Andy Carroll - Best Striker in the World

[Shaggy]

http://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=1775272&postcount=265

Not sold on Carroll personally. Think he could be the next Geoff Horsfield.

[cream]

Yeah, because jounalists are like that. He was being talked about as being a top player in the making, as i remember.

Thought you were talking about us whoppers on here. As for the journo's, well we all know what they're like.

[Lecter]

Being British was the biggest factor in our transfers, somebody deserves a ****ing slap for that.

What absolute ****ing ****e

The biggest factor was moneyball/sabermetrics

[kris90210]

See how easy the likes of Atletico Madrid make it look. Torres leaves, they replace him with Sergio Aguero. Not rocket science. Aguero leaves, they replace him with the absolutely **** hot Falcao.

I honestly think the whole scouting thing has been over-complicated with all this Moneyball crap. The stats implied Downing was good. Anyone who's watched him his whole career knows he's not.

Absolutely

35 million to spend on a striker - we should have done a lot better than Carroll. We could have had 2-3 players for that. (Yes, I realise that doesn't factor in wages)

[Phoenix07]

But if it was truly that easy, every club would be doing it, wouldn't they ?

I think it's the case though that 99% people would not have spent £35million on Carroll and £18million on Downing, instead preferring to search value for money.

It just happens that the 1% are the most important people at the club in Comolli and Kenny who happened to spend money on players who the majority would've said no ta.

Stats can be used to support any argument. Sometimes though, it's as simple as looking at the player without any statistics and saying, 'he's good'.

It's that Barcelona chestnut. You can go to a park and know who's been trained by Barcelona. No stats or anything, just simply watching a player and seeing whether they have simple qualities such as movement, positioning, pace, vision.

[Vermilion]

http://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/show...postcount=2014

I was gutted. Some others were too. Then he signs and you decide to give him a clean slate and give him a chance.

Ooops, i'm talking about the Journo's here by the way, in relation to a quote from a paper posted above about AC not even being able to play football.

[red g]

remember that text he sent to a fan club owner ( ithink) or radio host.

Saying he was gutted to leave and was forced out, I think that has had a huge effect on him and he just doesnt want to put the effort in, couple with the fact he is ****e its not really a good mix.

[kris90210]

What absolute ****ing ****e

The biggest factor was moneyball/sabermetrics

Is it? I don't think it's that contreversial to suggest that Kenny wanted home grown players.

I'm pretty sure that I've read an interview saying that buying british was part of last summers transfer strategy. I might have imagined it, but I don't think so.

[Vermilion]

Thought you were talking about us whoppers on here. As for the journo's, well we all know what they're like.

My mistake, should have been clearer.

[Lecter]

Absolutely

35 million to spend on a striker - we should have done a lot better than Carroll. We could have had 2-3 players for that. (Yes, I realise that doesn't factor in wages)

Its very easy in hindsight saying this

We had less than 48 hours to find a replacement

We tried for a few others and failed

I think its a stretch to believe we could have negotiated 2 or 3 transfers in that space of time

Remember even the Carroll signing was cutting it fine at the time

[Shaggy]

Ooops, i'm talking about the Journo's here by the way, in relation to a quote from a paper posted above about AC not even being able to play football.

Ah okay. You're right, the vast majority of press went way OTT on him. Some were calling him "the hottest property in English football", and using the fact Alan Shearer rates him as some sort of proof.

remember that text he sent to a fan club owner ( ithink) or radio host.

Saying he was gutted to leave and was forced out, I think that has had a huge effect on him and he just doesnt want to put the effort in, couple with the fact he is ****e its not really a good mix.

Yep I read that exchange again recently. As you say he's just not very good but I also think he'd rather not be here and wishes he was still at Newcastle.

[Buzzo]

See how easy the likes of Atletico Madrid make it look. Torres leaves, they replace him with Sergio Aguero. Not rocket science. Aguero leaves, they replace him with the absolutely **** hot Falcao.

I honestly think the whole scouting thing has been over-complicated with all this Moneyball crap. The stats implied Downing was good. Anyone who's watched him his whole career knows he's not.

I agree re. Moneyball. It nust work better on a stats driven game like Baseball (Cricket) where the game is broken down into individual peices of action.
Football is more fluid, and a lot of what is happening happens of the ball. Statistics will give you a good idea of who is a good player - but can they pick out a great player. Not if the signing of Downing is anything to go by.

At the end of the day, you should be able to tell a good player by scouting him and check his mentality by talking to him. Back it up with some Stato analysis - of course. But don't base everything on this

[Norbs]

I remember being laughed at for suggesting he'd struggle to settle

[cream]

Its very easy in hindsight saying this

We had less than 48 hours to find a replacement

We tried for a few others and failed

I think its a stretch to believe we could have negotiated 2 or 3 transfers in that space of time

Remember even the Carroll signing was cutting it fine at the time

It's a good job we ran out of time, god knows what we would've ended up paying if there were another few hours of negotiations.

[Lecter]

Is it? I don't think it's that contreversial to suggest that Kenny wanted home grown players.

I'm pretty sure that I've read an interview saying that buying british was part of last summers transfer strategy. I might have imagined it, but I don't think so.

With all due respect there is a difference between it being "part of the transfer strategy" and it being the "biggest factor"

Moneyball and sabermetrics are clearly the method that they use to target players

Yes there was a preference for British / British based players then used to further narrow selection but in no way was that the guiding principle behind our transfer policy

That is moneyball/sabermetrics