Michael Smith

Block21 said:
How much would the lad at Peterborough cost? Clarke - Harris? If we had the funds I would take a chance on him.
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Exactly. Look at Ivan Toney. Banged 31 league goals in last season. People mentioned his name on here a couple of years ago and were scoffed at. Mind you, with the way we play he'd probably be lucky to get 10 for us, but the point stands that there is plenty of talent in League 1.
 
indeedido said:
I believe Warnock will sign a lot of players this summer for little or no fee (just agents leeches fees) and on short contracts. He will feel he can blend them with the little quality we have, and motivate them to mount a challenge over a season. It is what he has done wherever he has been successful.
If it doesn't lead to promotion, then he will leave, but crucially leave the club with just talented players under contract like Fry, Tavernier, Dijksteel, Bola, Watmore and the better youngsters; allowing a longer term manager to sign the players he wants without the detritus he (and Woodgate) inherited from Monk and pulis and could do nothing about.
We could soon be rid of ALL the Monk/pulis utter tripe. That has been our problem: hideously over paying and overpaying for players we can then not move, and who are just journeymen with attitude.

If Warnock is to stay this last season then I'm sure the plan will be one that looks short term like above, but actually isn't.
He will sign players this summer that will perhaps not excite on paper, but might collectively do so on grass, where it matters.
Given the club is financially crippled and loses money every season in this league, what do people expect?
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There are a couple of other issues that need addressing too. It's imperative that we sign a club captain - a leader on and off the pitch. Something we've not had for the last 5 years.

Secondly, we needs a system that works and we stick to. No point chopping and changing all the time and playing players out of position. The season we got promoted under Karanka, we pretty much had two players for every position, and when they were needed they could slot in seamlessly. We were able to stick to the formation and everyone knew what they were doing.
 
fmttmadmin said:
Great bargains - except they will be perhaps mindful of two things - firstly how many players will they actually be able to see play for themselves - with quarantines etc and secondly they want players that they hope can immediately find their feet and kick on straight away and fit into the life here and the team.
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I know that's what they want, but you have to deal with situation as it is. Have we been watching lots of players in the last few months? Because it seems like Jepson and Blackwell have missed a few games to "watch players". But they didn't miss matches before then. So how many players have they actually watched then?

They won't be watching many now because it's the close season. So doesn't matter which country the player is based in. You can't watch them if there are no games.

As for hitting the ground running. Great, of course we want that. But there are no guarantees. Players with championship or premier league experience have the best chance, but as we know they come at a premium and we have limited funds.

League one players are no more likely to hit the ground running than someone from abroad. Dijksteel and Bola took a season to bed in.

Kike, Nsue, Vossen all hit the ground running despite coming from overseas and no experience of the English game.

So if we're limiting ourselves only to premier league/championship players were going to struggle. Particularly to bring in the numbers NW wants and on the budget we presumably have. And it might mean we end up with weaker players just because they have the right "experience" but are a safer bet, as opposed to players who are potentially a lot better, but more of an unknown.

Surely you need to be looking at both? A few signings that are steady away and a few wildcards. There's a long list of top championship (and even some PL) players who were picked up for peanuts from abroad. They were all relative gambles at the time, but they were pretty cheap gambles and if you don't buy a ticket .........
 
atypical_boro said:
They are both good players but I must be missing something if they are somehow irreplaceable.
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you must be missing something then. The defence is porous without Fry. That can be observed by the nature of most of the goals we have let in when he is injured, but also just by basic stats too.

With Fry 12 cleansheets and 28 goals conceded in 32 games
Without Fry just 1 cleansheet and 25 goals conceeded in just 14 games.

It's chalk and cheese, with Fry we have one of the best defences, less than a goal a game, without we let in nearly 2 goals a game and can't keep a cleansheet.

Now on to Tav, defensively he is second only to Howson in tackles per game from midfield, offensively 3 goals, 4 assists, and more key passes than anyone else in the squad, from just 24 games started. He's top for successful dribbles and second for crosses. He is vital to us.

With Tav we are W13 wins in 28 games with. Just 5 wins in 18 games without him
 
BoroMart said:
you must be missing something then. The defence is porous without Fry. That can be observed by the nature of most of the goals we have let in when he is injured, but also just by basic stats too.

With Fry 12 cleansheets and 28 goals conceded in 32 games
Without Fry just 1 cleansheet and 25 goals conceeded in just 14 games.

It's chalk and cheese, with Fry we have one of the best defences, less than a goal a game, without we let in nearly 2 goals a game and can't keep a cleansheet.

Now on to Tav, defensively he is second only to Howson in tackles per game from midfield, offensively 3 goals, 4 assists, and more key passes than anyone else in the squad, from just 24 games started. He's top for successful dribbles and second for crosses. He is vital to us.

