[Albion] #StrikerFail - who is to blame?

[jameswestport]

Is there still a January transfer window?

Could young Tilley step up to make a few impact sub appearances?

 

[BN9 BHA]

Modern football and ridiculous wages are to blame, someone else has probably said this but I haven't read through 12 pages.

 

[PWA]

Bit down, but we just need to move on and stick together.

 

[5ways]

The worst part is we're going to create chances that go unconverted. It will be very frustrating.

 

[AmexRuislip]

This is our first time in PL, complete amateurs at this game of buying players, we are amongst the 'big boys' now.
So still learning all the time.
Nobody is to blame IMO.

 

[Triggaaar]

Unbelievably it took till #19 before someone came up with the answer.
As it's TB

If TB asked his recruitment team how much money they needed to get the strikers (and other players) they need, and they told TB, and he said ok, that's fine, you can have that money, go get 'em - how is it then his fault if they don't go get them?

Obviously I'm not saying that's exactly what happened, I'm saying we don't know what happened, so we can say whose fault it is.

 

[Nathan]

If TB asked his recruitment team how much money they needed to get the strikers (and other players) they need, and they told TB, and he said ok, that's fine, you can have that money, go get 'em - how is it then his fault if they don't go get them?

Obviously I'm not saying that's exactly what happened, I'm saying we don't know what happened, so we can say whose fault it is.

What if it was the other way around, and TB said you have X amount of money, go get me the strikers.

I think we were naive early in the window, and we didn't want to spend big money, then we realised that we need to spend big and it was too late. Yes we were very unlucky with medicals, but we didn't get business done early enough. Not sure who is to blame, if anyone. We must learn and start looking at deals now for January.

The frustrating thing is we have all known even before we got promoted that we needed to strengthen up front. Why didn't we go for Tom Lawrence who is young and proven at championship level, if we get relegated we will need someone like him next year anyway, and who knows as a striker he might be able to score goals in the premier league.

Lets back the team and who knows we can still stay up! Other team have hardly impressed with their transfer dealings.

 

[Triggaaar]

What if it was the other way around, and TB said you have X amount of money, go get me the strikers.

Indeed, we just don't know.

Yes we were very unlucky with medicals, but we didn't get business done early enough. Not sure who is to blame, if anyone. We must learn and start looking at deals now for January.

If it's not too late by then.

 

[DIFFBROOK]

The strategy was wrong, perhaps naively. If we hadn't taken Krul on loan...im sure we could have bought him, then that would have freed up a loan for a striker if necessary. Jannsen might have turned down a perm move, but quite possibly accepted a loan.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[Stat Brother]

If TB asked his recruitment team how much money they needed to get the strikers (and other players) they need, and they told TB, and he said ok, that's fine, you can have that money, go get 'em - how is it then his fault if they don't go get them?

Obviously I'm not saying that's exactly what happened, I'm saying we don't know what happened, so we can say whose fault it is.

There's no need to duck and dive around the issue.

Many believe Tony to be infallible, that's fine, hardly surprising, and holistically naturally I (probably you as well) agree.

But this is a specific question, asking for a specific answer, to a specific issue.
The moment that gets cloudy and a bit wishy-washy blame has to begin at the top.

This situation has happened far to many times in the past for it not to begin and end at Mr Blooms door.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Certainly Ash Barnes or Your Mum.

 

[Weststander]

I think we were naive early in the window, and we didn't want to spend big money, then we realised that we need to spend big and it was too late.

A good summary.

The 'August better value strikers' theory, was just that, theoretical to clubs of Brighton's stature in the game.

 

[LamieRobertson]

So we have posters who have said TB is to blame....what then? ...Least that numpty Junior started a thread saying he should go, backing his own posts...the ones on this thread just see to like having a go..post after post of criticism.

I'm not angry...just hugely disappointed....but i'll get over it and get behind the players who did sign for BHA ....roll on September 9th!

 

[Triggaaar]

There's no need to duck and dive around the issue.

I'm not.

But this is a specific question, asking for a specific answer, to a specific issue.

Yes, and the fact is that we don't have the information required to give the answer. Did TB not offer the team enough money early on? Or did the team use up too much of the money on the wrong players? There was clearly a decent amount of money available, we just have no idea why it wasn't used in time.

This situation has happened far to many times in the past for it not to begin and end at Mr Blooms door.

What? We've been competitive and done well since Tony has been in charge. So how far in the past are you talking, and what happened back then?

 

[Stat Brother]

What? We've been competitive and done well since Tony has been in charge. So how far in the past are you talking, and what happened back then?

In all areas bar one.

The club has constantly had a shortfall of strikers, sure there's a degree the right amount being n+1, but that only works when starting at the base level.

