We needed a lump and we appear to have got a lump. If he can pitch in with at least 7 goals this season and bring the fast, tricky players into the game in the final third then he'll be a great signing. Bringing the best out of the players around him is what a good target man does so we'll have to see if he meets those criteria. Still, we never replaced Yann at all, let alone in quality so it's a move in the right direction
I agree, I don't think Tucudean is intended to be a high scorer himself, more about creating space and chances for other players to score - if he gets on the score sheet himself, so much the better. When he's had consistent starts he's done pretty well, and he's only young and time to improve/adapt to the Championship even if he doesn't instantly ignite.
In Jan I stuck up for RD saying that his transfer policy looked on the face of it "a good one" - it obviously wasn't
* Thuram was a highly rated 'nearly' french international - NO HE WAS A SHIT LIEGE CASTOFF * Reza a nippy finisher - SEE ABOVE - 1 IN 17 WAS IT? MAYBE HE'LL COME GOOD HE LOOKED OK AT WC * AA a highly rated youngster/not realised potential - THE ONLY (60MIN) SUCCESS * PP the new (700k!!!!) kerm - LOL * Nego - LOOKS OK/NIGHTMARISH ONE MINUTE TO THE NEXT
Now this window seems rather similar in principle.....
*Buyens - LOOKS OK - BETTER THAN POYET? HMMM *Vetekole - £2.4M - BIG BUY, GOD I HOPE HE IS THE NEXT DARREN BENT *TBH - LIEGE CASTOFF *George Tucudean - LIEGE CASTOFF *Bikey - LOOKS OK - BETTER THAN DERVITE? HMMM *Moussa - LOOKS GOOD *Icelandic Geez - AGAIN LOOKS GOOD BUT WE SAID THAT ABOUT PP/AA/REZA BLAH BLAH BLAH
I don't think it's worth getting too excited just yet
I'm not 100% convinced Roland has got to grips with the quality of the championship, the signings may have cost more but on the face of it look rather similar to january. We shall see how it all fits together
I bet you're a bundle of laughs when you get home in the evening ...
There's a hotel I'm thinking of staying in this summer. I looked at a few reviews from people who have been there and apparently the staff are rude, the rooms are dirty, the food is awful and the kitchen is full rats and cockroaches.
However, I'll make my own mind up, thank you very much. I don't need other people being negative and telling me what to think.
There's a hotel I'm thinking of staying in this summer. I looked at a few reviews from people who have been there and apparently the staff are rude, the rooms are dirty, the food is awful and the kitchen is full rats and cockroaches.
However, I'll make my own mind up, thank you very much. I don't need other people being negative and telling me what to think.
Then why read the reviews ?
Precisely my point. People on here are discounting the valid opinions of people with knowledge in favour of a fundamentalist 'no-one tells me what to think' philosophy. Presumably they go through life avoiding all reviews.
People saying he made 11 appearances for Standard de Liege, without scoring.
Look a little deeper and you'll see he's made only 1 start for SL. The sub appearances could be restricted in many cases to perhaps a quarter of an hour or the odd few minutes or so late on.
He's not had a run of games at SL - and their supporters wouldn't have seen much of him to make judgement.
The problem for Tucudean in belgian wass that he was coming into a Standard Liège side who really had magnificent strikers upfront last season when he arrived. ezekiel and batshuayi were amongst the best players in the belgian league, batshuayi was transferred to Olympique de Marseille this window. i'm talking european subtop quality players. So it's no shame for Tucudean not being able to make the first team at Standard. He seemed to be doing ok at Dinamo Buçuresti, which by all standards is still a very decent club in european football. Maybe he has been bought as a backup, can't see him being better than Vetokele for instance.
Church 660 Th. £ Jackson 352 Th. £ Cousins 528 Th. £ Morrison 616 Th. £
So Church is worth more than Cousins.
Back in the real world most of us can see that transfer market is just nonsense.
Total value of 13 players released £2m or less than £200k each. Looks reasonable in the bigger picture.
In midfield Ajdarevic, Cousins, Stephens all rated at 6-700k. Buyens rated at £2.2m which suggests that's an upgrade.
