When should we panic? - Transfers Activity

[NooBHA]

Goals are the key for a struggling team in the Premier League. We won't be keeping many clean sheets, no team in the bottom half does when you're up against quality attackers every week. So being able to hurt other teams is a must. Sadly I don't think there is a case to be made for any of our current strikers being capable of scoring more than a handful of goals in a Premier League season so we need to focus the budget on this area. We need at least two new strikers and one needs to have some form of track record of scoring goals at a good level. Anything less is just asking for trouble. Even signing one striker would be unacceptable as we need options. Plus you can't pin all your hopes on one man, find he is injured in the first month and then be relying on a 34 year old with minimal top flight experience/success to lead our attack. Even crap teams have good strikers - Watford have Deeney, Palace have Benteke, Swansea have Llorente, Bournemouth have Defoe, West Brom have Rondon etc. That's the level we need to reach. Anyone thinking Glenn Murray or Sam Baldock can do the job is sadly mistaken and we can't take a £120m gamble on them.

Strikers will come but something I would like to see happen would be to find a player who can get a few goals from corners or free kicks, Someone like the way Tim Cahill used to be able to do for Everton. A decent player but not overly gifted but every season for both Millwall and Everton he hit close to 10 goals or more per season, mostly from his head from corners and free kicks.

 

[forumwayseagull]

Goals are the key for a struggling team in the Premier League. We won't be keeping many clean sheets, no team in the bottom half does when you're up against quality attackers every week. So being able to hurt other teams is a must. Sadly I don't think there is a case to be made for any of our current strikers being capable of scoring more than a handful of goals in a Premier League season so we need to focus the budget on this area. We need at least two new strikers and one needs to have some form of track record of scoring goals at a good level. Anything less is just asking for trouble. Even signing one striker would be unacceptable as we need options. Plus you can't pin all your hopes on one man, find he is injured in the first month and then be relying on a 34 year old with minimal top flight experience/success to lead our attack. Even crap teams have good strikers - Watford have Deeney, Palace have Benteke, Swansea have Llorente, Bournemouth have Defoe, West Brom have Rondon etc. That's the level we need to reach. Anyone thinking Glenn Murray or Sam Baldock can do the job is sadly mistaken and we can't take a £120m gamble on them.

Excellent points, scary thing though is we haven't even really been linked to top strikers either....I fully understand the need for decent prices etc, but we cannot pin all hopes on possible Aldi styled deals... Whilst I appreciate we won't shop at Waitrose, we can look at Tescos and Sainsburys to ensure that we obtain quality and Experience..

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Excellent points, scary thing though is we haven't even really been linked to top strikers either....I fully understand the need for decent prices etc, but we cannot pin all hopes on possible Aldi styled deals... Whilst I appreciate we won't shop at Waitrose, we can look at Tescos and Sainsburys to ensure that we obtain quality and Experience..

Lidls was awarded Supermarket of the year. Unsurprising when you remember they're German.

 

[sir albion]

Goals are the key for a struggling team in the Premier League. We won't be keeping many clean sheets, no team in the bottom half does when you're up against quality attackers every week. So being able to hurt other teams is a must. Sadly I don't think there is a case to be made for any of our current strikers being capable of scoring more than a handful of goals in a Premier League season so we need to focus the budget on this area. We need at least two new strikers and one needs to have some form of track record of scoring goals at a good level. Anything less is just asking for trouble. Even signing one striker would be unacceptable as we need options. Plus you can't pin all your hopes on one man, find he is injured in the first month and then be relying on a 34 year old with minimal top flight experience/success to lead our attack. Even crap teams have good strikers - Watford have Deeney, Palace have Benteke, Swansea have Llorente, Bournemouth have Defoe, West Brom have Rondon etc. That's the level we need to reach. Anyone thinking Glenn Murray or Sam Baldock can do the job is sadly mistaken and we can't take a £120m gamble on them.

I would suspect the loyalty will probably get us relegated but it's been fun getting here that's for sure.
I also don't see any of our strikers getting more than 5 goals and our centre midfielders never scored hardly even in the championship.Its goner be pretty painful a lot this season sadly.

 

[NooBHA]

I would suspect the loyalty will probably get us relegated but it's been fun getting here that's for sure.
I also don't see any of our strikers getting more than 5 goals and our centre midfielders never scored hardly even in the championship.Its goner be pretty painful a lot this season sadly.

There won't be any loyalty. Only players thought good enough or ''in form'' or conducive to tactics in a particular match will play. That's a given with Chris and I think has already being bourne out by the dispatch of Stockdale and him being replaced by Ryan. You can't dispatch everyone all at once who may not quite be up to playing in the PL but the squad has evolved in every transfer window and it will continue to do so.

 

[Albion my Albion]

If Knock is truly injured for several weeks than that would be grounds for panicking

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/11247141/panic-attack

 

[Bozza]

At the moment we are nailed on for 19th or 20th place. I've no problem with a mix of loyalty and strengthening. Our current squad has just achieved something special and everyone who played a big part last season deserves to remain in the 18. But we also need to be realistic and realise this is a huge step up and we have very few players you can be confident about performing well next season. People are quick to say that there are lots of poor teams in the Premier League and we will be ok, but those supposedly weak teams still have their fair share of proven Premier League performers and goalscorers. I still think teams like Swansea, Palace and Stoke are miles ahead of us right now. Loyalty and team spirit can get us some of the way, but adding quality players is also a must. I just hope the club haven't underestimated the challenge, but I'm beginning to wonder if they think we can do it on the cheap.

