Summer transfer, gossip, speculation and the usual butter ollocks thread

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We had the 8th best defence after the restart and our strikers scored ZERO goals.

No surprise with 10 men behind the ball. We need a rock solid defence this coming season. I'd hope that whoever we buy is bought to go straight into the team. Squad fillers, we have plenty.

[eamonn]

For any stato's out there, how often would our finishing points total been enough to survive?

It took time for us to grow as a side and to look like a team. Some players looked a lot better after lockdown and probably showed a better reflection of what they're capable of only in the latter part of the season. I've seen Douglas Luiz say that lockdown gave him a chance to do a lot of fitness work and to get a better grip on his English.

The defence and midfield can benefit from one or two changes but the obvious priority is up top.

I think surviving probably draws the line between one era of our history and the start of our next era. Reading about the work that's being done to our youth, recruitment and even women's team really gives me hope for where we're going.

I covered this somewhere else but the average points for survival in the premier league since it started are 35.6 (I think that's right, it's about there) so staying up with 35 is about 40-45% of the time. If you get the numbers in the same time period for other, comparable, leagues (Germany, Italy, Spain and France) where there are 20 teams the average is always around the same place so statistically it's pretty strong.

In 25 seasons of 20 teams in the premier league, 35 points and a -26 GD would have seen us relegated in 11 of those seasons so, yeah, 44% of the time we'd have stayed up with those points.

It's easy to get hung-up on average points totals etc. But it's all relative to the season you're in/how competitive the division is that particular year. The points total we got this season merited 17th place in relation to all the games that were played, therefore good enough to survive. Liverpool came second last year despite a ridiculous amount of points. Is Leicester's title year (or any other season where the champions finished on less than 90+ points) diminished because of that?

[eamonn]

Maybe Smith had reassured them/Purslow, that he could get Kodjia firing again if need be and we already know that Davis was/is highly rated by the manager.

Well that would be silly considering he never gave Kodjia a chance to do so. The Liverpool cup game where he finally scored a brace was his first and last start of the season, he didn't even get a full half of football in any other game. I don't think there's evidence that Smith thought he could rely on Kodjia; think we're grasping for straws if we're trying to justify the decisions made around our striking options last season.

I agree, I'm just trying to fathom of a reason for it. It was a naive move, hoping on one young centre forward from a lower league to come good with little else in support. And it nearly cost us.

[ROBBO]

I we are just going to go after championship players and hope they will make the transition we are asking for trouble. There must be better players abroad that we can attract.

[chrisw1]

I we are just going to go after championship players and hope they will make the transition we are asking for trouble. There must be better players abroad that we can attract.

Its a tough one.  Last season we chose to go for mainly non-Championship players when in hindsight we would probably have been better served if Smith had stuck to his guns and got Maupay, Benrahma, Bowen etc.  The transition from Championship to PL is probably easier than from most other leagues outside the obvious big ones.  I'm all for finding good value gems, but it aint easy.

[john2710]

I'm not sure that statistics after the lockdown can be relied upon as being representative or compared to what went before. For obvious reasons the games were played in very different circumstances. But will still be in place when the new season starts.

Our forwards scored frw goals before or after the lockdown. We'll need to improve that....

[Yeltzer]

Lazio have made a £13m offer for Wesley according to the BHam Mail

[PaulWinch again]

Lazio can get lost.

[cdbearsfan]

I'd take that. He might still work out, but I'm far from sure. Getting most of our money back wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

[cdbearsfan]

We had the 8th best defence after the restart and our strikers scored ZERO goals.

No surprise with 10 men behind the ball. We need a rock solid defence this coming season. I'd hope that whoever we buy is bought to go straight into the team. Squad fillers, we have plenty.

You're absolutely desperate to avoid giving our defence any credit for improving, aren’t you?

[kipeye]

Not sure why people are writing off Hause. I think he has the makings of a very good defender. Needs to improve, but looks to me like he will.

[manic-road]

I'd take that. He might still work out, but I'm far from sure. Getting most of our money back wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Or after his first season in England he might start to flourish, not sure why so many players are written off after just a few months.

[cdbearsfan]

I know, I'd be in two minds. But would lean towards letting him go, especially with him coming back from a long injury. You could get a pretty decent second choice striker behind Abraham for £13 million.

[Steve67]

Lazio have made a £13m offer for Wesley according to the BHam Mail

Unless they are also offering a player that we are interested in swapping with them too, 13m is way too low for what is a promising player.

[SheffieldVillain]

I we are just going to go after championship players and hope they will make the transition we are asking for trouble. There must be better players abroad that we can attract.

Its a tough one.  Last season we chose to go for mainly non-Championship players when in hindsight we would probably have been better served if Smith had stuck to his guns and got Maupay, Benrahma, Bowen etc.  The transition from Championship to PL is probably easier than from most other leagues outside the obvious big ones.  I'm all for finding good value gems, but it aint easy.

Not sure the stats support that. Maupay has a worse scoring rate than Wesley in the Premier League and only managed a couple more goals than him despite playing far more games, while Bowen managed 1 goal in 11 starts + 2 sub appearances for West Ham. Been plenty of other players (especially attackers) who've been standout in the Championship but found the Premier League a step too far (Gayle, Sharp etc).