3 + loanee isn't a high enough base level.

Can we expect Tony to fly in a sack everybody this time as well?

That was the teaching moment and still we've had x transfer windows where the club has failed to deliver even adequate strikerS

 

[B.W.]

Strategy completely and utterly wrong.
PB spent far too long publicly moaning about market prices, which nobody can alter.
TB/PB finally and belatedly realised they had to spend big to have a chance of survival.
We all new the biggest gap in our squad.
We should have addressed that gap early / before the first pre-season game.
We just left it too late.
I think it is clear that the blame lies with Tony, who I think is great, and the less-than-great PB.

 

[jimhigham]

Very, very frustrated and disappointed this morning. We all knew from the moment that promotion was confirmed that we would be short of striking options in the Premier League. If we all knew it then we can absolutely certain that Chris and the recruitment team did too. Tony has put a lot of money into strengthening across the squad and I remain grateful to him for that but to fail to come away with any further addition to the front line is simply a failure on our part. That should have been the absolute first priority from day one and if we had to do without a midfield acquisition to land a striker then so be it.

There's a lot of binary behaviour on this board at times but it is perfectly possible to support the team and have concerns about where they are headed at the same time. I'm afraid that this shortfall in our squad will be insurmountable and I see little prospect of our staying up now. It doesn't matter how much we create if we don't have a reliable striker to put those chances away. Sure, we shall get goals from midfield but almost certainly not enough unless Chris has some fantastical, salt-earning new formation up his sleeve.

And here's the thing. That's OK. This is my team and I remain thrilled about where we find ourselves right now. The Premier League was never going to be easy and everybody at the club is still learning how to deal with it. Given our little run-in with extinction it's reasonable for Tony not to indulge in Palace-esque short-termism and jeopardise our future on an uncertain tilt. If we do go down I'm confident we'll be very competitive the following season.

Football. Eees complicated.

 

[MattBackHome]

I think bad luck certainly played a factor; Denswil & Dwamarena were scuppered by extremely unlikely developments, and both at very late stages having taking up (presumably) a great deal of time and effort in Lancing.

having said that you would expect there to be a shortlist of targets for each position, which goes from the ideal, top of the range (but also most expensive and less likely to come) at the top down to the more achievable further down. My gut feeling is that they were scuppered on so many of the ones at the top of the list that they got to a point on the list where the quality wasn't deemed sufficiently high enough to warrant a buy. This I suppose was exacerbated by spending so much time and effort on deals which were either unfortunately doomed (Dwamarena) or dead in the water before they started (Andone/Muhamba Dweno Mboko). So basically bad luck, and not enough '2nd/3rd tier' backups options.

But what the **** do I know.

I was disappointed last night, because I really wanted a flair merchant spearhead striker, but am a bit more sanguine this morning. Firstly we've got January, but even before then I have a feeling that some of the existing signings will start to prove their worth more.

 

[DTES]

I don't really have anything to add on the "who is to blame?" debate, but want to pick up on the posts above saying that others "are laughing at us". They're really not; here's the verdict on our transfer window from Dominic Fifield in the Guardian:

Brighton’s return to the top flight has been backed by the owner, Tony Bloom, with the club’s transfer record regularly broken over the summer. José Izquierdo, secured from Club Brugge, could be an exciting addition once he has settled, while Davy Pröpper will inject quality into midfield and Matt Ryan is an upgrade in goal. It remains to be seen whether the recruits to the Amex can adjust quickly enough to steer Chris Hughton’s team clear of trouble. The manager may seek to add further firepower in January with his forward ranks perhaps a weak link but Brighton have given themselves a good chance of survival

Link HERE.

Granted, over on Sky Sports, Paul Merson thinks we've done badly - but even then that's not because of the striker situation, but because he hasn't heard of Izquierdo et al (and I'm really not going to worry that Merse hasn't done his research). Stop worrying about people laughing at us...

(That's all, back to the blame game...)

 

[Hungry Joe]

Amid the understandable disappointment and frustration it is worth remembering that we are not the only club run by a chairman with a rigid financial policy who is also a bit of a gambler, Levy at Spurs had to also apply for a 2-hour extension to get back up for Kane. If that had failed I'd imagine the Spurs board would be similar to this one this morning. Obviously the difference is that Spurs aren't in any danger of being relegated, but it just goes to show what all but the very richest clubs are having to deal with now. The biggest loser in all this imo is football itself. When it is such a gargantuan struggle to even compete in any of the top leagues it does make me wonder whether I'd be better off getting all hot and bothered about the trials and tribulations of local non-league football instead. I won't, but it's sad I'm even thinking it.