Another point about BWP was that I thought our set up didn't help him all that much. Kermorgant often played deep and was the target man and with BWP playing off the shoulder of the last defender and stretching opponents defences out he didn't always see a lot of the ball. Get a partner alongside him that assists him and holds the ball and looks to bring BWP in then he will score laods more.
Well given that we'll be continuing with Kermit, that looks a bit unlikely.
I've no problem with a Kermorgant-BWP (or Baldock) front line. The danger is that the goal scorer gets dragged deeper and the team loses their goalscorer and cutting edge. I'm just making the point that if you want to get more goals out of BWP you need to have the target man playing a bit further up the pitch, but we have a formula that works and until it stops working I wouldn't advocate changing it.
I think it's premature to write-off BWP. A number of strikers have stepped up over the past few years, most notably Holt & Lambert, who carried momentum with their teams.
BWP still has some years to develop, & the fact that he gets himself in positions to score, shows he is getting better as he ages, & his goal ratios per season have improved as a consequence.
If we don't manage to get Baldock, I won't be worrying, as I think Bradley will do a good job for us next year. He & Yann will be hungry, & determined to make the most of their 2nd bites of the Championship cherry.
BWP & KMG are great strikers. All strikers sometimes go off the boil, or are dealt with in specific games by specific opposition tactics. Having another different goal scoring striker, would mean that the opposition defence can't concentrate their attentions on one main goal scorer or gives another tactical possibility of the bench.
It takes the pressure of the main goalscorer, and encourages them to play their best to keep their place in the team. It also means that the striker can be rested, lessening the risk of injuries and gives the manager another option of the bench. Relying one goal scoring striker is never good, whatever the percentage of goals / ratio.
If we get Sam Baldock (or another decent striker) alongside CB cover, left back / midfield is covered with Lawrie Wilson and centre midfield engine (Kerkar). With improving players such as Michael Smith and Bradley Pritchard ( and some from the youth set up), I can see us competing for the play offs.
We would have different styles of players to give us different options.
Easy to spend someone elses money though, eh (or have an opinion on what they spend it on).
BWP is great though, and I have lots of time for him, not just for the goals but for his work rate and what he does for the team.
Cash-flow or no cash-flow problem, spending one and half mil on a player who is not proven in the Championship is a major gamble and personally I would rather have someone proven at that level at a much cheaper price.
I'm not sure we are in the market to spend £1.5m on anyone this summer.
It would, in my opinion, put us in the position where we would start to need promotion to the Premier League to balance the books. I'd rather not go down that road again. It didn't work out too well last time.
But if we didn't have to "spend" to get the player but simply utilise Chris Solly then would it be better?
It depends if we are getting more for Solly as a consequence, otherwise we are just selling a valuable asset (and probably before he matures) and still spending £1.5m of that money (that we will, obviously only get once) on another player.
I guess it depends on how desperate the new owners are to get promoted, and how quickly they want to achieve it. If their business plan (assuming they have one) requires Premier League football within the next two seasons then they might start spending that sort of cash. If they are willing to take five seasons and get up without spending too much money then they might look for a cheaper less proven alternative, like Cook that we signed from Sunderland on a free.
It said in The People yesterday that Baldock was headed for Blackburn but CP was trying to hijack the move by offering him a £1m/yesr deal not sure if that's true either
But if we didn't have to "spend" to get the player but simply utilise Chris Solly then would it be better?
This is plausible, I'm not buying we've signed Wilson as back up. If we are struggling as strongly suggested on here in terms of transfer budget what is the logic in spending considerable money (I appreciate this might not be all up front but we'lll constitute an amount of the summer budget regardless) on someone who will not directly effect the first team.
Comments
Take away their penalty goals, and their goal tally from outfield play is not significantly much different than BWP achieved.
I think Rhodes only scored 1 penalty ..........against us !!
BWP still has some years to develop, & the fact that he gets himself in positions to score, shows he is getting better as he ages, & his goal ratios per season have improved as a consequence.
If we don't manage to get Baldock, I won't be worrying, as I think Bradley will do a good job for us next year. He & Yann will be hungry, & determined to make the most of their 2nd bites of the Championship cherry.
We could easily afford to sign anyone we want but we're playing a cagey game , don't forget what norwich and southampton did
It takes the pressure of the main goalscorer, and encourages them to play their best to keep their place in the team. It also means that the striker can be rested, lessening the risk of injuries and gives the manager another option of the bench. Relying one goal scoring striker is never good, whatever the percentage of goals / ratio.
If we get Sam Baldock (or another decent striker) alongside CB cover, left back / midfield is covered with Lawrie Wilson and centre midfield engine (Kerkar). With improving players such as Michael Smith and Bradley Pritchard ( and some from the youth set up), I can see us competing for the play offs.
We would have different styles of players to give us different options.
Easy to spend someone elses money though, eh (or have an opinion on what they spend it on).
BWP is great though, and I have lots of time for him, not just for the goals but for his work rate and what he does for the team.
It would, in my opinion, put us in the position where we would start to need promotion to the Premier League to balance the books. I'd rather not go down that road again. It didn't work out too well last time.
no bid has been accepted for Sam Baldock, contrary to newspaper talk. I hope to have more news later !!!!!!
Re Sam Baldock There is no denying the fact we have received offers but the club is yet to accept any offers.
I guess it depends on how desperate the new owners are to get promoted, and how quickly they want to achieve it. If their business plan (assuming they have one) requires Premier League football within the next two seasons then they might start spending that sort of cash. If they are willing to take five seasons and get up without spending too much money then they might look for a cheaper less proven alternative, like Cook that we signed from Sunderland on a free.