Was Becchio A Panic Buy?

[Not Nigel 0]

I know that we will find out in time exactly how and when Hughton plans to use Becchio, but haven''t we swapped one largely immobile big man who is reasonably good in the air for another largely immobile big man who is reasonably good in the air, of exactly the same age.

With Kamara coming in on loan and the likelihood of Hooper or similar arriving in the summer, can anybody see what the point in Becchio is?

He is going to suffer for precisely the same reasons as Holt and Morison have struggled this season, a lack of chances. He isn''t exactly the type of player to create his own chances.

With there having been pretty much no reports in our interest until a couple of days before the signing, has Hughton panicked at the end of the window and just bought a striker for the sake of it?

[Mister Chops 7]

Hughton seems happy to play Becchio and Holt together, but didn''t seem happy to play Morison and Holt together.  I think we can assume he sees something in Becchio he didn''t see in Morison, and I don''t think a panic buy would result in a swap deal for Morison - if it had been panic, he would have kept Morison just in case.  Additionally, Kamara may not play more than 30 minute cameos so Becchio may be the Plan A for the first 60 minutes (yes, Hughton does make subs before 89 minutes)

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

I think hes cover for Holt more than anything, who knows. Morro might have wanted out and the move suited all parties.Id far rather have Becchio here than Moro, but that wont shock many people as id rather have Paul Gascoigne here than Moro....

[Legend Iwan 30]

Some info on the Becchio transfer from Neil Warnock. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/neil-warnock-deadline-day-is-like-being-in-a-chain-to-buy-a-house--except-more-exhausting-8477965.html

[First Wizard 0]

Yes, Kane MkII.[:(]

[percy varco 198]

Not good enough. Thats why Leeds are a Championship side. At best a squad player. Not an improvement.

[NorwichRat 4]

[quote user="Wiz"]Yes, Kane MkII.[:(][/quote]

 

Give it a rest. Have you not better htings too do than Bash everything NCFC.......

[Lavanche 0]

I dont think him as panic buy, but for a secondary option and something new to test.

He certainly wasnt our main target and I doubt he was bought for first 11 more than this spring season.

So I dont expect too much from him, but he can be useful player for us, if he is happy to prove himself from the bench.

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="NorwichRat"]

[quote user="Wiz"]Yes, Kane MkII.[:(][/quote]

 

Give it a rest. Have you not better htings too do than Bash everything NCFC.......

[/quote]

 

Its not just me who says it.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

I think it''s too early to judge. I would certainly be starting him ahead of Holt who badly needs to feel some competition for his place.

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]I think it''s too early to judge. I would certainly be starting him ahead of Holt who badly needs to feel some competition for his place.[/quote]Holt looked completely lost and isolated out there today.  We launched a few long balls at him which he could do little with and that was it.  He was often busy pulling out to the right wing in an attempt to get involved in the play.  And for the last 15 minutes of the first half seemed to be playing in our third of the pitch.

[ZLF 274]

I cant believe this.

Becchio appeared for what 4 minutes today. In his debut he had more efforts on target than Holt had in games and was ok for his first game at a new club and a step up in class leading the line alone.

Last week he looked the better of the two players (he and holt) while they were on the pitch and I thought was unlucky to be taken off. Holt took his goal well but the striking star of the show last week was Kei - not either becchio or Holt.

Today Kei gets on before becchio, who has minimal time to have an impact but the man he replaced was quiet and ineffective today - highlighted by a disappointing 11 touches in 44 second half minutes, including our only period of teh game where we were in manus half.

Becchio has not played 3 games - give him a break, its early days, has shown enough to be encouraging and will improve as he acclimatises to his new team and league.

[GJP 79]

Well Becchio is a better player than Moro and will prove to be an improvement on him so surely that''s just good strengthening of the squad.

