Give it a rest Smudger, We get you don't like what's happened but you don't need to repeat it in every post. You are better than that
I was having the "Sulky Freddie" debate with a friend on Sunday. Was he as miserable last season as he is this? I don't believe so but I don't think he was full of the joys of spring either. He hasn't lived up to the hype and he does dive more than most but then again he's chopped at on a regular basis. Furthermore he often puts in a decent cross to discover that neither of you know who are there nor anyone else. I think it's academic at the moment whether he's worth £50m or not. No one will pay that if Gino remains steadfast.
Some of his crosses are good but by no means all, or even most. My impression is that he usually tries to cross to soon, or at least rather than trying to beat the defender and attack the box which should be his strength. I suspect that is down to a lack of confidence for whatever reason but our coaches should be trying to change that.
He is a miserable git but there is a part of me that feels sorry for him in some sense. The times that he's gone past people more often than not he's chopped or pulled back - I'm not disputing he needs to stay on his feet more The times he does get past and sprint the 10-20 yards to a crossing position what's he got to aim at? Deeney is nowhere to be seen and Gray has a less than 5% chance of the ball hitting any part of his body and then travelling in the direction of the goal. Given his tendency to be a miserable sulk he's probably thinking what's the point almost every time he gets the ball.
Well he is a 22 year old in a foreign country playing for an average team in a league he didn’t expect to play in. And probably hasn’t been able to see family it friends (like all of us admittedly ) . Not been used by 2 managers and probably doesn’t speak English yet. No wonder he might look a bit sulky and moody .
My last post on this thread says it's important for us to have Sarr with us until at least the summer. I would say that is a pretty rational and intelligent view.
I like Sarr, I think he works hard, he gets fouled a lot, ( he needs to learn to ride those fouls rather than falling down) but puts in a shift. Is he worth £40 mill? not in this current market, should we sell him for less? No way, he brings far more positives to the team than negatives, any money raised from such a sale would not be reinvested, all we would end up with is a smaller squad, lacking a decent talented player. I can't believe how much stick he is getting on this thread.
A good cross is one that your team mates have a chance of getting on the end of. Sema looks up before crossing and plays the ball to his team mates, Sarr just crosses. I am not saying Sarr is bad or our strikers are good, but Sarr could deliver better crosses if he looked where his team mates were first.
We all know that, so Sarr should know as well. Which is why he either needs to delay his cross or cross it to the player. I don't understand why some people keep saying he puts in great crosses and it is all the other players fault for not being there.
Fair points. Again,very reasonable. And reasonable again and this maybe down to inexperience on his part and experience on Cuddly's. It could also be a lack of confidence,akin to a striker slashing a his shot.
It doesn't help that our team are a bunch of softies and every time Sarr gets targeted, they all stand around and do nothing.
....yet others criticise that he doesn't beat his man and use his explosive pace to get away and get his crosses in. There's little incentive to do that if you're then pulling the ball back 30 yards to the old duffer slowly ambling towards the box.
No club has got £30m to lose from their bank account in one fell swoop. Not on Sarr anyway. (City or PSG maybe from the bank of the Middle East.)
I just don’t think he’s ready to be the ‘main man’ yet - and that’s what’s being asked of him by club and fans alike right now. If we put that expectation on him, then play to his strengths. Empty stadiums, Championship football, and tactics/teammates that haven’t played to his strengths for a large part of this season...none of the above will be helping get the best from him. He’s clearly a lad with talent. But by god, haven’t we conspired to give him a fairly terrible set of surroundings since signing him (obviously we couldn’t control the Covid element though). Since being here he’s played under 6 different Head Coaches all with different ideas of how to set up/play/attack. And rarely, if ever, has the team been set up to allow him to flourish. The team should have been built around him in the summer - and it wasn’t. I’m convinced the second half of his season will play out like the first half - inconsistent. And he will go to a top half PL side (or Dortmund, maybe back to France) for £20m-£25m in the summer as we fail to get promoted.
