Summer Transfer Window 2023

[The Curse of St Mary's]

4 minutes ago, mitch01 said:

I think a year in the Championship will be very good for Bazunu. Clearly has lots of talent but relying on him in the PL was a big error. But I think he'll come good and end up being a valuable player for us. Clearly not everyone agrees, but I guess we'll find out because it looks like he's our #1 again this year.

I must have missed that part🤷🏼‍♂️

[Baird of the land]

2 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

But he was a already under contract this season anyway!

The club is securing an asset they don't want to see walking away at the end of the season for nothing.

Even if we manage to get promoted he's likely to still have a role.

[mitch01]

7 minutes ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

I must have missed that part🤷🏼‍♂️

Just off the top of my head, fantastic saves at home to Utd and away to Liverpool. Also performances for RoI. Also lots of good sweeping up behind the defence and distribution. Also some good sharp stops for Portsmouth in his time there. 

To be clear, I think having him as our starting GK in the PL cost us points and it was a very bad decision. Just I don't agree that it means he's a write-off or that he can't get to that level with a bit of time and experience. 

[Toadhall Saint]

16 hours ago, CB Fry said:

https://the72.co.uk/2023/08/04/southampton-join-leeds-united-in-midfielder-pursuit-player-currently-training-alone/

Edited 4 August, 2023 by Toadhall Saint
Not sure why CBFry has copied not intended esp as I have nothing to do with the COT

[saintant]

32 minutes ago, mitch01 said:

I think a year in the Championship will be very good for Bazunu. Clearly has lots of talent but relying on him in the PL was a big error. But I think he'll come good and end up being a valuable player for us. Clearly not everyone agrees, but I guess we'll find out because it looks like he's our #1 again this year.

Either you can save shots or you can't. Which division you're in is not so important.

[saintant]

18 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

https://the72.co.uk/2023/08/04/southampton-join-leeds-united-in-midfielder-pursuit-player-currently-training-alone/

Maybe swap him for Aribo.

[Le Timmier]

7 minutes ago, saintant said:

Either you can save shots or you can't. Which division you're in is not so important.

I recall you saying that Orsic was always scoring such incredible goals that it didn’t matter which division he was playing in. Is this a similar theory? 😉

[mitch01]

13 minutes ago, saintant said:

Either you can save shots or you can't. Which division you're in is not so important.

You don't agree that goalkeepers can improve their consistency and therefore performance over time? Decision-making, technique and physical attributes cannot be trained?

I agree that some young goalkeepers just 'don't have it' and will never get there. But others do, and will. Which one Bazunu is remains to be seen. Obviously nobody knows for sure but I think there's lots of good things there. Him not being ready at 20 is not definitive proof.

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, mitch01 said:

You don't agree that goalkeepers can improve their consistency and therefore performance over time? Decision-making, technique and physical attributes cannot be trained?

I agree that some young goalkeepers just 'don't have it' and will never get there. But others do, and will. Which one Bazunu is remains to be seen. Obviously nobody knows for sure but I think there's lots of good things there. Him not being ready at 20 is not definitive proof.

I haven't said he'll never improve over time - he's just not ready to be our first choice at this stage in his career from what I've seen.

[saintant]

9 minutes ago, Le Timmier said:

I recall you saying that Orsic was always scoring such incredible goals that it didn’t matter which division he was playing in. Is this a similar theory? 😉

Orisic did score some incredible goals - along with others I am baffled by what happened to his game when he joined us. I guess we'll never know.

[M271]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

Orisic did score some incredible goals - along with others I am baffled by what happened to his game when he joined us. I guess we'll never know.

Seems to have been a familiar theme with a number of our signings where we seem to have a habit of not getting the best out of them.

[Hodgey]

1 hour ago, mitch01 said:

Just off the top of my head, fantastic saves at home to Utd and away to Liverpool. Also performances for RoI. Also lots of good sweeping up behind the defence and distribution. Also some good sharp stops for Portsmouth in his time there. 

To be clear, I think having him as our starting GK in the PL cost us points and it was a very bad decision. Just I don't agree that it means he's a write-off or that he can't get to that level with a bit of time and experience. 

