[Albion] January window

[zefarelly]

It is plain that if we are to achieve Tony's aim of a top half finish this season we need to bring in a striker in the January window.

may as well close the thread now.

 

[MJsGhost]

Really had no idea

Some self-awareness at last

Fair play for owning up, but why make a pronouncement about something you had 'no idea' about?*




*I'm not sure Bozza would like the drop in traffic if people stopped doing this on NSC, but it would make for more reasoned debate!

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

The relentless bile directed at Connolly is quite sickening in it's content. Based on ignorance and spite.

Not sure that is true, I think it is based on performance and attitude when in the squad and when out and about.
Plenty of anecdotes about his "me time", that yes he is young, but so is Rashford a vast difference in attitude in his personal life and attitude on the pitch.
I hope he comes good, but he does not endear himself to the fans, cupping of the ears after scoring against a reserve team in the cup, and last year end of season, players on the pitch, not one of them was near him or hugging him, he seems like a forlorn character losing his way.
I would like to have seen Glenn take him under his wing, I believe he tried and gave up.

Time is running out for him though, he needs to grab it with both hands, but alas his weak back pass of a shot that dribbled into the keepers hands, and the free header towards the end, he could not even get on target, tell me all I need to know...

Ready to be proved wrong, and will support the lad while in the stripes.....

PS: I apologise about my grammar, it is terrible.

 

[sparkie]

I have already given up on Connolly.

Some will say "thank God you are not the manager" which is a fair comment.

But he's reached the end of the road for me, best we get the best fee we can in January or the summer window.

 

[Justice]

Didn't Barber say one of the reasons why we buy and then loan players out is because they are a cheaper option hoping they become good than trying to buy expensive ready-made players on mega wages then realising they aren't PL ready or good enough.

What about in the short term at the moment we have one average striker available.

 

[Weststander]

We need some help and that bit of quality in attack, Maxwell Cornet for an example looks some player from what I’ve seen so far it doesn’t always have to cost millions that’s just an excuse some fans use to justify the summer non recruitment of a much needed forward.

You've got some brass neck to mention Cornet.

 

[Machiavelli]

We’ve got the best squad I can remember, we’ve got a great management team from top to bottom.
We’ve got the worst forward options since we moved to the Amex.
In the championship we had better forward options than this.
It’s going to spoil our season. We’d have won tonight if Hemed and Baldock were our back up strikers instead of those two jokers. I actually feel for Potter, bloody hamstrung with his striking options.
January is a massive window for us and we HAVE acquired decent strikers in January before.

Disagree with this.

Squad is fine. Think Potter thinks so as well. Sima or Zeqiri would have stayed if he thought there was a lack of strikers.

Maupay, Trossard, Welbeck and Connolly, could be a lot worse.

Agree with this.

Looking at the overall package of goal scoring forwards/match winners.

Maupay, Welbeck and Trossard’s the best we’ve had in the EPL 5 seasons, with Trossard having found his confidence.

Welbeck’s injury spells are inevitable, it’s dogged his career I think.

A 15 goal a season striker to add to the above may well be the dream of all of us and most probably Bloom, but they’re a rarity and countless numbers of other clubs across the major nation top flights in Europe are also after that elusive player. Some willing to pay wages on another planet to us.

And this. Welbeck, Maupay and Trossard are of a standard that can take us further up the PL table than prior alternatives. To add on Welbeck, it was reported that he will be out for a while (probably until the New Year) but that the exploratory surgery had identified the problem with his hamstring, so there is the possibility that these injuries won't recur thereafter.
Connolly is a decent enough current back-up. For his age, his PL return isn't as dreadful as others make out. Yes, there's undoubtedly a few issues there with him; the question is how to resolve those, and I trust Potter, Ashworth, Weir, etc to work though them much better than most posters on here.
Locadia, for me, can do one, but we tried that over the summer and, given no-one justifiably wants to take him on given his current contract, we'll have to endure him for the remainder of this season. The good news is that he'll do one at the end of this season.
And then there's Zeqiri and Sima out on loan plying their trade, and learning in tough leagues, but both with good potential.

