Danjuma isn't a Centre Forward - he plays the same position for them as Sema does for us. I'd happily take him though mind, he's been very good and would prob be an upgrade on Sema. Wouldn't be cheap though, Muff paid £14mil for him.
Fulham paid £22mil + add-ons for Mitrovic! No chance they loan him or accept a mediocre fee. I was in favour of us signing Mitrovic a year or so ago while we were still in the PL needing a Deeney replacement and Fulham were in the Champ, but having seen both us and Fulham play this season I'm not convinced he should be who we're after if we go up (regardless of fee). Sure, he's better than what we currently have up top, but he's very immobile. We've benefitted greatly from having a more fluid attack and style of play when Troy's been out the team, and Mitrovic could make us more predictable and slow in our attacking play again (and perhaps leave us with yet another striker with no chance of keeping up with Sarr for his crosses). Fulham also came to a similar conclusion, which is why they've ended up generally leaving Mitrovic on the bench and brought in the quicker Maja instead.
It's worth pointing out that of the last 12 automatically promoted teams only 2 (Newcastle and Burnley) were receiving the 1st year of parachute payments. If we go up automatically this year it will be an anomaly for 2 main reasons: i) the number of games crammed into the shortest ever championship season favours times with squad depth ii) the pandemic meant teams were reluctant to pay top dollar for ex prem players like Sarr. He's worth £40m but no one was willing to pay. So we could keep him. I'd imagine that's a reason Norwich were able to have such a good side this season. I dont think we missed any of the players we sold. They were either mental (holebas) pu$$ies (pussetto, del boy, pereyra, capoue) w@nk3rs (doucoure, dawson) barely featured (welbeck janmaat gomes) or never played for us (Estupiñan Suarez). The only one I was sad to say bye to was Maps. Maps is a great human being with a great attitude and Watford through and through.
Agreed it'll be spoken about. On reflection though I think the two biggest differentiators between us and the others this year have been (1) the fact we're able to take one decent chance when we need to and the usual Championship suspects often can't and (2) our pitch. I suppose parachute payments indirectly help with both of those. For example, from my limited understanding of it we've pretty much retained a PL-level grounds budget and staffing this season. We haven't been able to do that in the past.
Excellent performance last night, completely deserved the 3 points. A lot of credit has to go to Xisco for that too. I did think Zinckernagel was the wrong sub though. Cathcart was superb in defence, if only he had played against Luton. I thought Sierralta had one of his poorer games but he is good fun to watch at least. I actually thought Gosling was a bit poor for most of the game and missed a lot of good chances. Took his goal well though. JP impressed me again but just doesn't really look like scoring. Sarr phenomenal. Sema fairly quiet for most of the game but can't fault his commitment, desire and effort.
Oh I wasn’t suggesting he was a striker, merely that he’s a player who scores goals and wouldn’t surprise me if we had an interest. A definite upgrade on Sema and you’d think Bournemouth will need to further cut costs if they don’t come up. £20m-£25m? Probably out of our price range for that position and Sema’s 5yr deal suggests he will be given a go in the PL. But if Sarr were to go for £50m, spending half that on Danjuma wouldn’t be bad business.
Loved this in The Athletic: After going ahead, Watford showed a streetwise streak in a tough battle. Gosling knew he was to be replaced by Nathaniel Chalobah on 70 minutes, so made sure he took up a position in the middle of the pitch to stretch the time it would take for him to walk off. When Norwich pushed their luck and Jordan Hugill wrongly chased down a throw-in that had been intended to go back to Watford after a restart due to injury, Cleverley snarled at his team-mates to demand they use it as inspiration. Deeney, sitting in the stands, later spotted that things were getting a little too heated and shouted to both Hughes and Cathcart to “calm it”. All the resources were being drawn upon to get over the line. There was a comedic moment in stoppage time when Farke’s frustrations got the better of him again, “Every time they go down they need treatment,” he shouted at the referee. “It’s the same for your boys though isn’t it,” came the response from the stands. The German looked up to see who had remarked — it was, of course, Deeney. Farke chose to take it in good spirits rather than continue the argument.
I do agree with the latter part, but the financial landscape has shifted quite considerably since they paid that for him.
Yeah, though I'd be surprised (but pleased) if we spent that kind of fee on more than one player, and really that should be a CF as priority. We do need a player of his calibre though on the left to take the heat off Sarr every game if we're serious about survival (in the way that Deulofeu used to do before he got injured). Another alternative for that position who could work and may cost a bit less would be Lookman. There are probably a few others about who I'll have a dig around for after we manage to get promotion confirmed.
