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

[Luke93]

They'd be crazy to allow the player being discussed on this thread to leave.
Although I think it's the right decision to let Knockaert go, he's nowhere near as good.

“Nowhere near as good” is a ludicrous comment. Literally the most productive midfielder we had last season. I provided the stats. You conveniently ghosted that comment.

If AK is nowhere near good enough, where does that leave the other players in the squad vying for the same positions?

 

[The Wizard]

We all know AK loves to be the ‘centre of attention’ for want of a better phrase, maybe Potter has said to him that he can’t guarantee him starting games and he actually wants to leave himself? Until full details are known I think critisicm of the club is out of line. Not like it seems there’s bids flying in from top division sides either.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I go back to my post and re-iterate. Knocky, for all his talent, makes the highest number of simple errors ( e.g giving the ball away under no pressure ) than any other player in the squad. We are not a talented, free scoring group of players that can brush off regular mistakes. We have to grind out opportunities, keep the opposition away from the ball as much as possible and try and limit our number of errors. Players are very quick and very direct at this level. If you give the ball away, when you are pushing forward, committed and stretched, you will be punished. I agree others are guilty as well but Knocky stands out as the most culpable and its often a result of him trying to be too clever or do too much. He still hasn't learnt ( and his personality determines that he won't ) that its all about simple, quick, direct football played with a decent degree of accuracy. Unless players can fit into this blueprint, then they won't fit in the PL.
Others will disagree with this viewpoint. I feel he is just not solid enough at this level.

It was only after he left and went back to United that I realised Lingard is a great example of this. He hardly ever takes people on, very rarely touches the ball more than twice and rarely loses possession. That is the type of attacking player the Premier League demands and is almost the polar opposite to Knocky.

Still be sorry to see him go but as with CH, if we want to improve, we must change.

 

[Stat Brother]

“Nowhere near as good” is a ludicrous comment. Literally the most productive midfielder we had last season. I provided the stats. You conveniently ghosted that comment.

If AK is nowhere near good enough, where does that leave the other players in the squad vying for the same positions?

Whoooooosh.

I am talking about the same player

AK is nowhere near as good as the AK being discussed on this thread.



Oh and I didn't ghost over your comment.
You comment, like every other 'pro AK' comment is basically screaming 'he's not good enough, get rid'.

The fact that he was still better than all the others with those really really piss poor stats says more about the team last season than it does able AK's 'brilliance'.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Now he’s gone will we ever find out why he had John Major tattooed on his chest?

 

[Shooting Star]

Yeah silly me, after all the club has never lost influential players before.

It's never recovered from losing Cullip Butters and Oatway.

I know, you're right. I just hope that all this change has not come too quickly. Irrespective of results, a big part of our identity is the players and personnel, and in that respect it certainly feels like the end of an era. Like you said, we'll recover and create a new identity. Still feels a bit unsettling though.

 

[Stat Brother]

I know, you're right. I just hope that all this change has not come too quickly. Irrespective of results, a big part of our identity is the players and personnel, and in that respect it certainly feels like the end of an era. Like you said, we'll recover and create a new identity. Still feels a bit unsettling though.

For CH it might have come too late.



Time will tell!

 

[smudge]

So we're either pro AK or anti AK now? Right.
For me, club legend. End of.

 

[Weststander]

I go back to my post and re-iterate. Knocky, for all his talent, makes the highest number of simple errors ( e.g giving the ball away under no pressure ) than any other player in the squad. We are not a talented, free scoring group of players that can brush off regular mistakes. We have to grind out opportunities, keep the opposition away from the ball as much as possible and try and limit our number of errors. Players are very quick and very direct at this level. If you give the ball away, when you are pushing forward, committed and stretched, you will be punished. I agree others are guilty as well but Knocky stands out as the most culpable and its often a result of him trying to be too clever or do too much. He still hasn't learnt ( and his personality determines that he won't ) that its all about simple, quick, direct football played with a decent degree of accuracy. Unless players can fit into this blueprint, then they won't fit in the PL.
Others will disagree with this viewpoint. I feel he is just not solid enough at this level.

Knockaert’s “errors” due in part as he often the only Albion player driving forward, trying things .... in a team of waxworks.

Whilst entire 45 and 90 minutes passed by Andone, Locadia, Jahanbakhsh and Izquierdo (season 2) with depressing regularity.

