[Albion] This transfer window has to be big

[WhingForPresident]

Very little chance we will make any further first team additions in January IMO, and I'm fine with that personally. Strikers are at a premium as it is, let alone in January.

 

[b.w.2.]

Sky now report that Villa are after Biss!

I’m sure they are, along with a host of other clubs. They can all do one until the Summer!

Doesn’t make sense. Big 6 for him, Shirley?


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[macbeth]

Do we 'need' a striker? I mean REALLY need a striker? Like desperately? I think not.

• Maupay and Trossard have been scoring goals and looking like scoring goals
• Welbeck came back and chipped in with a goal – no reason he won't keep that up, even if he isn't playing a full 90 (this is a guy who was on the pitch for 11 minutes and took seven touches before scoring, FFS!)
• Mac Allister would've got a MASSIVE confidence boost from scoring two at the weekend. Take that into the rest of the season and he'll take some of the weight off the forwards.

I grant you that:

• Llalana and Bissouma can't shoot for toffee – apart from the VERY occasional effort from YB
• With Dunk out and Duffy out of favour, our average height (and potential for headed goals from corners) is depleted (Hashtag Pray for Dan Burn)
• We still have the knack of creating a lot by delivering little – three goals away from home was a rarity and not likely to be common, not in this league (Clive).

However, we're ninth in the table. With what is, according to some people, a sub-standard set of strikers!

What do we do?

Go and spaff tens of millions of pounds on a massive gamble that might not pay off? Risk paying WAY over the odds in January, where prices are historically inflated because clubs (or fans of clubs, in some cases) are desperate for players? Take a gamble on an unknown and they end up not being Premier League Ready™ and they crash, burn and get sent out on loan at the beginning of the next season.

OR, what about going with a) what we've got already - players that are already delivering and then re-assessing in the summer and b) giving youngsters such as Ferguson a chance because evidence suggests that some of the players in and around the squad CAN fit right in and ARE good enough?

Yes, AC is gone and Locadia has departed for good but, apart from fleeting appearances, were they REALLY that close to being anything more than bit part players? What I mean is, we haven't exactly lost two key players of the squad who need to be IMMEDIATELY replaced.

TL;DR: We don't NEED a striker – people need to chill out a bit.

'need' requires a bit of definition here. so if we don't sign a striker does that mean we're going to end up in serious relegation trouble? no, probably not. so in that aspect, you're right, we don't need one.

but given that we're only one welbeck injury away from having only one reliable striker (and we know maupay, like all players, will lose form again at some point), it could be the case that to cement a decent finish, i.e improving on 15th, we would probably require another option up front.


of course we could spend big on someone and it not work out, but what you've described is a worst case scenario, just like the worst case scenario for going with what we have is welbeck getting injured and maupay losing form and us ending up exactly where we've been for the previous five seasons or worse.

my point being is that yes, you are right, the world won't implode if we don't sign anyone, however I think we need to look beyond simply what we need to do to survive, and I think we'd be selling ourselves short if we didn't achieve as much as we could this season simply through a lack of options

 

[b.w.2.]

Me neither Mods must have been culling threads at birth, eh? Either that, or we've all got the same suspect on ignore, so they've just disappeared!

We do need one tho… despite Potter spouting bolleaux today


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[b.w.2.]

Very little chance we will make any further first team additions in January IMO, and I'm fine with that personally. Strikers are at a premium as it is, let alone in January.

Origi and NKetiah will both go for a bargain knock down price in this window or their club’s get zero in the summer


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[middletoenail]

If we have a big offer for Biss we should sell, aside from the fact he's out of contract soon, if he's found out to have had his hand up the skirt of some Doris he'll affectively be a free transfer.

 

[albionalex]

Do we 'need' a striker? I mean REALLY need a striker? Like desperately? I think not.

• Maupay and Trossard have been scoring goals and looking like scoring goals
• Welbeck came back and chipped in with a goal – no reason he won't keep that up, even if he isn't playing a full 90 (this is a guy who was on the pitch for 11 minutes and took seven touches before scoring, FFS!)
• Mac Allister would've got a MASSIVE confidence boost from scoring two at the weekend. Take that into the rest of the season and he'll take some of the weight off the forwards.

I grant you that:

• Llalana and Bissouma can't shoot for toffee – apart from the VERY occasional effort from YB
• With Dunk out and Duffy out of favour, our average height (and potential for headed goals from corners) is depleted (Hashtag Pray for Dan Burn)
• We still have the knack of creating a lot by delivering little – three goals away from home was a rarity and not likely to be common, not in this league (Clive).

However, we're ninth in the table. With what is, according to some people, a sub-standard set of strikers!

What do we do?

Go and spaff tens of millions of pounds on a massive gamble that might not pay off? Risk paying WAY over the odds in January, where prices are historically inflated because clubs (or fans of clubs, in some cases) are desperate for players? Take a gamble on an unknown and they end up not being Premier League Ready™ and they crash, burn and get sent out on loan at the beginning of the next season.

OR, what about going with a) what we've got already - players that are already delivering and then re-assessing in the summer and b) giving youngsters such as Ferguson a chance because evidence suggests that some of the players in and around the squad CAN fit right in and ARE good enough?