For strikers, church 600k, Sordell 1.5m and Vetokele 1.1m. Batshuayi was valued for c.€8m and just moved to Marseille for €6m - not 100% accurate but only a 25% distortion on a real fee. So let's compare like with like and not strikers with midfielders.
Total value of a top ten Championship squad £20m + whereas total value of a bottom six squad is £10m or less. Total value of Blackpool £4m! Value of CAFC, Millwall and Wednesday last season 10-12m whereas Yeovil, Doncaster and Barnsley much lower.
There is in fact a very strong correlation between squad value and league position so to suggest transfermarkt is "nonsense" because of a couple of rogue valuations is a tad dismissive.
Clubs like Burnley and Derby ran their budgets very well and have squads worth £20m full of £1m+ players through developing their own AND shrewd loans from the Premier League.
Perhaps CAFC can do the same? I believe that Fox, Cousins and Harriott have the potential to become £1m+ players over time. Add in some decent network signings and loans and suddenly CAFC has a £15m squad this summer. If it works on the pitch and the exercise is repeated in January and next summer then perhaps we see a £20m squad at the valley sooner rather than later.
To be fair only time will tell if Belgian valuations calibrate with the Championship. Someone paid a lot of money for Thuram and that went well!
I would therefore suggest that transfermarkt is the fastest / simplest way to appraise the Championship squads on paper. It would take fans of clubs like Liège, Ipswich, Wednesday and Derby to tell us which valuations are about right and which are rogue but the aggregation within the total squad valuation will knock out the effect of these issues.
The main thing about transfermarkt (and sportsclubstats) is that they are independent and openly available. When one lines them up with league position and the bookies odds one gets a general picture of where we are.
None of the above validates the £1.32m valuation attributed to Tucudean and I have no idea how transfermarkt calculates it's valuations. Just saying I'd rather be where we are compared to a growing number of championship clubs who are going backwards.
my apprehension about his policy is it seems a bit rigid and dogmatic, happy to be proved wrong. And in response to a comment above Free transfers are available for proven Championship strikers, but point taken too.
This guy has been given a three year deal so they must see something in him. You get the impression that RD tends to get in younger talent that can be moved around elsewhere if it doesn't work out, sometimes as we've seen one manager/club will get nothing out of a player and the next he's a star. So RD network players get two maybe even three cracks of the whip.
Those giving Prague a hard time about our Belgian journo friend - I sat next to him at the Oxford Cup home match, and as another example he said AA wouldn't cope with the pace of our league and that was against a League 1 opponent. He seems to be worth listening to.
Of course we all make up our own minds on players, and bottom line is what they do on the pitch is what counts, I'd just rather have someone with a bit more proven talent in our league leading the line to feel less nervous about goal scoring an are that needs improvement and is perhaps the hardest nut to crack? Roll out the valium I guess.
Similarly with keeper, Curbs showed what a top keeper can do for your fortunes.
Indeed -What have the Belgians ever done for us eh??
Apart from;
Saving us from bankruptcy The new pitch, The new seating, Reducing season prices. Refurbishment of the Ground, New catering, A manager who kept us up, A new academy, New players, A squad that looks like it actually can contend in the Championship, Not having deliberately gotten us relegated (remember that one!?), Turning us into feeder club (lol!?) It's like they just don't care! And now the seventh signing this summer!
People need to remember what was going on for the last couple of years. 6 months ago, people would have given anything for mid table mediocrity (and I would still be happy with that) and stabilising as a solid championship club. That looks to be exactly where we are heading and will do for me.
In Jan I stuck up for RD saying that his transfer policy looked on the face of it "a good one" - it obviously wasn't
* Thuram was a highly rated 'nearly' french international - NO HE WAS A SHIT LIEGE CASTOFF * Reza a nippy finisher - SEE ABOVE - 1 IN 17 WAS IT? MAYBE HE'LL COME GOOD HE LOOKED OK AT WC * AA a highly rated youngster/not realised potential - THE ONLY (60MIN) SUCCESS * PP the new (700k!!!!) kerm - LOL * Nego - LOOKS OK/NIGHTMARISH ONE MINUTE TO THE NEXT
Now this window seems rather similar in principle.....
