[Albion] #StrikerFail - who is to blame?

[Sheebo]

Actually, thinking about it, it might be [MENTION=457]sheebo[/MENTION]'s fault. His inside knowledge and top tips on the singing thread dried up this summer. And look whats happened. He clearly didn't care enough about the well being of the Albion to post his top notch well sauced inside knowledge. Shame on him. Shame. On. Him.

Do you know what you're actually right in what you say... but that's another story

 

[Triggaaar]

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

Agreed.

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.

I don't want us to do a Pompy or Palace, but not getting a striker is poor financial planning. Trying to compete in the Championship is not a sustainable business model. It is risking exactly what you don't want to be risked.

If we do go down I'm confident we'll be very competitive the following season.

Sure we will, along with 10 other teams.

 

[rippleman]

The CEO I suppose. The one at the top has to take the blame.


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Yup. Unbelievable naivety..and the buck has to stop somewhere.

 

[trueblue]

Bloom said at the fans forum that the market was inflated and it's a tough market etc. It's not as if he didn't know and so was well prepared. The failure is leaving important deals until the last minute. That's a huge risk and will ultimately cost us now our Premier league status.

Nowadays all deals for good players get left to the last minute.

 

[rippleman]

Why? Explain. Bloom controls the purse strings. Nobody else. We don't have the players we wanted because we didn't offer enough money.

But it may be that Bloom did make the money available. We may not have offered enough money but that doesn't necessarily mean the money wasn't there.

"Greedy agents" and "over-inflated prices" seemed to have come as a shock to Barber; his naivety has shocked me and the buck has to stop with him.

Who was responsible for refusing to sanction the £1m bung to Tammy Abraham is also to blame (although that is also likely to be Barber!). £1m!! That looks very cheap now doesn't it?

 

[The Birdman]

I wonder how many enquiries we had for our players.

 

[Martlet]

But it may be that Bloom did make the money available. We may not have offered enough money but that doesn't necessarily mean the money wasn't there.

"Greedy agents" and "over-inflated prices" seemed to have come as a shock to Barber; his naivety has shocked me and the buck has to stop with him.

Who was responsible for refusing to sanction the £1m bung to Tammy Abraham is also to blame (although that is also likely to be Barber!). £1m!! That looks very cheap now doesn't it?

I agree - but it might not look so clever when all agents and players got wind of it and started asking for this as part of contract renegotiations.

Seems to me that we've learnt the hard way that the transfer techniques that worked well in the Championship (bringing in unknowns from the Spanish 2nd tier) don't work so well when you're trying to bring in decent players from top tier clubs.

£15m for Chris Wood is looking a pretty good deal now...

 

[neilbard]

Nowadays all deals for good players get left to the last minute.

That's as maybe, but we didn't actually complete a good deal did we, so what you're suggesting is irrelevant in our case.

So if we are to leave it that late at least make it happen, or get sorted well before the deadline.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Do you know what you're actually right in what you say... but that's another story

Ah, sorry mate. I hope I haven't prodded a sore spot there. If I have, I apologise, I was just trying to lighten a miserable thread.

 

[trueblue]

That's as maybe, but we didn't actually complete a good deal did we, so what you're suggesting is irrelevant in our case.

Hardly alone in that. I suppose we can take comfort that the likes of Palace (Niasse), Chelsea (Oxlade-Chamberlain, Llorente), Liverpool (Van Dijk), Manchester City (Sanchez), Arsenal (everyone) and the rest must all be equally clueless at running a Premier League operation.

 

[Acker79]

One thing so far missing from this thread is an analysis of the supposed new recruitment system that we were operating. Vicariously for the club, Naylor harangued us all for not recognising the strong and stable "pod of similar players per position" that the club had carefully researched. Well clearly no real work had been done in terms of understanding fitness and health backgrounds and then reaching out to and attracting these players (and lets not pretend that you cannot do this in the background even whilst under contract) so that they might actually sign on the bleedin dotted line.

I was going to bring this up. There is obviously a positive to having a group of players rather than just one - it gives you options, can stop you being held hostage to a higher price, but the negative is potentially that you don't devote enough effort to it if you can think 'well, if this one doesn't come off, we can go for this other one'. Did that cost us?

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.

One of the most frustrating things in football fandom, imo, people grouping others into either for or against.

 

[Weststander]

Hardly alone in that. I suppose we can take comfort that the likes of Palace (Niasse), Chelsea (Oxlade-Chamberlain, Llorente), Liverpool (Van Dijk), Manchester City (Sanchez), Arsenal (everyone) and the rest must all be equally clueless at running a Premier League operation.

