| In isolation if you had told me that.. 16:57 - Aug 21 with 1881 views | ITFC_Essex |
We’d be starting the season with Akpom and McAteer, and without Hirst and Burns I would have been a bit concerned about our window! I am still concerned we moved Hirst on too early, he didn’t look bad in the Premier League last time and actually had (despite his detractors) his best season for us last season, I can’t help but feel he has been a little hard done by here, but it does mean there has to be another forward lined up as we simply don’t have the depth in that area for a Premier League side right now. [Post edited 22 Aug 2:58]
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:02 - Aug 21 with 1830 views | WD19 |
I hate it, but I am not a football manager. There must be a reason GON doesn't fancy him and neither did Steve Clark. It was always going to be a tough season, but unless we add something significant up front between now and the end of the window it looks like we are playing for penalties. |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:02 - Aug 21 with 1824 views | pointofblue |
Whilst you've got down votes for your opinion I'd be far happier with Emmerson, Akpom and Hirst as our three strikers options than Emmerson, Akpom with Enciso being moved from his favoured position. It could be we need an income in order to bring his replacement in. In a perfect world I would have preferred to see someone come in before Hirst left. |  |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:03 - Aug 21 with 1815 views | Radlett_blue |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:02 - Aug 21 by WD19 |
I hate it, but I am not a football manager. There must be a reason GON doesn't fancy him and neither did Steve Clark. It was always going to be a tough season, but unless we add something significant up front between now and the end of the window it looks like we are playing for penalties. |
Akpom seems to have done well in pre season & could have a new lease of life under GON. He certainly now seems likely to stay, which would have amazed me a few months ago. |  |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:04 - Aug 21 with 1801 views | reusersfreekicks |
Quite simply his form just went - his touch/control/finishing all went south.
Shame as before he would be an asset even in the PL |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:10 - Aug 21 with 1742 views | HighgateBlue |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:02 - Aug 21 by pointofblue |
Whilst you've got down votes for your opinion I'd be far happier with Emmerson, Akpom and Hirst as our three strikers options than Emmerson, Akpom with Enciso being moved from his favoured position. It could be we need an income in order to bring his replacement in. In a perfect world I would have preferred to see someone come in before Hirst left. |
That's surely right, but there are many ways in which this isn't a perfect world. We couldn't possibly have risked losing the Hirst sale, potentially either jeopardising a starting 9 arriving, or else causing Hirst to be outside of the squad of 25, and sat around with his value steadily decreasing.
We can't know how far along a deal for a number 9 is, and it may be that there is one which is imminent, or several irons still in the fire. Or even a loan that we need to wait on until others have ducks in a row.
So yes, Hirst sticking around would be better than only having Emmerson and Akpom as those who can plausibly play 9, but I think we've got a clear indication that we can expect someone arrive and compete to make the actual number 9 shirt his own. |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 18:12 - Aug 21 with 1585 views | britbiker |
Don't get the McAteer stuff. Agreed that at the beginning of the season he looked like a bust. But around Feb onwards he seemed to get his confidence back
Scored some good goals and was a beast tackling back.
Hope he surprises some fans this season. |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 18:16 - Aug 21 with 1568 views | Radlett_blue |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 18:12 - Aug 21 by britbiker |
Don't get the McAteer stuff. Agreed that at the beginning of the season he looked like a bust. But around Feb onwards he seemed to get his confidence back
Scored some good goals and was a beast tackling back.
Hope he surprises some fans this season. |
McAteer will be a squad player at best this season. | |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 00:50 - Aug 22 with 1340 views | armchaircritic59 |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 18:12 - Aug 21 by britbiker |
Don't get the McAteer stuff. Agreed that at the beginning of the season he looked like a bust. But around Feb onwards he seemed to get his confidence back
Scored some good goals and was a beast tackling back.
Hope he surprises some fans this season. |
I'd absolutely love to see it. The s**t he was getting from some in the earlier and mid parts of last season was far more than unpleasant. I was one of probably less than a handful that was continually backing him from the get go, and it certainly doesn't help when you get it from a so called team mate either. One things for sure, if he stays, he won't have to worry about carting around the £12m price tag any more, considering what we are now paying for others! They'll be getting it in the neck if they're not world class by October!
Same thing happened with Sindre, and now suddenly he's the real deal. Facts are, some just have to have a scapegoat, even when things are generally going well. No idea why, maybe they can enlighten me. |  | | |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 03:00 - Aug 22 with 1238 views | ITFC_Essex |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:02 - Aug 21 by pointofblue |
Whilst you've got down votes for your opinion I'd be far happier with Emmerson, Akpom and Hirst as our three strikers options than Emmerson, Akpom with Enciso being moved from his favoured position. It could be we need an income in order to bring his replacement in. In a perfect world I would have preferred to see someone come in before Hirst left. |
Some people took it wrongly as a criticism, while I was just making an observation that in isolation going into the Premier League season you would have wanted to retain the likes of Hirst and Burns, and moved on players like Akpom and Ogbene. | |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 07:19 - Aug 22 with 1019 views | djgooder |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:04 - Aug 21 by reusersfreekicks |
Quite simply his form just went - his touch/control/finishing all went south.