Think there is a general consensus with Bazunu that he is good at passing / sweeping, has potential but makes high profile positional and keeping errors. He’s still really young so it’s going to be the same story this year. If we are genuinely going for top spot you would solve this clear issue / mitigate the risk - and unlike a striker finding a high quality gk isn’t that difficult. So feels a bit like our strategy remains trying to improve young (City) players of high potential we know will make mistakes (Charles may be same category). This cost us big time last year, so I share the concerns. I don’t get the international thing either - playing well for ROI or N Ireland is not a good indicator of quality required to win the championship.

[skintsaint]

1 hour ago, Toadhall Saint said:

https://the72.co.uk/2023/08/04/southampton-join-leeds-united-in-midfielder-pursuit-player-currently-training-alone/

Heard his career had finished?

[notnowcato]

2 hours ago, John B said:

Surely it is commonsense that a club buying Lavia would need to know what wages would be acceptable to the player before agreeing a transfer fee with us.

 

It happens all the time surely there is no economic sense in buying the player without knowing how much you are paying him and the agent

My point was that there was no official announcement as was suggested by the original post I quoted. 

[Miltonaggro]

17 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Heard his career had finished?

An interesting one.  Good youth pedigree with Arsenal, strong and talented defensive / central midfielder, and key for Rangers under Gerrard.  However, doesn't seem to have got over the Prague incident.  Would beef up the midfield ahead of Lavia's exit.    

[Le Timmier]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Orisic did score some incredible goals - along with others I am baffled by what happened to his game when he joined us. I guess we'll never know.

He had a couple of good games in the UCL. Other than that he’d never played top flight football other than in Croatia and the Far East. Along with others I pointed this out when you were making him out to be the second coming of Maradona. 

Mystery solved! 

[Wsaint]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Heard his career had finished?

Finnished? He's only 27! 

[Sunglasses Ron]

30 minutes ago, Le Timmier said:

He had a couple of good games in the UCL. Other than that he’d never played top flight football other than in Croatia and the Far East. Along with others I pointed this out when you were making him out to be the second coming of Maradona. 

Mystery solved! 

I remember when Championship at the time Reading signed the Bulgarian 1994 World Cup 'Golden Glove' winner (Bobby Mikhailov).

People couldn't believe it, but then it quickly became apparent that he wasn't very good at all and had simply had a freak tournament playing behind the stellar team they had at that time.  He was then 'injured' almost every week to avoid playing.  To top things off, he wore a wig!

[Chez]

4 hours ago, saintant said:

 

Standard practice these days to get the player terms agreed whilst the clubs negotiate the fee. Surprised the agent hasn't suggested Lavia go missing from training for a few days. Maybe that card won't be needed if Liverpool meet our demands today.

[Chez]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/03/west-hams-ward-prowse-pursuit-in-peril-amid-moyes-rift-with-steidten may explain why West Ham haven't just got the JWP deal done. 

[The Cat]

 

 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Le Timmier said:

He had a couple of good games in the UCL. Other than that he’d never played top flight football other than in Croatia and the Far East. Along with others I pointed this out when you were making him out to be the second coming of Maradona. 

Mystery solved! 

I bow to your obvious superior knowledge.

[Miltonaggro]

15 minutes ago, The Cat said:

 

 

Looks a very good hire.

[saintant]

16 minutes ago, The Cat said:

 

 

Know nothing about him but his pedigree is pretty good. Let's hope he is able to improve our set pieces for and against because, other than JWP's goals, we score far too few and let in far too many. It's an area we need to improve vastly and this guy may be the one to do it.

[Charlie Wayman]

5 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

Looks a very good hire.

Why? We know nothing about him. We'll soon have more coaches than players.

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

I remember when Championship at the time Reading signed the Bulgarian 1994 World Cup 'Golden Glove' winner (Bobby Mikhailov).

People couldn't believe it, but then it quickly became apparent that he wasn't very good at all and had simply had a freak tournament playing behind the stellar team they had at that time.  He was then 'injured' almost every week to avoid playing.  To top things off, he wore a wig!

God yes, I remember that bell-end.  The syrup at the time looked like he had a toy poodle glued to his nut, these days with modern technology the weave is much more subtle:

 

[Miltonaggro]

1 minute ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Why? We know nothing about him. We'll soon have more coaches than players.

