Danny Ings

[danperkins]

On the plus side, it will be very hard for Ings to do worse than Lambert, Borini & Balotelli..... so in that respect he's already onto a winner. As a squad player, I don't mind him... just don't want to be relying on him every game.

Also, he's an excellent dancer, you can never have too many of them

[baitman]

On the plus side, it will be very hard for Ings to do worse than Lambert, Borini & Balotelli..... so in that respect he's already onto a winner. As a squad player, I don't mind him... just don't want to be relying on him every game.

Also, he's an excellent dancer, you can never have too many of them

i worry that you may be overstating ingseys ability to throw a shape. he made have stood out in a below par burnley dancing squad but will he fit in with the big time smooth skills of sturridge.

football wise, he will be better than what we have had [fit] last year.

[Assassin]

There has been some right ****e written about Ings not being good enough for us. He shunned interest from both spuds and manu. He was good enough for both of these teams who finished above us last season

FFS give the guy a break!!!

[The Erectile Banana]

Being a football fan at all is naive. Little bit of blind faith and optimism is part of the whole thing.

Good post Piggy.

From the limited amounts I saw of Ings last season I rather liked the cut of his jib. He's no world beater, but he's a decent finisher, and demonstrates good technique and movement. I think he's a perfectly fine squad player.

[The_weatherman]

There is an interesting article on the Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/football/...onzalo-higuain) about the dearth of great strikers at the minute. I think that is the context in which our purchases and potential signings have to be evaluated.

I think Ings was a solid, pragmatic purchase. Still don't think that Benteke would be the right follow up though.

That's definately the case, earlier I had a gander at the top scorers in Europe's leagues and there was not a lot of contenders for us there.

In Italy the top scorers were:
Luca Toni - 38 years old
Mauro Icardi - Very hard to get.
Tevez - Gone to Boca
Higuain - Cost a fortune.
Menez - Quite a risk, 28 years old.
Berardi - Young but promising

Other leagues' players who might be gettable:

Spain - Looking beyond the top three there were Bacca, Bueno and Aduriz (34) of which only Bacca was proven enough.

France - Lacazette, Gignac (29), Rolan and Fekir would be the obvious choices.

Germany - Bost, Aubeymang, Meier (32), Di Santo and Bellarabi.

Holland - Depay and De Jong.

In Turkey all of the strikers are around 30 years old and in Russia there is Rondon, Hulk and maybe Musa.

England - Austin, Benteke and Berahino.

No wonder we've been linked with Bacca, Benteke and Rondon, three strikers that could have been persuaded to sign within our budget etc.

[BigChief]

Wow that's poor. Out of all of those I would only want Higuain, Lacazette and Aubemyang. And none of them will be interested in us. From the rest Berahino or nobody.

[Fosterbloke]

At 23 you don't buy a player to be developed, you expect them to be able to play straight away.

Blind faith doesn't make you a better fan, just makes a more naive one.

You are a miserable old git.

What if he is ****? Do you think we should buy 4 world class strikers?

[Kenneth]

Of course not. We need to make sure that one, but preferably two, of our strikers aren't good enough.

[meffin]

[vlahka]

There has been some right ****e written about Ings not being good enough for us. He shunned interest from both spuds and manu. He was good enough for both of these teams who finished above us last season

FFS give the guy a break!!!

Tottenham try to buy everyone we contact. UTD most likely want him to fill up some sort of english player quota. His stats over the years have been fairly average for the competition hes in. His decision making on the field is pretty much 1 dimensional. He's not really that good. Even in Football manager he hasnt scored against me ever, and I've had goalkeepers score against me. Even a computer game is more realistic in terms of his talent than the people claiming he is a great buy.

Nothing against him, but hes average and shouldnt be in our team.

[frank the tank]

Tottenham try to buy everyone we contact. UTD most likely want him to fill up some sort of english player quota. His stats over the years have been fairly average for the competition hes in. His decision making on the field is pretty much 1 dimensional. He's not really that good. Even in Football manager he hasnt scored against me ever, and I've had goalkeepers score against me. Even a computer game is more realistic in terms of his talent than the people claiming he is a great buy.

Nothing against him, but hes average and shouldnt be in our team.

If he was signed as a first teamer then i think i would agree. However, I hope he is in our squad as opposed to our team........ in reality, he might be a useful option to have on the bench - more so than Lambert, Borini and Balotelli anyway. And if that turns out to be the case, then he will have cost nothing, will have improved the squad and allows us to put more resources to purchase players like Firmino instead.

[vlahka]

If he was signed as a first teamer then i think i would agree. However, I hope he is in our squad as opposed to our team........ in reality, he might be a useful option to have on the bench - more so than Lambert, Borini and Balotelli anyway. And if that turns out to be the case, then he will have cost nothing, will have improved the squad and allows us to put more resources to purchase players like Firmino instead.

If its as you say then I have no problem. Though I see our main strikers as turning out to be Sturridge, Balotelli, and Ings. I dont see us buying a proper super striker at all.

[Mattshark]

Do you not think that some faith beyond the evidence is part of the fan experience? Surely no one 'supports' a team in the hope of a tangential association with above average statistics?

Support for the team is, doesn't mean you have to blindly approve of every player or decision by the club though.

I think it is also fair to say that questioning a players ability doesn't mean you don't want him to be a success. Nor does questioning the idea that a 23 year old has been brought in for development.

[frank the tank]

If its as you say then I have no problem. Though I see our main strikers as turning out to be Sturridge, Balotelli, and Ings. I dont see us buying a proper super striker at all.

If you are correct and it is those 3 that are our striking options, then we are screwed.

I personally think that Firmino has been bought to try to emulate the Suarez role..... so he will start games as a striker with carte blanche to roam around, pick up spaces, drop deep and create room for himself. I'm not saying that it will work, but i suspect that is the idea anyway.

Origi will probably get chances as well. I see him as a Danny Welbeck type player - he will probably want to prove himself as a #9 - and may get the odd chance there - but will in effect be a wide forward.....

Regarding a new striker, then for me the big loss this summer was missing out on Vietto. He would have been brilliant. It is just a pity the lure of working for Simeone was too great for the lad. Perhaps we went for Firmino purely because we had missed out on Vietto???

If it is true that we are now looking at Benteke, then i can't see what the club's game-plan is to be honest. I think he is a good player, but it somewhat contradicts the style of football that we were looking to achieve (and i am not just saying that Benteke is a big man up top when i make that assessment.....)

I would love us to go left field and end up with Milik or someone like that......but i have a bad feeling that our chances of doing well this season may rest upon Sturridges fitness once again.

[vlahka]

Well fingers crossed we arent that woeful this season and some things start to work out. But I think brendans idea is put enough midfielders on the pitch that can pass well and score and we will dominate teams. I mean theres no reason why he would play 7 in 1 game if that wasnt his hope. Firmino fits that area.