Does anyone actually ever mention that these days? The lad is a class footballer and has great touch, awareness and a goal scoring knack. 15 games and 7 goals. If that goal he scored tonight had been done so by Lionel Messi, Rooney or Van Persie, or someone similar in that bracket, then all the media pundits would be ****ing themselves into a frenzy over it. That was the goal scoring talents of a lad who is a top, top class striker. £14m? It was a steal. Many fans didn't want the lad and doubted his ability, which is fine as its all about opinions in the end but if he keeps this up for the rest of the season, we will do well to hang onto this lad in the summer imo and I dare bet all those doubters would be gutted to see him go now. Great strike tonight lad and a terrific 1st season with the lads so far.
Cest, to me even better was the time in the first half when the ball was hoofed up to him. He was on his tod. No-one in support. Instead of thinking "well, **** it", he held the ball up, waited, jinxed their defender, and had the defender bring him down (and also booked) on the edge of the box for a dangerous free kick for us. All from nowt. Outstanding stuff.
I don't know if that is aimed at me or Cest - presume Cest. Nowt wrong with being gay. A lot wrong with being a thrice-banned moron whose entire life is based upon wumming our board because you have no mates, no girlfirend or boyfriend. **** off. Get a life.
HTML: Cest, I think it was 10m upfront with 4m add-ons. I agree he is what we needed and didn't think he would have been as prolific as he has, so far. Just about 1 in every 2 games, that's terrific. Lets all hope we have turned a corner and like ive already stated, I will eat the sweetest humble pie of all time. At the same time don't get carried away either it was 1 game against a very poor team and we have very hard games coming up, so Southampton is looking like another must win game. I will admit though the last 3 games we do look like improving going forward so hopefully it's onwards and upwards. I do worry though about people views on 'the need for big money on January'. I much prefer to be talking about the need for the right players. I would love us to pick up a Michu for 2m. Disappointly though I don't think MON will change his transfer policy of trusted, British based players. You also have to speculate to accumulate, so would love is to take a risk on a couple of foreign players who will offer us something different, a bit of flair. Spending big money could ruin us long term.
Will be worth much more than that in another 10/12 goals time mate Wasn't it a peach though? If that doesn't win Goal of the Month then it will take a world class effort to upstage it. Could be a goal of the season contender as well imo.
I find it really astonishing that he can find the time to type anything, considering he spends all day and night ****ing himself into oblivion.
I haven't seen the goal, but at £14m then 7 goals in 15 games would be what I'd expect. I wouldn't call it a bargain. The likes of Jelavic and (sorry to use this here) Ba are bargains.
By today's standards, a proven striker in the EPL who will average 15-20 goals a season is a bargain at an initial 14m shogun. Jelavic was a risk which as paid off. (Still think Fletcher is a better "footballer" if you get what I mean) but both will score goals. The finish tonight was sublime. As has been said, pundits would be purring over it if messi had scored it
Agreed. However if we pay £14m it's because Fletch has proved himself as a £14m striker. £10m for a goal every other game striker is reasonable in my eyes.
I'm sure I read an interview with Marty somewhere where he states it is only 12m we will pay for him, may be wrong there. Fletch has surprised me lots in that he is genuinely an excellent footballer, I was expecting a Darren bent tap in master when he signed him but he is much more than that.
I think his fee looks about right. Not a bargain but certainly good value and exactly what was needed. A good purchase.
If Bent was valued and sold by the way, at £24m & Carroll £35m then Fletcher at £12m/£14m is more than a bargain imo. 'Value for money' would suggest an average adequate return on our investment whereas imo, we have secured a lad about to hit his prime for a fee almost a third of Andy Carroll and just about half Bent - he has scored more than these two put together this season and more than Carroll for the past 3. Bargain? You better believe it.
Each to their own but I would view Carroll and Bent as anomalies in the market rather than the norm. Both were ridiculous. Bent I have always felt was pretty overrated regardless of his goal record, there is more to the game. Carroll I think is a fantastic talent but 35m was absolutely stupid. The lad was worth about 12m, maybe a bit more because of age. Obviously it was all skewed by Romans desire to have Torres regardless of money, and we were the ultimate benefactors in it all. I think for 12-14m you should get a top class striker who is not far off the end product. I think Sunderland have got that. I won't get into what goal to game ratios should be because I think that is a load of bollocks to be honest. It depends what you are looking for to complete your team. If you are looking for a goalscorer, then yeah you probably want a one in two striker with an all round game. However if it is a Zola, Niall Quinn or Cantona type (the partner if you like) you need then you might only get 1 in 2.5-3.5 but it will still be worth every penny of the 12m-14m. Obviously its about age too. Younger players cost more because the theory is they have greater potential to get better, and you can sell them for more or get a longer period out of them. So for me 12m-14m looks about right.
To be honest Warm, I think Wickham would fit into, that 'partner' role perfectly and at £8m he wouldnt be overpriced if he was given a run in the team and scored 10/12 goals alongside Fletchers 15/20. He has shown me in 2 games he has the physical ability and the workrate to be the 2nd striker we all want but he isnt getting enough game time imo. I also think he is a better footballer than Carroll.
I think I am a better footballer than Carroll! Fletcher has done well for you this season. 1 in 2 is a very good ratio and he is worth every penny thus far.
QWOP, I was referring more to Wickham is better than Carroll but needs game time to develop. I likem what I have seen of the lad to be honest in the last 2 games and he looks to be knuckling down and working hard now. 1 in 2 is good for any striker and if he netted 19/20 goals this term I'd be delighted mate.
