Absolutely gagging for a striker.....

[chaileyjem]

Two new strikers are required. Murray, Baldock and Hemed to be used in a supporting role to cover injuries/suspensions.

If we could afford to buy 2 or even three given they are all as weak as a basketful of kittens and none have strength, guile, and skill to cope then this won't happen. They'd have to be sold.
And god forbid your nerves if we did rely on any of em as back up.

 

[B.W.]

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet, unless we unearth a little known genius from somewhere then good strikers are very expensive and demand a high wage.
If we are serious about staying in the PL it's what we are going to have to do.

This. With bells on. Playing the waiting game (laughable) and/or hitting the bargain bucket (even more so) are not valid options. PB needs to get his head round this, and fast, and stop bleating on and on about market prices in the Argus... the market is the market, market prices are market prices, and he can do **** all about it...

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I still expect us to splash some cash on a CM and again on a CF. Both are essential to us staying up. We will get both as well along with a RB and GK. We will no doubt break our transfer record on a number 9 and I expect that unless it is Negredo on a loan then we will spend £15/20 million on one. However no one is coming in that is likely to bang in 15-20 goals over a season unless the recruitment team pull a gem out the bag. Sunderland had a 15 goal striker, boro a 9 goal striker but they went down as those players got very little assistance in the goal scoring department (although sunderlands case they also couldn't defend for toffee).
If we can bring in someone to get 10 goals over a season for £15/20 million I'm saying that we have done bloody well

I'd like to think that Knocky will be good for a dozen goals or more this season. There will be more than a few Premier League defenders who will find him unplayable.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Club are going to buy a new striker and have said so publicly and have a month to do so. Club are looking to spend wisely, have said so publicly but presumably means foreign striker not a UK one given inflated prices. Club have already strengthened attack options signing Gross and Brown. And club and most fans, except on here, are aware that whilst Murray, Hemed and Baldock aren't going to be enough, they aren't as "weak as a basket full of kittens" given they scored about 50 goals last season in a competitive championship.

Enough for me

 

[Zebedee]

If we could afford to buy 2 or even three given they are all as weak as a basketful of kittens and none have strength, guile, and skill to cope then this won't happen. They'd have to be sold.
And god forbid your nerves if we did rely on any of em as back up.

Now you're being silly. Let's leave it there.

 

[LamieRobertson]

this. With bells on. Playing the waiting game (laughable) and/or hitting the bargain bucket (even more so) are not valid options. pb needs to get his head round this, and fast, and stop bleating on and on about market prices in the argus... The market is the market, market prices are market prices, and he can do **** all about it...

lol

 

[chaileyjem]

Why? What makes you so confident? We have consistently failed to provide even cover for Sam B, and now we need an upgrade...

We provided cover for SB, we just didn't spend ££, in the end, on an alternative. (see Akpom, using wingers in that role etc) . Even when SB was injured we played Murray/Hemed together successfully as it turned out.

We needed a striker last summer and we bought one. He scored 23 goals. We can buy strikers. To suggest the club can't is a myth.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Now you're being silly. Let's leave it there.

True though judging but what you are saying

 

[GOM]

If we go into the new season playing Murray, Hemed or Baldock as a stand alone striker we'll be doomed from the start, however much it pains me to say so.

You repeat this gloom so often you must be in such incredible pain

 

[El Presidente]

Surely this is as much about a world in which we expect instant gratification as it is about the Albion's travails in finding a striker?

I suspect everyone is in agreement about needing some extra firepower up front, differences lie in that some will be sated by a large sum of money being spent, as proof of the club being 'serious'.

Others suspect that the club is doing all it can, but that we are not finding it easy to persuade clubs to sell their assets, as they rightly want to keep goalscorers, or players to agree to terms (which I suspect is less of an issue TBH)

 

[Stat Brother]

This. With bells on. Playing the waiting game (laughable) and/or hitting the bargain bucket (even more so) are not valid options. PB needs to get his head round this, and fast, and stop bleating on and on about market prices in the Argus... the market is the market, market prices are market prices, and he can do **** all about it...

The thing is the margin of success is so low once the bullet is bitten.

This season player x 'only' has to score 10 goals and another zero magically appears on the figure that was paid for him.

The margin has been greater in the Championship, but the point still stands Chris Wood is doing just that.
Leo before him.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Why? What makes you so confident? We have consistently failed to provide even cover for Sam B, and now we need an upgrade...