It should also be pointed out that we have tried to sign a striker over the last two summers, although it didn't work out. At least one of those targeted (Nunez) now has a number of top CL European clubs circling around him. I'd prefer that we sign the right striker than any old striker.

 

[Weststander]

Disagree with this.



Agree with this.



And this. Welbeck, Maupay and Trossard are of a standard that can take us further up the PL table than prior alternatives. To add on Welbeck, it was reported that he will be out for a while (probably until the New Year) but that the exploratory surgery had identified the problem with his hamstring, so there is the possibility that these injuries won't recur thereafter.
Connolly is a decent enough current back-up. For his age, his PL return isn't as dreadful as others make out. Yes, there's undoubtedly a few issues there with him; the question is how to resolve those, and I trust Potter, Ashworth, Weir, etc to work though them much better than most posters on here.
Locadia, for me, can do one, but we tried that over the summer and, given no-one justifiably wants to take him on given his current contract, we'll have to endure him for the remainder of this season. The good news is that he'll do one at the end of this season.
And then there's Zeqiri and Sima out on loan plying their trade, and learning in tough leagues, but both with good potential.

It should also be pointed out that we have tried to sign a striker over the last two summers, although it didn't work out. At least one of those targeted (Nunez) now has a number of top CL European clubs circling around him. I'd prefer that we sign the right striker than any old striker.

I'm glad the overwhelming majority recognise Locadia's glaring limitations. It's coming up to 4 years, he simply couldn't cut it.

 

[Swansman]

Nice try. Disguising a 'Connolly is sh1t thread' as a January Window thread. Well this is as far as I'll be reading. The Leicester Match thread version was pretty much spiteful, ignorant online bullying if young Aaron stumbled upon it and frankly it ruined the match thread for me.

When was the last time he played even one full Premier League game? When was the last time any one criticising him saw him play a full 90 minutes of Premier League football live? The only full games he plays aren't in a team including experienced first teamers. He plays with the kids, the development squad, and other fringe players. So outside of football he's not showing up too well. But there are others, actually in the current first team, who have also had their moments in their personal lives.

The relentless bile directed at Connolly is quite sickening in it's content. Based on ignorance and spite.

Yup. A 21 year old man bullied by a mob of so called grown ups. I hope he gets support from the club. Sickening to say the least but I suppose thats how humans are.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I personally think Connolly might have a decent career at top level. It's usual for a striker at that age to be inconsistent and be unable to trouble PL defenders and keepers. There's every chance he'll improve and be a real threat in a couple of years, (though more likely he'll need a move to kickstart his career)

However I can't ignore that Potter chooses to put midfielders up front instead of him at the weekend and throughout this season

I also can't ignore that Welbeck has a poor injury record over a decade and isn't getting any younger. We just can't rely on him in any meaningful way.

I can't ignore that Maupay had a whole season of very poor form last time round and there's just as much a risk of this than there is of injury and suspension.

There's lots of wilful conflating of what a forward is and what a striker is on this thread and others. Trossard then, i'm not even going to count as a striker as he isn't one.

It also strikes me that we have promise coming through either via to u23's and out on loan.

I think we need a short term option. Just to tide us through the next 6 months. Maybe 18 months. Someone who knows what they are doing.

I have no doubt at all that had we better back up strikers we'd be in the hat for the Carabao cup .... maybe we'll even win something one day

 

[dazzer6666]

Please no more signing players and sending them straight back out on loan.IF we are to sign someone,it has to be someone capable of improving the match-day squad.

We have enough potential out on loan

That’s not how it works. It’s simply not ‘either/or’ - if the right first team striker was available at the right price (a big issue for us seemingly) and wanted to come (hopefully becoming less of an issue), sure the club would do it, regardless of the number of potentials we have out on loan. We will continue to sign loads of players that will go out on loan - just because we have, it doesn’t mean we aren’t going to sign someone else. It’s part of the business model, as well as creating a larger pool of potential first teamers. Zeqiri, Sima, Mitoma………etc…….all or none may and up back here, who knows. We will and should keep adding to that group.

