The Great Escape

5% chance of surviving has increased to maybe 8-10% chance.

 

Well that result certainly helped us. And the other results this weekend were also pretty good on the whole. Yes the 6 point margin stays, but that was always likely with Southampton playing Villa.

The chart below shows the odds of staying up if we play half decent for the rest of the season (top of the bottom half). We could really do with Ings hitting a bad run of form.

 

Lots of bang-average strikers banging in the goals then. Shame ours haven't. You can't put a price on this. Reckon we'd be comfortably mid-table if that were the case with us atm.

 

Pearson has a 1.5 ppg ratio which would keep us up, just keep doing what you’re doing Nige and we'll be fine!

 

Having been at the game at St Mary’s, I would say we are better than Southampton in all but the striking department.

 

What are the chances of us trying to bring Ighalo back in? Very Pozzo thing to do....

 

Stranger things have happened, and there were rumours recently...

If he's been working hard on his scoop out in China, and is a low risk high reward punt... why not?

 

Igahlo is better than what we have, but in our situation we should be pulling out the stops to be getting the best striker we possibly can, which should be someone better than Igahlo. So in short, no.

 

Ageed. He's the wrong side of 30 now, he'd totally lost his touch for the 6 months pre leaving us and has been playing in China ever since. Re-signing him would be worse than bringing QSF back. However, Matej Vydra.......

 

I can't see why Matej Vydra would sign Ighalo. Seems like a bit of an extravagance to me.

 

It has just occured to me that we may have let him go too soon.

 

Peneranda is not a goal scoring predator is he?
Ighalo could be loaned to us as he is out of season now in China so we could have him for a while which might suit.

 

As Undeniable has said, re-signing Iggy would be profligate madness; a fool's errand, and sheer rank incompetence.

 

That's because bang average is several steps above where any of our current crop are at this point.

 

To be fair, didn't Ighalo's drop in performance just align with QSF being a totally inept and sh&t manager. Nobody played well from like Feb onwards did they?

 

Ighalo was simply playing out of his skin, far above his actual level. He reverted to normal form and the wheels came off for QSF.

We stayed up in spite of QSF, not because of him. Iggy was a goddamn hero for half a season.

 

Deeney scored seven goals from Feb onwards to Iggy's one, so it was theoretically possible to score in that period, he just couldn't because he was incredibly one-dimensional and the portal to that dimension had suddenly and inexplicably closed.

Again, let us not forget that Iggy was not just cast aside the moment the QSF season ended; he played 18 times in the league in the first half of 16/17 under Wally, 11 of those being the full 90, and he registered a grand total of one goal and one assist. He was given a full calendar year of being a starter after his miraculous purple patch, in which he offered up, in total, two goals and one assist, whilst operating at an Andre Gray level of contribution to the team outside the box.

 

If we re sign Ighalo I will officially give up. Nothing against him but we need much better than him

 

I love Iggy for that glorious scoring spell as much as the next guy, where every time he pulled out the chop, the defender fell on his arse and he raced by before slotting the ball away.

That said, history has been rewritten a little bit in favor of our Nigerian assassin. Once the goals dried up, it really exposed his lack of all round game, and it’s not a joke to suggest that his touch/ability to control the ball is on par with Gray.

He’d also require us to play another striker alongside him, probably one who can hold the ball up and feed him the ball. So if we’re going to spend money on a striker, I’m hoping it’ll be one who can lead the line alone, and allow us to continue playing in the style we’ve adopted since Mullins and then Pearson came in, where performances have been much improved.

 

Pozzos should be prepared to spend 20 mill+ on a striker this Janauary. No more free transfers or ex players or relying on kids that may or may not be any good.

 

I can only see a short term loan player coming in. Unlikely the quality we need would be available on a permanent in January for a price we could afford. Would a good striker commit himself to a club in our position? Again unlikely.

To get the quality we need, I think pay over the odds for a short term loan on someone who has a good track record, but maybe a little past his best days. This is what I think we'll go for. A short term solution and even Pearson has alluded to that.

