Interesting to note Andre is on an instalment deal relating to goals scored, does anyone know if we have ever had that before? Extract from official WatfordFC.com website; "Gray will be repaying the transfer fee in instalments with each goal he rattles in. His burning desire to find the back of the net runs deep"
Knowing Gino we've probably also got a clause that if AG then ever scores an own goal, we get some money back.
At the moment he looks like he is going to be used as a super sub, Okaka to start and when he is knackered after about 60 mins, on comes Gray!
I read that to mean that every time he scores he's justifying a little more the price Watford paid for him; rather than revealing a clause whereby we pay Burnley every time he scores! A slightly clunkily written line.
I don't know but he won't be taking penalties, that's for sure! I think when we signed Roger Willis there was a clause that we had to pay Barnet more if he played for England.
Is there nothing that can be done about this guy's poor first touch? I don't know enough about the technical side of football, but I play various musical instruments, and if there is something technical I can't do I practice, practice, practice until I can. Slowly at first, gradually build up speed. Surely it's the same, being a physical skill?
I'm afraid his optimal learning window has shut*,but of course with proper coaching and practice he can improve. Could be like many sportsmen/women he is trying too hard due to over eagerness and lack of confidence. Every striker has lean spells,he needs the often mentioned shank or one off his bum to break the duck. * Age 10 for ABCS -Agility,Balance,Co-ordination (Rhythm,Differentiation,Orientation,Reaction) and Speed. Age 12 for Technical skills.
I couldn't believe what I was watching at times, how can a £18 mill striker have such an awful first touch?
Burnley fans did warn that his first touch was a weak point. More suited to getting in behind the defence chasing the ball with his pace
I was informed by the man at the Mobil garage that Dyche, in his interview with Gino in 2012, insisted that with the right funding he could get us promoted and keep us up. As we know Gino didn't believe him and employed Zola. Still, they parted on good terms and made a bet, that bet was that if Dyche got his next club promoted and kept them in the Premier league then Gino would buy a player that Dyche desperately wanted rid of and Gino would pay over the odds. That player, as it turns out is Andre Gray. That's the truth of the matter and all there is to it, it was just a bet between pals. Fact.
I always remember in his first match for us, Nathan Ellington hit the post. I used to wonder just how different his career with us might have been had that effort gone in. Maybe not at all and he'd still have been an epic failure, but at least he'd have got the monkey of his first goal for us off his back right at the start. Time will tell how equally costly Gray's bad miss at Bournemouth will prove to be. Hopefully not at all, and he will score many times for us this season, in the same way it actually took Troy a while to get going for us. But already you can't help but think what a big missed opportunity that was to open his account early and get fans on his side.
I think Gray is becoming a bit disappointing he can seem to play well with his back at goal . Also he is definitely the sort of striker who needs a partner up front , we should try Deeney with him in a 4,4,2 formation Gray Deeney, Richarlison, Clevererly , Doucoure, Carrillo, Holibas, Kab, Maps , Fimenia . Gomez . This will work , almost every game we play worse with 3 at the back. When we change to 4 we see a improvement.
I think that opportunity has been massively over-simplified by some. It certainly wasn't a tap in or anything.
Yeah true. Was just using it as an example really. It wasn't a sitter but i think one would have hoped he'd have scored it.
Gray looks more suited to playing away from home. Moaners always seem to need someone to pick on and now we're $th Gray's the man If he was missing chances I would be worried but he hasn't had many to miss and those being critical conveniently forget that Deeney had gone 13 games without a goal and his goal drought only came to an end because of the penalty on Saturday Lets enjoy these days at the top of the table whilst they last rather than trying to find something to find fault with
You cant compare our £18m record signing with deeney though. It's not unreasonable to expect our record signing to be a considerable upgrade on deeney/okaka. The reason people are frustrated is the fact that we've paid £18m for someone who is actually considerably worse. And that's before we get onto the connection to those ****s up the road, the **** tats, the Z list girlfriend, and the exceedingly punchable face. He's utter dog droppings. It makes you wonder where we'd be if we'd had even an average striker up front from the start of the season. It is remarkable we are in 4th place while carrying that dead weight. It's only the fact he's a striker that we can get away with it. If he was a midfielder or a defender his dreadful skill levels would be far more costly.
Ok if not comparing him with Deeney who has been consistently quoted in the 20m bracket, how about a comparison with Lacazette who did precisely buggar all on Saturday, signed by Arsenal for 52.7m
13 games doesn't quite tell the story though. Deeney has only played 450 minutes of Football since his last goal due to being dropped/injured. You talk about moaners, however, at every game I've been to everyone's been supportive of Gray, regardless of how they view his performances. Nothing wrong with calling out an under performer post match. Fortunately we have a very good team that can pick goals up all over the pitch, and hopefully that will continue all season because if they dry up and we have to rely on Gray, well, then we're ****ed. As much as I'd love to see Okaka get a crack, him being dropped, in the long term could be a very good thing as we might actually sign a competent striker in January.
Ive been sticking up for Gray and am still optimistic he'll be a player for us. However, during the game on Saturday, he was crap. We already knew his first touch was suspect but for the first time I got the impression his footballing intelligence is limited. Why oh why did he let that slow as **** giraffe, let him have a ten yard head start? Deeney comes on and immediately stands on his heels. Job done
Lacazette was facing a formidable team on saturday so it's not surprising he did **** all, but for the season he's got 4 goals in 7 games. While gray is sat on 1 goal in 8 games, with better players around him. Bad comparison.
I've been thinking long and hard about the Andre Gray problem. I've considered team formation, team selection, tactics, zonal versus man-marking at corners, and all the other things that a top spectator such as myself needs to take into account, and I've concluded that the issue is that he doesn't drink enough Baileys. It's often held that sex the night before a match has an adverse effect on an elite athlete's performance; four highly experienced researchers have discovered from a study recently conducted out at Sopwell House that the ingestion of between 700 and 1400 ml of Baileys takes sex completely out of the equation; therefore all sportsmen should drink at least one bottle of Baileys, and preferably two, before performing. We cannot tell whether these findings also apply to female sportspersons until research of equal rigour is carried out, but I'm sure that Reids would be willing to take part in such a study - for an appropriate fee, of course.
Seems to really divide opinion on here. Personally, I think he's done quite well so far (though should probably have a couple more goals to his name), and will only get better.
Pretty sure I saw him mouth '**** you Moog' when cupping his ears. Also loved the fact he brought some comedy to the game with his laughable finishes in those one on ones. Total package.
He's done 6/10 okay. Poor finishing and looks a bit short of confidence, but he provides pace and stretches games in a way Deeney and Okaka can't. Our only striker who fits Silva's system.