Shame as before he would be an asset even in the PL |
If it was just form then he’d stay, cos managers would back themselves to turn it round. So it has to be more than that.
I’m not saying I like that he has left, I’d assumed he’d be our third striker (at one point I was even thinking second striker with Azon as third!!).
I am assuming Delap is likely on his way, not unhappy by that, but not as excited certainly as probably I should be! |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 07:58 - Aug 22 with 893 views | NthQldITFC |
Hirst was a great servant to this club, certainly from League One and up through the Championship and did pretty well in the PL last time, but to say he 'actually had... his best season for us last season' is bonkers!
He tried (or maybe was over-instructed) to stretch his game beyond his abilities - in terms of his touch, control, lay-offs - lost confidence badly and never got it back. He was trying to play way faster than his comfort zone.
Despite that, he was a big part of a great era for us, but last season was nightmare for him and it's mad to pretend otherwise. I hope he gets his form back at Stoke, and does really, really well. Go well, big George. |  |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 08:00 - Aug 22 with 874 views | NthQldITFC |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 18:16 - Aug 21 by Radlett_blue |
McAteer will be a squad player at best this season. |
Of course he'll be a squad player, but he's got the right attributes to be that in the PL, which is what we need. | |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 08:35 - Aug 22 with 765 views | Mullet |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 18:12 - Aug 21 by britbiker |
Don't get the McAteer stuff. Agreed that at the beginning of the season he looked like a bust. But around Feb onwards he seemed to get his confidence back
Scored some good goals and was a beast tackling back.
Hope he surprises some fans this season. |
A few made their minds up straight away because of the fee and a miss at the back post which wasn’t that straightforward.
He’s got great potential but I think the biggest problem is is getting promoted as he’d be a great option every week in the champ. Here he might struggle to get minutes. |  |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 08:49 - Aug 22 with 728 views | wischip |
Starting the season with just Emersonn and Akpom as our recognised strikers and letting Hirst go feels like GON's first gamble. But I guess a lot of it is out of our hands and just requires a bit of patience if another incoming striker is imminent. Other areas have been well prepared. He has been cautious with shuffling the keepers and building up reinforcements in central midfield. He who dares... |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 08:52 - Aug 22 with 706 views | Swansea_Blue |
Having seen Coventry last night, neither will be anywhere near the worst players in the division. Solid enough backup and hopefully realistic enough to know they’ll be backup and happy to be so. |  |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 08:57 - Aug 22 with 670 views | Gary_Knows |
This was done to death a few days ago, but whether people want to hear it or not, whilst we’ve spent a fortune this summer we also needed to move players on at a profit also to help the books look healthy.
Would we have seen anywhere near a £7m return on Akpom this summer? No. Have we just banked £6m in profit with Hirst by selling him? Yes. |  |
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| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 09:05 - Aug 22 with 634 views | BudapestByBlimp |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:02 - Aug 21 by pointofblue |
Whilst you've got down votes for your opinion I'd be far happier with Emmerson, Akpom and Hirst as our three strikers options than Emmerson, Akpom with Enciso being moved from his favoured position. It could be we need an income in order to bring his replacement in. In a perfect world I would have preferred to see someone come in before Hirst left. |
But this assumes everything remains the same. Obviously, we don't know what is happening, but what if Hirst's sale allows us to increase our offer for Palacios and we bring in an experience forward in on loan? That would seem a great move to me. |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 09:12 - Aug 22 with 585 views | Yppswyche |
George Hirst has left us to join Stoke City, who currently are at best a mid-table championship club. That is his level, as the interest in him has shown. He’s a lovely lad, and was really important for us those first two seasons, but a premier league striker he ain’t. I really hope he tears it up for his new club. |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 09:30 - Aug 22 with 497 views | billlm |
Management team have made the right call in both players, McAteer has a better ceiling than burns and Akpom will have a good season,
Burns an icon,
Hirst was way off last year and wouldn't be good enough this year, good profit move on,, |  | | |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 09:33 - Aug 22 with 474 views | FrimleyBlue |
| In isolation if you had told me that.. on 17:02 - Aug 21 by WD19 |
I hate it, but I am not a football manager. There must be a reason GON doesn't fancy him and neither did Steve Clark. It was always going to be a tough season, but unless we add something significant up front between now and the end of the window it looks like we are playing for penalties. |
Because even in his pre season games, Hirst looked a mile off Akpom and Emmerson.
We had the best of Hirst but he's not been the same for a good 18 months now. If we were champ again then sure an option, but we're not. |  |
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