The Wolf or Hoops.......if you can keep only one?

[Dubai Mark 0]

So, plenty on here right now particularly about Hooper wanting to leave. But, if they actually both want to stay and you were the man at the helm right now and could only keep one of RVW or Hooper, which one would you keep, and why?

I find it a very tough call, personally I feel that he wasnt as bad as some make out last season. However, really do get the feeling that, despite everything, RVW at Championship level could be a big hit, particularly next to a big lump up front and with good service. Also, I think right now we would probably get a better fee for Hooper than RVW, so would make sense financially, although thats a pure guess of course.

So, even though I surprise myself at times, I would take the gamble on RVW over Hooper..........

[Indy_Bones 444]

RVW for me.A genuine star in the making IF we play to his strengths and get his confidence back.Funny also how RVW has been able to make the Holland squad (and replaced RVP against Indonesia), yet Hooper hasn''t even been near to a sniff of the England squad despite players of questionable quality such as F.Campbell, Welbeck and Zaha all being used over the past few years...

[ref89 0]

It is a tough call.  Neither was any good but for me Wolf can get in the air and head it better than Hooper.  If he can bulk up and wake up then he is a better all round prospect than Hooper.The problem is both are now damaged goods.  So personally I think they are both going to be shipped out and two new ones brought in with the young Jamaican lad being the third.

[Tetteys Jig 851]

Provided we get Rhodes, Deeney, Ameobi or a target man of equal ability to them to partner RVW or Hooper, they will continue to be ineffective, Hooper slightly less so. If we do get that partner, RVW could be potentially lethal! I also want to see that gamble through to the bitter end. Hooper would also be useful but RVW just edges it for me.

[Kirkstall Yellow 0]

i''d like RVW to stay, but i just can''t see it. and realistically, if he struggled with the physicality of the prem, he''s going to have a nightmare in the championship.

I think hoops, on the other hand, would be in for a storming season at that level. but we need to keep him! thats the problem!

[Indy_Bones 444]

[quote user="Kirkstall Yellow"]i''d like RVW to stay, but i just can''t see it. and realistically, if he struggled with the physicality of the prem, he''s going to have a nightmare in the championship.[/quote]So a natural goal poacher gets played as a target man and given ZERO supply of the balls he''d thrive on, but clearly the problem is the ''physicality'' of the league...Jesus wept, when will fans stop perpetuating this utter nonsense?Both RVW and Hooper suffered because of the system played and the role they were asked to do - which NEITHER of them were ever going to be suited to, it''s got bog all to do with ''physicality'' and everything to do with being horribly, even criminally misused for the past season!

[GrantsMoustache 0]

Hooper will score 20+ goals in this league.

RVW is unproven and a risk.

As much as I''m inclined to believe that RVW is the more talented player, we cannot afford to just cross our fingers and hope he has got his act together.

Selling him and buying Rhodes is a much more sensible idea.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Indy_Bones"][quote user="Kirkstall Yellow"]i''d like RVW to stay, but i just can''t see it. and realistically, if he struggled with the physicality of the prem, he''s going to have a nightmare in the championship.[/quote]
So a natural goal poacher gets played as a target man and given ZERO supply of the balls he''d thrive on, but clearly the problem is the ''physicality'' of the league...

Jesus wept, when will fans stop perpetuating this utter nonsense?

Both RVW and Hooper suffered because of the system played and the role they were asked to do - which NEITHER of them were ever going to be suited to, it''s got bog all to do with ''physicality'' and everything to do with being horribly, even criminally misused for the past season!
[/quote]

It has got a little bit to do with the physicality. RVW needs to learn to protect the ball better - there shouldn''t be any argument over that. There have been times when promising (by our standards) moves have broken down because he simply hasn''t looked after the ball well enough and it''s been easily poked away from him.

 

Hooper needs to sharpen himself up too but at least with him there have been times when he has shown a bit more fight to keep hold of the ball when under pressure.

[grefstad 0]

I´d keep RvW, because of the potential.

He is a fox in the box type off player, yes, but providing Adams will play the attacking flair system he keeps talking about, then RvW will get chances, his confidence will build, and best of all, we can recoup our money, maybe even make a profit, if he succeeds in the Championship.

Adams haver a lot of convincing to do to make him stay, but I hope he stays.

Once he starts scoring a few goals, he will feel confidence growing by the minute. And leaving us now, on the back of a horrible season, and with 3 yrs left on the contract, would be seen as a failure by his own standards.

I think he wants to prove himself.

[Surfer 1,547]

I agree with the OP, it''s RvW for me. Set the team up play with pace, which we will need to do anyway if we are promoted. Sell Hooper and Snodgrass to WBA, or wherever CH ends up...

[Willmeister 35]

RVW for all the reasons mentioned.

[Highland Canary 78]

Hooper. RvW far too lightweight for the Championship.

[Surfer 1,547]

See www.espnfc.com/story/995813

He''s not a target man so strength should''t be an issue.

[Yellow Wal 315]

RvW without doubt.