I don’t disagree with this, but it does irritate me these days when a 22 year old player is considered “still only young” or “not fully developed yet”. There’s no reason why Sarr couldn’t be a fully formed player by now. Years ago any player who was going to be good enough, except possibly goalkeepers, were in the first team at 18 and regularly by 19. Now it seems they have to be a Rooney-type prodigy for that to be the case. As I’m often fond of noting: Alan Ball won the World Cup at 21.
I haven’t said that? He just doesn’t look ready to be the focal point of the team yet - and I think that’s what fans expect of him. If I were in charge, I’d be getting him on a plan to bulk up a bit (not massively) in the gym and making him the ‘main man’ to his teammates. Don’t be shy about it and see if that’s impacts his game for the better. To me, it comes across like he’s treated like just another member of the squad, part of the matchday XI and no more. I think more responsibility should be given to him if we believe he’s worth £50m. If we place that value on him, start acting like it as a football team.
Problem is, he is having to wait so long to have any player in the box to cross to, it somewhat negates the benefit of him sprinting past the defender in the first place.
Sarr has certainly underwhelmed so far but he has still been our most threatening attacking player in almost every game and his threat demands defenders focus on him creating space and time for other players. He is the joint second top scorer and joint second top assister and the latter does not include the four or five penalties he has won too. He has the highest ranking on whoscored of all our players. He definitely hasn't 'torn up' the league as we would have hoped but he is performing pretty well. If his value has declined over the last twelve months, that's got more to do with Covid than his performances.
I think he should try and see what happens. He could get open and shoot He could get fouled and get a good free kick position or penalty He could get a corner One of his team mates could get in the box, if not the focus will be on them for not getting there to help. When he doesn't try we do not know what could of happened. He is not playing badly, you just look at his talents and think there should be more done by him to push us forward up the pitch. Don't stop and wait for the support, run forward and make the other players follow.
It makes me wonder if any one has been paying any attention for the last 5 years. Its a very old model to suggest that the Pozzos would sell the star player in order to buy several cheaper ones in positions that we need They have always bought cheaply with the view that they can sell them on but the players only match our needs by chance seemingly. They buy according to who they can make money out of and value and then place them in clubs, its almost completely irrelevant what players and type we actually need. We really need a decent replacement for Deeney and Gray but we get loads of young wingers instead because they will sell. Its the same as when we churn through managers there is always this list that includes old English hands out of a job who would cost money as they are well known and then what we end up with is (with the exception of Pearson) a young Yugoslavian, Italian or Portugeuse. Yet people always go on about Pulis and the like
Even when he's been below par, he's still capable of pulling out moments of quality to win us crucial points, but anyway, he's putting together a decent run of form now. If we can bring in his mate from Rennes along and keep him that'll be amazing, strengthing the squad without having to sell him!
A super goal to be sure. Not sure one goal after a catastrophic relegation “shuts the numpties up” in the wider sense to be honest. I mean given his price tag I’d hope he can do well in this division and this is a great step forward. Looking at your last 4 posts you need to get a grip.
Not sure I'd apportion any of the blame for relegation on Sarr. If QSF had played him sooner we might have stayed up!
He’s stopped sulking over all the chopping and shirt pulling and started to get angry and determined. I very much like this version of Sarr.
Well neither would I. Yet his investment spread more evenly over the squad may have been better. A cracking goal away at Stoke having been relegated doesn’t constitute a big “gotcha” moment for prats like Davis in my view. If he fires us back up we may break even on him. Go Sarr!!!
Can people stop updating this thread with general chat about his performances? Keeps making me think he's about to leave for West Ham or Palace.
Well maybe. But people saying he's rubbish need to wobble their jellies. Imagine if they were West Ham fans looking back over their last 10 years of transfer investment... would have imploded by now.
Has anyone noticed how Sarr has absolutely superhuman fitness? An energetic fast paced playing style yet comfortably has the most outfield minutes of any Watford player, despite missing the first few games. He seems completely immune to fatigue and injury which is a great trait in a season like this.
