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[Albion] Our transfer activity versus our rivals



spence

spence

British and Proud
Oct 15, 2014
9,814
Crawley
No chance

Our midfield in nearly all matches lose the battle. Clearly not good enough. Wanted a Premier league midfielder to come in and be first choice.
 




M

Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
16,646
Fiveways
Hugo Rune said:
Possibly.

The striker I wanted would have needed to be a mix of Ulloa & Locadia combing fantastic goal poaching instinct in and around the box with outstanding pace, size and power added to brilliance in the air.

So both of them could rotate to have the desired effect, I’m just gutted that we’re coming up to the 4 most important fixtures left (ones we have a point scoring chance in) and Locadia will miss at least half of these games and probably won’t have settled for the others.

So, still no pace up front for the next few matches [emoji20] but Ulloa makes me very very happy [emoji2]
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I do love a fantastic goal poaching comb over
 


M

Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
16,646
Fiveways
n1 gull said:
I think its ok.
We certainly have not over gambled, so if we do go down we won't be lumbered with huge wage bill etc.. I hope Ulloa will bang in a few.
Newcastle and Huddersfield have not done much, Palace have done nothing so far. West Brom getting Sturridge is huge. Stoke have kept hold of Crouch so they are probably happy. Southampton are definitely splashing the cash so maybe its a good time to play them before all the signings settle in
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Good call. We've been pretty lucky in my view in playing depleted opponents (Watford springs to mind especially), and you're right about Southampton having their new striker to bed in (so do we though) and, with a bit of luck, Bertrand will be out. West Ham have got all sorts of problems with availability, and must have an eye-watering wage bill, so Saturday will be a good time to play them too.
 








Weststander

Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 25, 2011
63,916
Withdean area
Bigtomfu said:
Maybe.

Still need a CM who offers something different - ball carrying capability and pace. Sorry but Kayal/Grob slotting in there is a bit square peg round hole for me.

Possibly light in terms of pace on the wing too.

Happy elsewhere l think.

As for comparisons to others:

Huddersfield - got players in early but maybe a bit hit and hope from them, I’d say we’ve trumped them.

Swansea - if they sign Ayew from West Ham AND get a player of Andre Schurle’s quality in (they had agreed to sign on loan but an injury to his replacement coming in scuppered the deal) then we’re way behind the curve with them.

Stoke - irrelevant as they had a good enough squad and the new Manager bounce has worked

WBA - no where near close. They’ve signed guaranteed goals in Sturridge.

Palace - after their upswing in form are they even in the mix?! Probably just about but can see them pulling away now, including doing us over at their place. In terms of transfers they’ve done diddly squat but could argue had a strong enough squad in the first place. Also have Connor Wickham to come back to fitness for the run in.

Newcastle - absolutely we’ve done better than them but that only accounts for one of the relegation places so meh.

I’d give us a B- overall. We tried, didn’t break the bank, but ultimately feels like we’re erring on the side of caution and hoping a bit
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So it looks like Albion, Newcastle and Hudd for the drop then.

I wonder what the combined odds for that are at present? 28/1
IMG_2366.PNG
 


Garry Nelson's Left Foot

Garry Nelson's Left Foot

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
13,118
tokyo
spence said:
No chance

Our midfield in nearly all matches lose the battle. Clearly not good enough. Wanted a Premier league midfielder to come in and be first choice.
Click to expand...

I think this was always going to be the case playing 4-4-2 in this division. Two years ago we had Stephens and Kayal on top form who were able to win the majority of midfield battles as a pair even when up against a three man midfield. Last season we were less dominant in midfield due to(IMO) Kayal's injuries. This season we are playing at a much higher level and are still playing two against three in many cases. Even if we go 2 v 2 we're up against a higher calibre of player. It's why they both end up sitting deep and it's not a coincidence that we attack down the wings rather than building through the middle.

I'm hoping the signing of Locadia pushes us into more of a 4-3-3.
 


Weststander

Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 25, 2011
63,916
Withdean area
Garry Nelson's Left Foot said:
I think this was always going to be the case playing 4-4-2 in this division. Two years ago we had Stephens and Kayal on top form who were able to win the majority of midfield battles as a pair even when up against a three man midfield. Last season we were less dominant in midfield due to(IMO) Kayal's injuries. This season we are playing at a much higher level and are still playing two against three in many cases. Even if we go 2 v 2 we're up against a higher calibre of player. It's why they both end up sitting deep and it's not a coincidence that we attack down the wings rather than building through the middle.

I'm hoping the signing of Locadia pushes us into more of a 4-3-3.
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Great post.

Bmuff at home was a great example. Howe played 3 in CM including Arter, all with pace, against DS and DP (who has no pace).

The slightest mistake by DP and Bmuff over-ran them, and were away on the counter.
 




Bold Seagull

Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,789
Hove
Weststander said:
Great post.

Bmuff at home was a great example. Howe played 3 in CM including Arter, all with pace, against DS and DP (who has no pace).

The slightest mistake by DP and Bmuff over-ran them, and were away on the counter.
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Funny how we look at games. I thought we DID win the midfield battle, we went 2-1 up, should have scored a third with Izqueirdo 1 on 1, and another couple of chances. BMuff were losing the midfield battle, and Howe took off Pugh on 60', Afobe on 66' and Arter on 71'. They completely changed their formation because of it, and imho were lucky to get a deflected equaliser. Fact is we should have put the game to bed. Not really a great example of us not winning the midfield.
 


Marshy

Marshy

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2003
19,719
FRUIT OF THE BLOOM
DFL JCL said:
I'm happy. Important that we haven't lost any of our key players. Looking forward to Southampton tonight followed by an exciting and hopefully successful run in. Time to get behind the team.
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Heard the Hudds fans booing there side last night.....unbelievable...
 


N

n1 gull

Well-known member
Jul 25, 2003
4,638
Hurstpierpoint
Marshy said:
Heard the Hudds fans booing there side last night.....unbelievable...
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I heard that, pathetic, although I think they were poor. I think some fans might boo at the Amex, not if we loose but if we are timid / too defensive.
I think fans want to see their teams go for victories and not be so passive, especially with so few home games left this season
 








Don Tmatter

Don Tmatter

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
4,993
dont matter
We really need 3 in midfield for rest of season and that's why bringing in cover in the centre was vital in the window, only DS is comfortable in a DM role so I would have recalled Norwood if no new midfielder signing was made.
 




kevtherev

kevtherev

Well-known member
Feb 28, 2008
10,448
Tunbridge Wells
We've only got what we should have got in summer. Now we need someone who can dictate midfield and take a set piece. Maybe we will get that in summer. By which time it will be too late.
 


Peter Ward

Peter Ward

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2014
473
out back
We need to stop conceding goals from corners and set peices, more than anything else. For that we need more taller and stronger defenders than we have had, especially at the back post. Until now D & D and Murray have not been enough, hopefully we've addressed that. And then we need to score more goals.
 




Marshy

Marshy

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2003
19,719
FRUIT OF THE BLOOM
Weststander said:
Were they booing the ref?

BTSport and the ex-ref in their team couldn't have been more clear that their penalty shout was completely unfounded, but the pigeon fanciers turned it into a cause celebre.
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I thought it was when the final whistle went... ?... I could be wrong
 








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