[Not Nigel 0]

"Today Kei gets on before becchio, who has minimal time to have an impact but the man he replaced was quiet and ineffective today - highlighted by a disappointing 11 touches in 44 second half minutes, including our only period of teh game where we were in manus half"

You are the one bringing Holt into the argument, I''m asking whether Becchio is really an improvement on Morison. They look very similar to me, and I think Becchio will have similar problems to Morison in a Hughton Norwich team. Becchio has replaced Morison, it is a fair argument to make. Of course we have to wait for Becchio to get a decent run in the team, but you could argue that the only time Morison got a proper run he managed a good goal return.

"Becchio has not played 3 games - give him a break, its early days, has shown enough to be encouraging and will improve as he acclimatises to his new team and league"

I am not criticising Becchio, so less of the "give him a break". If anything I''m saying that Morison was under rated. Warnock thinks that Leeds got the better end of the bargain. I wouldn''t go that far, but I think what was almost a straight swap between two 29 year old strikers was a fair deal, on the basis that they are of a similar quality. One which makes them both decent Championship goalscorers.

You are making the assumption that I am or was a heavy Morison critic if you think questioning whether Becchio is an improvement is an insult or a dig. I happened to quite rate Morison, I just remain unconvinced that Becchio will be any more effective. I''ll be able to judge him effectively by October, after a pre-season here, if he gets enough of a run in the team.

[Not Nigel 0]

"Well Becchio is a better player than Moro and will prove to be an improvement on him so surely that''s just good strengthening of the squad"

That''s subjective, I thought that Morison''s return of 9 Premier League goals in 22 starts and 12 sub appearances last season was a very good return. It was the same number scored by Danny Welbeck, Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, and Scott Sinclair. It was even 1 more than Fernando Torres.

Morison is a striker, his job was to score, and he did score. I think Norwich fans are pretty harsh on the bloke. Most of his sub appearances this season came in either games that were dead and buried in and chasing, or he was brought on to waste the ball in the corner. It can''t be claimed that he had a crack at the whip under Hughton, but Lambert had a bit more faith in him. Wasn''t a million years ago that he scored that stunning equaliser against Arsenal.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]"Well Becchio is a better player than Moro and will prove to be an improvement on him so surely that''s just good strengthening of the squad" That''s subjective, I thought that Morison''s return of 9 Premier League goals in 22 starts and 12 sub appearances last season was a very good return. It was the same number scored by Danny Welbeck, Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, and Scott Sinclair. It was even 1 more than Fernando Torres. Morison is a striker, his job was to score, and he did score. I think Norwich fans are pretty harsh on the bloke. Most of his sub appearances this season came in either games that were dead and buried in and chasing, or he was brought on to waste the ball in the corner. It can''t be claimed that he had a crack at the whip under Hughton, but Lambert had a bit more faith in him. Wasn''t a million years ago that he scored that stunning equaliser against Arsenal.[/quote]

Yeah, I''m not a total Moro hater or anything like that but I''ve seen enough of both players down the years to know that Becchio is a better footballer.

 

It''s good business for us.

[Not Nigel 0]

He might be a bit prettier with the ball at his feet, but is he a better goalscorer? I couldn''t care less if he can do a thousand kick ups using only his bum cheeks, I just want to know how many chances he needs to stick the ball in the net.

Anyway, I just hope that Hughton gives the bloke a few starts before the season is up. A goal or two this season would stand him in good stead for next season, I''m seeing him as more of a signing for next season and Kamara a signing for the now.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]He might be a bit prettier with the ball at his feet, but is he a better goalscorer? I couldn''t care less if he can do a thousand kick ups using only his bum cheeks, I just want to know how many chances he needs to stick the ball in the net. Anyway, I just hope that Hughton gives the bloke a few starts before the season is up. A goal or two this season would stand him in good stead for next season, I''m seeing him as more of a signing for next season and Kamara a signing for the now.[/quote]

Get him the service and yeah, I''d back Becchio to score more goals.

