I wouldn't be against the idea of selling Pierre for a big fee if I'm completely honest, he's far from irreplaceable imo.
I was surprised by these stats I saw this week For minutes played he looks damn good. Maybe leicester saw the tweet too.
I see your point - but our previous “Everything Must Go” strategy makes me very nervous. Our net spend over the last few years is the lowest in the league, in fact it’s in credit I believe? And our wage bill is also way below that of most of our rivals, despite our bloated squad. Doesn’t fill you with confidence regarding the financial strategy of our current owners... https://www.givemesport.com/1495995...e-based-on-net-spend-since-the-summer-of-2015
35 mil for Hojbjerg would be good money but I wouldnt want to lose him to what we have to consider our close rivals. If we want to be sitting behind that "top 6" then it would be risky. Sure they dont want Lemina?
We are doing well and worrying a few teams so what better than to unsettle us with rumours of extravagant fees and wage offers from other clubs. Football is a dirty business.
Funny that, Godders. I was thinking exactly the same thing. The “let’s unsettle a few of the Saints players, they’re getting above their station” approach. I expect to see the media (via a few “unnamed sources” at certain clubs) having half our squad to a “big club” within the next few weeks ..... Doesn’t happen to Wolves or Sheffield United, does it?
Net spend doesnt mean anything when you haven't got the expenditure to compare it with. We've spent 100's of millions since we got promoted again, just, not that wisely at times...
All teams make mistakes...the top teams quietly release or loan out players they bought with some fanfare a season or two earlier. It's just that we don't pay so much attention to what happens at other teams. The only difference being that they can afford errors more than we can. Buying players is a science, but not an exact one.
Yes but the ones who get the most blocks / clearances are those near the foot of the table who see the ball more so not necessarily a mark of a good defender. Where is VVD for example. It sort of confirms my belief that our recent upturn in form is keeping the ball upfield and away from our back four so when they do have to deal with it they are reasonably fresh and less prone to calamitous errors.
We don't know what the agreement is. A journalist covering Saints suggested today that it could be to wait to discuss a contract until he'd seen evidence that the coaching was good enough and that he wouldn't be fighting the drop every year. I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign a new deal at season end.
Hoj has big potential, but in truth hasn't been good enough. There won't be a hoard of big clubs waiting in the wings. He should sign a new deal, improve and then see where that takes him. Act in haste, repent in leisure my young friend.
It's Everton though. So let's have both; £35m and Morgan. Given some of the fees Everton have paid in the past, it's only fair that we have our turn in rinsing them.
Would anyone seriously want MS back? He is still to this day in my top three of foreign players ever to play for us, but that is not the same player he is today. You can't train that hunger back into him. He'll end up at whu milking the last millions from a sport he once loved. Such a shame.
This thought went through my mind too. Some of these statistics need to be considered in context. I recall reading about Damien Comolli being obsessed with these kinds of statistics at Liverpool and that this caused friction with Kenny Dalglish who had briefly returned to Anfield to manage them and who had no truck with this kind of analysis. What was interesting was that although Dalglish was insistent that scouting potential recruits could never superceded by analytical data, the game has moved on to the extent that the gathering of statistics and their subsequent assessment is far more sophisticated than it was bad then. I think the position of a club as well as a reflection of who the opposition and the fellow team mates would all be taken in to consideration. I find the whole business of statistics and mathematics in sports such as football and cricket to be a really fascinating subject. I still think old-fashioned scouting will always have a relevance as well issues such as the assessment of a player's social background. However, I somewhat doubt if this analysis will mean player acquisitions working out as intended because of the number of variables.
Back on big Vester for a mo, I see him as the Fraser Forster of CBs..his main asset is his height and yet he doesn't dominate in the air nearly as much as he should do. I've always thought that he is too slow on the deck for the fast paced English game.