*Buyens - LOOKS OK - BETTER THAN POYET? HMMM *Vetekole - £2.4M - BIG BUY, GOD I HOPE HE IS THE NEXT DARREN BENT *TBH - LIEGE CASTOFF *George Tucudean - LIEGE CASTOFF *Bikey - LOOKS OK - BETTER THAN DERVITE? HMMM *Moussa - LOOKS GOOD *Icelandic Geez - AGAIN LOOKS GOOD BUT WE SAID THAT ABOUT PP/AA/REZA BLAH BLAH BLAH
I don't think it's worth getting too excited just yet
I'm not 100% convinced Roland has got to grips with the quality of the championship, the signings may have cost more but on the face of it look rather similar to january. We shall see how it all fits together
Ungrateful. Just remember where we were this time last year.
Ungrateful or objective?
Roland has done a MAGNIFICENT job on the valley, for that I am grateful.
The new lads may be incredible and they also may not. None of us really know anything about them bar a bit of youtube.
There's a hotel I'm thinking of staying in this summer. I looked at a few reviews from people who have been there and apparently the staff are rude, the rooms are dirty, the food is awful and the kitchen is full rats and cockroaches.
However, I'll make my own mind up, thank you very much. I don't need other people being negative and telling me what to think.
Then why read the reviews ?
Precisely my point. People on here are discounting the valid opinions of people with knowledge in favour of a fundamentalist 'no-one tells me what to think' philosophy. Presumably they go through life avoiding all reviews.
I see what you're getting at but not quite the same.
The info of the hotel sound like facts, when the info of the player are opinions.
I like the fact people give reviews on players, however I also like to see them myself. I wouldn't like to see a dirty room full of insects.
Indeed -What have the Belgians ever done for us eh??
Apart from;
Saving us from bankruptcy The new pitch, The new seating, Reducing season prices. Refurbishment of the Ground, New catering, A manager who kept us up, A new academy, New players, A squad that looks like it actually can contend in the Championship, Not having deliberately gotten us relegated (remember that one!?), Turning us into feeder club (lol!?) It's like they just don't care! And now the seventh signing this summer!
I have absolutely no idea of how this player plays, how good he is or whether this is a good deal based on the cost, which I also don't know. I fear for us.
Indeed -What have the Belgians ever done for us eh??
Apart from;
Saving us from bankruptcy The new pitch, The new seating, Reducing season prices. Refurbishment of the Ground, New catering, A manager who kept us up, A new academy, New players, A squad that looks like it actually can contend in the Championship, Not having deliberately gotten us relegated (remember that one!?), Turning us into feeder club (lol!?) It's like they just don't care! And now the seventh signing this summer!
Proper fed up myself!
Don't forget the training ground doing it up putting rooms in for players to sleep what a disgrace this board has been please come back TJ and MS RD out
People need to remember what was going on for the last couple of years. 6 months ago, people would have given anything for mid table mediocrity (and I would still be happy with that) and stabilising as a solid championship club. That looks to be exactly where we are heading and will do for me.
both the last two seasons we have finished mid table, and before that we won League 1
Also work hasn't yet started on the Academy, most of the funding is external, plus Cat 1 cannot be applied for for next 2? years, nor has it ever been proven we were heading for Administration
You could also argue relegation became more of an issue after 3 of our first team were allowed to leave and replaced using the same approach we see now which ultimately failed and undermined the Manager both on and off the pitch
The pitch needed doing one assumes that the FA would have had major issue with us if it wasn't sorted, and we assume will not need remedial work for some years now as it had been prior, still good effort and the seats are nice too.
Having said all of that RD wouldn't have forked out however many millions it ended up being just to waste it, but people will have questions about his approach which so far has arguably nearly had disastrous results.
For me as a fan its just hard to see some pretty decent looking players coming in, to then see a 'reject network' player come in - perhaps however that is an unfair assessment - and indeed the majority of the newbies seem of a better grade. What could perhaps be the difference between mid table and a serious play off challenge. For that reason logic suggests either that is a wrong assessment of George (unlike Thuram, Reza, Koc, Nego? Polish Pete, AA who almost without exception were inadequate) or there are more to come.
