[Albion] Knockaert joins Fulham on initial one-year loan

[dazzer6666]

Solly and AK had a boost in assists last year from taking more set pieces with Groß injured.

Be interesting to know how many were created from open play.

Post #1633

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

If we do play 4231 next season, who is more suited to playing on the right of the 3?

Knockaert is a proper winger, he loves running up and down the line. Whereas AJ showed in his time in Holland that he is better when played more centrally.

Under Hughton he was never given that freedom.

Look at these heat maps, one is Knockaerts from last season, the other is AJs, plus his one from his final season in Holland.

Knockaert


AJ


Hopefully playing him in that inside right position, where he is most effective, will allow him to show us what we thought we were getting when we signed him.

 

[Bwian]

Worth noting he also had less minutes than Solly.

More assists and more goals in less minutes. He was our best winger last season. The decision to let him go is bizarre.

Solly's role last season was nothing like a conventional winger's so direct comparisons aren't really appropriate. All of this smoke and mirrors stuff over One Assist? However one looks at it, 6 assists from our 'best player' is the alarming thing. That and his 2 goals (one of which that will be turned into a stained glass window for future generations to adore).

None of us know the reasons he has gone to Fulham. One or two might know but the Lancing Three will stop anybody blabbing.It is most likely a combined reason.

Who remembers when he signed for us? The typical comments were "Leicester must be mad", "We've really mugged them", etc., etc. Leicester fans told us that he is great in The Championship but not quite PL standard. We all laughed at them.

And now he's gone. Good luck AK.

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[schmunk]

Has anyone mentioned how far we’ve come since the sale of the Goldstone on this thread yet?

It's about 5 miles...

 

[StillHateBellotti]

Has anyone mentioned how far we’ve come since the sale of the Goldstone on this thread yet?

I was thinking along the same lines only an hour ago. Short memories some have (Well not so short now really)....We were served up some absolute shit every weekend, midweek, home and away, with shit house facilities, shit house owners, shit opposition, shit opposition stadiums, shit opposition facilities. The only good thing, were the fans who stuck together. Now we have 170 odd pages of drivel about a player, who yes assisted in promotion to the Premier League but hardly set it on fire, was temperamental and had personal issues.

It may after all be his decision, for a new start and the club have assisted him, giving him the option to return if all goes tits up.

 

[Weststander]

Has anyone mentioned how far we’ve come since the sale of the Goldstone on this thread yet?

Something similar has been posted already.

But haven’t yet seen that chestnut: “A mark of how far we’ve come, is having £31m of talent on the bench in Locadia and Jahanbakhsh”.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

It's about 5 miles...

View attachment 113241

 

[swindonseagull]

Bored of this thread now...

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Has anyone mentioned how far we’ve come since the sale of the Goldstone on this thread yet?

No, but they will do.

 

[blockhseagull]

Post #1633

Thanks ..... so from open play AK and Solly pretty much the same

 

[Stat Brother]

Few inconsistencies here, Shirley? How come Knockaert is thrown under the bus despite improving his stats, yet Alireza gets a pass despite not actually registering any stats other than games played?

In Stat World Ali GOT a pass last season for various reasons.
All of which have now disappeared and if it turns out everybody else was right I'll happily join them on the boo-bus.

There isn't a single exemption (excuse) that I offered up for Ali that I could cross over to AK, and yet with everything on the pitch in his favour we still only got 2 & 6. (Obviously off the pitch is a different story and I will never make light of that)

I think the club believe Ali can produce more.
I don't know if he will, I have never said he would, that's down to Icy.
My only take on Ali has been 'hang on a minute...'.

 

[Steve in Japan]

Just read "Thanks for the memories Knocky" on the Clubs home page.

A very warm and detailed tribute. Apparently his presence on the pitch will be missed.

Indeed it will.

Which rather begs the question, which this thread has been grappling with.

 

[ac gull]

But it is also allegedly a good move for the club …

 

[Jim in the West]

I was just looking at a few stats (I know...). The stattos seem to have moved on from just looking at Assists, and are now measuring “expected assists” (xA), which basically takes account of how good the assist is, regardless of whether a goal is scored. We only really had three players of note last season in terms of xA....Pascal, Solly and AK. Pascal was at 0.29 per 90 mins, with Knocky on 0.21 and Solly 0.19. To put this in context, de Bruyne was 0.68 and Ryan Fraser about 0.5 (if I recall). In fact, if you read anything about xA it seems that Ryan Fraser is the bees knees.

 

[the right footed denilson]

Fraser is great. Not bad at that recruitment lark plucky Bournemouth...