The ones they didn't get over the line, but they met all their other needs very nicely. That's normal. In addition, they already had top flight quality players in all those positions.

The Albion have no PL quality strikers. Is that the first, since Derby?

 

[Weststander]

Nowadays all deals for good players get left to the last minute.

Meanwhile, back in the reality of the PL window Summer 2017, squad were improved with quality throughout.

 

[trueblue]

The ones they didn't get over the line, but they met all their other needs very nicely. That's normal. In addition, they already had top flight quality players in all those positions.

The Albion have no PL quality strikers. Is that the first, since Derby?

Did they? I doubt Conte would think that. Or Koeman who is short of strikers. Or Southampton, likewise. Or Palace. Or Bournemouth who couldn't attract anyone. Or West Ham fans. Or Arsenal etc etc. Arsenal perhaps being most relevant as we seem to have inherited a load of Arsenal fans judging by all the defeatist whining.

In any case, I think Glenn Murray would take issue with your assessment. Sure, he's not Lukaku but we're neither are the strikers playing for most of our comparable opponents. And Sam Baldock is arguably as good as plenty of PL players in the lower mid-ranking teams. Leaves us short on numbers still, but how can you be sure that a £25m wonder signing would do any better? The track record for most that come into the PL's lower ranks with big reputations is not very promising.

It is what it is. Knuckle down, get on with it. We've been in worse situations, have a good manager and a fundamentally sound, well organised side. That combination gives any club a chance.

 

[trueblue]

Meanwhile, back in the reality of the PL window Summer 2017, squad were improved with quality throughout.

Just not true. Many, many clubs missed out on their targets. You seem to be saying that NONE of our signings have potential to improve the squad which is plainly nonsense.

 

[Weststander]

I think Glenn Murray would take issue with your assessment. Sure, he's not Lukaku but we're neither are the strikers playing for most of our comparable opponents. And Sam Baldock is arguably as good as plenty of PL players in the lower mid-ranking teams. Leaves us short on numbers still, but how can you be sure that a £25m wonder signing would do any better? The track record for most that come into the PL's lower ranks with big reputations is not very promising.

All about opinions.

Murray - I love the player in both his spells as much as anyone. Gutted when cocky Poyet 'won' the wages battle. It's the injury, plus it's generally agreed that CH is now trying to get us to play fast counter attacking football from deep. I'm highly concerned that his 33 year old legs won't get him into the box in time, as well as PL defenders are deceptively fast.

Baldock - Equally, I rate him as PL class striker and never joined in those slagging him off right the start of his Albion career. But the bloody long term injuries making him rarely available it seems.

 

[Weststander]

Just not true. Many, many clubs missed out on their targets. You seem to be saying that NONE of our signings have potential to improve the squad which is plainly nonsense.

The debate of the last 48 hours is purely about strikers. We failed 100% in that department. TB today used that very word "failed".

 

[trueblue]

The debate of the last 48 hours is purely about strikers. We failed 100% in that department. TB today used that very word "failed".

Odd. Yesterday you were saying the debate wasn't only about strikers. Other players are also allowed to score goals, so looking at the whole picture is relevant.

Only time will tell whether or not this window has been a disaster. Chances are it will be judged that way as our season will now always be measured against the hypothetical success of one of the forwards we missed out on who, obviously, would definitely have scored 15 goals to keep us up. Even though those signings are few and far between in the PL.

 

[Weststander]

Odd. Yesterday you were saying the debate wasn't only about strikers. Other players are also allowed to score goals, so looking at the whole picture is relevant.

Only time will tell whether or not this window has been a disaster. Chances are it will be judged that way as our season will now always be measured against the hypothetical success of one of the forwards we missed out on who, obviously, would definitely have scored 15 goals to keep us up. Even though those signings are few and far between in the PL.

Odd.

Strikers with pace and able to score PL goals was always my main aspiration for the squad, stated on NSC, since April.

What were yours then?

 

[GT49er]

But it may be that Bloom did make the money available. We may not have offered enough money but that doesn't necessarily mean the money wasn't there.

"Greedy agents" and "over-inflated prices" seemed to have come as a shock to Barber; his naivety has shocked me and the buck has to stop with him.

Who was responsible for refusing to sanction the £1m bung to Tammy Abraham is also to blame (although that is also likely to be Barber!). £1m!! That looks very cheap now doesn't it?

I was pleased, and I remain pleased, that my beloved Albion refused to pay a bung after agreements had been drawn up and agreed.