[Albion] Would have been a near perfect window if we’d brought in a striker

[Granny on the wing]

So would you spend millions of pounds of your own money on somebody who ‘may be better than what we have?’

My point is this ridiculous notion that we should just spunk money on someone for the sake of it. We shouldn’t ever, ever sign anyone who isn’t going to improve on what we have. If the club and recruitment team are confident that there was nobody available who would improve us, then that’s good enough for me. I’d much rather that than us panic buy another dud at the last minute.

We can`t expect Tony Bloom to just keep splashing the cash all the time after all he has done for the club .It would be nice to have a Rondon type of player but i think Murray can still do a job coming on with 20 mins to go .He knows how to get in the right position for taking chances and losing his pace is not that important,in the box he has good movement.If he gets the right crosses coming in he will finish .Another thing to take into consideration is players want to get minutes on the pitch so i`m assuming they do not necessarily want more competition ,so the Manager is putting faith in them which i think is a positive thing .Hold on to your coffee because if we get injuries up front i think Ali J could play as a central striker .

 

[GT49er]

I think we have 3 good strikers. I think our biggest issue by far in recent times is defensive - we’ve managed 2 clean sheets in 4 months and that was against Ballmuff & Norwich at home. You can’t expect to score 2 or 3 goals every game at this level, so we must switch to five at the back! Sadly with Duffy & Burn injured and Balogun gone to Wigan, I’m not sure how we can though.

Five at the back (or 3 at the back, however you put it) - I don't think we can at the moment. Dunk and Webster are our only CBs going into today's game. Surely we're not going to throw in an U23 like Roberts at this stage, are we?
(Incidentally, one thing I am a little disappointed about this window is that a few more of our talented youngsters - the likes of Roberts and Cochrane, and 1 or 2 others) haven't gone out for a half season in senior football, Championship or League 1).

 

[GT49er]

Disappointed I can only give that one thumbs up, superb post. Nails it.

These clowns baying for us to buy a ‘proven’ striker have such short memories. Our club is being run sustainably, not by panic spunking £30m on a has been in January.

Run sustainably, but apparently losing £27M last year. Such sustainability, it seems to me, is the sort of sustainability that will be difficult to sustain.

 

[NooBHA]

I don't think any of us can really know if it's been a good Window yet. That's simply because two of them are "virtual unknowns" to us.

I like the look of MacAllister. However I've only seen little snippets of him.

The Permanent signing of Mooy is only good business if the Club don't get relegated. Like wit Huddersfield, he won't hang around if that happens.

The Striker issue - I am sure they tried hard but maybe just couldn't get anyone within the Budget set.

Gonna be an exciting ride till the end of the season.

 

[LlcoolJ]

Good grief the eternal misery of the usual suspects makes it increasingly hard to enjoy NSC.


Mooy
December 2019 - we must sign him permanently, it’s critical, club being way to blasé about this

Jan 31st, signed - NSC perma-whingers...rubbish business, he’s already playing for us, must try harder

MacAllister
Up to Dec 2019 - what’s the point in signing promising young players who will never wear the stripes, disgraceful recruitment

Jan 31st, work permit received ahead of time due to rapid international progress, fair compensation paid to cut short pre-agreed loan. - NSC perma-whingers...only BRIGHTON could end up paying for our own player, unproven etc. etc.

Lamptey
December 2019 - we need a right back who can defend, we need more pace in the team

Jan 31st - sign Lamptey, great prospect, looks an immense tackler, fast, Chelsea fans up in arms about him leaving. NSC perma-whingers...unproven, too small, he’s only played one game

Striker
Where do I start! Yes we need one, I’m sure the very clever TB, DA, GP and the recruitment team are aware of that but look at the conditions that need to be met to stop the moaners...

NSC perma-whingers... must have prem experience and bang in at least 20 goals a season, can’t come from the Netherlands, can’t come from lower leagues, must have pace, etc. etc.

Reality...no bottom half prem side will sell us a striker, that leaves top half teams and any striker who meets the criteria will be playing every game! Therefore the cost would be what £50m+?

1. Such a striker wouldn’t come in jan for obvious reasons
2. We can’t afford it. Have you noticed uncle tony has put a third of a billion ******g pounds into the club and it lost £27m last year! Live in the now, live in the real world and thank you’re lucky stars we are even close to where we are!

I for one thing it’s far more sustainable to plan for long term success. If we go down, we go down, but we should be really well equipped to come straight back up.

When I was a student in Bradford years ago they broke the bank to stay in the prem. They brought in Benito carbone and Dan petrescu. They got relegated, went into admin twice and got as close to being rubbed out as we did.