 

[origigull]

What about in the short term at the moment we have one average striker available.

Trouble is that when we try to buy a player in the summer transfer window we have been near the bottom of the league since we have been in the PL and we find it difficult to sell our aim of PL statue to players. Do they want to play for a team hanging around the bottom or would they go to a club mid table or higher and get higher wages. I know what I'll do. Saying that if we can continue to stay higher up the league then no doubt its a good selling point come the transfer window.

 

[Worthing exile]

If we have a good scouting network, how come we missed out on loaning Broja? Big youngster who seems to know where the net is.

 

[Stat Brother]

Trouble is that when we try to buy a player in the summer transfer window we have been near the bottom of the league since we have been in the PL and we find it difficult to sell our aim of PL statue to players. Do they want to play for a team hanging around the bottom or would they go to a club mid table or higher and get higher wages. I know what I'll do. Saying that if we can continue to stay higher up the league then no doubt its a good selling point come the transfer window.

It'll be interesting to hear what the excuse will be when the team finished 12th.

 

[nwgull]

If we have a good scouting network, how come we missed out on loaning Broja? Big youngster who seems to know where the net is.

No doubt the club have tabs on most young players above a certain level, but our current model doesn't seem to include loaning other clubs' players in. The only player I can think of that we've loaned in since promotion is Mooy, and that was always going to be a loan-to-buy deal for whatever reason.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Connolly is a decent striker already with the talent to be a good one. Welbeck was fit for the majority of last season and hopefully he will play a similar amount of games this season.

No . . . and yes. Connolly has played well and scored goals, (what he is paid to do), in no more than three or four games, overall though he has flattered to decieve massively in my eyes. In any case how can someone already decent become good? the two words decent and good have much the same meaning.

Agree re Danny Welbeck though, until his latest injury setback a few weeks ago he was playing his best football and spending more time on the pitch, than he has for several seasons. I'm confident he will be back and firing on all cylinders again before too long.

 

[Justice]

You've got some brass neck to mention Cornet.

I could trump that .

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

No doubt the club have tabs on most young players above a certain level, but our current model doesn't seem to include loaning other clubs' players in. The only player I can think of that we've loaned in since promotion is Mooy, and that was always going to be a loan-to-buy deal for whatever reason.

I've never been a fan of bringing in players on loan, unless in exceptional circumstances. All too often , as has been proved countless times in the past, these players don't have the interests of our club at heart.

Knowing in the most part that they will only be with us for a short period of time, jumping out of tackles, trying to avoid injury, and generally speaking doing the least amount possible.

In any case, the way the club will be looking at it, is that we have had our own Academy up and running for a few years now, have a strong Development Squad doing very well in PL2, and they will be wanting to rely on that as much as they possibly can to supplement the first team squad.

 

[Swansman]

No . . . and yes. Connolly has played well and scored goals, (what he is paid to do), in no more than three or four games, overall though he has flattered to decieve massively in my eyes. In any case how can someone already decent become good? the two words decent and good have much the same meaning.

Agree re Danny Welbeck though, until his latest injury setback a few weeks ago he was playing his best football and spending more time on the pitch, than he has for several seasons. I'm confident he will be back and firing on all cylinders again before too long.

Might be wrong but I have always seen decent as "acceptable" and good as "better than acceptable".

 

[Pavilionaire]

Yup. A 21 year old man bullied by a mob of so called grown ups. I hope he gets support from the club. Sickening to say the least but I suppose thats how humans are.

I think the overwhelming majority of Albion fans just want him to go out on loan, get some goals and come back a better player.

I think he's had too much too soon, he hasn't dealt with Covid particularly well and he's lost his way.

I don't see why the club think Zeqiri needs a loan but Connolly doesn't. We loaned out Caicedo and Molumby but brought in Mwepu, we loaned out Karbownik and Cochrane but bought in Cuccurella so why not the same with a striker?