Baldock

[Mellotron]

Reminds of Heskey being slated in his prime as not an England player. But when you look at all their important matches that were won he was always a major contributor.

Most underrated England player in my lifetime, without question.

 

[Mellotron]

How was anything proved in the run in? We won 5 games in a row, then had 10 men for the next 3 games, and in the last one (with 11 men) we were miles better than Wednesday despite a weakened squad.

Agreed. Absolutely nothing logical or useful can be taken from those final 4/5 games. They were utter lunacy.

 

[marshy68]

Another striker that doesn't score goals. In his defence he's a constant menace and has an incredible work-rate that creates space for others, but he does not score enough and wouldn't been too upset to see him go.

Now that sounds familiar.......

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Agreed. Absolutely nothing logical or useful can be taken from those final 4/5 games. They were utter lunacy.

Not strictly true. How about the logic of 'Dale Stephens is VERY important to the Albion team, and he MUST be FORCED to sign his contract extension'?

 

[Stat Brother]

Agreed. Absolutely nothing logical or useful can be taken from those final 4/5 games. They were utter lunacy.

Other than the fact the team needed to win just one of them for either automatic or a game on Saturday.

The fact that they didn't score enough goals to accomplish that is rather telling.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Other than the fact the team needed to win just one of them for either automatic or a game on Saturday.

The fact that they didn't score enough goals to accomplish that is rather telling.

Yes they did. They just let IN too many.

 

[Tony Le Mesmer]

How was anything proved in the run in? We won 5 games in a row, then had 10 men for the next 3 games, and in the last one (with 11 men) we were miles better than Wednesday despite a weakened squad.

I said the final run in (meaning the last 4 games) against the stronger opposition.

 

[NooBHA]

I think he played when fit because when he and Hemed played together we were sucessful

 

[Stat Brother]

Yes they did. They just let IN too many.

True, although only letting in one would appear to have been one too many.

FWIW I agree with the over arching consensus of the thread.

 

[Triggaaar]

I said the final run in (meaning the last 4 games) against the stronger opposition.

But we were down to 10 men in 3 of those games, and dominated the 4th so much it would go against what you said

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

A starting front pair of Hemed-Baldock has reached it's personal ceiling IMHO. One's not mobile enough, the other's not brave enough. Ridiculous that we were reduced to being lumbered with that rarely-threatening pairing by default due to BZ being career-ending crocked when it most mattered and Wilson being drained of energy for whatever reason for most of the run-in. Need to replace three of the four out of that lot IMHO, introduce some genuine competition from four able-bodied strikers with a modicum of talent for finding the net up front if we're going to push on.

 

[Tony Le Mesmer]

But we were down to 10 men in 3 of those games, and dominated the 4th so much it would go against what you said

We dominated the first half vs Wed at home....then ran out of steam.
As for the Derby s/off it was 10 mins or so with ten men....and was he even on the pitch then?

I'm on about Baldock disappointing performances against better quality opposition (up until the injustices, if you will). If you want to justify it the other way round, go ahead

 

[Triggaaar]

We dominated the first half vs Wed at home....then ran out of steam.

Yes, because of injuries. Knockaert hadn't recovered, Sidwell probably hadn't either, Hemed wasn't available. And the team had just had to play the last games with 10 men, while Sheffield were resting players. We didn't run out of steam because Baldock isn't good enough.

As for the Derby s/off it was 10 mins or so with ten men....and was he even on the pitch then?

No, he was off before Derby scored. Not sure we can put a lot of blame on him for that hour.

I'm on about Baldock disappointing performances against better quality opposition (up until the injustices, if you will).

You mentioned the last few games against good opposition. They're not good examples due to the injustices. I don't remember Baldock being blamed for those results.

 

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Yes, because of injuries. Knockaert hadn't recovered, Sidwell probably hadn't either, Hemed wasn't available. And the team had just had to play the last games with 10 men, while Sheffield were resting players. We didn't run out of steam because Baldock isn't good enough.

No, he was off before Derby scored. Not sure we can put a lot of blame on him for that hour.

You mentioned the last few games against good opposition. They're not good examples due to the injustices. I don't remember Baldock being blamed for those results.

I don't remember saying that we didn't get promotion because of Baldock and the blame lies with him.
You're putting words in my mouth...

All I said was he is pretty non existent in those key final games, mainly being out muscled etc....by better players

He wasn't the only one of course.... (but this thread is about Baldock!)

If you cant see that we have differing opinions. Fair do's

 

[Triggaaar]

I don't remember saying that we didn't get promotion because of Baldock and the blame lies with him.
You're putting words in my mouth...

I'm not trying to. You said "He's a menace against the average, poor teams but gets found out against the better teams, as proved in the final run in." I don't think it was proven in the run in, for reasons I've given.

All I said was he is pretty non existent in those key final games, mainly being out muscled etc....by better players

He wasn't the only one of course....

So you think more of our players were not good enough in the run in. Blimey, which other ones?

If you cant see that we have differing opinions. Fair do's

What? Obviously I can see we have different opinions. I thought that was allowed.

 

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Of course differing opinions are allowed. Even if they aren't the same as yours. Cheerio[emoji3]

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

To be honest, I'm generally in the "I rate what he brings to the side" camp and I think there's a place in the squad for him, but I also think that an upgrade in the forward positions should be an absolute priority this summer if we want to take the next step. If we start next season with him as first choice, with the division looking even stronger this year, I don't see us getting automatic promotion.

 

[B.W.]

Because not every football fan is blinded by the goals per game stats and appreciates that some players hard work, determination, team work and selflessness can be a massive contribution to a successful TEAM.

Lets call it Barnes Syndrome.

Both those players are over-rated by some on here... Barnes an average Championship player, Sam B a great league 1 player.

The fact is other strikers work as hard as Sam AND score goals. The latter is the primary (not only) role of a striker anyway.

 

[B.W.]

As soon as I see someone judging a player PURELY on their goal to game ratio I know it's probably not worth reading any further.

How about a comparison of how many goals the TEAM scores when he's been on the pitch, compared to off it? That would be a more worthwhile stat to judge on, whilst still not giving the full story.

Your suggestion is certainly an appalling stat to judge an individual striker on.

 

[B.W.]

How many matches did we lose when he started last season? (in the league)

Yes there's room for improvement. Yes, it may be a position we look at strengthening / bringing in competition for Sam, BUT once again, it's a championship manager generation form of analysis to suggests he's a weak link just because his scoring record isn't good...

He should be back-up, and definitely NOT first choice. And, yes, this is primarily because he does not score enough.