Isn't it awful that we are signing players I remember when TJ and MS were in charge we were moaning we weren't signing players .I've come to the conclusion RD can't win damed if his does and damed if he don't.
CONJECTURE - an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information… (also: guess, speculation, surmise, fancy, notion, belief, suspicion, presumption, assumption, theory, hypothesis… I could go on!!!)
Isn't it awful that we are signing players I remember when TJ and MS were in charge we were moaning we weren't signing players .I've come to the conclusion RD can't win damed if his does and damed if he don't.
Dont worry if we win the Premier League, am sure some fans will still feel tainted cos we've worked our way round the system bringing in Loanees
Isn't it awful that we are signing players I remember when TJ and MS were in charge we were moaning we weren't signing players .I've come to the conclusion RD can't win damed if his does and damed if he don't.
Think you could be right there. Certainly seems to be a few on here who wouldn't have the good grace to be appreciative of him even if he dedicated his entire fortune to turning us into a European superpower. He has more ticks in the positive column than he does negative (imo, so far).
Isn't it awful that we are signing players I remember when TJ and MS were in charge we were moaning we weren't signing players .I've come to the conclusion RD can't win damed if his does and damed if he don't.
Think you could be right there. Certainly seems to be a few on here who wouldn't have the good grace to be appreciative of him even if he dedicated his entire fortune to turning us into a European superpower. He has more ticks in the positive column than he does negative (imo, so far).
Isn't it awful that we are signing players I remember when TJ and MS were in charge we were moaning we weren't signing players .I've come to the conclusion RD can't win damed if his does and damed if he don't.
Is anybody saying that though? Seems to me that the concern is we're signing a lot of players with no experience of playing in England, where the football is faster and more physical than most European leagues. Hopefully these fears are unfounded but we just don't know. Is that unreasonable?
Isn't it awful that we are signing players I remember when TJ and MS were in charge we were moaning we weren't signing players .I've come to the conclusion RD can't win damed if his does and damed if he don't.
Think you could be right there. Certainly seems to be a few on here who wouldn't have the good grace to be appreciative of him even if he dedicated his entire fortune to turning us into a European superpower. He has more ticks in the positive column than he does negative (imo, so far).
Off field activities: Yes
On field activities: Jury is still undecided.
Want him to dig his boots out, stick on the number 9 jersey and bag 20+ goals for us?
Isn't it awful that we are signing players I remember when TJ and MS were in charge we were moaning we weren't signing players .I've come to the conclusion RD can't win damed if his does and damed if he don't.
Think you could be right there. Certainly seems to be a few on here who wouldn't have the good grace to be appreciative of him even if he dedicated his entire fortune to turning us into a European superpower. He has more ticks in the positive column than he does negative (imo, so far).
Off field activities: Yes
On field activities: Jury is still undecided.
Want him to dig his boots out, stick on the number 9 jersey and bag 20+ goals for us?
How the HELL did he miss that sitter against Millwall... My nan could have scored that!!!!!!!
Comments
ARSENAL CASTOFF, tbf
Cheers Byl, nice write up
In midfield Ajdarevic, Cousins, Stephens all rated at 6-700k. Buyens rated at £2.2m which suggests that's an upgrade.
For strikers, church 600k, Sordell 1.5m and Vetokele 1.1m. Batshuayi was valued for c.€8m and just moved to Marseille for €6m - not 100% accurate but only a 25% distortion on a real fee. So let's compare like with like and not strikers with midfielders.
Total value of a top ten Championship squad £20m + whereas total value of a bottom six squad is £10m or less. Total value of Blackpool £4m! Value of CAFC, Millwall and Wednesday last season 10-12m whereas Yeovil, Doncaster and Barnsley much lower.
There is in fact a very strong correlation between squad value and league position so to suggest transfermarkt is "nonsense" because of a couple of rogue valuations is a tad dismissive.
Clubs like Burnley and Derby ran their budgets very well and have squads worth £20m full of £1m+ players through developing their own AND shrewd loans from the Premier League.
