[Albion] Playing Devil’s advocate here but

[zefarelly]

I don't think we're strapped for cash or yes we would have sold White

However we know TB and the club are pragmatic and this is hardly the right time to be anything but . . . . .

Assuming we sign no one today we have Izquierdo on his way back and possibly even Andone. he may be batshit crazy but he can score and he's on our books . . . . If needs must.

 

[peterward]

Ashworth, as Technical Director, will be equally if not more influential in what type of player we are keeping, acquiring and developing. The club appears to have a long-term plan and is going to stick to it.

We lack leaders, and bit of physicality in the middle as well as being young and youthful. Biss is fine but still we’re quite small and lightweight in the centre.

 

[Justice]

Heard we bid £12m for Núñez, the reports of £25m was agent talk to push Benfica into parting with £25m.

 

[sydney]

We lack leaders, and bit of physicality in the middle as well as being young and youthful. Biss is fine but still we’re quite small and lightweight in the centre.

we are frankly dumb as **** at set pieces .........hindsight will say we should have kept duffy and sold white for 30 mill ......100 % ....yes / no ........

 

[Barnet Seagull]

I think there are many who seem to neglect the thoughts of the players and squad harmony in all aspects of transfer activity. Glenn Murray, Shane Duffy, both would have had limited opportunities this season due to the emergence of Connolly and White. Keeping them around would not be easy given the type of players they are. It's not as simple as "letting them leave without a plan"

As for Striker cash, I think if the right player was available at the right price, we would find the money e.g. Maupay and Darwin Nunez. What we're not going to do is overpay and given our history, I'm all for that. I think we can survive with one fit striker all season and I would imagine Potter knows he can get a tune the forwards he has. I'm not saying we're in that league, or that we have the players who can demolish teams in the same way but Barcelona did quite well with no "strikers"

 

[drew]

If we hadn't sold Duffy, I'd possibly agree...I do wonder if Potter hasn't quite balanced out the attributes correctly across the back 3.

We do seem massively lacking in physical presence since Duffy and Murray left - both very good in the air defensively.

But we haven't sold Duffy!

 

[zefarelly]

This, if we were prepared to spend 20 plus million on young Darwin Nunez then we surely have the money for the right player.
And that is the crucial part "right player" not an U23 player, not a punt, but the right player.
I would not at all be surprised in the next few hours we pull a blinder outta the bag, we are very very good at keeping things quite and low key in the transfer market so far this season.

Watch this space...
#liveinhope

Did you have a pint of optimism on your three shredded wheat this morning ?

 

[Icy Gull]

How can you play devil's advocate when you don't know if what you're saying is true? You're basing your whole theory (that the club has no money and/or is choosing to spend what money it does have on squad players in other positions) on rumours. Bonkers.

There could be countless reasons for a striker not being signed. One of them MIGHT be down to finances at the club. I'm not about to start questioning what the club does and how it spends its money – consecutive seasons remaining in (arguably) the first tier of English football – at the first time of asking in it's current guise – is enough to suggest that the people there know what they are doing

I did start the thread saying IF we are strapped for cash not that we were

Just a thread for discussion, not me saying we should do anything differently. I am actually enjoying watching BW playing.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Did you have a pint of optimism on your three shredded wheat this morning ?

No, two crumpets with marmite

 

[WATFORD zero]

we are frankly dumb as **** at set pieces .........hindsight will say we should have kept duffy and sold white for 30 mill ......100 % ....yes / no ........

So, the reason that we are dumb as **** at set pieces this season is because we don't have Duffy adding his physical presence and organising things like he did last season ?


FROM THE BENCH

 

[KZNSeagull]

The other possible issue with the defence at the moment is that we have 2 extremely talented but young and inexperienced players on the same side of the pitch - Lamptey and White. One potential solution is to get Veltman in the back 3.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

I don't think we're strapped for cash or yes we would have sold White

However we know TB and the club are pragmatic and this is hardly the right time to be anything but . . . . .

