[Albion] Im going to have nightmares about this tonight...

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Must have imagined we bought Andone and Locadia during that time, just turns out they were both duds..

Indeed.

I seriously question the minds of a noisy minority who think the club has decided it doesn't need strikers. Or that the club is too thick to identify good ones. Or too stupid to know how to get them to sign.

Let's face it. It is what it is. The club tries but so far we have not landed our Callum Wilson (£20 million), Ollie Watkins (£28 million rising to £33 million), Mo Salah (risen to £43 million) or Timo Werner (£47.5 million).

And the prefectly promising signings, Locardia, Jahanbaksh and Andone turned out to be more akin to Timo Werner (er.....hang on).

But of course many (including the moaners) crucify the club because these didn't work out.

And finally, they lidicrously suggest the club doesn't want to sing a striker. And that the board is too thick to realise this is a bad plan.

Guys, it is what it is. If you'd like to put up your money and take over, using your better player signing skills to bring in a Lukaku, fill your boots.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Must have imagined we bought Andone and Locadia during that time, just turns out they were both duds..

Not so sure Andone was a dud. He was shipped out the door with IMHO indecent haste following his red mist game. Sadly we'll never know now if he would have posed more of a goal threat than Maupay. I reckon that he would

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Who ? (edit...i looked it up )

In 2018/19 - the wages total was this.

<snip>

Teams with smaller budgets than Albion pretty much er, get relegated and only 1-2 finish ever finish/above/around us.


via http://priceoffootball.com/brighton-2019-20-reel-around-the-fountain/

Nail. Head.

The solution, then is simple.

Sack the board and sign a bigger one.

English billionaire is clearly not sufficiently flush, so we need something like a Russia oil baron, Arab prince or what about the actual Chinese state?

When shall we start marching up and down the Lewes Road?

 

[chaileyjem]

Indeed.

I seriously question the minds of a noisy minority who think the club has decided it doesn't need strikers. Or that the club is too thick to identify good ones. Or too stupid to know how to get them to sign.
.

Also Maupay and Welbeck have not been , by any stretch - flops . Welbeck has played more games than anyone expected and his goals earnt him another contract and Maupay has a more than acceptable decent 22 in 81 record. Watkins scored only his 3rd goal of the season yesterday...

(this doesn't mean the club don't need to strengthen up front - but we have to often make a punt on a Welbeck or a Locadia and hope that a Zeqiri or a Sima or even a Ferguson or Emmerson or Connolly break through - thats just where we are. Doesn't mean we're not looking for a Nunez or a Gonzalez but expecting them to forego Champions League football for our wages or expecting us to break the bank in terms of fees is a bit of a stretch...)

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Not so sure Andone was a dud. He was shipped out the door with IMHO indecent haste following his red mist game. Sadly we'll never know now if he would have posed more of a goal threat than Maupay. I reckon that he would

To be fair to the club, we had him back, and had him in training, but he's clearly not a good fit. Not here. Possibly not anywhere. There's something not quite the ticket in the old mind tank. Sad, really. I liked our little b'stard.

 

[Swansman]

Indeed.

I seriously question the minds of a noisy minority who think the club has decided it doesn't need strikers. Or that the club is too thick to identify good ones. Or too stupid to know how to get them to sign.

Let's face it. It is what it is. The club tries but so far we have not landed our Callum Wilson (£20 million), Ollie Watkins (£28 million rising to £33 million), Mo Salah (risen to £43 million) or Timo Werner (£47.5 million).

And the prefectly promising signings, Locardia, Jahanbaksh and Andone turned out to be more akin to Timo Werner (er.....hang on).

But of course many (including the moaners) crucify the club because these didn't work out.

And finally, they lidicrously suggest the club doesn't want to sing a striker. And that the board is too thick to realise this is a bad plan.

Guys, it is what it is. If you'd like to put up your money and take over, using your better player signing skills to bring in a Lukaku, fill your boots.

Yeah I dont think people realise how difficult it is to sign a "striker that would take the club into the top 10". If it was a case of "just do it" then it would have been done.

Maupay said after the CP game that he was aware the club had tried to sign a striker in the summer. It didnt happen.

Unlike some clubs, Brighton cant afford and wont go for the "well we didnt get our guy so we'll just go for anyone" route.

They will keep looking and hopefully find something. Until then, it is what it is.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Nail. Head.

The solution, then is simple.

Sack the board and sign a bigger one.

