Can Sam Baldock be our 20 goal striker next season if he stays free of injury....

[Dan Aitch]

CAN he? Yes.

WILL he? Hmm... maybe. More likely to get 10.

 

[Stat Brother]

To get anyone scoring 20+ goals for AMEX era Albion the club needs 1 of 2 things to happen:-

1) A player considerably better than the Championship, playing in 90% of the games.
or
B) A fundamental change in how the entire team attack the opposition.


Option A isn't likely to be walking through the door anytime soon.
Whether CH is the manager for option 2 is open to debate.

 

[Uncle C]

If he's played up front and we play to his strengths, then possibly.

When he did play up front last season he was constantly moving on the shoulder of the defenders looking for a throughball which never came. Instead of hanging it up in the air for him, it should be drilled low between two defenders for him to run on to.

Bit like CMS then.

 

[Machiavelli]

In a word, possibly yes.

That looks like two words to me*. Ho hum.



*Numerical police

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Can Sam Baldock be our 20 goal striker next season if he stays free of injury...

Play him inside off another striker and the goals will flow no problem

 

[Bombadier Botty]

Play him inside off another striker and the goals will flow no problem

Luminescence?

 

[Stat Brother]

Play him inside off another striker and the goals will flow no problem

They won't if the team has spent the previous 5 minutes passing around the defenders and 2 holding midfielders, while Kaz is rolling around on the floor, Calde is our right winger and Stephens is too scared to cross the halfway line.

 

[Justice]

No - simply not a championship standard striker - lge1 level

I guess his quality dink over the keeper against Arsenal his lovely shot into the corner against Ipswich and his unstoppable drill against Bmouth were all league 1 standard then you must be right.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Hopefully we'll play two up top, even then I'd like to think there would be enough competition to ensure that if Sam is not our 20 goal a season player, we don't spend most of the season with him as 1st choice. I think he can be though by us getting a lot more support around him.

 

[Simster]

My view is that Baldock is a limited player but that doesn't mean he can't be very effective. The way to get Baldock scoring is to give him service from out wide, so we need a decent winger, maybe two.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

He may get 10-15, but not convinced he'll get 20.


Anyhow, we've no idea if he'll be sold or not this summer.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

I think he can get goals but needs support. It is very odd that we chased Baldock all summer and got him but then didn't play to his strengths. He said when he joined that he needed to play with a target man and we didn't provide that. Hopefully we'll learn our lesson this year and play to his strengths. If not, we might as well sell him.

 

[garethjamesuk]

I would say Baldock could be useful with someone like Zamora, but i still think we need another goalscorer and Baldock be used as the number 3 forward or as a winger, he is decent but hasnt really impressed since signed and when has had opportunties has snatched at them and not taken the chance, is a lot higher expectation here at brighton than he had at bristol city and he has to up his game if wants to be part of our side, i think he definately has potential to be a good asset. But time will tell

 

[Marshy]

its a tricky call this one.

If we do inject some pace into our back line ( Rosenior is a great start ) and can defend a further 10-15 yards up the pitch, getting our midfield nearer our front men I believe all our strikers will score a lot more goals.

15-20... its a big ask... but if all 3 of our front men got 30 between them it would be a massive improvement on last term

 

[garethjamesuk]

I think he can get goals but needs support. It is very odd that we chased Baldock all summer and got him but then didn't play to his strengths. He said when he joined that he needed to play with a target man and we didn't provide that. Hopefully we'll learn our lesson this year and play to his strengths. If not, we might as well sell him.

Sounds like Mackail smith all over again, the funny thing is we had a target man in Glenn Murray at the time but Poyet didnt rate him, also had the chance to sign Wood as well, but take chance on either.

 

[Yoda]

We tend to play a variant of 433, but don't let facts stop you moaning.

Yeah,
The variant being 451

More 4-2-3-1

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

No - simply not a championship standard striker - lge1 level

What does that even mean though?

We created F all for him and played him out of position.

His finish against arsenal was a strikers finish......against a prem team.

 

[Acker79]

When he was in the side he was playing a role he was unfamiliar with. I thought he was getting better in that role, but his progressed was slowed by the fact he was in and out of the side due to injuries.

So, while I don't disagree with people calling for him to be played in a position he's more familiar with, I think if he can stay fit he would be a lot more effective if he ended up playing the same role.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I'm going to go for a yes, on the supposition that we get another striker in to support him, and change the playing style.

Perhaps Hughton is looking to change the formation next year, and the 4-5-1 we had for much of last season was just because he felt we didn't have the personnel to play any other way...

I think Baldock is quite capable of a very decent season, given the right support. This doesn't suit the cynics' argument, but we were significantly worse off once he got injured last season. That string of turgid games when we hardly looked like scoring in a month of Sundays came after Baldock was crocked. He did score a couple of good goals, and showed moments of ability prior to that. I understand his recovery from that injury is progressing pretty well, and he's settled in Sussex now (just got married I believe), so if he can get some decent pre-season training behind him, he's perfectly capable of becoming the striker we hoped for when we shelled out for him.

Have a bit of faith, you miserable lot

 

[Scoffers]

Well I believe he can get 20 goals, but only if the team is setup in a way to make it possible. I guess it depends who else we sign and what CH has in mind