Am I the only one who is surprised that Archer is only 24 years old?
I thought he was a few years older than that.
I thought he was a few years older than that.
Cam Archer: Keep or Sell?
- Thread starter Saints_Alive
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I know that feeling and am not far off my 71st birthday.
But regarding Archer, he seems to me as if he’s been around longer.
6 goals and 4 assists in something like 1,300 minutes of football season. Not exactly shoddy.
Keep him.
Keep him.
Not an accurate comparison though, Archer has a back up role and Ballard ain't coming back her to be back up.
People need to let this Ballard thing go imo.
Why, someone is going to sign him, why not us?
We never paid £15m for Archer to be a back up btw and you have to ask why several managers haven't fancied him.
No we didn't but that's what he's become so you have to compare the here and now.
And the bigger point is why would Ballard come here to be back up?
As a few have pointed out, Archer doesn't really fit any system apart from maybe 4-4-2.
If we signed Ballard he would get his opportunity so we probably wouldn't see him as a back up, Archer has had many opportunities but hasn't taken them and Tonda was willing to let him go last January.
So he's starting ahead of Larin? If not he's back up.
It's simply not going to happen. He's finally had his breakout season at a club where he's playing every week and then he's going to go back to a club where he'd be back up and which never gave him a proper chance?
Back up to Larin doesn’t mean sitting on the bench getting no minutes. Strikers are almost always subbed off, so it’s not like being a back up goalie/defender. Plus we’ll play over 50 games. I’ll bet Larin only starts about 30 of them.
Nobody knows what might happen, Larin wasn't a starter when he first came and rotated with LND. Ballard could get his chance and score every game we just don't know.
Anyway it's all speculation at this point and i'd be just as happy for Piroe to come here but I really don't see a future for Archer unfortunately, for me he's been very disappointing here.
He certainly isn't going to be starting 43/46 games here though like he did this season is he?
Obviously none of us can know for sure but I reckon he'd have next to no interest in coming back here, and personally think he'd be daft to after his stop start career finally getting going.
Better off going to a big L1 club and trying to fire them to promotion imo or if championship a lower club where he'll be the main man.
No, but this isn't really the way footballers think. They all want to push themselves at the highest level. 25-30 games in the Championship is of more value than 45 games in League One. Because if he does well, then the following season he'll play more, and bigger clubs will take notice of him.
We did him dirty, but he is a lifelong Saints fan, so I can't see why we couldn't persuade him to come back. Money talks at the end of the day.
Is he? Ive not seen that anywhere and always assumed he wasn't given he wasn't born locally.
I'm not sure on your first point, I'm sure that's true for many players but I think context matters too. I think the fact his career has been so stop start up until now will make him wary of any move which will drastically reduce his game time.
I reckon a top L1 club would be his best move, get them promoted next season and he'll get a really good crack at the championship.
I wasn't born locally either! Haha
He was with the club since he was 8 years old, and in several interviews talked about his 'deep love' for Saints, and how it's 'an unbelievable club and I want to stay'. This was about three months before we sold him.
It's very clear that Tonda's system works best with a big, strong striker to lead the line. Stewart worked. Larin worked. Armstrong didn't. Archer didn't. Ballard is much more like Armstrong or Archer than Larin or Stewart. He would be a **** signing.
When it comes to strikers, replacing Stewart (with a similar profile player) has to be the number one aim.
If, alongside that, we decide to also sign a different profile of striker - which almost certainly would coincide with selling Archer, because we wouldn't need four strikers - then I'm fine with that. But it would likely mean that particular new striker would have to accept his fair share of time on the bench, and would someone like Ballard be interested in that?
If, alongside that, we decide to also sign a different profile of striker - which almost certainly would coincide with selling Archer, because we wouldn't need four strikers - then I'm fine with that. But it would likely mean that particular new striker would have to accept his fair share of time on the bench, and would someone like Ballard be interested in that?
Yeah I imagine all players who spend a long time in a club's youth system have a soft spot for the club, that's not the same as being a lifelong fan though and not convinced that would impact his decision.
JWP and Lallana certainly aren't life long Saints fans as an example.
All speculation anyway and we'll find out eventually. I'll be staggered if we signed him though.