[BigManInTheBarclay 84]

out of the 2 i''d keep RvW....IF we can get the team setup to provide the service he needs then he should get 15+ a season for us

Hooper....i reckon 10 at best

[Highland Canary 78]

I accept that the Championship isn''t as physical as it once was but I still think RvW appears to lack strength. Coupled with , and more fundamentally, in my view he lacks the ball control and awareness necessary to score goals even at second tier level. Hooper, on the other hand, is proven at this level. A Hooper/Rhodes (or equivalent target man) partnership would deliver the goals that we will need to challenge next season.

[Yellow Wal 315]

Surfer wrote the following post at 03/06/2014 5:42 PM:

I agree with the OP, it''s RvW for me. Set the team up play with pace, which we will need to do anyway if we are promoted. Sell Hooper and Snodgrass to WBA, or wherever CH ends up...

What on earth would make you think Hooper would go anywhere near a team that CH has anything to do with?

Remember he felt he had an outside chance of a trip to Brazil by joining us. And I''m pretty sure I can guess who he blames mostly for being a million miles away from it.

Snodgrass ......... that''s a different matter.

[Monty13 2,736]

Hooper easily for me, can''t see RVW being here next year, NA has been very non-committal on his future.

Hooper has experience at this level, is proven at it and for me is the better all round footballer. He''s stronger on the ball, better at bringing others into the game and looks more likely to create himself and others chances.

[Kangaroo Court 0]

[quote user="Monty13"]Hooper easily for me, can''t see RVW being here next year, NA has been very non-committal on his future.

Hooper has experience at this level, is proven at it and for me is the better all round footballer. He''s stronger on the ball, better at bringing others into the game and looks more likely to create himself and others chances.[/quote]

What specifically has NA said about RVW''s future?

I can''t believe how many posters are still living in a fantasy world when it comes to RVW. He failed dismally last season. He was a laughing stock. Have you forgotten his ghost pass against Fulham? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQzE8t3CnPc He was on the all the pundits'' Flop of the Season list. If we''d bought him for 3 million from a Championship club everyone would be saying move him on but because of his price tag and the fact he knocked in a few goals in Portugal some fans are desperately clinging to the ''be afraid of the big bad wolf'' nonsense. 

Strikers seem to get half as many goals in the Premier League as they do in the Championship (Holt for example). So we can hope for 2 goals from Ricky all season. OK let''s say Hughton was a rubbish manager so double it again. That''s 4 goals for Ricky and 24 for Hooper. Give me Hooper any day.

[littleyellowbirdie 3,138]

[quote user="GrantsMoustache"]Hooper will score 20+ goals in this league.

RVW is unproven and a risk.

As much as I''m inclined to believe that RVW is the more talented player, we cannot afford to just cross our fingers and hope he has got his act together.

Selling him and buying Rhodes is a much more sensible idea.[/quote]

Ricky''s unproven? Are we honestly arguing that the Championship is a more difficult League that both the Dutch and Portuguese top flights?

[Kangaroo Court 0]

[Sussexyellow 55]

Agree with Highland.

So Hooper

[Kangaroo Court 0]

''''Ricky''s unproven? Are we honestly arguing that the Championship is a more difficult League that both the Dutch and Portuguese top flights?''''

If Utrecht was in the Championship next season, what would be their chances of promotion? I would definitely argue teams like Derby and Brighton are going to be more difficult to beat than most teams in the Portuguese top flight. How many of the Portuguese national team even play in Portugal?

[Mason 47 1,921]

Saying Ricky isn''t strong enough isn''t particularly relevant. He''s built his game around not having to be; he''ll give you a second or two to find him with a quality ball and he''ll give you back a quality finish.

However, anything less than the aforementioned scenario gives defenders time to recover and he gets crowded out. You can see this in spades in that passing clip, he''s looked across the box 3 times before the play slows to a stop and even then nobody was ahead of their backline looking for the chance.

Similarly his solitary goal for us; maybe quite relevant that it''s a miscued shot that picks him out, but his header is of the utmost quality- no keeper in the world stops that.

We never put teams on the back foot as we were too ponderous; when the crosses did come it was often a Snodgrass ''high-looping-go-attack-that'' ball or a Redmond ''kick it to the moon'' delivery.

Now, there''s a lot more to ''The Ricky Problem'' than that; there comes a point when the chips are down where you fight or bow, and Ricky (along with far too many members of our team) put his head down without much questioning. But I firmly believe in a team engineered to his particular habits he will still hit it, much like Hoolahan did after our last relegation.

So... Hooper.

Just kidding ;)

[jaemae2 0]

[quote user="Monty13"]Hooper easily for me, can''t see RVW being here next year, NA has been very non-committal on his future.

Hooper has experience at this level, is proven at it and for me is the better all round footballer. He''s stronger on the ball, better at bringing others into the game and looks more likely to create himself and others chances.[/quote]

It''s pretty clear you''ve never watched Gary Hooper play and are confusing him with someone else...

