Yeh, I would say that I can't believe it but I fucking canOriginally Posted by HCZ_Reborn
It's unreal tbh.
It's likely that come the end of the window, half our 25 man squad will comprise of defenders which is a joke.
Yeh, I would say that I can't believe it but I fucking can
It's unreal tbh.
It's likely that come the end of the window, half our 25 man squad will comprise of defenders which is a joke.
It's ok, he only has a £68m release clause as well
Watkins clearly isn’t a third tier player though. The fact is we aren’t going to sign a striker who is at the level of Haaland or Salah right now. Newcastle have zero incentive to sell Isaak, and the absolute top strikers are a rarity. The fact is there isn’t a player out there who we can guarantee 20-25 goals a season from, as I said to NQ the realistic level we could expect from Gyokeres is Giroud (who certainly was no better than 15 goals per season), and for me Watkins is less of a risk because we already know he can do it.I think we are all in the same foul mood withe transfer activity!
I'm not super sure about Gyokores, I just think he's more proven (at scoring goals) and less of a risk than Sekso who has never proven anything other than he can score the same amount of goals in a season as Watkins (15, which is no better than Havertz)
The point is that if we want to win trophies, then we need to be going for a top level striker like Isak.
We know that isn't going to happen now, but dropping to 3rd tier players is not the right answer and will lead to more predictable disappointment.
It’s also why I’ve hammered on again and again and again about the need for more creativity in the team. The need to have an extra player in central midfield who can use pace and passing to open teams up. XG shows that we average less than 2 per game against most mid and lower table teams. The reason missed chances end up being costly is because they are few and far between.
If we don’t do that (which I suspect we won’t) it’s even more reason to sign Sesko who for me can operate in restricted space better than Gyokeres can (a player who would be fine as a transition player, once we’ve spent two thirds of the game labouring to take the lead).
ExcellentIt's ok, he only has a £68m release clause as well
I hope he goes to Spurs
That said, he’d actually be a very good signing for Spurs unfortunately
But better that than coming to us, and burning up our transfer budget on him
No one is arguing about that.
But I am saying the automatic assumption that because someone is young and has shown promise that they are only likely to improve is bull.... and I mean if any club has been burnt by that silly assumption, it's us, so we should know better by now.
Look at high profile signings like Reyes, Walcott, Bendtner, Adebayor, Nasri....all players who peaked at young ages with us and never got better even with their international teams.
IMO only Fabregas and RVP are the players we nurtured in our 15 years of project youth who lived up to their billing and in both cases, we didn't reap what we sowed....so again what was the point of waiting for so long.
Already we can see the same mistake happening with someone like Martinelli, who has been unable to display a sustained period of form for over 2 years in any team, yet it has not stopped some of us rating him like he's some sort of world beater because of what we saw when he was a toddler.
Simply put, I think the question of sustaining form trumps anything to do with "youth" or "potential". Messi and Ronaldo are the GOATS because they sustained their form for so long, and not because they had more potential than any youths we've ever seen. Kane does the same. Lewandoski does the same. Modric did the same. Kroos and Muller did the same. Sallah does the same etc.
On a sidenote though, its nice to watch Chelsea and especially Man U falling into the trap of endless team youth and potential projects, but they've achieved all their dreams so are probably allowed some time in reflection and experimentation
I'd definitely take Eze over Martinelli...but he wouldn't be my first choice either as I'd take a Lukman over both of them ATM.It's ok, he only has a £68m release clause as well
Its a shame though that we don't seem to be seriously going after Rogers despite Villa's "travails, as he's the kind of signing that ticks all the boxes if you ask me.
I get that Salah went to Italy and came back a much better player than what he appeared to be at Chelsea but Lookman really?.
You’d think your Nan was better than Martinelli so you’re not in the best place to judge
Has anyone mentioned MLS signed a new contract?
New signings
Yes it’s been covered. It wasn’t discussed much, because I think we are all in agreement that this is a positive thingHas anyone mentioned MLS signed a new contract?
New signings
When I point out that some people can't analyse anything without resorting to unmeasurable crap like "youth" and "potential", there is clearly an example of one above.
Lookman has been in Serie A for 3 full years.
In those 3 years he hasn't scored less than 15 goals a season (which he achieved in his very first season) for Atlanta despite playing less games than Martinelli in practically every season. Also, his strike rate in Europe is a goal every other game.
BTW Martinelli has been with us for 5 years and never scored more than 15 goals (his 3rd season). His next best haul for us is 10 goals which he achieved in his very first season with us. His record in Europe is a goal every 5 games despite playing twice as many games in Europe than Lookman (39 vs 18 games) (7 vs 10 goals)
In Lookman's first season Atalanta, finished 5th. In his second season they finished 4th. Last season 3rd....and like I pointed out he increased his goal contribution every season across competitions.
In the biggest game in Atalanta's history which happened in his second season, they faced an unbeaten Leverkusen side that had not lost after 51 games in any competition in the EL final. He singlehandlely took them down by scoring a hatrick with really the only chances Atalanta had in the game. This hadn't been done in Europe for 40 something years, talkless of imagining it done against an opposition everyone considered vastly superior.
It's this same Lookman that has been nominated for the Ballon d'Or, that I'm suppose to not rate over Martinelli because the latter has bags of "potential", trickery and pace? Or could it be because the former's career didn't kick off early enough for some, just like Salah, just like Gyokores, then there is little to no way he'll turn out to be anything special? Or maybe we need to wait for him to go to a PSG like Kvara, make a difference by winning the CL, and then we'd sing the familiar tune of "if only we'd known"....
Like I said, if you continue to judge players by what you think they will achieve because of snippets of magic and not on a period of sustained form, you will come up with laughable analysis.
Or maybe now we're going to face another long winded lecture on how the Serie A, EL final and CL are no longer top tier competitions.
Last edited by 21_GOONER_SALUTE; 26-06-2025 at 07:56 PM.
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