Sagbo has every attribute you could possibly need. He's probably our best finisher. I don't recall ever seeing him miss. For some reason he's got a tendency to go and stand on the wing all the time, and Bruce has a tendency to play him on the wing which I can't understand. Fryatt I want to stay for sentimental reasons. He'll nick you a goal now and then but I think defenders have an easy time marking him at this level. I don't know if it's pace, strength or what but people just seem to have him at arms length when he plays and we can't make it stick up front like we do with Jelavic, Long or even Sagbo. Ulloa looks good but I'm not sure we need a striker. I'd focus on other positions and go with what we've got up front til January at least.
Yannick Sagbo. Age : 26 Position : Striker Clubs: Monaco : 19 appearances - Goals 0 Evian : 99 appearances - Goals 25 Hull City: 28 appearances - Goals 2 We need someone who can put the ball in the net at least 10 times during the season instead of f@rt@rsing around with it. We have a big problem with depth up front and despite Steve Bruce's statement that he is not looking for strikers I would be very surprised if we haven't got a quality on-loan striker signed up before next season.
If you think Sagbo is good enough for the Premier League then I think we do. There are many who think he is and I respect their opinions but cannot find any basis for them. It's goals that count and we are not scoring enough of them. Jelly and Long will be lucky to get 20 between them next season and we will get some from midfield but it is hardly enough. We cannot afford to buy a 'quality' striker so we will probably have to look at the loan players available and the wages involved. I believe that Fryatt will go but how much will we get for him? How much would we get for Sagbo. Long and Jelly cost us 13 million. Sagbo and Fryatt are worth a fraction of that but we may have to make do with what we have got.
We need goals and only Long and Jelavic pose anything like the right level of threat. Fryatt has had every possible opportunity and he is simply not good enough; sentiment doesn't cut it. Sagbo is clinical but always in the wrong position for a striker to be successful; that may be the manager tinkering, but I don't believe so. We need to release players and a decent striker is needed, if we wish to improve on last season.
Assuming you've copied that from Wikipedia, that only shows league games and doesn't include goals in Europe or cups. But even so, at Evian he was scoring once every 4 games, which in England would see him get about 10 a season (if he played every game on that form). We don't have a problem with depth up front at all, we have 4 strikers already, plus Boyd and Brady who can cover if needs be and a youth striker who was **** hot last season. Everybody is desperate to have a 30 goal a season striker like Bony or Lukaku, but we just aren't at the stage where we can go out and buy one (In fact we aren't that type of team; we appear to be the type of team that, at the minute, is satisfied defending a 1-0 lead with a goal from a CB.) We have to discover them accidentally, which might take some time but it's not going to see us blow £10m-£15m on a single player, especially considering what we spent in January. I'd be more than happy if we tied Fryatt down and kept the strikers as they are. I think the defence is a bigger problem, as towards the end of last season we were conceding some really crap goals; time and time again you'd hear the commentators say "well the defence just switched off" or "City haven't woken up yet". We need a LB and possibly a bit of cover at RB. CB wise we have Chester, Davies, Macca, Figueroa and Bruce, which is five and I believe that's enough.
You live in cloud cuckoo land. What next? Huddlestone isn't good enough because he's not scoring 15 goals a season? McGregor not good enough because he conceded more than 30 goals? Just who do you think we are? Title chasers or relegation battlers?
People are seriously off there rocker if they think we have the status and budget to improve our strikers.
They're getting too big for their boots after these couple of seasons of, let's be honest, over achievement.
But as I said before, even with Faye going, that still leaves Chester, Davies, McShane, Bruce and Figueroa who can all play at CB. So which one of those would be leaving? Because even if we play 3 at the back, having 2 as cover would surely be enough? We don't need six players for every position!
Sagbo is the best hold up player we have. If we're under pressure he's great at alleviating it if a long ball goes in his direction. His goals scored is a bit harsh to judge him on as he usually gets played up top on his own, but we've seen he can finish when he's had the rare opportunity. Fryatt is a real poacher. Debatable whether or not he can handle this level because he's largely untested but he can nick goals. If we keep Fryatt I don't think we need to look at strikers. If he goes I'd bring in a promising younger striker as backup.
One centre back(Faye) leaves and another comes in to replace him, it's not complicated. The one that does come in will almost certainly be our third choice centre back, if not one pushing for a starting role. Figueroa would also be off if anyone would take him, we're playing a right back ahead of him and he's been our worst player over the past six months.
Sagbo scored 2 from 5 in the FA Cup against Brighton and Sheffield United. Hardly impressive nor is scoring 1 in 4 in the French Second Division. Nobody has mentioned a "30 goal a season" striker as it is way, way above our heads. Bony cost 12 million I believe. I believe that Steve Bruce will be looking at a better quality striker but only on a loan basis and it will depend on wages. Your supports for Sagbo is commendable but all the excuses in the world will not alter the fact that he is in the same bracket as Altidore and Proschwitz. He hasn't got it mate. The fact that we are a team that achieved European football might, just might, attract a young up-and-coming striker who is showing promise and is looking to show what he can do. We HAVE to improve and bringing Sagbo, Fryatt and Aluko off the bench is no improvement at all it is just same-old, same-old, last season. I honestly believe that Steve Bruce and Management have ear-marked targets and will have approached them behind the scenes.
Comparing what we have seen of Sagbo to what we've seen of Proschwitz and Altidore is laughable. If you think we are going to get a better technical player than Aluko to sit on our bench then you are very wrong.
Sagbo...best shooting accuracy in the Premier League. http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/stats-zone-premier-league-striker-season-201314