Because of his CV, the usual method of assessment when hiring staff.  Same role at Brentford, Arsenal and Malmo since 2019 seems quite an impressive hire for a Championship side.  

[Saint86]

35 minutes ago, The Cat said:

 

 

Arsenal and Brentford ranked 4th and 3rd for set piece goals last season, so on the face of it not a bad hire - Especially if we keep the FK GOAT.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

33 minutes ago, The Cat said:

 

 

"Right lads. Today we'll be looking at free kicks. Right. Where's James? There you are. Just to let you know we'll be looking at defending them. You just keep doing your thing, while I put my feet up for that bit."

Well for as long as JWP stays with us 🙂

[Sunglasses Ron]

14 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

God yes, I remember that bell-end.  The syrup at the time looked like he had a toy poodle glued to his nut, these days with modern technology the weave is much more subtle:

 

Haha quite a change overnight for him! 

He ended up president of the Bulgarian FA!

[Miltonaggro]

10 minutes ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

Haha quite a change overnight for him! 

He ended up president of the Bulgarian FA!

Still angry despite the invention of superglue gel! 

[Viking Saint]

5 hours ago, saintant said:

Orisic did score some incredible goals - along with others I am baffled by what happened to his game when he joined us. I guess we'll never know.

In fairness, there's only so much you can show in 6 minutes of game time

[Saint86]

Stats for Bazunu if people are interested.

Fairs badly on shot stopping whichever way you swing it - see PSxG +/- (goals against vs post shot expected goals).

Comes out fairly well for his kicking. 50% of passes and 67% of GKs launched more than 40yards. We played with him as one of the longest and most common kickers in the league (tactical), but he still had a competitive completion rate at 33.7%. 

Surprised me on the crossing front, one of the higher stop percentages at nearly 8%. Better than Macca and much better than forster (surprise surprise 😄).

Does well for sweeping statistics as well (again tactical), but one of the higher avearages for completing defensive actions outside the area per 90.

 

Edited 4 August, 2023 by Saint86

[Convict Colony]

5 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Stats for Bazunu if people are interested.

Fairs badly on shot stopping whichever way you swing it - see PSxG +/- (goals against vs post shot expected goals).

Comes out fairly well for his kicking. 50% of passes and 67% of GKs launched more than 40yards. We played with him as one of the longest and most common kickers in the league (tactical), but he still had a competitive completion rate at 33.7%. 

Surprised me on the crossing front, one of the higher stop percentages at nearly 8%. Better than Macca and much better than forster (surprise surprise 😄).

Does well for sweeping statistics as well (again tactical), but one of the higher avearages for completing defensive actions outside the area per 90.

 

[Whitey Grandad]

6 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Stats for Bazunu if people are interested.

Fairs badly on shot stopping whichever way you swing it - see PSxG +/- (goals against vs post shot expected goals).

Comes out fairly well for his kicking. 50% of passes and 67% of GKs launched more than 40yards. We played with him as one of the longest and most common kickers in the league (tactical), but he still had a competitive completion rate at 33.7%. 

Surprised me on the crossing front, one of the higher stop percentages at nearly 8%. Better than Macca and much better than forster (surprise surprise 😄).

Does well for sweeping statistics as well (again tactical), but one of the higher avearages for completing defensive actions outside the area per 90.

 

Good grief does anybody take any of this tosh seriously? This is soccerball at its most extreme. There are far too many variables in any one game of football to try to make any serious analysis of it. One of the very first lessons about any sort of data analysis is that if you start with garbage you’ll end up with garbage.

Statistically you can prove that wind is caused by trees waving their branches.

[Convict Colony]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

Good grief does anybody take any of this tosh seriously? This is soccerball at its most extreme. There are far too many variables in any one game of football to try to make any serious analysis of it. One of the very first lessons about any sort of data analysis is that if you start with garbage you’ll end up with garbage.

Statistically you can prove that wind is caused by trees waving their branches.

Prove it

[Whitey Grandad]

4 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Prove it

When trees are waving their branches the wind is blowing.

QED

(Not that I like using that abbreviation but in this case it is justified and appropriate)

[Convict Colony]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

When trees are waving their branches the wind is blowing.

QED

(Not that I like using that abbreviation but in this case it is justified and appropriate)

hahahahahahahahahha but let me throw a curve ball into this, what if ghosts are causing the wind and its them moving that causes this all ?