Simple mathematics as much as anything. There's 20 teams in the Premier League, with maximum squad size 25. The bulk of the striker positions are already filled. So any striker whose dream is to play in the Premier League this season is IMHO going to have to be realistic on wage demands or miss the boat. And the nearer the transfer deadline gets, the more things may work in the Albion's favour.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Two new strikers are required. Murray, Baldock and Hemed to be used in a supporting role to cover injuries/suspensions. I'm not that greedy. [emoji106]

I suspect that we can really only afford 1 striker this summer, unless Hemed is sold ( unlikely in my opinion ).

Maybe you have a glimmer of hope for a 2nd striker in January, but no point in thinking that far ahead for now.

1 striker is fine, for now, given we now also have Brown and Groß.

The striker must be decent though ( Negrado, Perez etc. ). rather than just a lower cost punt.

 

[chaileyjem]

This. With bells on. Playing the waiting game (laughable) and/or hitting the bargain bucket (even more so) are not valid options. PB needs to get his head round this, and fast, and stop bleating on and on about market prices in the Argus... the market is the market, market prices are market prices, and he can do **** all about it...

Just a few people who have said the transfer market is "crazy" or "inflated" or "unsustainable" this summer.

Daniel Levy - "unsustainable"
Marco Silva - "crazy" "clubs being held to ransom"
Jose Mourinho - "dangerous fees"
Wenger - "huge inflation"

etc etc

 

[Stat Brother]

Anyone using a Mourinho quote moaning about the excesses of the transfer market is rapidly losing the argument.

 

[B.W.]

We provided cover for SB, we just didn't spend ££, in the end, on an alternative. (see Akpom, using wingers in that role etc) . Even when SB was injured we played Murray/Hemed together successfully as it turned out.

We needed a striker last summer and we bought one. He scored 23 goals. We can buy strikers. To suggest the club can't is a myth.

I didn't say, or even suggest, we couldn't buy strikers. Don't twist my words CJ... you constantly rush to defend the club, which is admirable, but a new striker should have been purchased (not loaned) well before now this summer. Saying we have a month to go is laughable. Fail to prepare. Prepare to fail.

 

[El Presidente]

Just a few people who have said the transfer market is "crazy" or "inflated" or "unsustainable" this summer.

Daniel Levy - "unsustainable"
Marco Silva - "crazy" "clubs being held to ransom"
Jose Mourinho - "dangerous fees"
Wenger - "huge inflation"

etc etc

I think you forgot...

Bloke on the internet with no experience of working in the football industry "Piece of piss"

 

[chaileyjem]

Anyone using a Mourinho quote moaning about the excesses of the transfer market is rapidly losing the argument.

Hey SB . OP was arguing that Barber was out on his own arguing such a thing. He clearly isn't with Mourinho to Levy to Wenger saying similar so i quoted em.
As you say, some might have more credibility making the case than others.

 

[B.W.]

Simple mathematics as much as anything. There's 20 teams in the Premier League, with maximum squad size 25. The bulk of the striker positions are already filled. So any striker whose dream is to play in the Premier League this season is IMHO going to have to be realistic on wage demands or miss the boat. And the nearer the transfer deadline gets, the more things may work in the Albion's favour.

This thought process (which seems to be aligned to PB's, so well done) will not work here in the Prem. Every selling club, agent and player target KNOW we have about £100M burning a hole in our sky rocket (and will have another £100M next season if we survive the drop), so it is a seller's market. PB can bleat and bleat about the market, the price of British players, etc. etc. but the truth is we either put up or shut up, by paying the overly-inflated market prices that strikers command. No waiting game. No bargain bucket. No alternative.

 

[darkwolf666]

If we go into the new season playing Murray, Hemed or Baldock as a stand alone striker we'll be doomed from the start, however much it pains me to say so. None of these strikers has the necessary strength, skill and guile to cope on a regular basis with the quality of defenders that we'll come across in the Premier League. I don't doubt that the club are aware of the fact that we need 2 new strikers and are trying to get these players in but whether or not we're prepared to pay the going rate to get deals across the line is another thing. I sincerely hope we do because like all of us I don't want our stay in the Premier League to be confined to one long and painful season. Investing sufficiently in the squad will not guarantee success but what it will give us is a fighting chance. At the moment we look as weak as a basket full of kittens up front.

Still don't understand why everyone is so in awe of all these quality defenders that are in the Premier League.

I said in another thread if we had played our full side last year in a cup tie I would have fancied our chances against anyone outside of the top 6 - I don't see that situation as having changed much...