Yes, AC is gone and Locadia has departed for good but, apart from fleeting appearances, were they REALLY that close to being anything more than bit part players? What I mean is, we haven't exactly lost two key players of the squad who need to be IMMEDIATELY replaced.

TL;DR: We don't NEED a striker – people need to chill out a bit.

We do need a striker. Between covid, injuries and suspension, it would be very risky to proceed with only Maupay and Welbz as recognized senior strikers.

 

[b.w.2.]

'need' requires a bit of definition here. so if we don't sign a striker does that mean we're going to end up in serious relegation trouble? no, probably not. so in that aspect, you're right, we don't need one.

but given that we're only one welbeck injury away from having only one reliable striker (and we know maupay, like all players, will lose form again at some point), it could be the case that to cement a decent finish, i.e improving on 15th, we would probably require another option up front.


of course we could spend big on someone and it not work out, but what you've described is a worst case scenario, just like the worst case scenario for going with what we have is welbeck getting injured and maupay losing form and us ending up exactly where we've been for the previous five seasons or worse.

my point being is that yes, you are right, the world won't implode if we don't sign anyone, however I think we need to look beyond simply what we need to do to survive, and I think we'd be selling ourselves short if we didn't achieve as much as we could this season simply through a lack of options

Brilliant post. Wish I could have put it as well as that


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[Greg Bobkin]

Fair enough to make the point that Maupay, Trossard and Welbeck have done well. But the issue is numbers isn't. In Covid times you need a little more cover than we actually have.

Imagine spaffing £20m on a player who then gets covid and is out until the Spring!

 

[b.w.2.]

We do need a striker. Between covid, injuries and suspension, it would be very risky to proceed with only Maupay and Welbz as recognized senior strikers.

So true


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[b.w.2.]

Imagine spaffing £20m on a player who then gets covid and is out until the Spring!

Imagine Welbs getting injured again February 1st. Far more likely


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[SweatyMexican]

If we bring in anyone over £5 million it’ll be a surprise.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If we get short there’s always Ferguson or a Potter tactical tweak.

 

[b.w.2.]

If we bring in anyone over £5 million it’ll be a surprise.

The friendly ghost cost £8m…


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[b.w.2.]

If we bring in anyone over £5 million it’ll be a surprise.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing. If we get short there’s always Ferguson or a Potter tactical tweak.

You mean the no striker tweak which has yielded zero victories…


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[Greg Bobkin]

'need' requires a bit of definition here. so if we don't sign a striker does that mean we're going to end up in serious relegation trouble? no, probably not. so in that aspect, you're right, we don't need one.

but given that we're only one welbeck injury away from having only one reliable striker (and we know maupay, like all players, will lose form again at some point), it could be the case that to cement a decent finish, i.e improving on 15th, we would probably require another option up front.


of course we could spend big on someone and it not work out, but what you've described is a worst case scenario, just like the worst case scenario for going with what we have is welbeck getting injured and maupay losing form and us ending up exactly where we've been for the previous five seasons or worse.

my point being is that yes, you are right, the world won't implode if we don't sign anyone, however I think we need to look beyond simply what we need to do to survive, and I think we'd be selling ourselves short if we didn't achieve as much as we could this season simply through a lack of options

I thought I'd done exactly that in my first sentence

 

[macbeth]

I thought I'd done exactly that in my first sentence

well perhaps I've misunderstood then. but would I say we desperately need a striker in order to stay where we are in the table? yeah, probably. I simply cannot see us staying where we are with our current options. which would be fine, it wouldn't mean we'd get relegated, but we'd probably end up around 13th-15th again. it all comes down to what we want to achieve this season.

 

[Brovion]

The transfer window can't be any bigger than the FA allows. I think it is about 4 weeks.

Well I think if it's too big there's a danger of someone getting hurt when it SLAMS shut.

 

[GT49er]

well perhaps I've misunderstood then. but would I say we desperately need a striker in order to stay where we are in the table? yeah, probably. I simply cannot see us staying where we are with our current options. which would be fine, it wouldn't mean we'd get relegated, but we'd probably end up around 13th-15th again. it all comes down to what we want to achieve this season.

That's just it though - if we finish 13th - 15th (reasonably comfortably, without biting our fingernails to the quick in the last few weeks of the season) it will be an incremental improvement, and we go again (in the PL, with our youngsters a year older and all our players a year more experienced) next season.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

well perhaps I've misunderstood then. but would I say we desperately need a striker in order to stay where we are in the table? yeah, probably. I simply cannot see us staying where we are with our current options. which would be fine, it wouldn't mean we'd get relegated, but we'd probably end up around 13th-15th again. it all comes down to what we want to achieve this season.

I meant that is would not be a disaster if – in a worst case scenario – there was no new striker AND Welbeck had another injury AND either Maupay or Trossard were injured. As in, the club wouldn't get relegated, players wouldn't down tools and be demanding to leave.

My wider point was the hope/expectation that goals could come from elsewhere. If the strikers had the same amount of goals they had now, but the midfield and defenders had chipped in with, say, 8-10 more goals between them, we wouldn't be having this debate.

 

[The Fits]

We’ll be just fine guys.