Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Robin Hood canary

The wolf

Recommended Posts

[quote user="Robin Hood canary"]We need him playing and banging in the goals to get our money back. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later the goals I mean[/quote]He wasn''t selected for the first league game, and was an unused sub in St Etienne''s European game. In the last two league games he has come on, in the 88th and 57th minutes. St Etienne''s main striker is Erdinc, a Turk who seems to play as a lone striker. RvW has come on for him both times. I haven''t seen the games but if RvW is being used as a lone striker that might again not be playing to his supposed strengths.As far as getting our money back, I have promised nutty that if it is confirmed in blood in the summer that St Etienne have paid us the agreed price of £6m on top of this season''s £1.5m fee then I will send him a cheque for £60 for the CSF...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
RvW came on after 57 mins last night, for Erdinac, the Turkish striker who missed a penalty after 41 mins for St.Etienne.

Did not see the entire game, but RvW did not exactly set fire to the stadium. Did create a dangerous freekick right at the death though, but St.Etienne wasted it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Having watched RVW struggle to show anything like his worth last season I don''t expect him to suddenly be a 6m player for St Ettienne. I''ve not seen anything to suggest the belief RVW''s failings were down to Hughton''s tactics is anything but a myth. Having signed RVW we then signed Redmond and Fer to supply him and Hooper as an alternative.

 

After relegation David McNally was honest and said of this transfer window  “We can’t afford to get this window wrong in the way we got the last transfer window so horribly wrong.” The first thing we did was sign Grabban and Lafferty. The intent was clear. I hoped we''d keep Fer so that we could judge him supplying these new forwards. Looks like Redmond will have that chance. That leaves  Hooper and for me the jury is out on him.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If the plan is to get crosses in from the by-line (as seems to be the case) then given  the chance, Hooper will come into his own. There have been several occasions during the last three games when decent crosses were put in but there was nobody making the runs across the defenders in the box to convert them; that''s Hooper''s strength.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think the problem we had with RVW was that he couldn''t play effectively as a sole striker and the only striker we had who could play alongside him was Elmander - neither of them offered much defensively so with the two of them (or Elmander with Hooper) we had little possession against most Prem teams. Hence the embarrassing stats showing RVW was barely touching the ball, never mind actually getting hardly any efforts on goal.

All season Hughton failed to overcome this dilemma - play 4 5 1 and we were ok defensively with reasonable possession but none of our strikers were effective while 442 saw us often dominated by the other side for possession. Either way it was painful and sapped morale among players and fans, we hovered just above the drop zone until the start of the run in when our form nosedived and it was probably too late by then to change the managr.

So changing our strike force had to be the priority and ironically our much lower cost strikers this season would probably have been more effective than last eseasons record signings.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I hope he does well. He''s a nice guy and we need to make as much money back on him as possible.

That said I do just think he''s a bit of a dud. He was highly rated in a weak league as a youngster but imo he hasn''t improved at all since then, he just developed as a player early. He certainly doesn''t look any better than Grabban.

For all Hughtons failings he had a very poor strike force to work with last season in that leaguie