English billionaire is clearly not sufficiently flush, so we need something like a Russia oil baron, Arab prince or what about the actual Chinese state?

When shall we start marching up and down the Lewes Road?

An English billionaire could have picked up an Ollie Watkins for £28M just over a year ago. Fair enough it's his club, his money. Tho all the while he opts out of investing in that level of proven talent then it's REALLY hard to see how he's going to achieve his top ten ambitions. Maybe the cavalry will come over the hill in the form of a once in a generation academy talent at some point in the future. Sadly tho, it's now - and for the past few seasons - that the glaring gap's been there

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

To be fair to the club, we had him back, and had him in training, but he's clearly not a good fit. Not here. Possibly not anywhere. There's something not quite the ticket in the old mind tank. Sad, really. I liked our little b'stard.

Same. Maupay just doesn't have the same level of amusing BELLIGERENCE

 

[Bozza]

Maupay has a more than acceptable decent 22 in 81 record. Watkins scored his 3rd goal of the season yesterday...

That's a quite bizarre way of presenting the stats...

1. You speak about Maupay's record over multiple seasons, but only mention Watkins goals from this season. Watkins scored 16 for Villa last season, making his record 19-in-50.

2. Maupay's 4-in-12 record is hardly streets ahead of Watkins' 3-in-10 this season, that you seem to be slightly disparaging about.

(I'm neither looking to rubbish Maupay here, nor suggest anything like we should have gone for Warkins, it just seems you've chosen a rather strange way to try and compare the two)

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

An English billionaire could have picked up an Ollie Watkins for £28M just over a year ago. Fair enough it's his club, his money. Tho all the while he opts out of investing in that level of proven talent then it's REALLY hard to see how he's going to achieve his top ten ambitions. Maybe the cavalry will come over the hill in the form of a once in a generation academy talent at some point in the future. Sadly tho, it's now - and for the past few seasons - that the glaring gap's been there

And what are the guarantees that Watkins would have done any better for us than he has for Villa (three goals this season so far)? I think our failure to score goals is more to do with the turgid, one-pass-forward-and-two-passes-backwards build up that gives opponents time to retreat en masse. Our best chances yesterday seemed to come from quick breaks and quick crosses.

 

[chaileyjem]

An English billionaire could have picked up an Ollie Watkins for £28M just over a year ago. Fair enough it's his club, his money. Tho all the while he opts out of investing in that level of proven talent

Watkins is a talented young striker , now international striker. But he'd never played premier league football - like Maupay. It was still a gamble and a very expensive one - Villa's wage bill is far higher than Albions - which is why a US billionaire picked him up .

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Watkins is a talented young striker , now international striker. But he'd never played premier league football - like Maupay. It was still a gamble and a very expensive one - Villa's wage bill is far higher than Albions - which is why a US billionaire picked him up .

That's a conscious decision by the respective billionaire owners tho shirley. Different business models it would appear

 

[chaileyjem]

That's a quite bizarre way of presenting the stats...

1. You speak about Maupay's record over multiple seasons, but only mention Watkins goals from this season. Watkins scored 16 for Villa last season, making his record 19-in-50.

2. Maupay's 4-in-12 record is hardly streets ahead of Watkins' 3-in-10 this season, that you seem to be slightly disparaging about.

(I'm neither looking to rubbish Maupay here, nor suggest anything like we should have gone for Warkins, it just seems you've chosen a rather strange way to try and compare the two)

Yes. A little bit apples and oranges - fair enough.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

An English billionaire could have picked up an Ollie Watkins for £28M just over a year ago. Fair enough it's his club, his money. Tho all the while he opts out of investing in that level of proven talent then it's REALLY hard to see how he's going to achieve his top ten ambitions. Maybe the cavalry will come over the hill in the form of a once in a generation academy talent at some point in the future. Sadly tho, it's now - and for the past few seasons - that the glaring gap's been there

Interesting. I wonder how much money TB actually has. And I will continue to wonder because I don't know and never will. Nobody will.

With that in mind, one is left wondering how his mind works.....

I will try to put myself in his shoes. What would I want?

Sustainability and success. And the pair together are mutually interdependent. And they need income.

We have a know income in the EPL, but it is hugely surpassed by clubs who sell milions of shirts overseas (and 60+K bums on seats probably helps a bit, too). Thus to get to that sort of income, we need to be a global brand. That means we need to start winning competitions.

Hmmm....in the meantime, then, we simply can't afford to crank up the average salary form around £50K a week to around £100K to give us the quality to challenge for trophies.

