[Albion] Dan Ashworth’s thoughts on our transfer window

[JBizzle]

Also, looking at clubs with two top strikers outside the top 5 is pointless. Why? Because they don't exist. Brackets = goals return

Southampton: Ings (Great) & Adams (Poor)
Fulham: Mitro (Good) & Kamara (Poor)
Villa: Watkins (Good) & Wesley (Poor)
Everton: Calvert-Lewin (Good/Great) & Tosun (Poor)
Burnley: Barnes (Good) & Wood (Good)
Leeds: Bamford (Good?) & Rodrydo (Poor?)
West Brom: Robinson (Poor) & Zohore (Poor)
West Ham: Haller (Poor) & Bowen (Poor)

 

[Jim in the West]

fair enough interview but scraping the barrel to imply Trossard and AJ are striker options. ( especially as AJ has only shined a couple times to lower league players ).

Both were scoring one in two in the season before they came to us. OK - in Belgium and Holland. But both are proven goal scorers.

 

[BNthree]

Well there must be an answer to why the club haven't brought in a striker - for cover if nothing else. I wish I could understand what it is. Clearly not short of the cash as the £25m bid for Nunez demonstrated. Another failing of the recruitment team? Or a failure of the academy who seem to churn out defenders and midfielders by the coach load but can't bring through a striker.

Presumably there isn't anyone that fits our requirements within our price range that wants to play for Brighton. Publicly stating we are desperate just puts up the selling price of players out there.

 

[peterward]

We lost £20m in 2018/19, an esimated £30m in 2019/20 and if no matches take place in front of a paying audience it will be £40m this season.

If you ignore those facts then it was perhaps a disappointing answer from Dan Ashworth.

If you take them into consideration what he said seemed measured and reasonable. Finding 20 goal a season PL strikers is tough, risky and very expensive.

Our defence this season with in theory two additions in Lamptey and White, both of whom are effective newcomers, should be a step up on last season but we are shipping goals, as are many other clubs.

Up front it is clear that GP is not keen on a big striker, Glenn Murray was first of all given a new contract for 2020/21 and then shipped out as his strengths aren't met by Potterball and vice versa.

We all know that EP and that's fair enough...... Stability first.

But it would be far better imho to just say it like that though, tell it as it is, rather than pretend we have decent like for like options or its been a success for squad depth/experience.

It was a cost cutting first team, and investing in potential youth window. (We all get why)

"Blooms businesses have taken a bit of a hit with less Asian betting markets operating, and with considerable pending losses we couldn't strengthen as we wanted to. we've had to make difficult choices by letting experienced players leave to reduce our overheads and the club isn't in a financial position to fully cover all those positions. We are disappointed that some of our striker targets didn't materialise....... But, we have some very good players already in the club and have added excellent players in Joel and Adam........etc etc"

Would be much better (if was broadly something more akin to a truer picture?)

Trying to pretend it's something different and was actually good, or that Ali J is a Maupay attacking option is just politics.

Right nuff said. Need to get behind the lads and start doing some Maupay wellness mantras. Anyone got any snake venom?

 

[fosters headband]

It's not one or the other, is it? I think we've clearly done both. Money spent on the first team:

- Lallana
- Veltman
- New contracts for Dunk, Alzate, Connolly
- Zeqiri

It's a long term project!

I understand it’s long term but surely any money spent in the current situation calls for it to be spent on keeping us in the division. Not to spend £10 mill on players only to send them back to their clubs. How does that help our finances in the current situation?

 

[Munkfish]

Smart guy obvs, but its PR waffle. Though I guess it will be happy clapped!

Yes the future punts, may well be good and looks like it could be great in time. (though it may not be?). falling through the trap door this season would be disastrous

But the current match day squad is bare in positions, with no decent cover or genuine like for like options- no matter how much gloss you try and add to it.

Just reeling off everything thats happened that everyone already knows about, shows a good command of his brief, but doesnt answer the real fundamental issues or the interviewers question.

Saying Ali J is a forward we believe in to get goals (when he isnt starting or more often not selected for over 2 years) is spin, Adding that Lamptey can chip in with the attacking threat is sweeping the lack of quality depth of proper strikers under the carpet, or trying to sugar coat the facts. We are all in on Maupay staying fit, suspension free and in form.

We failed to sign first team ready attacking targets (I get that it happens and that may not be our fault - but we did) and we are threadbare with quality cover at LWB and with genuine CF's - much less than most league competitors.

maybe his hands were tied, and he can only work within his remit, but we havent got decent, experienced like for like options in at least 2 key positions.

Pretty much this. Its all spin on the striker front. Claiming we have 5 attacking options. However playing two upfront we have zero cover currently on the bench. It beggars belief that Ali J is thrown into the mix. The guys barely played since joining us and has a handful of goals to his name. To now claim he is an attacking threat is utter shite.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Imagine if the club had spunked £30m on a shiny new striker and THEY were the one who got injured, not AC or NP? Meltdown on here for certain

It's 12 games until the next window opens. Who knows why might happen then. People need to chill out a bit and put a bit of trust in the people running the show. To be fair, they haven't done badly over the past few years, have they?

 

[vagabond]

Reasonable interview.

We need a premier League striker as backup. It doesn't need to be a 20 goal striker it just needs to be a fairly average player that is happy to sit on the bench and cover for injures.

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Sounds like Zequiri and AJ?

 

[vagabond]

Standard party line answer to the question.