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think it is a shame we never got to see a confident Van Wolfswinkel in a game like the one this weekend. He would have thrived on the chances we created. How many chances did we create in the box while Van Wolfswinkel was here? About as many as we have in four games this season probably - Lafferty could and maybe should have had a first half hat trick all from inside the box on Sunday, and similarly Grabban could have got 3 as well, including two one on ones - again something we never provided for Van Wolfswinkel. Van Wolfswinkel and Hooper are players who have played their best stuff for teams who are often the ''favourites'' and were known for clinically punishing the ''lesser'' teams. Coming from that situation to one that is almost the reverse - Us in the Premiership with almost every side being about equal or better than us they maybe got caught out bit with their all-round game contribution with their team not being the one on top against better opposition. As that balance changes the nature of the game changes. And that change didn''t suit them and as a result neither really managed to get into their goalscoring stride which is their main asset. With us now being one of the ''big boys'' in the league it is not inconceivable that both could have done well this season as that balance has changed back to their favour. Hooper may yet, although he still really looks like he needs to sharpen up a lot after a season of being blunted. I like Grabban though, he has more facets to his game than Hooper and is a real handful. I don''t know about Lafferty being used as a wide forward as he is at the minute, but he probably has a better all round game as well, although neither seem as clinical as a Hooper on form. Or a Van Wolfswinkel on form - not that we saw either for longer than a couple of games. But it is still early days on that front.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="peateabee"]I think it is a shame we never got to see a confident Van Wolfswinkel in a game like the one this weekend. He would have thrived on the chances we created. How many chances did we create in the box while Van Wolfswinkel was here? About as many as we have in four games this season probably - Lafferty could and maybe should have had a first half hat trick all from inside the box on Sunday, and similarly Grabban could have got 3 as well, including two one on ones - again something we never provided for Van Wolfswinkel. Van Wolfswinkel and Hooper are players who have played their best stuff for teams who are often the ''favourites'' and were known for clinically punishing the ''lesser'' teams. Coming from that situation to one that is almost the reverse - Us in the Premiership with almost every side being about equal or better than us they maybe got caught out bit with their all-round game contribution with their team not being the one on top against better opposition. As that balance changes the nature of the game changes. And that change didn''t suit them and as a result neither really managed to get into their goalscoring stride which is their main asset. With us now being one of the ''big boys'' in the league it is not inconceivable that both could have done well this season as that balance has changed back to their favour. Hooper may yet, although he still really looks like he needs to sharpen up a lot after a season of being blunted. I like Grabban though, he has more facets to his game than Hooper and is a real handful. I don''t know about Lafferty being used as a wide forward as he is at the minute, but he probably has a better all round game as well, although neither seem as clinical as a Hooper on form. Or a Van Wolfswinkel on form - not that we saw either for longer than a couple of games. But it is still early days on that front.[/quote]That''s the thing though, I honestly think Grabban would have been getting more chances/goals in the Premier League as his movement and overall contribution to the teams build up play is that much better than RVWs. Grabban is strong, quick and always looking to get in the box when we''re putting crosses in. I know it''s a different league but I don''t think the Fulham team RVW looked poor against end of last year is that much better than the Ipswich, Watford and Blackburn sides that Grabban is looking strong against.I''m still baffled as to what RVW was bringing to the table. Would be interested to see him have a good game some day so I actually know why he''s worth nearly 3 Lewis Grabbans. Additionally I saw RVW put through for a number of potential one-on-ones last year but he always lacked the ball control, pace and will to take on the opportunity and have a shot.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Robin Hood canary"]We need him playing and banging in the goals to get our money back. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later the goals I mean[/quote]He wasn''t selected for the first league game, and was an unused sub in St Etienne''s European game. In the last two league games he has come on, in the 88th and 57th minutes. St Etienne''s main striker is Erdinc, a Turk who seems to play as a lone striker. RvW has come on for him both times. I haven''t seen the games but if RvW is being used as a lone striker that might again not be playing to his supposed strengths.As far as getting our money back, I have promised nutty that if it is confirmed in blood in the summer that St Etienne have paid us the agreed price of £6m on top of this season''s £1.5m fee then I will send him a cheque for £60 for the CSF...[/quote]Still early days but he did have a chance to make himself an instant hero in extra-time for St Etienne last night. Sadly, according to L''Equipe, he missed the unmissable. And was not chosen to take a penalty at the end. Perhaps the St Etienne manager had spotted Snodgrass in the stands and was afraid the ball would get snatched off RvW...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Robin Hood canary"]We need him playing and banging in the goals to get our money back. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later the goals I mean[/quote]

He wasn''t selected for the first league game, and was an unused sub in St Etienne''s European game. In the last two league games he has come on, in the 88th and 57th minutes. St Etienne''s main striker is Erdinc, a Turk who seems to play as a lone striker. RvW has come on for him both times. I haven''t seen the games but if RvW is being used as a lone striker that might again not be playing to his supposed strengths.

As far as getting our money back, I have promised nutty that if it is confirmed in blood in the summer that St Etienne have paid us the agreed price of £6m on top of this season''s £1.5m fee then I will send him a cheque for £60 for the CSF...

[/quote]

Still early days but he did have a chance to make himself an instant hero in extra-time for St Etienne last night. Sadly, according to L''Equipe, he missed the unmissable. And was not chosen to take a penalty at the end. Perhaps the St Etienne manager had spotted Snodgrass in the stands and was afraid the ball would get snatched off RvW...
[/quote]

 

I thought he was taken off injured 11 mins after being brought on in the 66th min so didnt even get to extra time to become a hero or chosen to take a pen?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Robin Hood canary"]We need him playing and banging in the goals to get our money back. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later the goals I mean[/quote]He wasn''t selected for the first league game, and was an unused sub in St Etienne''s European game. In the last two league games he has come on, in the 88th and 57th minutes. St Etienne''s main striker is Erdinc, a Turk who seems to play as a lone striker. RvW has come on for him both times. I haven''t seen the games but if RvW is being used as a lone striker that might again not be playing to his supposed strengths.As far as getting our money back, I have promised nutty that if it is confirmed in blood in the summer that St Etienne have paid us the agreed price of £6m on top of this season''s £1.5m fee then I will send him a cheque for £60 for the CSF...[/quote]Still early days but he did have a chance to make himself an instant hero in extra-time for St Etienne last night. Sadly, according to L''Equipe, he missed the unmissable. And was not chosen to take a penalty at the end. Perhaps the St Etienne manager had spotted Snodgrass in the stands and was afraid the ball would get snatched off RvW...[/quote]

 

I thought he was taken off injured 11 mins after being brought on in the 66th min so didnt even get to extra time to become a hero or chosen to take a pen?

[/quote]No, Zipper. Unless L''Equipe and Soccerway have both got it wrong. They have RvW coming on after 66 minutes of normal time and then playing all the way through the 30 minutes or so of extra time. L''Equipe has him winning a corner on 118 minutes. He wasn''t subbed.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
St Etienne did take off another player 11 minutes after Ricky came on, which was their 3rd sub. So unless he came off after that he must''ve stayed on for the duration as far as I can see.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I think Zipper must have looked at Livescore. They had a bit of a mix up by the looks of Soccerway etc.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hopefully that St Etienne fan that posted on here as his move was going through will come back to give his views on him as a player.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...