 

Interesting to see striker suggestions that can:
1. Has EPL experience and can hit the ground running
2. Is prepared to come to us
3. That we can afford
4. That is fit and available

There must be some strikers but I can't think of any for January. When we bought Gray we should have been looking at Ings or similar, maybe we did, who knows? He is in a purple patch now but since moving to the Saints has previously been quite barren. There are very few guarantees when you buy a striker and I suspect we will stick with what we have got; Welbeck will be back end of January I think and hopefully will make a difference then.

 

Absolutely no ******* chance, he'll be injured again within a month if he's extremely lucky; as the person responsible for transfers/providing the Head Coach with an adequate squad, if you're counting Welbeck as someone who can be considered an option over the season, you're at the point of profligacy/failing to fulfil the terms of your job. It would be rank unprofessionalism.

 

Yes exactly what I said in the transfer suggestion thread regarding splashing out a loan for for Giroud.

Absolutely no point spending loads of money on actually buying a a striker in our position. Nobody will want to come and we’ll be seen as desperate by any club looking to sell. We’ll have to pay over the odds to the club, and way over the odds to the player in wages. Based on our position in the league if they’re a good enough player they won’t accept any sort to relegation clauses (why would they) so if we do go down we’ll be stuffed financially if we can’t sell them on or loan them out again. Most players will want a longer deal as well. Essentially if the striker is good enough they’ll hold all the cards, if they’re not good enough it’s just a waste of money anyway whatever we spend.

By far the best option is pay over the odds on a loan fee, in the grand scheme of things in PL terms whatever we spend will be peanuts and worth 10x what we pay if we stay up.

For me someone like Giroud would be ideal, people say he’d never come, but if we pay him enough why wouldn’t he for 6 months? He’s 33, why would he turn down say £5m+ for a few months work?

Desperate times call for desperate measures, if we were mid table spending £5m+ on a loan signing for a few months would be utterly pointless, we’d never do it and it would never make any sense. In our position we need Hail Marys, it might not work but it’s not something we can risk undercooking, unless the owners have really resigned themselves to the drop already.

 

Because he can get that warming the bench at Chelsea whilst doing the bare minimum.

If you need players for a fight, past it former top 4 players who you only mention due to name value are not the ones to look at.

 

Chelsea want to send him out on loan in January. They would probably pay some of his wages, his deal could be structured with goal and survival bonuses to keep him motivated.

Based on our circumstances and our position, who are the ones to look at then?

 

Much better idea!

 

I said this in another thread but Kevin Gameiro would be brilliant for us if we are able to secure a loan deal from Valencia. Giroud has not shown goalscoring form for at least a couple of years now and I think he would be an improvement on what we have but I see him now as someone who is good at holding up the ball rather than scoring.

Gameiro is already getting frustrated at lack of first team football at Valencia this season. I found this quote as Lyon have already expressed interest in a loan.

Gameiro has the same agents as Lyon manager Rudi Garcia and has struggled to get back a place in the Valencia starting XI following the improving form of Rodrigo. He may also be interested in the move as a means of coming back on Didier Deschamps’ radar for EURO 2020, even though he has not been picked since March 2017.

 

For starters I would go for a January straight swap with Burnley. Vydra in exchange for AG.

Probably about same value nowadays & could offer each team something more to their liking in respect of styles. Most importantly both known quantities to both clubs. Could be a good win for both clubs.

Need another striker too of course but the swap deal offers something extra.

 

Gray specifically left Burnley because he fell out with Dyche. No chance of them taking him back.

 

Any chance of actually offering a suggestion or two that we can go for?

 

No need. Giraldi knows what he's doing.

 

Don’t agree with Vydra at all. He’s never ever done it in the premier league, you can put arguments forward as to why that might be, but that facts are he hasn’t got any sort of goal scoring record at the top level. We need a proven goalscorer at ideally premier league level. Nothing else is worth the gamble.

 

No proven goalscorer at prem level would come to us. They would have better options.