Huntelaar

[Ron Burgundy]

5 goals in 2 games for Holland - looks better in the air than most of our lot, and a good penalty taker

for £10.5m, should we not have taken a punt? Always a tough one, and I must confess I wasn't massively keen on him - he's only really, as far as I can tell, a goal scorer, and a patchy one at that.

But at that price he seems like excellent value

 

[talkshowhost86]

Defoe got a hattrick against a team who are probably better than Finland and definitely better than San Marino.

I haven't seen nearly enough of Huntelaar to say whether he'd be better than what we have (although my feeling on what I have seen is that he wouldn't improve us greatly) but I don't think relying on International hindsight is a good way to judge players.

 

[tototoner]

would have been a far better option than Fabiano who I am glad we didn't sign as he would have been a flop in England.

He'll score 25+ league goals this season in the Bundesliga. It is worrying that Harry didn't rate him but I feel that we were not going to bring any forwards in until a few went 1st, and they didn't want to leave

 

[Kendall]

I do think we should've taken a punt, particularly as we signed VDV. Those two already know how to play well with eachother.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Defoe got a hattrick against a team who are probably better than Finland and definitely better than San Marino.

I haven't seen nearly enough of Huntelaar to say whether he'd be better than what we have (although my feeling on what I have seen is that he wouldn't improve us greatly) but I don't think relying on International hindsight is a good way to judge players.

Absolutely fair points, just though it was maybe worth discussing

I always feel international level isn't really a fair barometer

I guess my approach in all this is that I don't really rate Pav or Keane. I appreciate it probably wasn't for want of trying but I think we really should have shipped at least one, and replacing whoever it was with Huntelaar (and the additional c. £4m we may have had to pay) would have seemed like good sense to me

 

[talkshowhost86]

Absolutely fair points, just though it was maybe worth discussing

I always feel international level isn't really a fair barometer

I guess my approach in all this is that I don't really rate Pav or Keane. I appreciate it probably wasn't for want of trying but I think we really should have shipped at least one, and replacing whoever it was with Huntelaar (and the additional c. £4m we may have had to pay) would have seemed like good sense to me

Yep I agree that we definitely need to improve upfront but maybe Huntelaar wasn't seen as enough of an improvement to justify spending the money. Alot of people seem to think he's not much better than Pav so it was probably seen as not worth it in the end.

Also I suspect Schalke have him on a fair whack wages wise as they seem to have alot of cash to splash. He probably would have had to take a wage cut to come to us having been at Milan and Real.

 

[EastLondonYid]

The signing of VDV kind of makes the need for another foward less important.
If harry is going to play him behind a lone striker, than we have 4 forwards really fighting for one place.
And whilst Defoe seems to be in pole position for that spot, the likes of Huntelaar wouldn't have come to sit on the bench, whilst crouch,pav and keane will be more patient,seeing as 2 of them were seemingly on the way out.

 

[danielneeds]

I think if Harry had known VDV was a possibility at a reasonable price a week or so earlier, he may have come in for Huntelaar too. They just look like they would have had the makings of and excellent partnership together.

 

[Kendall]

The signing of VDV kind of makes the need for another foward less important.
If harry is going to play him behind a lone striker, than we have 4 forwards really fighting for one place.
And whilst Defoe seems to be in pole position for that spot, the likes of Huntelaar wouldn't have come to sit on the bench, whilst crouch,pav and keane will be more patient,seeing as 2 of them were seemingly on the way out.

I can see you thinking, but I think it makes the need for a proper lone striker more important. Whether Huntelaar is that guy I'm not sure, but he seems to play well enough up top for Holland.

 

[Dan Ashcroft]

Nope.

He doesn't have the physical attributes (i.e. either strength or pace) to be an off-the-shoulder striker in this league. A poor man's Pav.

Redknapp clearly had no interest in him and I'm very glad about that.

 

[mil1lion]

He would've been a risk, but I would've been happy with him in the squad.

If we can qualify for the Champions League again this season, I hope we splash out on someone like Suarez or Dzeko.

 

[Coyboy]

I do think we should've taken a punt, particularly as we signed VDV. Those two already know how to play well with eachother.

Yeah but VDV was an opportunistic last minute signing. We didn't have time to buy a bag of smarties after we got him let alone another player.

 

[Dan Ashcroft]

I think if Harry had known VDV was a possibility at a reasonable price a week or so earlier, he may have come in for Huntelaar too. They just look like they would have had the makings of and excellent partnership together.

Zero and hold-up play?

Remember Huntelaar is only used in emergencies by Holland when RvP is injured. He also only just makes the squad ahead of 34yo RvN.


Switzerland's Derdiyok looks a handy player though and a possible future partner for VdV I thought.

 

[Coyboy]

I quite liked Shakira. Stunning goal.

 

[NEVILLEB]

We need a powerful striker who can bully defenders

 

[Coyboy]

K. Davies please stand up.

 

[danielneeds]

Zero and hold-up play?

Remember Huntelaar is only used in emergencies by Holland when RvP is injured. He also only just makes the squad ahead of 34yo RvN.


Switzerland's Derdiyok looks a handy player though and a possible future partner for VdV I thought.

I thought Derdiyok looked less than useless, would rather have Carlton Cole on that evidence.

 

[sloth]

5 goals in 2 games for Holland - looks better in the air than most of our lot, and a good penalty taker

for £10.5m, should we not have taken a punt? Always a tough one, and I must confess I wasn't massively keen on him - he's only really, as far as I can tell, a goal scorer, and a patchy one at that.

But at that price he seems like excellent value

Decisions are made on an estimate of the balance of probabilities. The judgement suggested by the OP on the other hand is based on the fact of what actually happened. You can be quite correct to have rejected a signing even though that signing goes on to be a roaring success in the rest of his career.

Here's an example to show what I mean. Consider a toss of a coin. The correct odds for heads or tails should be 2. Someone offers you 1.9 on heads though. Do you take it?

No.

But then the coin is tossed and it comes up heads. If you'd gambled you'd have virtually doubled your money. Looking back you clearly should have taken the bet.

But what was the correct decision at the time when it was made?

This is why decisions should never be judged in the light of what actually happens but on the merits of the evidence and the way in which it's disseminated at the time when it's made.

 

[Original # 10]

K. Davies please stand up.

This

 

[Dan Ashcroft]

I thought Derdiyok looked less than useless, would rather have Carlton Cole on that evidence.

I haven't seen last night's game yet; thought I'd mention him because I imagine many people did. It was particularly the world cup match against Germany where he really impressed me.