4231 is working well and we need to stick with it. Vydra, like Gray needs to be in a front 2 and neither are the solution. Deeney really as well, although he's working in Pearson's version of 4231 because Doucs busts a gut to get close to him. For 4231 we need complete strikers, and we might already have the long term answer in Pedro or Dalby.
It's not just €17m though (actually €20mil). It's also €15mil to Raiola and €10mil to Haaland's father. So more like €45mil. https://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2019/12/30/5e0a149f46163f38768b4636.html Plus, it is believed that he also has a release clause in his deal which could be as low as €50mil, and Raiola has also got himself a cut of any future selling fee. I reckon he'll be an excellent player, but prob he'll only stay at BVB for about 2 or 3 seasons before leaving for Bayern, Real or City.
FYI I’m no fan of Gray, but in the premier league he scored 9 in 32 for Burnley, that’s actually a fairly decent record. If Burnley aren’t the right type of club for Vydra, then why did Gray still do ok for them? Gray is terrible at holding the ball up, so you can’t really say he particularly suited Burnley’s style either.
True but as discussed at the time, 3 came in one match which means 6 in the other 31. Gray has shown he's not bad at running onto long-ball flick ons from another striker. Vydra is better at being played in rather than chasing long balls. I expect Vydra could have scored 9 in 32 if played as a 2nd striker but hasn't had a sniff due to the form and fitness of Barnes and Wood. I believe they sold Gray as he was struggling to hold down a starting place in their 11 and they weren't too upset to see him go.
Gray was let go by Burnley because he only had a year left on his deal and didn't show much interest in signing a new one, so when a decent offer came in they let him go.
Of the 9 goals he scored, 3 were in a thrashing of relegation fodder Sunderland and 2 were penalties so 4 other open play goals in the season. As a result he'd had lost his place to Barnes and Vokes as the preferred striking options and was limited to sub appearances as was pointed out at the time. No surprise he didn't want to sign a new contract.
Next thing people will be saying that FIFA is corrupt. Money should be kept in the game not moved out to these parasites.
I mean, in general he started 26 games that season, came on as a sub a further 6 times and was also suspended for 4. Don't see lack of minutes as his main motivator for moving.
I suspect having lost his starting place he would have been concerned about pitch time going fwd. Also the imminent arrival of goal machine Vydra might have worried him .
This thread is nuts, Grays 9 goals for Burnley don’t count because he scored 3 of them against Sunderland. Vydra has never made it at PL because he hasn't played for the right teams. Never let facts get in the way of a good story. Could somebody do me a favour and explain away the reason why Andre Gray scored more in his one championship season with Burnley, than Vydra managed in any season in the championship?
Don't you remember that spell of 10 games he had 8 years ago? He's got so much potential as a 28 year old, he's the new Vardy!
If you compare Vydra's best season (2012/13) to Gray's 2015/16: Gray scored 23 from 41 starts. In the bulk of those 41 starts he was subbed off in the last 5 minutes - the shortest time he spent on the field was 31 minutes when he went off injured. Overall, he averaged 81 minutes per game. Vydra scored 22 from 30 starts and 14 sub appearances. He was rarely on the pitch for a full game - and averaged only 57 minutes per game. Just the one more goal for all those extra minutes...
What did Gray do on those extra minutes though? What else did he contribute to the team? Why was Vydra only in the field for such a short period of time? Fitness issues? Better options available ahead of him?
1. Not as much as Vydra - eight asssists each over the season. 2. Ask Zola - he picked the team, not me.
Anyone who has watched both Andre Gray and Matej Vydra play for more than 5 minutes can tell you that Matej Vydra is by far the superior footballer You can throw all the stats at me that you like, it doesn't change that fact
We don’t know that he has the potential to succeed at this level. Successive clubs have not played him when given the chance to in the PL. And how can you claim he would be 100% committed? His agent was angling for a move away from us before and he also found a way out of Derby. I’m not saying he wouldn’t be fully committed but you can’t state it as fact. There’s as much evidence that he’s happy sitting on the sidelines and collecting his wages as much as anything else. I’m hardly enthused by the fact he can’t get past Wood/Rodriguez/Barnes at Burnley!
As said by previous poster above Burnley/WBA et al were & are not really conducive to his style & that free role he excelled at. Think about when he got into those goal scoring positions with us, you always had a certain faith & confidence about his accuracy, something we have been lacking in recent years. When I say 100% commitment it's because his career needs a desperate shot in the arm & I am led to understand he has a personal affinity with WFC as it was the highlight & best playing days of his career to date. He would no doubt give it his all, but I fully understand that is still no guarantee whatsoever. It's a punt & a 6 month loan with a hungry player, with known abilities, knows club & manager well & will most likely work his socks off. Lastly a bit of old fan nostalgia to boot lifting the crowd & willing him on. Pretty much all boxes ticked. Anyway, not sure you can look at everything in football scientifically. For example with respect to your opinions of Pearson when he joined?
Like gray with us, Vydra is at a club who don’t play to his strengths. Vydra has way more strengths that Gray. But both have had numerous coaches turn their noses up at them in the premier league. And those coaches with more quals than me and most on here obviously see something wrong with them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
He joined Burnley. Everyone knows the style they play. So what does it say about him that he was happy to go there? Yes, Vydra was a goal scorer in the Championship. So was Andre Gray. There is no evidence whatsoever to say Vydra would do well for us. It’s nostalgia and little else really. Rodriguez used to put them away in the Championship for Burnley - he’s local, gone back there and can’t get in the team. If Vydra was still the natural goal scorer we had, then the style of play at the club he’s at should be irrelevant. His finishing would make him a starter. Watford have moved on since Vydra. I just think it’s time the fans did too. Not sure what my opinion of Pearson has to do with it.