STFC Transfer Rumours

[Abrahammer]

Palace are looking to go up so logically they should be trying to bring in Premiership standard players.

Let's face it Ritchie certainly isn't in that category

[LittleRed]

Bring suggested that zaha will be loaned back to crystal palace so I doubt they will make a bid for Ritchie not till the end if the season anyway.

[BruceChatwin]

If they were to get 15m for Zaha then i'd expect quite a bump on the transfer fee for Ritchie, up to the 3m mark (obscene really in old money but you've got to get the going rate). Have never really considered Ritchie a player who was likely to one day play in the Prem, but on the other hand, there's people like Adam Le Fondre who i'd rank well below Ritchie in terms of footballing ability (i wouldn't even have him in our first team!) but who seems to be getting on okay in the Prem.

Maybe the gap isn't always as big as general consensus makes out.

[Bob's Orange]

You really wouldn't have Adam Le Fondre in our first team?

[BruceChatwin]

You really wouldn't have Adam Le Fondre in our first team?

Positive: Enthusiastic, gets into good positions, natural goalscorer

Negative: He doesn't hold the ball up, he's not very good at passing, his touch isn't great, he's not very quick, he's small and easy to shove off the ball, he's invisible for long stretches of a game etc.

It's an interesting point because a month ago a lot of us (including me) were saying we really needed a natural poacher up front in the mould of a Le Fondre even if it cost us in other areas of the team. But since the turn of the new year, something's clicked and the first team is scoring goals for fun while still retaining the added benefits our strike-force was giving us at the start of the season: the strength and power and pace up front which make us hugely formidable as a unit in bullying defences, creating space, holding up the ball when we need to relieve pressure, punishing teams on the counter attack etc. In that respect, I honestly think we'd be taking a step back with a striker who scores goals but can't do much else like Le Fondre. That applies equally to the likes of Mcleod, Donaldson, Leon C*arke etc. from this division who I rate similarly as players who score goals but would otherwise be a backward step for the cohesiveness of the team.

Maybe it will change my opinion if we go on a run without goals, but atm I f*cking love Di Canio's philosophy of a strike force drilled to hunt down the back line off the ball and defend from the front, even if those strikers aren't the best goalscorers in the division, and wouldn't change it for the world.

[jonny72]

I'd say Paolo's philosophy is more about playing midfielders that can score goals, especially the wide players - don't think any of our wingers would look totally out of place playing up front. Think this is the reason we're not so reliant upon the out and out strikers, which appear to be a dying bread nowadays.

[horlock07]

Maybe the gap isn't always as big as general consensus makes out.

A huge amount of it is down to consistency - watch a lot of lower league players and they can easily match premier league players on ability, but they deliver 1 in 10 times whereas a top player does it everytime!

[Abrahammer]

Positive: Enthusiastic, gets into good positions, natural goalscorer

Negative: He doesn't hold the ball up, he's not very good at passing, his touch isn't great, he's not very quick, he's small and easy to shove off the ball, he's invisible for long stretches of a game etc.

It's an interesting point because a month ago a lot of us (including me) were saying we really needed a natural poacher up front in the mould of a Le Fondre even if it cost us in other areas of the team. But since the turn of the new year, something's clicked and the first team is scoring goals for fun while still retaining the added benefits our strike-force was giving us at the start of the season: the strength and power and pace up front which make us hugely formidable as a unit in bullying defences, creating space, holding up the ball when we need to relieve pressure, punishing teams on the counter attack etc. In that respect, I honestly think we'd be taking a step back with a striker who scores goals but can't do much else like Le Fondre. That applies equally to the likes of Mcleod, Donaldson, Leon C*arke etc. from this division who I rate similarly as players who score goals but would otherwise be a backward step for the cohesiveness of the team.

Maybe it will change my opinion if we go on a run without goals, but atm I f*cking love Di Canio's philosophy of a strike force drilled to hunt down the back line off the ball and defend from the front, even if those strikers aren't the best goalscorers in the division, and wouldn't change it for the world.

I see your point but ALF would walk into any starting lineup at this level.  No argument stands up against his record over the past 5/6 years

[pauld]

A huge amount of it is down to consistency - watch a lot of lower league players and they can easily match premier league players on ability, but they deliver 1 in 10 times whereas a top player does it everytime!

And decision making - top players choose the right move to make at the right time more often. So even if lower league players have the same technical skill, it's often about knowing when to apply it that makes the difference

[AldbourneRed]

Think this is the reason we're not so reliant upon the out and out strikers, which appear to be a dying bread nowadays.

Agreed, they all seem to have disappeared, don't know where they've all scone 

[pauld]

Agreed, they all seem to have disappeared, don't know where they've all scone 

Crumbs!

[DV]

We should have (tried!) To sign ALF after we sold Cox, after we lost Paynter and after we sold Austin (was he still in L2 then?)

Elliot fucking Benyon and Vincent fucking Pericard, indeed.... 

[walcot red]

We should have (tried!) To sign ALF after we sold Cox, after we lost Paynter and after we sold Austin (was he still in L2 then?)

Elliot fucking Benyon and Vincent fucking Pericard, indeed.... 

If's and but's, wouldn't swap PDC for ALF.

[DV]

Is that relevant?

I'd have gladly swapped Pericard, Dossevi and Benyon for a broom handle, let alone a goal scorer...

[dphunt88]

That applies equally to the likes of Mcleod, Donaldson, Leon C*arke

I think that's very unfair on Donaldson, he was excellent when Brentford beat us 1-0 at the County Ground earlier this season. Proper target man with all the hold up play that comes with it.