[jaemae2 0]

[quote user="Kangaroo Court"][quote user="Monty13"]Hooper easily for me, can''t see RVW being here next year, NA has been very non-committal on his future.

Hooper has experience at this level, is proven at it and for me is the better all round footballer. He''s stronger on the ball, better at bringing others into the game and looks more likely to create himself and others chances.[/quote]

What specifically has NA said about RVW''s future?

I can''t believe how many posters are still living in a fantasy world when it comes to RVW. He failed dismally last season. He was a laughing stock. Have you forgotten his ghost pass against Fulham? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQzE8t3CnPc He was on the all the pundits'' Flop of the Season list. If we''d bought him for 3 million from a Championship club everyone would be saying move him on but because of his price tag and the fact he knocked in a few goals in Portugal some fans are desperately clinging to the ''be afraid of the big bad wolf'' nonsense. 

Strikers seem to get half as many goals in the Premier League as they do in the Championship (Holt for example). So we can hope for 2 goals from Ricky all season. OK let''s say Hughton was a rubbish manager so double it again. That''s 4 goals for Ricky and 24 for Hooper. Give me Hooper any day.

[/quote]

The logic in this post is amazingly retarded. Thanks for the laugh.

[Citoyen 0]

I cannot believe people are serious on keeping RvW. He''s a shocking, absolutely SHOCKING player. I am seriously struggling to think of a worse player than him that we''ve had at Norwich City and that''s not even bringing the transfer fee into it.

OK so I can think of players like David Strihavka, Goran Maric and Antoine Sibierski who flopped but they were hauled out of the team for not performing, not given chance after chance after chance.

I would love for him to turn it round and do it for us (and himself) this season but unfortunately the only logical reason they wouldn''t sell him is for fear of ''losing'' so much money. If he has a great season this year I will happily return and admit I was wrong but I haven''t seen even a sliver of a chance of that happening.

Whilst Hooper didn''t score many this season I felt he at least looked like he could create himself a chance, or lay it off for others. Johan Elmander even looked more creative than Ricky.

You can moan about service all you like but with strikers available who can create for themselves and others, you have to ask why you would risk not getting one in.

We played dire football in the Roeder era but Leroy Lita managed to get goals with poor service (for example).

He may have scored goals in so called lesser leagues but so many others have and flopped. Ask Middlesborough fans.... remember Afonso Alves?

Ahem...so yeah, Gary Hooper is the one I''d keep.

[Indy_Bones 444]

[quote user="Citoyen"]Whilst Hooper didn''t score many this season I felt he at least looked like he could create himself a chance, or lay it off for others. Johan Elmander even looked more creative than Ricky.[/quote]Different players offer different things. Darren Bent has never been ''creative'', but give him a decent chance and the majority of the time he''ll give you a goal. [quote]You can moan about service all you like but with strikers available who can create for themselves and others, you have to ask why you would risk not getting one in.[/quote]Because strikers who can consistently and genuinely create for themselves are a pretty rare find, and at the sort of level we''d be wanting they''d be VERY expensive as well.And some of us WILL keep banging on about service, because you can''t give a goal poacher ZERO supply of the balls they thrive on, ask them to instead play as a target man (despite this being a million miles away from their forte), and then bitch about how they haven''t performed!If Liverpool and England hadn''t provided the balls they did for Owen then he wouldn''t have scored half as many as he did, but if instead they''d played HIM as a target man, you wouldn''t have expected a good return then either would you?[quote]We played dire football in the Roeder era but Leroy Lita managed to get goals with poor service (for example).

He may have scored goals in so called lesser leagues but so many others have and flopped. Ask Middlesborough fans.... remember Afonso Alves?

Ahem...so yeah, Gary Hooper is the one I''d keep.[/quote]You''re failing to understand the distinction around the type of service being given and playing to the strengths of the players available.You don''t sign someone like Zola and ask them to play as a target man and hold off 6ft 5" burly defenders, just as you wouldn''t ask Andy Carroll to play the Messi role where he''d be expected to use pace and trickery to get past defenders.Lita in truth was a better striker than many gave him credit for, and whilst the football under Roeder wasn''t very attractive, there were occasions where it was fairly effective.Both Hooper and RVW suffered under Hughton''s system as it didn''t suit EITHER of them, but seemingly because Hooper found it slightly easier to adapt to the role (even if in reality there was very little between performance wise) then RVW is being shot down in flames...

[Hairy Canary 751]

How on earth anyone can argue to keep RVW is beyond me. What has he done throughout an entire season to suggest he was not a total disaster? I can think of one goal, one top save from a keeper and a challenge against Spurs. That''s it! For a whole season!!

Sure Hughton didn''t play to his or any other strikers strengths but throughout a whole season there would be glimpses. Hooper showed much more.

This season is going to shape our future for years to come. Decide to risk that on what we have seen so far from RVW? No way.

[ZLF 334]

Both are goal scorers who had an extremely poor season, but with good attacking quality in a lower quality league will score.   

 

if its a theorhetical you can only have one then rvw would be my choice