[Albion] We are not just unlucky

[Justice]

As we were the only suitor when we made our bid, of course we went in low. That's business.

That piece is typical after timing.

If we opened with a bid offering the asking price we'd be foolish, soon to be skint.

Of course although if I’m selling a car for £20k and you offer me twelve your never going to get the car, £16-17k might get me thinking.

 

[phoenix]

All of this.

I'll add my customary defence of Ryan by pointing out not only has he faced a stupid amount of penalties, but he's also been on the recieving end of a 'once in a lifetime - never to be repeated' goal.
As well as an impossible to save deflection.


All that said with such luck, on Saturday, I now fully expect him to make 4 decent saves (obvs as it's Ryan they become regulation) 1 world class save (decent) and to throw the ball over his shoulder, for the Villa winning goal, on the 89 minute.



This is life.

faced a stupid amount of penalties

Why does he always seem to dive the wrong way (at least in recent history) ? Asking for a friend .

I really think we could do a lot better. Perhaps we already have the answer within the squad

 

[Silverhatch]

Nunez has scored 1 in 6 in the league for Benfica
Maupay, who is not firing, has scored 4 in 7 in the league for Brighton

Nunez might have scored more than Maupay, but so might Zeqiri and we still have to see what a (sharper if he stays) fit Welbeck can do.

As Ancelotti said to Calvert-Lewin, stop taking touches and just HIT IT.

 

[Farehamseagull]

Have you read the agents plight on Nunez, I will trim the story at the beginning of the window we were the only club seriously interested in Nunez, we flapped about with low bids he mentions £12m Almeria wanted £20m from the outset. Benfica originally wanted to sign Cavani this deal didn’t happen and as we know he ended up at Manure. After Cavani collapsed Benfica turn the attention to Nunez we upped the bid allegedly, eventually Benfica now desperate went £25m to secure the player a player now tipped to have the potential to be one of the worlds best Strikers If we had not messed about penny pinching at the start with Almeria and paid what they wanted he would be playing for us this season. As always we went for quantity over quality again a load of players probably not good enough to start a PL match. Hence why we’ve never seen the Swiss kid play.

The recruitment team must be so frustrated the amount of players they find and financially with the policy of not spending £20m they all sign elsewhere or stay at their clubs.

So you’re going to take the agents words as gospel then? There might just possibly be another side to the story.

 

[Justice]

So you’re going to take the agents words as gospel then? There might just possibly be another side to the story.

I’m just reporting mate obviously I wasn’t there although knowing our transfer policy I doubt we matched £25m as others have said.

 

[Stat Brother]

Despite my continuing belief that GPott just isn't lucky, I'm gonna contradict myself by saying the team aren't just unlucky.
This season has been so predictable, the only part of it left open for debate is:-

'How are they going to shoot themselves in the foot, today?'


Whether it's conceding straight after scoring.
Deflecting past a now wrong footed Ryan.
Lunging in to give up a dangerous free kick.

The end result is still the same and somewhat amateurish.

 

[Swansman]

I think the fact that we were prepared to spend big by actively pursuing Nunez to solve our goalscoring problem and Martinez for the goalkeeping weakness shows that the club are totally aware of the weaknesses.
But obviously there is a financial ceiling and we also need to be an attractive club to join.
On this occasion Benfica and Villa were more exciting propositions and prepared to pay and could afford more money.

We can only spend what our budget allows, but I'm encouraged that we are slowly edging closer to other clubs with our long term vision.
Slow and steady does it.

Darwin Nunez currently got the worst shot to goal ratio out of any player in the Portuguese league, scoring 1 goal from 17 attempts (5,88%). In comparison, Maupay is somewhere around 24% (I had a look last week but dont remember the exact decimal) - slightly better than Harry Kane.

It sort of highlights how difficult it is to find that magical solve-it-all striker and that fine margins are definitely a factor.

That said, it is obvious that improvements could be done in this area but I think it will solve itself in time. Both Maupay and Connolly are fine strikers technically speaking, what they need is more of the composure you often see in more experienced strikers. This is something very difficult to teach, and mainly comes with experience. Hopefully Welbeck could be the guy who acts as a bridge while Maup and Connolly collect more experience.

As for Ryan... I struggle to see a goal he could have done more on. My opinion about him is the same as it was a year ago: a decent Premier League keeper with some good abilities (distribution, handling and reading the game) and with some clear weaknesses (mainly being a liability in the air).

At some point in the not too distant future (perhaps next summer) I hope and believe that there will be an upgrade in goal, either a signing or one of the promising keepers stepping up, but currently I think he gets too much shit - people only judge him from these numbers rather than the context of these numbers (which tell a truth but not the whole one). And the ones only going by numbers conveniently forgets that over time, his save percentage and conceded goals signals that he is a decent PL keeper.

 

[Berty23]

I think the fact that we were prepared to spend big by actively pursuing Nunez to solve our goalscoring problem and Martinez for the goalkeeping weakness shows that the club are totally aware of the weaknesses.
But obviously there is a financial ceiling and we also need to be an attractive club to join.
On this occasion Benfica and Villa were more exciting propositions and prepared to pay and could afford more money.

We can only spend what our budget allows, but I'm encouraged that we are slowly edging closer to other clubs with our long term vision.
Slow and steady does it.

Anyone who has seen the sunderland documentary knows this is totally correct. In the second series the manager says that will Grieg is not worth more than about 900k. The directors think that the selling club are being unreasonable and unrealistic with their demands. They bid and it gets turned down. They go higher after saying they wouldn’t and that is turned down. They panic and bid about 3-4 million and obviously accepted. They seem happy but they were in a complete panic to purchase and it is crap like that which bankrupts clubs. I am pleased we are not mugs.