Has anyone considered this could be a good thing (beyond not overpaying)?
Last season we were great at scoring goals, but personally I always thought we lacked that goalscoring threat when Knockaert didn't play.
We've had a poor start to the season, but let's not forget that the first of those games was against Man City where we didn't seem to want to try to score, rather just keep the goals conceded to a minimum. Then away against a strong leicester side where an early error knocked the wind out of the side.
Then comes Watford. Knockaert starts and we suddenly look like an attacking side. With AK back, we're going to be more of a threat. He is now supported by Izquiwhatever whose short cameo looked very promising, and maybe we won't have to rely on AK so much for our threat. Yes, we failed to score, but we did that a couple of times last season, too. We hit the post a couple of times, forced saves, and were playing against a 10 man defence for large parts of the game. Sometimes you have a bad day at the office.
With new signings settling in and improving, with a Krul to either replace or put performance-improving pressure on Ryan, we could start to find our feet. Start creating and taking chances, cutting out errors at the back. We could start to pick up points and come January look like a side that should be clear of relegation trouble at the end of the season.
If we're that team, we're more appealing to prospective strikers. At the moment, we're a promoted side who has shown little promise and will only appeal to strikers looking to use us to get their foot in the premier league door. If we're looking good come January, we might be able to attract a better quality striker, one who wants to be with us for the longer term, someone we wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford had we bought a lesser striker yesterday.
Or, y'know. We could be screwed...
Last season we were great at scoring goals, but personally I always thought we lacked that goalscoring threat when Knockaert didn't play.
We've had a poor start to the season, but let's not forget that the first of those games was against Man City where we didn't seem to want to try to score, rather just keep the goals conceded to a minimum. Then away against a strong leicester side where an early error knocked the wind out of the side.
Then comes Watford. Knockaert starts and we suddenly look like an attacking side. With AK back, we're going to be more of a threat. He is now supported by Izquiwhatever whose short cameo looked very promising, and maybe we won't have to rely on AK so much for our threat. Yes, we failed to score, but we did that a couple of times last season, too. We hit the post a couple of times, forced saves, and were playing against a 10 man defence for large parts of the game. Sometimes you have a bad day at the office.
With new signings settling in and improving, with a Krul to either replace or put performance-improving pressure on Ryan, we could start to find our feet. Start creating and taking chances, cutting out errors at the back. We could start to pick up points and come January look like a side that should be clear of relegation trouble at the end of the season.
If we're that team, we're more appealing to prospective strikers. At the moment, we're a promoted side who has shown little promise and will only appeal to strikers looking to use us to get their foot in the premier league door. If we're looking good come January, we might be able to attract a better quality striker, one who wants to be with us for the longer term, someone we wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford had we bought a lesser striker yesterday.
Or, y'know. We could be screwed...