Assuming we sign no one today we have Izquierdo on his way back and possibly even Andone. he may be batshit crazy but he can score and he's on our books . . . . If needs must.

All of this ...

Plus, not so long ago, centre-halves were tough no-nonsense footballers [e.g. Cullip etc.]
Now that possession football has taken over the old fashioned "clear it to row Z" defence tactic centre-backs now require silky feet / ball skills with an assured confidence in possession to play the passing game.
Webster, and to a degree Burn are a bit on the soft side, White is still a boy but will develop quickly and Dunk has matured from the 15-20 yellows per season player he was 5-10 years ago, which has made him less aggressive.

In short, our centre-backs have gone a bit snowflake / soft under-belly - Duffy aside, he was a scrapper. This is the Potter way.

 

[Jesus Gul]

I wonder if we're missing BDB more than Duffy? How much cover did he give us, and physical presence at set pieces? Solly is on the up, but he's not going to contribute to that.

I think we should stick BDB up front as a target man. That'd put 'cat amongst pigeons'

 

[Springal]

Here is a good stat. We conceded 60 goals in 2018/2019 (Dunk & Duffy, played every game I think?)

Last season we conceded 54 goals. Duffy hardly played. So why are we all now convinced that Duffy is the answer to our defensive problems (based off Everton putting 4 past us)

 

[Mellotron]

But we haven't sold Duffy!

Ah you know what I meant...he ain't coming back. He's got his dream move.

 

[Marshy]

Stopping giving away stupid free kicks in silly areas would help with most of it !

 

[Stat Brother]

So, the reason that we are dumb as **** at set pieces this season is because we don't have Duffy adding his physical presence and organising things like he did last season ?


FROM THE BENCH

It's clear something has changed.

Duffy only played the ball, the others mixed and matched between man to man and zonal.
Duffy papered over so many cracks, as he would do in any defence, in the in world football.


Been thinking about a comment earlier re Ryan and someone (rightly obvs) pointing towards Peter Schmichel as the perfect keeper.

I think Schmichel and Duffy together would have wasted one of theirs talents.

We had Duffy so we didn't need Schmichel.
The Albion needed a reflex keeper ready for the second or third rebound.

Now we don't have Duffy and crucially nobody filling in for him (BDB) and we don't have a Schmichel either.

Until such time as a different style of keeper arrives, it seems like GPott needs to be better at managing how he uses what he has got.

Basically Dunk needs to channel his inner Duffy until such time as he's clattered by his keeper as he takes out all before him.

 

[peterward]

we are frankly dumb as **** at set pieces .........hindsight will say we should have kept duffy and sold white for 30 mill ......100 % ....yes / no ........

in a back 4 yes Duffy, who is a much better defender, passer second. White is a ball player first and defender second. We are going to be in the bottom half we have to able to defend. luckily Duffy is still our player if GP has an ephiphony

 

[Silverhatch]

I think we should stick BDB up front as a target man. That'd put 'cat amongst pigeons'

He absolutely is a last 15 or 20 option. BDB is a very good footballer - but has also missed a couple of sitters. He'd need some (a lot) of coaching.

 

[Killer Whale]

It is too early to say for certain.

If White develops into an England international, and you sell him for seventy million in the future then it will have been a good decision.

If I were making the decision though, which obviously I'm not, I would have thought I don't have the information to know for sure, so it is a balance of probabilities. He might develop and appreciate in value or he could get a career ending injury next week. The £30 million though, that is cold hard cash. That is something certain. And that is money I could spend on a top notch striker which I need far more than a central defender of which I have too many.

He is a ball playing centre back, he is fantastic supporting the attack, which is why he was so prized by Bielsa, but he has severe limitations defensively, as you now know. Leeds could be taking the consequences of that, and have pissed thirty million down the drain. Which you have used to buy (say) Ollie Watkins, who would be transformational for you in a way White frankly will not be.

As for not helping a relegation rival, I am sorry to break it to you but Leeds will not be relegated. That is just not going to happen. You may want it desperately, but the wish is father to the thought. So that part of the decision was predicated on a false premise.