an easy ride on here.
Saturday, off the top of my head, from the first half alone (minutes are very much guesswork):

02: E.Bennett slips Calderon down the right channel. Calderon whips a superb low cross, right across the six yard line, begging to be finished off. Baldock, in the centre, makes no real effort to get in front of the single defender.

20: Lualua picks the ball up on halfway and drives at the defence, before rolling the ball to Baldock, left of the penalty spot. Baldock could shoot first time, but takes a touch and gets closed out by the two defenders.

25: E.Bennett slips the ball to Baldock, just inside the box, left of centre. Baldock mis-hits a side-foot shot first time, tamely at the keeper.

42: Calderon plays Baldock into the box, right of the goal. Could have taken a quick shot, but choses to take a touch, and the defender forces it out for a corner (which praise the Lord, we score from).

43: (immediately after the goal) J.Bennett picks up the ball just in our half, and drives to the edge of the box, then lays it right to the unmarked Baldock. Baldock declines to shoot first time. Gets closed down, and has to turn away from the goal to keep the move alive.

That's five opportunities in 45 minutes of football - from which he got one shot away. Note I say 'opportunities', rather than 'chances'. Oppourtunities are what you need to work with at this level. If you can only score from tap ins and clear one-on-ones your level is League One, where the defenders are shit.

So to summarise: he should shoot first time more often then? This must surely be a confidence thing; maybe he should take some tips off of Gardner.

 

[Hamilton]

We probably were.
You'd think that if Hyypia really didn't fancy him, he'd speak up though. Especially given the major outlay (in our terms) we were committing to the deal. So I'd assume Hyypia was happy for the club to go ahead with the Baldock signing - but he hasn't yet managed to fit him into a system that produces a decent ratio of chances for him.

I agree. I don't see the blame lying at one particular door. It's just not been working right across the piece. From Tony Bloom and Paul Barber's appointment of Sami, through to how they are working with David Burke or not as the case may be. We've made odd decisions on the pitch and off it. It doesn't feel like Sami has made his mark on the club - short of sending us towards the relegation zone - and the signing feel like a mystery. The loanees we have. Why bring in a keeper of Al Habsi's quality and cost if we are then just going to keep him as a squad player in case we need him? He can't have been the cheapest option. All this just smacks of a management set up that isn't gelling.

Personally, I feel, and always felt, that after Oscar we needed a tried and tested manager and not another gamble. I'm sure that Messrs Bloom and Barber will be regretting their strategy of chancing their arm on a wild card. They hit a rich vein with the first one; did quite well with the second and I think they've come a cropper with this last choice.