I can only hope that Trossard, March and creative signings to come, came transform us.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I go back to my post and re-iterate. Knocky, for all his talent, makes the highest number of simple errors ( e.g giving the ball away under no pressure ) than any other player in the squad. We are not a talented, free scoring group of players that can brush off regular mistakes. We have to grind out opportunities, keep the opposition away from the ball as much as possible and try and limit our number of errors. Players are very quick and very direct at this level. If you give the ball away, when you are pushing forward, committed and stretched, you will be punished. I agree others are guilty as well but Knocky stands out as the most culpable and its often a result of him trying to be too clever or do too much. He still hasn't learnt ( and his personality determines that he won't ) that its all about simple, quick, direct football played with a decent degree of accuracy. Unless players can fit into this blueprint, then they won't fit in the PL.
Others will disagree with this viewpoint. I feel he is just not solid enough at this level.

Nothing to do with a lack of offensive movement from those around him then?

There is a reason he always looked better with Bruno than with anyone else, because Bruno’s movement was far more intelligent than other RB’s.

Murray is rarely up with play and Gross often too deep, coupled with the winger on the opposite side not tucking in closer to Murray, I think his options were limited hence he was caught a few times.

His strength is his pace with the ball and whilst not dismissing your point simple and quick, football at this level is more complex, and you have to pull teams out of position and individuality plays as big a part in that.

But solid or not, of our current squad, IMO it is difficult to argue that there is a better wide player since we joined the PL, and I believe we are weakening our squad and team.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Justice]

Knockaert’s “errors” due in part as he often the only Albion player driving forward, trying things .... in a team of waxworks.

Whilst entire 45 and 90 minutes passed by Andone, Locadia, Jahanbakhsh and Izquierdo (season 2) with depressing regularity.

I can only hope that Trossard, March and creative signings to come, came transform us.

Think your going to have a long wait with March.

 

[bWize]

Will always be a legend for his service during the championship days, but feel his petulance over the past couple of seasons has let him down big time, and didn't show any signs of stopping. His performances are also very much hit and miss since moving back up to the PL. Not sure what affect he has had on the dressing room, but can't imagine it's been overly positive. Good luck to him though!

 

[Stat Brother]

So we're either pro AK or anti AK now? Right.
For me, club legend. End of.

It's going in exactly the same direction as the CH's sacking.

Almost everyone is in the middle ground.
Then the extremes kick in and posters gets pulled one way or t'other depending on the way they were leaning, in the middle ground.

 

[LamieRobertson]

So we're either pro AK or anti AK now? Right.
For me, club legend. End of.

Yes it does seem that way which is a pity

 

[The Kid Frankie]

Now he’s gone will we ever find out why he had John Major tattooed on his chest?

Pretty sure that’s his deceased father

 

[Greg Bobkin]

"We've sold Knockaert
Anthony Knockaert
A lot of fans just don't understand
He went for just 12 mill
Which makes us all feel ill
We've sold Anthony Knockaert"

Cheers for everything Knocky, you petulant, but mesmerising, French magicician [emoji106][emoji23]


Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Yes it does seem that way which is a pity

Same with Hughton as well, when we should all be saying ‘thank you’.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

"We've sold Knockaert
Anthony Knockaert
A lot of fans just don't understand
He went for just 12 mill
Which makes us all feel ill
We've sold Anthony Knockaert"

Cheers for everything Knocky, you petulant, but mesmerising, French magicician [emoji106][emoji23]


Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

We've sold Knockaert
Anthony Knockaert
A lot of fans just don't understand
They wore rose-tinted specs
Which overlooked his defects
We've sold Anthony Knockaert

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

As an aside, and if the rumours are to be believed, he was part of the Albion drinking trio as well. This doesn’t help his case.

 

[Ecosse Exile]

Indeed. Because the player wants a pay rise, and the club think he's earned it whilst also wanting to secure him for a longer term. If he had a highest earner clause, they wouldn't need to sign a new contract, he'd just automatically get more.

The club was set up to get promoted. Of course they envisaged getting promoted and employing people on higher wages.

That's not to say I'm right, I have no inside info, but it would be madness to have someone like Knocky on a highest earner clause. Is our club really being run by amateurs?

Im not saying you're wrong, or that im right, very few people would know what is in any of the players contracts however A new contract WOULD be needed for each occasion because of the length of the deal, for example a new player signs on a 5 year deal earning 5k more per week than Dunk is earning, Dunk may think, i'd rather stay as i am and run down my existing contract therefore making him more attractive to other clubs.

As for the being set up for the premier league, yes it was always the intention, however we have stated on a few occasions that we have been surprised by the fees, wage demands etc. So as i said perhaps we didnt envisage what we are now being quoted and are regretting having players on such contracts. Perhaps you are right and nobody does have such a clause, we really dont know.

As for Knocky, i can imagine his agent making such demands when he was rewarded with a new contract after we won promotion and his client was player of the year, not just for us, for the whole league. That doesn't mean we are being run by amateurs, just that we really didn't want to lose our best player, you are seeing peoples opinions now, imagine if we had lost him when we got promoted.