Or the legit answer. He is heavily involved in our transfer strategies. No doubt he and GP are aligned on this.

 

[Seasidesage]

My problem if I have one with Ashworth's interview is the refusal to own it. Including midfield players in the striking options is just risible nonsense. I would be far happier if he just said, we had a target that meets our criteria in a striker we couldn't get that one over the line and no one else who met the criteria was available.

Most of our fans are grown ups we know we have limited funds and we are working to a medium/long term plan, why not say so and live or die by that decision? If we go down because Maupay gets injured or something no one is going to swallow "Well we though AJ or Troussard would get us 10 plus goals" It's patronising and clearly untrue. I'd rather they said we have gone with what we have because we think that is the best option at this moment in time.

We know about Covid, we know about the sums already spent, we know there are criteria that must be met on signings. Why not just admit it rather than trying to convince us that AJ was masquerading as attacking midfielder and was really a Sergio Aguero clone after all?

 

[peterward]

It's not one or the other, is it? I think we've clearly done both. Money spent on the first team:

- Lallana
- Veltman
- New contracts for Dunk, Alzate, Connolly
- Zeqiri

It's a long term project!

But it isn't if you get relegated as they'll all be off. Saying we're too good to go down, is I'm sure what Muff said and could've quite rightly believed this time last season.

Leeds, Villa, SU, Newcastle (yes I know, but they are still stronger), Palace, Stains. All have added quality/depth to their ranks. Us, West Ham and Burnely have stood still or have less overall squad depth.

You'd have to hope Fulham and WBA take 2 Berths, though maybe one won't? It could well be the case that 40 or 41 points isn't enough for 17th this season.

Our attacking play is better, our defending presently worse, I don't believe our full squad is better overall, even if our starting 11 is good and football at times breathtaking. We simply can't afford injuries in some areas, that are usually inevitable, more so in a congested season.

I fully expect we will there or there abouts in the relegation scrap. If we can survive again and the world goes back to normal, we may finally be well set to progress and move upwards towards that illusive top ten...... Expect this season will be treading water and still trying to hope for 3 worse teams and no injuries in key positions.

 

[symyjym]

Potter has a good bunch to work with.

 

[Bozza]

Or the legit answer. He is heavily involved in our transfer strategies. No doubt he and GP are aligned on this.

There is not a parallel universe that exists where Dan Ashworth takes that interview and says something like "We wanted to bring in another quality goalscoring option, but we weren't able to manage it. We're chancing it a bit now, we appreciate that, but to mitigate the risk I bought some lucky heather from a nice lady just outside Churchill Square this morning, and I'm sure it will keep Neal Maupay fit and suspension-free for the season."

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I understand it’s long term but surely any money spent in the current situation calls for it to be spent on keeping us in the division. Not to spend £10 mill on players only to send them back to their clubs. How does that help our finances in the current situation?

Whilst the current financial situation isn't great, Tony isn't on his uppers.
Every deal is assessed over the long term, not just on this financial year.

The deal you refer to, is for two highly rated youngsters, for a decent price and minimal hit to wages this season.
If the deal is good, Tony will do it. He believes there is a strong likelihood of profit from this deal.

 

[BrickTamland]

My problem if I have one with Ashworth's interview is the refusal to own it. Including midfield players in the striking options is just risible nonsense. I would be far happier if he just said, we had a target that meets our criteria in a striker we couldn't get that one over the line and no one else who met the criteria was available.

Most of our fans are grown ups we know we have limited funds and we are working to a medium/long term plan, why not say so and live or die by that decision? If we go down because Maupay gets injured or something no one is going to swallow "Well we though AJ or Troussard would get us 10 plus goals" It's patronising and clearly untrue. I'd rather they said we have gone with what we have because we think that is the best option at this moment in time.

We know about Covid, we know about the sums already spent, we know there are criteria that must be met on signings. Why not just admit it rather than trying to convince us that AJ was masquerading as attacking midfielder and was really a Sergio Aguero clone after all?

“Most of our fans are grown ups” - have you been reading this board over the last few days!

 

[Bozza]

It's clear both from the whispers in and around the market over the last month or so, as well as what Dan Ashworth actually says in that interview, that we were looking for a striker, but weren't able to find the right one at the right price, by whatever assessment the club use.

I don't doubt there were plenty of Locadia-type rolls-of-the-dice the club could have taken a £15-20m punt on, but they didn't which doesn't feel unreasonable in the current climate.

This does leave us very thin on options though. I might buy a lucky heather myself.

 

[Justice]

“Most of our fans are grown ups” - have you been reading this board over the last few days!

Football is the one we have in life to act not like a grown up, you can’t take that away

 

[Frankworthington]

Imagine if the club had spunked £30m on a shiny new striker and THEY were the one who got injured, not AC or NP? Meltdown on here for certain

It's 12 games until the next window opens. Who knows why might happen then. People need to chill out a bit and put a bit of trust in the people running the show. To be fair, they haven't done badly over the past few years, have they?

Locadia?

 

[Beach Hut]

Reasonable interview.

However I still can't believe there is no recognition that we need another striker. We only have 2 real strikers, this is unacceptable. The club line that AJ is a striker now is a bit ridiculous.

We need a premier League striker as backup. It doesn't need to be a 20 goal striker it just needs to be a fairly average player that is happy to sit on the bench and cover for injures.

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If unacceptable either stump up the money or support another team

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Potter has a good bunch to work with.

A good squad, but a desperate lack of strikers.