JamieZ

3 hours ago, jacketspuds said:

If Davis left the club, how would people feel if we signed Eddie Nketiah? Really good scoring record for England up to U21 level. Can play out wide and up front.

His contract is up next summer so could be a relatively cheap option if we were in the market for a striker.

I'm not 100% sold on the idea, just wanted to gauge opinions.

I'd take him or Folarin Balogun, but I think the latter has just signed a new contract, so that might not be as practicable.

On 24/05/2021 at 13:45, Delphinho123 said:

Dike was really poor in the playoffs. Just a big battering ram of a player it looked like to me. 

We're going back a ways, but I just saw this, which is absolutely relevant to why you had that impression of Daryl Dike from watching him with Barnsley. Wherever he goes next, they're probably going to have to wipe his hard drive and reprogram him.

On 15/05/2021 at 09:12, JamieZ said:

St. Pauli are my club in Germany. They never win anything but occasionally I get to watch them on the television at 7:30AM. What can you do to spice up a white kit? Write "No football for fascists" on it and put it on a two-metre tall tattooed Danish man in sandals sitting next to a Samoyed. Nice.

Heavens, this dog does get around.

48 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Take a look across the whole forum, there's tonnes of examples of it.

"We don't need two strikers"

"Where's Ollie going to play if we sign another striker" 

"No way are we signing another striker to sit on the bench"

 

That's just a few of the posts from the last month or so.

 

I get it, but I'm sure those quotes are in response to people suggesting we bring in Tammy Abraham or Ivan Toney or someone who'd cost £40 million or something, right? Which comes back to priorities and expenditure. I really have a hard time fathoming how someone could be against bringing in a reasonably-priced reinforcement on principle.

2 hours ago, messi11 said:

Looks like the next Lukaku 

Looks like he ate Lukaku.

3 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

You're not wrong there mate.

Not sure why so many posters are against having another quality striker signed.

I'm not sure anyone is against signing another quality striker. I think it comes down to prioritization and allotted funds — the question being, where do we need to spend biggest in order to benefit the most? I certainly share concerns about our depth at striker; there were times last season when I looked at our subs and thought, "Who's going to score if not Ollie? Davis?" But I don't think we can afford to splash a massive wad of cash to improve upon our current situation. I suppose the biggest question at the moment is "What does Dean Smith see us doing with Wesley Moraes?" If he thinks there's a player in there, then next season could be when we see it. If not, I think we could get a decent understudy for Watkins for less than might be imagined. So many clubs are hurting following the pandemic, I'd rather splash on the wings or in the midfield.

12 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Dike was really poor in the playoffs. Just a big battering ram of a player it looked like to me. 

He's only a battering ram if he's employed as one. He's actually quite mobile and has a deceptively good touch.

3 hours ago, Villaphan04 said:

I keep thinking that Daryl Dike would be one of our targets if we are after a striker (backup). 

I'd love Dike, but I can't see him going cheap. According to reports (and put as much faith in those as you like), Orlando has already turned down £10+ million offers for him from "Top 6 clubs", I think was how the article framed it, and his buyout for Barnsley was reportedly in the £20 million range.

Josh Sargent or Matthew Hoppe, on the other hand, I can see being great pickups from Werder Bremen and Schalke, respectively, as they're both among the most saleable players on relegated teams in dire financial straits. Both are young, promising, and learning the game and would have both the time and opportunity to grow into a role under Ollie. They'd also give us some tactical flexibility as they both play well with a strike partner.

After yesterday's booing incident, I decided to wade in here and test the waters. I don't purport to have any sage insights or certainly any authority in the the matter, but I am currently putting the finishing touches on my master's in human rights and will likely be pursuing my doctorate in political science or social change. So I'm both familiar with some of the concepts and ideas being discussed and surprised to see the extent to which it pervades the discourse.

Again, I don't have much to say, but I've found some of the things being discussed here intriguing.

• First, the conflation of racial justice and Marxism vis-à-vis the Black Lives Matter movement is interesting, and in my opinion unfortunate, as it tends to muddy the waters when what we should be searching for is a certain degree of clarity (while avoiding oversimplification, as much as possible), by tying things into concepts, like equity and oneness, for instance, instead of contentious politics, which carries its own baggage. The political associations — in this case kneeling > BLM > Marxism — behind the act are seemingly how we get from a gesture meant to demonstrate solidarity in the face of social iniquity to a discussion of nineteenth-century European economic theory. I don't recall this kind of reaction to "Kick Racism out of Football" promotions, for instance. Except maybe in Belarus or something where racism is part and parcel of everything.
• Second, I really wish the Marxism thing could be put to rest. I've spent the better part of the past two years trying to wrap my head around the role of Marxist theory in our current social, political, and academic discourse, and I've come to the conclusion that most people have no idea what it means but nonetheless have strong feelings about it. If we could take a step back from it, it would be great. For my part, I tend to think that true Marxism (if there is such a thing; Marx himself was no more a Marxist than Martin Luther a Lutheran) is an economic-materialist reduction of a larger sociological problem, and while it offers some valuable insights as to why things are the way they are, it offers very little with regard to where we go from here. And it has little to nothing to do with racial justice.
• Third, and perhaps most importantly, booing is a lousy way to express (what should be) a nuanced opinion. Nowhere in a loud booing noise can be discerned, "I respect your right to advocate for social justice but disagree with the particular manner of expression for reasons A, B, and C." It just doesn't work. For as long as the players and footballing institutions decide to do the kneeling thing — and regardless of whether or not it's entirely perfunctory at this point anyway — what's wrong with being quiet or applauding politely for five seconds and letting things be? I'm an American, in case it isn't obvious, and we have this strange habit of playing our national anthem before every sporting event, whether it's the Super Bowl or a Little League tee-ball tournament — and while I'm not entirely keen on the tradition, I don't yell, "Boo!" the whole time the anthem is mangled by a local aspiring American Idol contestant. I stand up like everyone else and quietly sit down once the fireworks and F-14 flyover are finished. And then on with the tee-ball.

White shirt is white.

Ahhhh, the bright lights of Rio Tinto Stadium...

1 hour ago, maqroll said:

Florian Thauvin to Tigres, stunning. I thought he'd look good in a Villa shirt but he's off to Mexico.

I know transfers aren't always straightforward, but I thought his form at Marseille was quite good. Although Tigres is a strong team, I'm still a bit surprised to see him move to Liga MX.

Maybe they enticed him with (CONCACAF) Champions League football.

9 minutes ago, bobzy said:

They’ve completely bottled it

Amazing that one goal meant the difference between second and fifth.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Just now, mjmooney said:

Tuchel looks about twelve. 

Twelve, lanky, and balding.

McGinn strikes me as someone who would have a particularly hard head.

Liverpool up to third as things stand with a goal against Palace. Chelsea drop to fifth.

That would have changed things.

Pulisic looking really zippy today. I can easily see a wayward leg taking him out in the box. S'making me nervous.

I'm just glad we have Martinez this year to make sure their half chances stay at half a chance.

Vardy penalty. Leicester the first off the mark in the Top 4 battle.

Rudiger looks like some manner of superhero and that makes me glad I'm not playing against him today. He'd have the psychological edge for sure.

What is the etymology of "to break one's duck"? I've done everything short of a Google search and I'm all out of ideas.

I, for one, hope Werner's duck is still intact at the end of this.

1 minute ago, Wainy316 said:

But but Marxism (they have no idea what Marxism is)

Here in America, it's anything to the left of hunting the homeless for sport.