Also good latin, dont see much nowadays, i like to use et al.

Edited 4 August, 2023 by Convict Colony

[Smirking_Saint]

17 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Good grief does anybody take any of this tosh seriously? This is soccerball at its most extreme. There are far too many variables in any one game of football to try to make any serious analysis of it. One of the very first lessons about any sort of data analysis is that if you start with garbage you’ll end up with garbage.

Statistically you can prove that wind is caused by trees waving their branches.

I think it just proves that you need correct analytics now, the teams that really punch above their weight (old us), Ajax, Brighton, Brentford etc all utilitise data models… in fact most big companies in business or sport utilise data modelling.. but it’s important to understand it and not take it at face value.. or.. as you point out, you can make vastly incorrect conclusions.. be it trees, where to reinforce bomber armour or signing Paul Onuachu

From a sport perspective it has to be backed by actual opinion on performances too.. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

13 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

what if ghosts are causing the wind and its them moving that causes this all

I knew it! As soon as I read Blackwood's The Willows!

>Dumps data analysis book in bin<

While it's still evolving, and with plenty of variables to capture, there are a number of very useful indicators from data analysis. Bazunu is going to be facing strikers with a generally lower level of decision making and shooting skill. Our defence should be a bit better against them too.

He should have an easier time of it, which should help his confidence and development under Martin's system. But there is still the question over whether his positioning is good enough to stop shots from positions with a higher chance of going in, in either of the top divisions.

[Smirking_Saint]

Just now, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I knew it! As soon as I read Blackwood's The Willows!

>Dumps data analysis book in bin<

While it's still evolving, and with plenty of variables to capture, there are a number of very useful indicators from data analysis. Bazunu is going to be facing strikers with a generally lower level of decision making and shooting skill. Our defence should be a bit better against them too.

He should have an easier time of it, which should help his confidence and development under Martin's system. But there is still the question over whether his positioning is good enough to stop shots from positions with a higher chance of going in, in either of the top divisions.

I doubt he was helped by the fact we probably had one of the worst records for allowing high value shots on goal in the league, it will make his stats look significantly worse

With all that said, having AM as his back up isn’t doing anyone any favours 

[Convict Colony]

Guys, I will let you in on a little secret, i re-watched Moneyball on Weds so now I am an expert on sabermetrics.

Let me know if you need me to help you with any stats.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Guys, I will let you in on a little secret, i re-watched Moneyball on Weds so now I am an expert on sabermetrics.

Let me know if you need me to help you with any stats.

I thought sabermetrics was the analysis of fencing...

>digs data analytics book back out of bin<

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, Viking Saint said:

In fairness, there's only so much you can show in 6 minutes of game time

He started two cup games for us and barely got a kick. We were rubbish but he was very rubbish and well out of his depth with the physicality of the game here.

[thornhill_saints]

7 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Guys, I will let you in on a little secret, i re-watched Moneyball on Weds so now I am an expert on sabermetrics.

Let me know if you need me to help you with any stats.

If I give you a tenner - will you double it for me on there? - asking for a friend 

[Convict Colony]

3 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I thought sabermetrics was the analysis of fencing...

>digs data analytics book back out of bin<

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahhaahhahaha

Touche

(fencing joke for you peasants)

[Convict Colony]

2 minutes ago, thornhill_saints said:

If I give you a tenner - will you double it for me on there? - asking for a friend 

Give me a tenner and I will turn it into 4,111 Zimbwean dollars.

[miserableoldgit]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/23349399/west-ham-transfer-advertisement-david-moyes/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=sunfootballfacebook040823&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR18AAQEqRtoQh7QpNqFSHS8PRQJFz4PN1YTxMuobIV7DUGXX7LochV9aZs#Echobox=1691158150

[Turkish]

19 minutes ago, miserableoldgit said:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/23349399/west-ham-transfer-advertisement-david-moyes/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=sunfootballfacebook040823&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR18AAQEqRtoQh7QpNqFSHS8PRQJFz4PN1YTxMuobIV7DUGXX7LochV9aZs#Echobox=1691158150

We have a match 

[Jimmy_D]

Che Adams price has surely gone up now. Averaging 9 goals a game so far this season…