No thanks, not for me.

Finally, all this negativity, do you really think it is going to help us one little tiny incy bit in our battle to stay in the prem...no, it just makes players less likely to join in the first place.

I have no issue with debate and holding the club to account but on balance, I’d say that account is pretty damn healthy.

Bang on.

 

[vagabond]

Striker
Where do I start! Yes we need one, I’m sure the very clever TB, DA, GP and the recruitment team are aware of that but look at the conditions that need to be met to stop the moaners...

NSC perma-whingers... must have prem experience and bang in at least 20 goals a season, can’t come from the Netherlands, can’t come from lower leagues, must have pace, etc. etc.

Literally no one here is saying that?

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

Run sustainably, but apparently losing £27M last year. Such sustainability, it seems to me, is the sort of sustainability that will be difficult to sustain.

I also wonder the sustainability of our recruitment approach. Even for what you say and loses incurred, it seems to be based on a punt and future thinking. I’m sure our recruitment is based on good data analysis but what about the mindset for the rigours/physicality of the English Game (how do you measure that?) never minding the required quality in Premier League.

 

[sparkie]

I love how the gloomy ones want it 2 ways.

Mooy doesn't count as a signing because he was already in the squad ( but not our player ).

Mac Allister doesn't count as a signing because... err... oh - he wasn't in the squad ( but is already our player ).


There's a logic error there for a start... you can discount 1 or the other, but not both.

 

[sparkie]

Run sustainably, but apparently losing £27M last year. Such sustainability, it seems to me, is the sort of sustainability that will be difficult to sustain.

The £27 million will be significantly offset by incoming fees for Knockaert and Locadia. The club will have done their sums.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Five at the back (or 3 at the back, however you put it) - I don't think we can at the moment. Dunk and Webster are our only CBs going into today's game. Surely we're not going to throw in an U23 like Roberts at this stage, are we?
(Incidentally, one thing I am a little disappointed about this window is that a few more of our talented youngsters - the likes of Roberts and Cochrane, and 1 or 2 others) haven't gone out for a half season in senior football, Championship or League 1).

Think we need Cochrane as cover for Bernardo.

 

[Bozza]

I love how the gloomy ones want it 2 ways.

Mooy doesn't count as a signing because he was already in the squad ( but not our player ).

Mac Allister doesn't count as a signing because... err... oh - he wasn't in the squad ( but is already our player ).


There's a logic error there for a start... you can discount 1 or the other, but not both.

I wouldn't say I was gloomy, but I am concerned.

Whilst I'm very pleased we have secured Mooy's services permanently, the club had already stated he was our player for the remainder of the season regardless so, given I am very much focusing on this season, nothing has changed there.

Having Mac All-star join up with us earlier than expected is also clearly a positive, however I am certainly guarded about how much impact a youngster who has been playing in a strong side in a lower quality league will have when dropped into a Premier League relegation dogfight. That he has never experienced the cut and thrust of English football, and never lived in this country means my short-term expectations of him are low, which is surely the correct approach.

From the outset I have been concerned about our ability to score enough goals, and that remains today. I don't doubt the difficulty in securing significant goal-threat in January, so I'm crossing my fingers that Potter finds a way to squeeze enough goals out of what he has.

 

[vagabond]

I love how the gloomy ones want it 2 ways.

Mooy doesn't count as a signing because he was already in the squad ( but not our player ).

Mac Allister doesn't count as a signing because... err... oh - he wasn't in the squad ( but is already our player ).


There's a logic error there for a start... you can discount 1 or the other, but not both.

You can’t lump all criticism together like that.

I think Mooy and Alexis are fantastic pieces of business. Ditto Lamptey.

Alexis potentially could be the most exciting Albion signing I’ve seen in my life even.

But this doesn’t change the fact we are one injury away from relying on 36yr old Glenn up front.

 

[GT49er]

Think we need Cochrane as cover for Bernardo.

Yes, good point, I suppose we do now that Bong's gone. March might be OK as a wing back, but surely not as a fullback in a back four (and we don't have an option for three at the back just now!)

 

[Justice]

This window has me wondering are clubs saying enough is enough on paying stupid money for bang average players? A championship player who has scored 1 in 9 goes for £22m was the only ridiculous one yesterday.

 

[Commander]

Who said 20 goal man? Who said he needs to be better than what we have (Maupay)? He needs to be better than Connolly which wouldn’t be hard at all at the moment. If Maupay gets injured do you not think we are bang in trouble with just Murray and Connolly left? Can you ever remember a premier league team with a weaker only two options than that?