 

But I also think it''s naive to devalue the importance of being good on the ball, especially in the Premier League.

[Mister Chops 7]

The point is, you don''t just set up swap deals overnight.Therefore Becchio could not be a "panic buy" as it would have to be agreed by both clubs and both players.  Not last-minute stuff.  So no.

[Not Nigel 0]

Morison had his strengths though, could put a mean cross into the box from the right and always seemed to find space at the far post.

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]Morison had his strengths though, could put a mean cross into the box from the right and always seemed to find space at the far post.[/quote]Morison''s ability is not the point.  You asked if Becchio was a panic buy, and the logical answer has to be "no".

[Not Nigel 0]

That wasn''t really your original point though was it Mister Chops?

Credit to providing us with insight goes to Legend Iwan who linked to the Warnock article.

Becchio''s transfer request was submitted on 24th January, so it was hardly drawn out for months was it?

He was clearly not our number 1 target, I''m wondering whether the club were running out of options and time and settled on Becchio.

It was interesting to hear that Morison lives in Peterborough, quite a sensible place for a footballer to live, what with it having trains going pretty much everywhere. He can get to Leeds as quickly as he could get to Norwich.

[Not Nigel 0]

Mister Chops,

For the first 24 days of the transfer window we had confirmed bids for Graham and Hooper, and had an unknown European target with a price tag of 20m Euros. Becchio, who Warnock offered to us after he submitted a transfer request, clearly hadn''t entered our minds until the 24th January. Not enough for it to be us to suggest the deal to Leeds, clearly.

It is easy to see why I would think that our probable #7 target being signed on the last day of the window might be a panic buy, if all over leads were dead.

[Branston Pickle 3,657]

IMO we''ve swapped relatively similar players, but Moro had definitely lost many supporters and for whatever reason didn''t come off this season despite plenty of chances; it was time for him to move on, there was no panic involved in the move.

Re: Becchio, some people seem determined to slate every new player before they even have a chance, it seems that unless a guy scores on debut he is stuffed....welcome to Norwich!

[Not Nigel 0]

"Re: Becchio, some people seem determined to slate every new player before they even have a chance, it seems that unless a guy scores on debut he is stuffed....welcome to Norwich!"

I''m not slating him, I''m asking whether he actually improves our squad. Says more about my unwillingness to jump on the anti-Moro bandwagon than my belief that Becchio isn''t good enough.

Hooper and Graham were clearly our top targets, we know that Becchio wasn''t on the radar until Warnock called us sometime after 24th Janauary.

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]That wasn''t really your original point though was it Mister Chops?[/quote]The original point was yours as "Owner" of this thread, and you said:[quote user="singupcarrowroad"]I know that we will find out in time

exactly how and when Hughton plans to use Becchio, but haven''t we

swapped one largely immobile big man who is reasonably good in the air

for another largely immobile big man who is reasonably good in the air,

of exactly the same age.

With Kamara coming in on loan and the likelihood of Hooper or similar

arriving in the summer, can anybody see what the point in Becchio is?

He is going to suffer for precisely the same reasons as Holt and Morison

have struggled this season, a lack of chances. He isn''t exactly the

type of player to create his own chances.

With there having been pretty much no reports in our interest until a

couple of days before the signing, has Hughton panicked at the end of

the window and just bought a striker for the sake of it?[/quote]My argument is:Hughton rates Becchio more highly than MorisonA swap deal takes a lot of negotiation - players, agents, clubs etc.Therefore Becchio could not be a "panic buy" as it was not a last minute decision as Kane appeared to be.Holt is preferred to Becchio and so Becchio will give way for KamaraIf you refined your choice of "panic" to "tactical" or "needs must" then I might agree.  But "panic" is a pejorative wording choice that appears to have been chosen for its implicit ability to suggest the manager of our club doesn''t know what he is doing.  Why might you suggest that, I wonder?

[Cantiaci Canary 557]

Becchio was brought in in case we didn''t sign our main targets - Hooper, Van Wolfswinkle and Graham.