With Tav we are W13 wins in 28 games with. Just 5 wins in 18 games without him
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But what are you saying, that if we lose these players there's simply no way of replacing them with similar (or better) quality?
 
Nosmo-King said:
He has scored just over 100 goals in over 400 appearances. That is more relevant to me
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atypical_boro said:
But what are you saying, that if we lose these players there's simply no way of replacing them with similar (or better) quality?
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I'm saying they are very, very important to us, two of the better players in this division and still improving. They will be extremely difficult to replace with equal or better. I have seen enough from Tav to believe that if he stays fit next year he will be one of the top players in teh championship and be chased after by Prem sides.
 
Nosmo-King said:
He has scored just over 100 goals in over 400 appearances. That is more relevant to me
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I think we have to be realistic, in that the club wont be signing a 20+ goal a season striker - we just don't have that kind of money, unless we strike lucky (no pun intended).

Smith, if the reports are true, would be one of three coming in, so he may not be the main target - plenty of players don't 'mature' until later in their careers, he could be one.

I agree he hardly sets the pulses racing, but it could be a sensible signing.
 
Jonny Ingbar said:
I think we have to be realistic, in that the club wont be signing a 20+ goal a season striker
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we don't need to, but this lads best season is 12 in League One, that's despite playing nearly every game. If he comes in as 1 of 3 forwards then you are talking maybe no more than 20 starts and 4 or 5 goals. Not that goals are the only stat we need, I'm just not impressed by his technical ability from what I've seen
 
Kevin Nisbet at Hibs is a young lad who is attracting a lot of interest from numerous clubs including Brentford, this is a realistic signing for us and someone who could potentially go on to be very valuable, a strike force of him and famara diedhiou would be a significant upgrade on Assombalonga and Fletcher.
 
S7DiscoDown said:
4 goals in 30 games in a team that walked the league. Akpom outscored him😂
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It's easy to create stats that don't reflect reality. He only played 675 mins, that's the same as just over 7 games. Akpom played more than 3 times as many minutes more than 21 games.

4 goals in 7 games is much better than 4 goals in 21 games. Huggills failure was not being as good as Pukki which is hardly a failure.

Hugill got 13 goals in 30 the season before at QPR. Would have been pushing towards 18-20 but for a turn hamstring. If you think Hugill is similar in ability to Akpom then I despair
 
S7DiscoDown said:
I had a feeling we'd go for Smith. I just hope it wasn't based on his performance against Wood. He made him look like Drogba😂. Now if he played like that every week you'd have him.

I watched plenty of Rotherham as they had Wing and on TV every other day. He misses plenty of chances (as did many) and didn't look half the player he did at the Riverside. I guess as a back up he could do a job. I wouldnt want him as first choice No9.

Matt Crooks is definitely one I'd go for. 6 goals and a proper engine on him getting around the pitch. Also tall and powerful (although one of the main culprits for missing chances in final 2-3 games). He definitely gets on the end of stuff though👍

The Rotherham keeper looked decent whenever I saw him. Viktor Johansson also only 22.

You simply can't judge NML. The guy hadn't played for 6 months and was on holiday in Dubai weeks before we signed him. He was always going to get injured being thrust in.

He was a very good player at Cardiff and I think I saw enough in 9 cameos to suggest he's a decent free. A pre season will do him a word of good. I would rather have him than Holliet.
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I saw him out (95% certain!) with one of our physios near Wynyard a few weeks back when he wasn't going to be playing. I assume if very near the end of his contract and out injured we're working on fitness with him there's a chance of him staying?
 
BoroMart said:
It's easy to create stats that don't reflect reality. He only played 675 mins, that's the same as just over 7 games. Akpom played more than 3 times as many minutes more than 21 games.

4 goals in 7 games is much better than 4 goals in 21 games. Huggills failure was not being as good as Pukki which is hardly a failure.

Hugill got 13 goals in 30 the season before at QPR. Would have been pushing towards 18-20 but for a turn hamstring. If you think Hugill is similar in ability to Akpom then I despair
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I struggle to find any forward who has a similar 'ability' to Akpom😕
 
Hugill has 2 years left on his West Ham contract cost £10 million and no doubt on a very nice contract. Pretty safe to say there is no chance of him coming
 
Nosmo-King said:
Hugill has 2 years left on his West Ham contract cost £10 million and no doubt on a very nice contract. Pretty safe to say there is no chance of him coming
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Maybe, he'll be going somewhere, because he has no future at West Ham. If they loan him out to the championship then either it'll be to a relegated side for 40k or to a non-releagated for less. If the relegated teams are not interested, then it's not entirely out of the question that we might see him back here. I think he'd do well in a Warnock side.
 
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