So, as we know, Ricky is on a little jaunt to France at the moment. St.Etienne have played 8 competitive games so far this season (5 in Ligue1, 3 in the Europa League including qualifiers). They're doing pretty well overall, 4th in the league having only lost once (a 5-0 thumping away to Paris St.Germain - possibly of note is that was the last game RvW has played for them, and the only game he has been selected for the starting XI, more on his performance below). Of those 8 games, RvW's contribution is as follows: Ligue 1 1 start (74 total mins) 2 sub apps (36 total mins) 0 goals 0 assists 0.3 shots per game Europa League Qualifying 1 sub app (54 total mins inc. extra time) 0 goals 0 assists Europa League Group Stage 0 apps Doesn't bode too well for his confidence, or our potential future transfer fee eh? Early days though I suppose. ONGOING EDIT: - updated 27/10/14 Ligue 1 (St.Etienne total: 11) 4 starts 5 sub apps 1 goal 3 assists Europa League Qualifying (St.Etienne total: 2) 1 sub app 0 goals 0 assists Europa League Group Stage (St.Etienne total: 3) 2 starts 0 goals 0 assists
Tough for him that his only start was against the best team in Ligue 1. Let's give it a bit longer, JK.
Oh I absolutely agree, I was just interested to see how the start of the season had been for him. I'll give it another 10 games or so, and post another update.
It'll be interesting to see what happens if he has a stinker of a season and St Etienne decide not to exercise their option to buy for circa £6m. We could well end up with him back here and struggle to offload him. Could do without another drain on the wage bill. In happier news, he and his Mrs had a baby girl on 8th of this month. 'Djoy Joan' is the name. Many congratulations to both.
I have my doubts, Cruyff. He wouldn't get in ahead of Grabban or Jerome and wouldn't have got most of the goals they've scored already IMO.
Geez Let's not sugar coat this. Grabban's scored the goals that he's got mostly at the 2nd attempt. I'm sure RvW would have made just as much from the improved service that our current strikers have benefitted from.
Brief update: Ricky came off the bench yesterday for a 26 minute cameo away to Lens. He managed to get himself an assist, and in doing so St.Etienne won the game 0-1. They're up to 3rd in the table. I've updated his stats in my original post
Just the missed penalty, yes a player who started every game when fit but managed just 1 goal woud have been in the position and got 5 in the first few games this season. We may as well send Grabban to the knackers yard he will never fit in at carrow road no matter how many crucial match winning goals he scores. After the last 2 seasons i am delighted with anyone that actually manages to bundle a deflected shot past the opposition. It would appear that a majority on here have written the guy off as a donkey already so i won t comment any more but i sincerely hope he proves you all wrong much like Adams has.
SN23, NO ONe has written Grabban off!! For christ sake me and supers went over this in detail a few weeks back. He gets in good positions, he scores goals. He should score more. He isn't clinical enough. He probably doesn't offer as much to the rest of the team as Jerome, Grabban or Lafferty. He is a great player to have in your squad but once everyone is fit, he wouldn't make my starting 11. Jerome was supposed to have a fairly modest goals scoring record and he has bagged 6 in 5 for us, I think that says a lot about how the team is set up. Grabban was getting the rewards early on but in the last few games he hasn't had so many chances and he hasn't scored. I think we we're well within our right to question his over all ability, it doesn't mean we want him gone from the team! I think Ricky would have scored 5 by now this season. Heck, I reckon a few of us could have bagged a couple the way Norwich have been playing. There is more to the game than scoring goals, It's refreshing to have strikers that do but it doesn't make them world beaters!
Pretty much agree with your summary and Grabban will always be something of a hero for getting the goal at Portaloo Road!!
Not me, as a centre half, I had all the flair, pace and turning circle of Rob Newman (I realise the old cart horse got a few for us, even played up front briefly) Bah!
Yes I haven't seen anyone on here 'write him off' or want to 'drive him to the knackers yard'. It's just rubbish he's making up to suit his argument.
Does that make Ruben Sosa's nickname "Bolt" (Or maybe "Lewis", slightly more befitting of the time!) Bah!
If we had just one decent chance in a game, would you rather it fell to Hooper, Jerome or Grabban? For me Grabban is third in that list. It's not that I don't think Grabban's useful, it's just that he's not clinical enough, and it has required plenty of fortune for him to be on the goal tally he is. His goal against Watford took a deflection, his penalty was a rebound, it took him two attempts to score with the 'keeper out of the picture, and his goal against Ipswich could have been given as offside. For me his goals have been the result of excellent positioning and timing, rather than clean, crisp finishing. He's scored the number he has because we're generally the dominant force in games at this level, so he's getting plenty of chances to take. According to Whoscored, Grabban has had 3.9 shots per game so far this season, and scored 5 goals. So far this season then that's a goal every 6.25 shots. Which is fine in the championship and he's certainly an asset. Any doubt I have in him isn't entirely about his ability at this level, but should we get promoted, can he make the step up? Last season Ricky averaged 1.3 shots per game, coincidentally so did Hooper. Elmander had 0.9 shots per game. Under Hughton*, Holt averaged 1.6 shots per game. If Grabban was to keep up the same conversion rate, he'd get a goal about every 5 games, perhaps 8 if he played the whole season. And that's assuming his confidence doesn't drop when he's not getting as many chances and struggling to score. Personally I don't see him as a first choice striker in our current team (I'd prefer Jerome or Hooper), and we'd look to improve on that should we go up. Looking at the transfer valuation of Rhodes, McCormack, McGoldrick, etc, if we could get 20 goals from Grabban this season to get us promoted, and then sell him for £8m+ next summer, I'd be perfectly happy with that. *You could argue that you'd expect Adams to manage in a style more like Lambert than Hughton in the Prem, but Holt only got 2.1 shots per game under Lambert.
My only argument is we paid £3m for him because he is not a world beater ,he is a bread and butter Championship striker no more no less and you get what you pay for. So far he has done the business when it matters and i feel the need to defend him because we would not be 2nd in the league without his contribution. I doubt he would cut it at Premier league level but lets face it not many did last season. One thing is for sure he is helping us get there and I don't see why he gets so much stick.
