Adam Armstrong

[notnowcato]

I think if we receive a sensible offer he goes. 

[HarvSFC]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Agree. Farmed out players like him and BBD may not feel Saints is the club for them anymore. 

 

Armstrong also had the Hugo Scheckter video situation to dent his ego. But, he is on a long contract.

Out of our forwards, I'd say he's the best suited to a pressing system. He's a crap version of Shane Long, which means he's a willing runner. Stewart and Onuachu are slow target men with the latter likely to be off. Brereton-Diaz is just there and Archer doesn't do enough pressing off the ball and the press has to start from the top for it to be effective.

Another summer where we really need a new number 9.

[Charlie Wayman]

49 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

I think if we receive a sensible offer he goes. 

A sensible offer being what exactly? £1m?

We should move on from the past and build for the future. There is no need to rush back to the PL with a group of players we know cannot perform at that level so any panic move to bring him back here for supposedly short term benefit will be unhelpful* in the longer term. I don't mind if we spend a couple of years in Division 2 rebuilding as long as we  end up with a team or group of players that can survive in the top division when we eventually get back there.

 

* i.e. Bloody Cretinous

[suewhistle]

1 hour ago, HarvSFC said:

Out of our forwards, I'd say he's the best suited to a pressing system.

I'd particularly agree with this. The question is what alternatives are being considered? Even if not consciously, he's an honest player, he may not bust a gut if he knows he's going to be discarded if we were to get promotion.

[Lighthouse]

11 hours ago, The Kraken said:

16 games 3 goals in his last stint in the championship. There’s no reason he can’t replicate that form either.

Adam Armstrong has scored 20+ in a season twice in his career. “Guaranteed 20” is doing some heavy lifting if you think that’s what we need to replace.

He’s clearly not had a good loan spell at the Baggies but he hasn’t suddenly forgotten how to be a good player overnight. Literally any player could replicate poor form from the past, it’s up to the management team to make sure we get the best out of Armstrong, as we did last season and two years at Blackburn before that.

I never said he was guaranteed 20 goals, I asked which guaranteed 20 goal player you’d replace him with, which is the whole point. If you’re not replacing him with someone obviously better, then why replace him at all?

Still has briefly alluded to the need to be flexible in how we play. If he can’t adjust the way we play to accommodate a player who scored 65 goals in his last three full Championship seasons, then we’ve got bigger problems than Armstrong.

[Fabrice29]

55 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

don't mind if we spend a couple of years in Division 2 rebuilding as long as we  end up with a team or group of players that can survive in the top division when we eventually get back there.

Daily reminder that spending a couple of years in the Championship will involve losing quite a lot of matches and an increasing amount of tension/anger/declarations of the team being built not being good enough and people will 100% mind.

[Saint86]

Keeping AA is the obvious choice and people are mad to consider selling him for anything other than silly money. He was arguably the best player in the championship in our promotion season, and was top on combined goals/assists from memory?

[Saint Fan CaM]

12 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Keeping AA is the obvious choice and people are mad to consider selling him for anything other than silly money. He was arguably the best player in the championship in our promotion season, and was top on combined goals/assists from memory?

Pros: His past performance in the Championship was very good. He’s not had the humiliation of being in the shit team that forgot how to win. He’s reasonably quick and can close down well, suiting a high press. He could link well with Stewart in a two up-top formation.

Cons: His past performance doesn’t prove he’s still got it. His performance on loan this last season has been unremarkable if not poor. He’s not wholly suited to Still’s requirements of a striker as he’s pretty rubbish playing centrally and too small to beat defenders to crosses into the box. We need new blood, he’s been here the longest and there’s a reason he was sent on loan.

 

[sockeye]

Keep and get rid next summer. I don't want to ever see him in a Premier League shirt ever again, but would be silly to discount him if only for his 2023-24 performance.

[trousers]

16 minutes ago, sockeye said:

Keep and get rid next summer. I don't want to ever see him in a Premier League shirt ever again, but would be silly to discount him if only for his 2023-24 performance.

I guess the question mark over  Armstrong is whether or not he'll perform at 2023/24 levels when he knows it's likely he'll be ditched at the end of the season, regardless of how well he does. Could conceivably affect his motivation levels compared to last time in the Championship?

Edited Thursday at 13:27 by trousers

[sockeye]

8 minutes ago, trousers said:

I guess the question mark over  Armstrong is whether or not he'll perform at 2023/24 levels when he knows it's likely he'll be ditched at the end of the season, regardless of how well he does. Could conceivably affect his motivation levels compared to last time in the Championship?

We have a lot of forwards, so I would be willing to sell to a club outside of the Championship. If his confidence is shot and he performs poorly, there is the option of trying to offload him during the winter window.

[skintsaint]

7 minutes ago, sockeye said:

so I would be willing to sell to a club outside of the Championship.

Too good for league one, can't see him going abroad. Can't do it in the EPL. Guess Celtic or Rangers could loan him?....

[Turkish]

20 minutes ago, trousers said:

I guess the question mark over  Armstrong is whether or not he'll perform at 2023/24 levels when he knows it's likely he'll be ditched at the end of the season, regardless of how well he does. Could conceivably affect his motivation levels compared to last time in the Championship?

If he wants another club then that shouldn't be a factor at all. He'll be 29 then so realistically going to be his last decent deal. He aint getting a move to the premier league whatever happens, so he'll either see out his premier league contract as a squad player or on loan or he'll get a move to a top half championship side. It's in everyone's interests he cooks next season and then moves on.

[coalman]

Armstrong's goal scoring record in the Championship means he should have a place in the squad but, in the same way I wouldn't build our defence around Bednarek and Stephens, I would want him in addition to better attacking players. Whether that's a striker or wingers.

[ErwinK1961]

10 hours ago, notnowcato said:

I think if we receive a sensible offer he goes. 

Think that’s true of every single player we’ve got.

[S-Clarke]

I know people are suggesting he could be a super sub, but in much the way as Ings was - he's not that sort. He needs games and runs of goals to get into form, if he's in and out of the team and off the bench it never seems to work for him.

So if he sticks around, he'll be a starter if we're going to maximise the best we can for him. I do have a feeling that he's for sale at the right price though.

[StrangelyBrown]

Much as I hope we will replace him if we get back to the premier league, he's shown he can do a very good job in the championship.

If we bounce straight back we've got 3 windows to assemble a team capable of staying up - Armstrong would be a player we could afford to replace in the 3rd window.

[trousers]

7 hours ago, Turkish said:

If he wants another club then that shouldn't be a factor at all. He'll be 29 then so realistically going to be his last decent deal. He aint getting a move to the premier league whatever happens, so he'll either see out his premier league contract as a squad player or on loan or he'll get a move to a top half championship side. It's in everyone's interests he cooks next season and then moves on.

Fair point 👍

[trousers]

48 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Much as I hope we will replace him if we get back to the premier league, he's shown he can do a very good job in the championship.

If we bounce straight back we've got 3 windows to assemble a team capable of staying up - Armstrong would be a player we could afford to replace in the 3rd window.

Possibly me being thick, but where do you get 3 windows from? Surely it's only one window between gaining promotion and starting life again in the PL?

[StrangelyBrown]

10 minutes ago, trousers said:

Possibly me being thick, but where do you get 3 windows from? Surely it's only one window between gaining promotion and starting life again in the PL?

This summer, winter and next summer...