Agree with much of this.

I'd be really interested to hear from [MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION] about if there is any good reason why some of these other 'lesser' Premier League clubs are able to spend what appears to be eye-watering sums of money if we can't or won't. Is it any/all of...

1. They've been in the PL for a few seasons now, so feel more assured in splashing the cash as relegation feels like less of an imminent threat.
2. They have uber-rich owners who are able to top up TV money with their own tens of millions of pounds (I've lost track of what, if anything, exist of FFP type stuff in the PL).
3. We're just being a bit cautious (based on estimates of spend thus far).

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Goals are the key for a struggling team in the Premier League. We won't be keeping many clean sheets, no team in the bottom half does when you're up against quality attackers every week. So being able to hurt other teams is a must. Sadly I don't think there is a case to be made for any of our current strikers being capable of scoring more than a handful of goals in a Premier League season so we need to focus the budget on this area. We need at least two new strikers and one needs to have some form of track record of scoring goals at a good level. Anything less is just asking for trouble. Even signing one striker would be unacceptable as we need options. Plus you can't pin all your hopes on one man, find he is injured in the first month and then be relying on a 34 year old with minimal top flight experience/success to lead our attack. Even crap teams have good strikers - Watford have Deeney, Palace have Benteke, Swansea have Llorente, Bournemouth have Defoe, West Brom have Rondon etc. That's the level we need to reach. Anyone thinking Glenn Murray or Sam Baldock can do the job is sadly mistaken and we can't take a £120m gamble on them.

Pretty much my thoughts entirely.

After the city game we have some pretty winnable games and we need to have our 15 goal a season striker in by then.

 

[Nixonator]

I think Point 1 is fair. If you get £120m a year then you don't need to be a genius to work out teams like Bournemouth have now had £360m since they went up, Burnley have had £240m and so on. So we will be at a disadvantage still and it is unrealistic to expect us to overhaul the squad so it is packed with Premier League players in one summer like other clubs have been able to do over a couple of years.

But what we surely can do is compete for a couple of big signings in key positions to strengthen the current squad and give us the best possible chance of staying up. There is still time of course, but I'm not seeing or hearing anything so far that suggests we are really serious about bringing in real quality.

The obvious answer, at least to me, is the not fee itself but the salary required to land them.

I'm sure we are quite willing to throw 15M+ at a proven goalscorer but it doesn't stop there and we probably have a wage ceiling that will hinder us. No doubt strikers command the biggest salaries as well.

 

[Bozza]

I think Point 1 is fair. If you get £120m a year then you don't need to be a genius to work out teams like Bournemouth have now had £360m since they went up, Burnley have had £240m and so on. So we will be at a disadvantage still and it is unrealistic to expect us to overhaul the squad so it is packed with Premier League players in one summer like other clubs have been able to do over a couple of years.

I think that's a different possible reason. Yours is more a "we've banked profits over past season(s) so we can now speculate a bit more", although there is probably some of my "...but we're a bit more established now, so the risk of relegation (and financial meltdown) has lessened".

 

[Triggaaar]

I don't mind if we're a yoyo club for a few years, but the competition for promotion just gets harder and harder every year, so there's no guarantee relegated teams will get back up. So IMO we really need to spend to give ourselves a chance of staying up.

 

[T soprano]

3 players all summer just to replace the outgoing
Akpom (gross)
Pogognoli (Suttner)
stockdale(Ryan)
So 4 weeks until the season starts and the squad hasn't been strengthened at all...worried?
I'll let you know at the first international break, but it doesn't look good does it

Delaney a no go as is Renato now, options must be getting limited for that position as we must be now moving onto the third option

 

[Bozza]

3 players all summer just to replace the outgoing
Akpom (gross)
Pogognoli (Suttner)
stockdale(Ryan)
So 4 weeks until the season starts and the squad hasn't been strengthened at all...worried?
I'll let you know at the first international break, but it doesn't look good does it

All upgrades, or at least Hughton would see them as such, and it's his view that counts on that appraisal.

 

[T soprano]

All upgrades, or at least Hughton would see them as such, and it's his view that counts on that appraisal.

As I said...worried? See when the transfer window shuts
Gross for Akpom an improvement but the squad(size) still not strengthened
Panicking ? Not yet, but concerned
But whatever happens just gonna enjoy every moment, waited long enough for it

 

[newhaven seagull 85]

Time to panic will be 1st February 2018,but only if we have no chance of survival in the premier league,with all the issues we have gone through,we should not panic one iota,we should rejoice on how far we have come,and how lucky we are to be here.
Enjoy our time in the premier league,for however long or short it is.

 

[NooBHA]

As I said...worried? See when the transfer window shuts
Gross for Akpom an improvement but the squad(size) still not strengthened
Panicking ? Not yet, but concerned
But whatever happens just gonna enjoy every moment, waited long enough for it

CH will go into this season's PL with the best squad he has ever had up there once he has assembled the missing pieces. Most certainly the best defence he has ever had and he has always held his own when up there. I have no doubt it will be difficult be he knows how to pick up enough points to survive