 

If we were relegated after only managing to bring in a little know Stoke reject from the MLS on a loan deal there would have been hell to pay!

 

I think Becchio will be up to Prem speed before long and will nick a vital goal or two against the like the Reading and Villa.

[Not Nigel 0]

"The original point was yours as "Owner" of this thread, and you said"

I know what I wrote, I still believe them to be very similar both in terms of style and quality, arguably with Morison being short of confidence and Becchio perhaps coming in as an in-form player.

"Hughton rates Becchio more highly than Morison"

How do you know this? Have you got Hughton on speed dial? What if Morison wanted to leave? What if he is getting paid more at Leeds? What if Morison was just unhappy here?

"A swap deal takes a lot of negotiation - players, agents, clubs etc"

Not really. Two club representatives agree a deal over the phone, could take a few minutes if they are on the same wavelength. Each club negotiates pay with the players and their agent, they complete medicals with a club doctor, administrator changes a few words on a standard FA contract, clubs co-sign a simple in-house contract, clubs lawyers get a copy, each club then completes a simple standard player registration form which gets sent to the FA. There is no reason why this has to take any longer when there are two players then it would if only one player was involved. It effectively requires a few standard template forms which can be downloaded from the FA website.

"Therefore Becchio could not be a "panic buy" as it was not a last minute decision as Kane appeared to be"

We''d exhausted all of our other options, of which we know we were actively involved in pursuing at least three, including Graham, Hooper, and Mr. 20 million euros. I''m not saying that they drove past the Leeds stadium and thought "whilst we are here that''s have a browse", before walking out of the club with a player that they have bought on impulse like a Mars Bar from a petrol station. I''m saying that the club failed to get their top targets and, worried about the prospect of relegation, felt they had to buy somebody, not only due to Holt fitness worries but also because we looked like being dragged into a serious relegation battle. I just wonder whether we''d have signed Becchio had we have been ten points away from the drop zone, or whether we''d have held out until the summer to buy somebody of a higher calibre. Like Hooper.

"Holt is preferred to Becchio and so Becchio will give way for Kamara"

I''ve got Becchio as third choice in a team which often plays one striker, with Hooper or any other potentially making him fourth choice before next season starts. Hence "what''s the point".

"If you refined your choice of "panic" to "tactical" or "needs must" then I might agree"

I will stick to panic. They got worried as they were running out of options and saw us slip towards the relegation zone.

"But "panic" is a pejorative wording choice that appears to have been chosen for its implicit ability to suggest the manager of our club doesn''t know what he is doing"

No, panic was a word used to describe what I perceive to have been the club panicking as they realised that the three players they had been chasing for almost a month slipped from their grasp and their private jet at Norwich Airport flying to Glasgow with no passengers on deadline day, Graham heading to Sunderland, Van Goalscorer being deemed too expensive. I''ll use panic for its implicit ability to suggest that the manager of our club knew exactly what he was trying to do it but was ultimately unable to do.

"Why might you suggest that, I wonder?"

Because I wasn''t. Why can''t you understand that, I wonder?

[Mister Chops 7]

Sorry, quotes have gone weird."Hughton rates Becchio more highly than Morison"

How do you know this? Have you got Hughton on speed dial? What if Morison wanted to leave? What if he is getting paid more at Leeds? What if Morison was just unhappy here?

You wouldn''t play Becchio in the starting line-up if you didn''t rate him, regardless of Morison wanting to leave.  We could have just sold Morison, or kept Morison.  Glad we didn''t, frankly, as Becchio offers more in my view.

"A swap deal takes a lot of negotiation - players, agents, clubs etc"

Not really. Two club representatives agree a deal over the phone, could take a few minutes if they are on the same wavelength. Each club negotiates pay with the players and their agent, they complete medicals with a club doctor, administrator changes a few words on a standard FA contract, clubs co-sign a simple in-house contract, clubs lawyers get a copy, each club then completes a simple standard player registration form which gets sent to the FA. There is no reason why this has to take any longer when there are two players then it would if only one player was involved. It effectively requires a few standard template forms which can be downloaded from the FA website.

