When we signed him someone popped up with a stat that he basically scored because Blackburn were creating an utterly obscene amount of chances, so even with his profligacy he was able to put a good number away. I think if our scouts were up to the job we would have signed Brereton Diaz instead.
For all the negativity / distrust towards more stats-heavy approaches, if our recruitment team actually looked at the data properly we would’ve never signed him.
He has zero goal threat. In the PL that’s bad enough but when you’re not even good enough to challenge a League 2 defence then questions need to be asked about his ability. I would much rather see the attacking roles be a competition between, Onuacho, Sulemana, Mara and Adams than see Armstrong on the pitch. When I see him coming on all I see is that’s pretty much the end of our attacking threat in the game and it was no different tonight. It says a lot that when he came on all the commentators were doing was saying how good Che was.
So that was my first in person Selles match experience. I don’t think we looked like a quality side and I think Leicester were poor BUT it was interesting to see us with some structure. The players looked like they knew their jobs and where they were supposed to be on the pitch, they were also (for the most part) doing the basics, enough to make us competitive. Just emphasises again how utterly awful we were under Jones. I still don’t necessarily think we will stay up, but even so it is important we fight and give ourselves some form to build on next season, rather than just capitulating. Just to add Theo had a really decent game and has earned another start imo. People saying our subs seemed strange, but we were clearly on a mass press in Leicesters half and I assume it was to keep energy levels up. Sulemana and Alcaraz look like the first signings capable of immediately improving the first XI in a while.
It really does frustrate me, the whole Jones thing. People say that we should have parted ways with Ralph in the summer being the first mistake, but that would only have meant being stuck with that bloke for probably a longer period, and it being more destructive. I think Ruben is a long way from being perfect, and certainly (understandably) has a lot to learn, but if he'd taken over straight from Ralph before the World Cup, I am 99.999% sure we'd be in a much better position now.
We're definitely still heavy favourites to get relegated, but there is a path which is really all we can ask for at this point. Realistically, we need to beat Brentford at home and either win one of the matches against Utd/Spurs/West Ham/City or draw a pair of them to remain afloat. We're pretty fortunate that a gap hasn't opened up above us...if this were a four-team competition I'd basically write us off, but as it stands there are enough seriously mediocre teams that we still have a chance.
Armstrong is the case study for confidence. He’s lost all semblance in of being a top footballer - I include the championship in that category, you have to be bloody good to play there. And he was one of the best in the league. When he started with us he looked promising, then he had games being ok and now he has lost it all.
There's so many teams still involved and no one cut adrift at the bottom that it really is impossible to know how many points we need to stay up. It could be anywhere in the 30's. The only thing I do know is how things can swing wildly in the space of a week. At this stage there would normally be at least one team looking dead and buried. That was threatening to be us but 2 wins from our last 3 games has changed that. It's looking like it could be one of the most gripping and tense battles to avoid relegation I've ever seen.