Perhaps CAFC can do the same? I believe that Fox, Cousins and Harriott have the potential to become £1m+ players over time. Add in some decent network signings and loans and suddenly CAFC has a £15m squad this summer. If it works on the pitch and the exercise is repeated in January and next summer then perhaps we see a £20m squad at the valley sooner rather than later.
To be fair only time will tell if Belgian valuations calibrate with the Championship. Someone paid a lot of money for Thuram and that went well!
I would therefore suggest that transfermarkt is the fastest / simplest way to appraise the Championship squads on paper. It would take fans of clubs like Liège, Ipswich, Wednesday and Derby to tell us which valuations are about right and which are rogue but the aggregation within the total squad valuation will knock out the effect of these issues.
The main thing about transfermarkt (and sportsclubstats) is that they are independent and openly available. When one lines them up with league position and the bookies odds one gets a general picture of where we are.
None of the above validates the £1.32m valuation attributed to Tucudean and I have no idea how transfermarkt calculates it's valuations. Just saying I'd rather be where we are compared to a growing number of championship clubs who are going backwards.
This guy has been given a three year deal so they must see something in him. You get the impression that RD tends to get in younger talent that can be moved around elsewhere if it doesn't work out, sometimes as we've seen one manager/club will get nothing out of a player and the next he's a star. So RD network players get two maybe even three cracks of the whip.
Those giving Prague a hard time about our Belgian journo friend - I sat next to him at the Oxford Cup home match, and as another example he said AA wouldn't cope with the pace of our league and that was against a League 1 opponent. He seems to be worth listening to.
Of course we all make up our own minds on players, and bottom line is what they do on the pitch is what counts, I'd just rather have someone with a bit more proven talent in our league leading the line to feel less nervous about goal scoring an are that needs improvement and is perhaps the hardest nut to crack? Roll out the valium I guess.
Similarly with keeper, Curbs showed what a top keeper can do for your fortunes.
Apart from;
Saving us from bankruptcy
The new pitch,
The new seating,
Reducing season prices.
Refurbishment of the Ground,
New catering,
A manager who kept us up,
A new academy,
New players,
A squad that looks like it actually can contend in the Championship,
Not having deliberately gotten us relegated (remember that one!?),
Turning us into feeder club (lol!?)
It's like they just don't care!
And now the seventh signing this summer!
Proper fed up myself!
Roland has done a MAGNIFICENT job on the valley, for that I am grateful.
The new lads may be incredible and they also may not. None of us really know anything about them bar a bit of youtube.
The info of the hotel sound like facts, when the info of the player are opinions.
I like the fact people give reviews on players, however I also like to see them myself. I wouldn't like to see a dirty room full of insects.
Good post
doing it up putting rooms in for players to sleep
what a disgrace this board has been please come back TJ and MS
RD out
Also work hasn't yet started on the Academy, most of the funding is external, plus Cat 1 cannot be applied for for next 2? years, nor has it ever been proven we were heading for Administration
You could also argue relegation became more of an issue after 3 of our first team were allowed to leave and replaced using the same approach we see now which ultimately failed and undermined the Manager both on and off the pitch
The pitch needed doing one assumes that the FA would have had major issue with us if it wasn't sorted, and we assume will not need remedial work for some years now as it had been prior, still good effort and the seats are nice too.
Having said all of that RD wouldn't have forked out however many millions it ended up being just to waste it, but people will have questions about his approach which so far has arguably nearly had disastrous results.
For me as a fan its just hard to see some pretty decent looking players coming in, to then see a 'reject network' player come in - perhaps however that is an unfair assessment - and indeed the majority of the newbies seem of a better grade. What could perhaps be the difference between mid table and a serious play off challenge. For that reason logic suggests either that is a wrong assessment of George (unlike Thuram, Reza, Koc, Nego? Polish Pete, AA who almost without exception were inadequate) or there are more to come.
(also: guess, speculation, surmise, fancy, notion, belief, suspicion, presumption, assumption, theory, hypothesis… I could go on!!!)
Come on guys, let's judge in August or September.
Think you could be right there. Certainly seems to be a few on here who wouldn't have the good grace to be appreciative of him even if he dedicated his entire fortune to turning us into a European superpower. He has more ticks in the positive column than he does negative (imo, so far).
On field activities: Jury is still undecided.