In the interests of harmony, I''ll ignore the obvious and rude "How do you know? Have you got Eric Hall on speed dial?" retort.  ."Therefore Becchio could not be a "panic buy" as it was not a last minute decision as Kane appeared to be"

We''d exhausted all of our other options, of which we know we were actively involved in pursuing at least three, including Graham, Hooper, and Mr. 20 million euros. I''m not saying that they drove past the Leeds stadium and thought "whilst we are here that''s have a browse", before walking out of the club with a player that they have bought on impulse like a Mars Bar from a petrol station. I''m saying that the club failed to get their top targets and, worried about the prospect of relegation, felt they had to buy somebody, not only due to Holt fitness worries but also because we looked like being dragged into a serious relegation battle. I just wonder whether we''d have signed Becchio had we have been ten points away from the drop zone, or whether we''d have held out until the summer to buy somebody of a higher calibre. Like Hooper.

"Then signing him was a tactical decision, not a panic buy.  They couldn''t get their top targets so they adjusted their target list based on what Hughton & team felt was a current priority.  If that''s panicking then most businesses I''ve worked for panic on a daily basis.

"Holt is preferred to Becchio and so Becchio will give way for Kamara"

I''ve got Becchio as third choice in a team which often plays one striker, with Hooper or any other potentially making him fourth choice before next season starts. Hence "what''s the point".

I don''t think you can decide he''s 3rd choice - he''s had more pitch time than Kamara.  We can revisit this after Southampton next week but I expect it will be Holt for 90 mins, Becchio for 60, Kamara for 30."If you refined your choice of "panic" to "tactical" or "needs must" then I might agree"

I will stick to panic. They got worried as they were running out of options and saw us slip towards the relegation zone.

"But "panic" is a pejorative wording choice that appears to have been chosen for its implicit ability to suggest the manager of our club doesn''t know what he is doing"

No, panic was a word used to describe what I perceive to have been the club panicking as they realised that the three players they had been chasing for almost a month slipped from their grasp and their private jet at Norwich Airport flying to Glasgow with no passengers on deadline day, Graham heading to Sunderland, Van Goalscorer being deemed too expensive. I''ll use panic for its implicit ability to suggest that the manager of our club knew exactly what he was trying to do it but was ultimately unable to do.

I wouldn''t deny Becchio was far from our first choice, but (to me anyway) a panic deal is someone at Carrow Road staring at a fax machine at 22:58 on deadline day and sweating.  This deal was done the day before, with both Becchio and Morison negotiating deals with the new clubs and the clubs themselves agreeing the terms of the swap.  So it fails my definition of "Panic" by some considerable margin.  If it meets your definition then we can agree to disagree, as neither of us are going to shift opinion.  Becchio wasn''t plan A, or B, or C, but he wasn''t a "something! anything!" signing either. 

[smooth 114]

Becchio has scored 19 goals this season, he is a man in form and I expect him to start alongside a misfiring holt on Saturday against Southampton. I think it is a good piece of business he will be in the right place at the right time and score a few.

In the box he is a natural finisher, so he will get some important goals. I would put money on him scoring two in a game more than I would ink holty would.

Becchio is a good player for our team, who knows with kk we will be looking for high level centre forwards in the summer, at the moment kk is not that yet and I look forward to his loan spell to show us if he is.

Becchio and holty will be players to use next season but no way is this a panic buy. In the summer I hope we have four forwards where becchio and holty are third and fourth choice because to have a goal scoring ration that hey have as third and fourth choice will finally give us depth.

This season he will score, I expect him to have a good game against Southampton and I expect our team to be up for a game that can get us to 35 points ASAP.