 

[Easy 10]

I've obviously not ploughed through this mammoth thread, but I daresay there are some who are likening this to us sending our own Messi out on loan.

Knockaert did as much as anyone to get us to the PL, and for that he will always rightly be held in great affection, not least me. Has he "cut it" these last 2 years at this level though ? For me its a no. And there's plenty of whataboutery you can level at other members of the squad who have similarly struggled to make the step-up and yet are remaining at the club, but frankly thats by the by. They're on different contracts, signed at different times and for different amounts, they have different valuations so the parameters are not the same. Its not like-for-like. In this instance, this is a move that presumably suits club and player, and I truly hope it works out for him. He is a fantastic player at that level, so there's no reason why it shouldn't.

I'll miss Knocky, but we do have other options out wide and we don't yet know whats to come in terms of GP's plans. He didn't see Knocky as being part of them, so for now, we'll just have to trust his judgement.

 

[Billy the Fish]

And there's plenty of whataboutery you can level at other members of the squad who have similarly struggled to make the step-up and yet are remaining at the club, but frankly thats by the by. They're on different contracts, signed at different times and for different amounts, they have different valuations so the parameters are not the same. Its not like-for-like.

Comparing one attacking player to another isn't whataboutery or by the by. It's holding everyone to the same level of scrutiny. You can't just dismiss legitimate concerns about the players that we're left with 3 weeks from the start of the season.

 

[Easy 10]

Comparing one attacking player to another isn't whataboutery or by the by. It's holding everyone to the same level of scrutiny. You can't just dismiss legitimate concerns about the players that we're left with 3 weeks from the start of the season.

Everyone has concerns - I'd have been concerned about our squad with or without Knockaert, as he is just one of a group who in attacking terms don't quite look up to it at this level. Now it boils down to whether we bring in the quality we need, and if GP can extract more from what we already have. We're not there yet, but squads need turnover. Churn is healthy. Clinging on to old favourites in the hope they'll suddenly flourish at a higher level is fanciful. Knockaert has plenty going for him, but aside from some isolated moments in the PL I don't see him as being a lynchpin, or crucial to our survival. He was always at his best playing in front of Bruno - and now thats not an option, I'd be left wondering even more what we'd get out of him next season.

In practical terms, IMO, he was no longer crucial to BHA at this level. We need to move on.

 

[kevo]

Comparing one attacking player to another isn't whataboutery or by the by. It's holding everyone to the same level of scrutiny. You can't just dismiss legitimate concerns about the players that we're left with 3 weeks from the start of the season.

Precisely. Perfectly valid to compare AK with other players, some of whom have completely failed to deliver. We are weaker without him.

 

[Nottseagull]

All we know for sure is that 11 players wearing the stripes or equivalent will turn up for the opening game of the season

Do you think there's a chance that the subs might not make it it to the match?

It's just one simple fact I can't get my head around:-

THE TRANSFER WINDOW IS STILL

OPEN

After it has finally shut, will you be repeating that (sarcastically)?

Do you really believe that Paul Barber reads NSC? and even if he does, takes any notice of it's content? I don't.
.

I think he or his staff do, but they won't be at all interested in our threads about tactics/ recruitment/disposals.

Or even bottle tops.

... get some perspective.

You can't mention the 'P' word on NSC!

Potter showing who’s boss.

Didn't GP say in an interview on Friday night or Saturday that AK's move was out of his hands?

And that's only because they're obliged to show highlights of all Premier League matches. If the BBC had a choice, they probably wouldn't be bothered with us unless we were being drubbed by one of the big 6 of course.

Or drawing at one of their own grounds

Trossard isn’t unproven
And all reports say
Dunk isn’t going anywhere
We intend to make more signings
.

That really doesn't scan very well at all, you know

His temperament on the pitch, with the introduction of VAR, must have played some part in the decision. Over the last 2 seasons 2 straight reds have seen him miss 10% of available matches through suspension. Had he been sent off against Palace, which he would had VAR been used, that would be 15%, plus we would have not seen that wonder goal, lost that match, been 3 points worse off and been relegated.

Would possibly have been balanced by correction of those decisions that went against us e.g. penalty denial at home to Burnley resulting in the attack in which they scored (converted pen would have made it 2-2 instead of 1-3).

Apart from his petulance, what are his downsides?

Sometimes guilty of wayward passing, but what you really don't want is for him to have a run of bad form. When he has something to prove, don't expect him to pass to someone in a better scoring position; he'll try and score another like the one at Palace. (You've seen it, right?). Despite that, we're all fond of the guy for his love of our club.
BTW in his heart (and on it) will always be his late father...

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