Sema still worked his socks off though and has a great attitude (see that celebration after the last minute tackle, was like a goal celebration). He also won the goal back on the edge of their area for our goal, feeding Pedro, who crossed.
My Norwich supporting neighbour had removed my flag from the garden this morning. I have now replaced it before I take it to the club. Flag wars will continue no doubt.
Loan Deeney to Birmingham and subsidise his wages. Loan Gray out and also subsidise his wages and that would give us some salary saving to invest in the squad. We should concentrate on premier team loan signings next year e.g. Billy Gilmour from Chelsea and more players of that standard who could play more minutes than at their parent clubs and progress their careers.
I see it a bit differently with Gosling. His general play was ok, but what was good was his ability to get into positions where he got chances. He missed a few, but they weren’t sitters and he converted his best chance, the product of a great run behind. I’ll always take the player missing chances over the player not taking risks to get any.
The age old issue - clubs have to want Gray and Deeney. Deeney to Birmingham is a non-starter for so many reasons. They have very very little money - we would have subsidise his wages to the point where its hardly worth it. He will also see himself as better than dwelling at the bottom of the Championship, however much we as fans know thats probably approaching his level. We have to stop all this 'Deeney to Birmingham' stuff - it isn't going to happen. We have as much chance of signing Tammy Abraham which I'm certainly will get suggested a few times over the coming months.... We should be pushing the pair of them to the MLS if you ask me. But they won't be easy to shift - I'd suggest it will be even harder now as they will want to another crack at the PL.
Had my COVID VAX on Monday. Felt awful all day yesterday. The Watford victory helped lift my spirits. Going to Polzeath in Cornwall for a few days. The sun is out. Deeney's Biggie Smalls hoodie.
I see Norwich lost both games against us and Bournemouth this season. They're going to struggle again big time next season.
Thought last night showed Norwich's problem to an extent. Farke doesn't seem to adjust for the opposition, which is why they'll probably struggle again next season. In the first half they basically just gave Sarr, one of the best players to ever play in the championship, complete freedom on the right hand side.
Agreed and there are 10ish players in the Prem that are better wingers/inside forwards than Sarr they'll be up against next year
What a brilliant game. I hope Sema stays next year, I think he's been excellent this year, generally just very solid. I could see him being an option at wing back, or just off the bench. I think that just about does it, who would have thought after such a dreadful start of the season where somehow we were near the top but looked dreadful. If Deeney is playing for us next season though you may as well relegate us as quickly as promotion is confirmed. I won't be happy or comfortable until he's left the club.
Last night's performance was up there with the very best and the moment the ref finally blew his ******* whistle was when I felt for sure we're going up. From the low points earlier in the season when it was difficult to feel anything good about the team, Xisco and the players have turned things around completely. I am proud of them, I think we all are and that's saying something after the debacle on Saturday. Why? You sense it, you just know they really are a TEAM, they trust each other. There's a lot of talk about the importance of 'mentality' in sport. I think we have been priveleged to see a 'case study' emerge in our very own club. Yes, the previous match was a low point but in a way that proves the point, it's the way they responded and bounced back on the pitch, not just easy words but real determination, actions speak louder than words. There was a moment at the end of the game when Sierralta grabbed Gosling and literally shook him with delight, Sema with his lovable grin, Foster hugging Bachmann, they were all together as one. Great to see it, shame not to feel part of it in the stands but I've got that Premiership feeling. I'm soooo looking forward to being there in August, COYH!
If it was your first shot try to resist the urge to lick lift buttons for the next few weeks. Statistically your chances of catching covid increase in the 1st 2 weeks after your 1st dose.
Fourth division champions 1978. Before I started supporting Thee Orns. I think I can name Roger Joslyn, Trevor How, Steve Sherwood and Keith Mercer but who is the other player?
It surprised me also just how much they were up for it on Saturday, given most if not all of them were kids the previous time that fixture was played, and Nathan Jones is Welsh and only played for the Scum for a few years when they were miles below us in the football pyramid. Do they have a lot of players who are local and/or Luton fans, or did Jones just get them up for it for the fans, for whom this rivalry still means a lot, more than to our fanbase as a whole?
I think it’s a simple as the fact that beating us was probably the biggest thing Nathan Jones could do for the fans, or to ingratiate himself to them short of keeping them up which he’d already done. I think he just spent that much longer watching us, and working out how to stop up us. It was an easy win for him as far as success as Luton manager is concerned, to put all his efforts into winning a singular game of football.