Like has been said we have a very big and very expensive recruitment team at the club who have had 3 Premier league seasons now to find promising talent across Europe. As soon as we let Andone and Locadia go getting more support this window should have been absolutely their only focus. They failed.

It’s a fair point that he only needs to be better than Connolly. But if the club feel that Connolly is the future then do we want someone coming in to stifle his development? I agree we are in trouble if Maupay gets injured, but find me a club in the bottom half of the Premier League who wouldn’t be in trouble if they lost their top scorer.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted a striker too, but it’s not like our rivals have been snapping up amazing strikers left, right and centre, is it? It isn’t Football Manager, it’s a lot more complicated than that.

 

[Stat Brother]

I wouldn't say I was gloomy, but I am concerned.

Whilst I'm very pleased we have secured Mooy's services permanently, the club had already stated he was our player for the remainder of the season regardless so, given I am very much focusing on this season, nothing has changed there.

Having Mac All-star join up with us earlier than expected is also clearly a positive, however I am certainly guarded about how much impact a youngster who has been playing in a strong side in a lower quality league will have when dropped into a Premier League relegation dogfight. That he has never experienced the cut and thrust of English football, and never lived in this country means my short-term expectations of him are low, which is surely the correct approach.

From the outset I have been concerned about our ability to score enough goals, and that remains today. I don't doubt the difficulty in securing significant goal-threat in January, so I'm crossing my fingers that Potter finds a way to squeeze enough goals out of what he has.

Yep the last thing we should be doing is pile unnecessary pressure on players who have never played in England before, joining a new squad, manager, with a completely different approach to the game.
Then expecting him to instantly be some sort of saviour.

All these things take time, it's the rarest of the rare who can just rock up someone and carry on like nothing has changed.

 

[scoobiewhite]

Run sustainably, but apparently losing £27M last year. Such sustainability, it seems to me, is the sort of sustainability that will be difficult to sustain.

My point being that adding £30-50mil to that is much less sustainable. I think the current window reflects that with only approx £10m spent on 3 signings.

If we we had to live within our earnings we would be a third of a billion pounds behind where we are today.

I’ll repeat that a third of a billion!!!

No stadium
No prem league
No training ground

Yet the abuse aimed at club employees for not spending on this or that is completely out of proportion.

 

[Stat Brother]

My point being that adding £30-50mil to that is much less sustainable. I think the current window reflects that with only approx £10m spent on 3 signings.

If we we had to live within our earnings we would be a third of a billion pounds behind where we are today.

I’ll repeat that a third of a billion!!!

No stadium
No prem league
No training ground

Yet the abuse aimed at club employees for not spending on this or that is completely out of proportion.

I'm not entirely sure how long The Withdean Paradox can be cited while the club's spending ON the recruitment team is out of proportion with the players they are recruiting!!!

 

[GT49er]

My point being that adding £30-50mil to that is much less sustainable. I think the current window reflects that with only approx £10m spent on 3 signings.

If we we had to live within our earnings we would be a third of a billion pounds behind where we are today.

I’ll repeat that a third of a billion!!!

No stadium
No prem league
No training ground

Yet the abuse aimed at club employees for not spending on this or that is completely out of proportion.

Yes, I'm fully aware of the amount of money that TB has pumped into the club, but that isn't the point. When we were in The Championship struggling to get out of it, we were losing millions of pounds every season. As someone put it, Tony Bloom was effectively paying what, £20M plus per year for his season ticket, and we couldn't expect him to carry on doing it indefinitely, so we had to get promoted to the PL.
We did - but TB's still got the most expensive season ticket in the world. We're still not breaking even, which I would consider to be the definition of sustainability.

 

[Stat Brother]

Yes, I'm fully aware of the amount of money that TB has pumped into the club, but that isn't the point. When we were in The Championship struggling to get out of it, we were losing millions of pounds every season. As someone put it, Tony Bloom was effectively paying what, £20M plus per year for his season ticket, and we couldn't expect him to carry on doing it indefinitely, so we had to get promoted to the PL.
We did - but TB's still got the most expensive season ticket in the world. We're still not breaking even, which I would consider to be the definition of sustainability.

We are the club that missed out on £100m by 2 (two) goals.
Missed the best trophy in English football by 1 goal.
Held on the PL despite a lack of goals.
Seems intent to follow that pattern again.

For someone who quite rightly wants to own a self sustaining football team, Mr Bloom isnt making life easy for his bank manager.

When a team has an appalling track record on signing strikers.
It's go to move for striker recruitment shouldn't:-

'Either bring back a former player or nobody'.