So, what to do? I think it is build incrementally, get to top ten, and then at a sort of cusp point make a decision whether to risk a step up in salary spend. A gambler's conundrum. Luckily I suspect TB is your man for that sort of malarkey.

Thus we need to do two things. Build incrementally, and then know when to take the big gamble.

Building incrementally is very hard. Clever signings are needed, and they don't always work. And if we happen upon a real superstar we can cash in. As an aside we got more money for that Leeds player than the sum of all our transfers in our entire history. **** me. Think about that. That's deffo a step up in one respect.

So we are building incrementaly (in fits and stars, as everyone who has tried incrementation will know) and waiting for the right moment, some time in the next few years, when to take a signifocant gamble (which will involve buying several players on much higher salaries than or present chaps). While avoiding relegation.

I'd be interested to see what A Dullard thinks of my witterings. Calling [MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION]

 

[chaileyjem]

That's a conscious decision by the respective billionaire owners tho shirley. Different business models it would appear

Yes. Of course. Which also might be related to the relative incomes of the owners and what they're prepared to invest.

 

[Bodian]

Unlike some clubs, Brighton cant afford and wont go for the "well we didnt get our guy so we'll just go for anyone" route.

Especially after the recent occasion when we did actually do just that - and brought in Locadia.

 

[WATFORD zero]

An English billionaire could have picked up an Ollie Watkins for £28M just over a year ago. Fair enough it's his club, his money. Tho all the while he opts out of investing in that level of proven talent then it's REALLY hard to see how he's going to achieve his top ten ambitions. Maybe the cavalry will come over the hill in the form of a once in a generation academy talent at some point in the future. Sadly tho, it's now - and for the past few seasons - that the glaring gap's been there

Maybe because we didn't invest in that level of PROVEN talent when we signed Sanchez, Lamptey, Webster, Bissouma, Trossard, Maupay, Mwepu etc, etc. We have always gone for 'up and comers' with our budgets and I really can't see that changing

That's a conscious decision by the respective billionaire owners tho shirley. Different business models it would appear

True, and frustrating as it can be at times, I would go with ours every single time

 

[Bozza]

Yes. A little bit apples and oranges - fair enough.

If HMG presented stats like yours to try and make a point, the UK Statistics Authority would be pulling them up for being intentionally misleading!

...but I completely agree with your point - at our level, any striker is a big gamble, whether you buy the Championship's top scorer, who has no Premier League experience or someone who has banged them in abroad who, again, has no Premier League experience.

Some will work and some won't - there's no way to get a 100% success rate at this.

 

[Swansman]

And what are the guarantees that Watkins would have done any better for us than he has for Villa (three goals this season so far)? I think our failure to score goals is more to do with the turgid, one-pass-forward-and-two-passes-backwards build up that gives opponents time to retreat en masse. Our best chances yesterday seemed to come from quick breaks and quick crosses.

Quick breaks are always the best chance of scoring.

The vast majority of goals are scored within 10 seconds of winning the ball. When those 10 seconds are up, chances decrease a lot with every second.

When that happens and you are still with the ball, the new priority is not to lose it in a dangerous position while still trying to create something dangerous for yourself, which is a very hard balance act.

I'd love to see more rapid counters but generally speaking Brighton doesnt have the qualities needed to do that consistently, particularly when Welbeck is out.

Being a good counter attack team means you need pace and players that can carry the ball past a couple of players before making the decisive pass and it means you need players who are quick and clever enough to do threatening runs. Brighton have plenty of players good at keeping possession and less so of the counter attack kind, meaning most of the attacks will be slow, patient and difficult.

 

[TottonSeagull]

Unfortunately we are looking for what most PL teams are looking for, which is a proven striker for an affordable price and salary. If they are proven they won’t be affordable.
As frustrating as the striker problem is (and I agree it needs addressing) I would argue that the bigger problem is our current slow, laborious build up. No pace going forward, little forward passes and the constant side ways and backward passes that allow the oppo to get everyone behind the ball and leave little space to attack. Somehow Potter needs to get us driving forward from midfield and breaking as a unit. Surely Biss or Lallana could do this.
We get very few or no shots from or midfield and have a tendency always take an extra touch or make a pass when a shot is on. I would hope that professional players can all get a shot on target even if they are not recognised strikers.
We have shown at certain times we can go on the front foot but yesterday was a classic pass the ball to death but very rarely get behind them! Most teams seem to have worked us out and now we need GP to step up to plate.