Wilder “bought the best in the Championship”

[PokerBlade]

I think the problem is we cant work out why. Take the McBurnie header for example. No pressure on him from opposition he heads it wide. That could be in the PL or the Championship no difference but he headed wide. He's also done this last year and also on various occasions fluffed it in front of goal. Same with Brewster he could have got 3 or 4 by now if they were on target, I think one hit the post but not tucked any away. So are you saying he would have scored in the Championship whats the difference ? They use the same goals, the same size pitch. You could explain it down to confidence, service etc but if you look at our strikers this year and last then goals are not coming.

Go down to Championship okay they might score 20 but then back to PL again I dont have confidence they will be as good. They have had plenty of chances to score we must have missed loads of chances.

I don't even know any more. I'm not defending McBurnie because I thought he was awful last night but when that header came it's the first decent chance I can remember him having this season. Meanwhile you watch Liverpool, with far better strikers than ours, and they missed (thanks to some rare outstanding goalkeeping from Ramsdale) better chances than that header. The most frustrating moment for me was the couple of times we played a nice through ball for McBurnie and he either wasn't ready or his first touch loses the ball. He might be worse than Montgomery ever was right now for his second touch always being a tackle. Burke will probably continue to take flak for missing chances but he's the only striker we have who looks like getting into the right positions.

As for the thread title, we haven't even been able to sign the best of the Championship. Signing the best of the Championship wouldn't be the worst policy, but our signings are the second and third best. It's hard to know how serious we were about certain players but the likes of Maupay or Cash were off the table as soon as another Prem club showed interest.

We've been trying to rely on what Wilder's done in previous seasons - find very good, very cheap players that have been overlooked by everyone else. Or we've gone for players we think we can develop like Berge and Brewster, but the most charitable thing I can say about Brewster is that he clearly isn't ready to be playing every week at this level.

It all feels like another blame game to me. I'm so utterly done with this season. Our best shot for the future is hold on to what we can and hope Wilder now has a competitive budget at a level where we've seen him achieve. Everything else is just deciding who the best target to vent at is.

 

[BlairBlade]

I don't even know any more. I'm not defending McBurnie because I thought he was awful last night but when that header came it's the first decent chance I can remember him having this season. Meanwhile you watch Liverpool, with far better strikers than ours, and they missed (thanks to some rare outstanding goalkeeping from Ramsdale) better chances than that header. The most frustrating moment for me was the couple of times we played a nice through ball for McBurnie and he either wasn't ready or his first touch loses the ball. He might be worse than Montgomery ever was right now for his second touch always being a tackle. Burke will probably continue to take flak for missing chances but he's the only striker we have who looks like getting into the right positions.

As for the thread title, we haven't even been able to sign the best of the Championship. Signing the best of the Championship wouldn't be the worst policy, but our signings are the second and third best. It's hard to know how serious we were about certain players but the likes of Maupay or Cash were off the table as soon as another Prem club showed interest.

We've been trying to rely on what Wilder's done in previous seasons - find very good, very cheap players that have been overlooked by everyone else. Or we've gone for players we think we can develop like Berge and Brewster, but the most charitable thing I can say about Brewster is that he clearly isn't ready to be playing every week at this level.

It all feels like another blame game to me. I'm so utterly done with this season. Our best shot for the future is hold on to what we can and hope Wilder now has a competitive budget at a level where we've seen him achieve. Everything else is just deciding who the best target to vent at is.

The thread title I took, I hope, from the words used by Wilder last night after the Liverpool game.

 

[Chingo]

Curry's is well known for being too expensive, try another shop or online.

Japanese brands are so 80s try an up and coming Korean or Chinese brand.

What about pay monthly options?

Should have gone when the sales were on, rather than paying premium prices.

Could have bought a second hand one for a fraction of the price.

Your mate has 75" Samsung that he doesn't need, you could have loaned that out for a few quid.

There are always other options available, just got to be patient and look around, rather than buy the first thing you see.

It was an analogy

 

[JackSUFC]

Not the case.
Osborn and Lowe are at least top quality Championship players.

Based on what?

 

[Gannon's perm]

It was an analogy

I know it was , so was mine

 

[Bugboyblade]

We went out and bought who we thought were the best for the money that we could afford. For whatever reasons they haven't worked out, but that's not the real problem. We haven't the finances to say "this isn't working, let have a look at buying a,b or c" and not been able to do this has cost us. Maybe a loan striker with a loan fee plus £60000 p/wages could have kept us up. We've been out of the top flight football for so long we've been left behind financially.

 

[Stantheman]

Went to Curry’s with £500 ... wanted the latest Sony ultra hd with 4K 55 inches but that was a grand , ended up with a Sharp hd 40 inch , it’s alright but not as sharp as the Sony would have been

But you had wasted 500 quid on surround sound which you didn't need.

 

[Sheff de party]

When we signed C. Robinson and L. Freeman, most of our fans were ecstatic, i was particularly happy with the signing of Freeman.

McBurnie had just scored 22 goals in the CH and Brewster had scored 10 in just 20 apps.

Looking at Bogle and realising he's only 20 suggests we've got one of the brightest Championship right back prospects too.

Just because they haven't worked out for United, doesn't mean they weren't the top players in the CH.

Agree. Add to that, C Robinson is definitely too good to play in the Championship. He stood out like a sore thumb at West Brom for all the right reasons.

 

[PokerBlade]

The thread title I took, I hope, from the words used by Wilder last night after the Liverpool game.

I didn't listen to it, but it wasn't a dig either way. It was just my opinion on what we've actually done.

 

[peter w]

One of the biggest issues - aside from wages from fee - is the club a player is joining. taking Sheff U as an example I'm sure you were in for many players that went elsewhere, which goes intot he area of whether a player feels they are likely to stay in the Prem longer, or have their career potentially jeopardised by moving to you. With the greatest respect, and again taking money out of it someone like Aston Villa will usually be a bigger draw to many players in a level playing field (in the same division). yes, there are many variables that have to play into that, but not many really expected you to push on other than those supporting Sheff U. It was always going to be a harder season - so would Cash (taking money out of it) choose Villa or Sheff U in a straight foot race? Its the same further up the chain - a choice between Villa and Liverpool usually ends up one way.

Your recruitment hasn't been great but I'd wager it wasn't for the want of trying.

 

[Stantheman]

One of the biggest issues - aside from wages from fee - is the club a player is joining. taking Sheff U as an example I'm sure you were in for many players that went elsewhere, which goes intot he area of whether a player feels they are likely to stay in the Prem longer, or have their career potentially jeopardised by moving to you. With the greatest respect, and again taking money out of it someone like Aston Villa will usually be a bigger draw to many players in a level playing field (in the same division). yes, there are many variables that have to play into that, but not many really expected you to push on other than those supporting Sheff U. It was always going to be a harder season - so would Cash (taking money out of it) choose Villa or Sheff U in a straight foot race? Its the same further up the chain - a choice between Villa and Liverpool usually ends up one way.

Your recruitment hasn't been great but I'd wager it wasn't for the want of trying.

With the greatest respect, you are only in this division through incompetence and favour.

 

[guancheblade]

I think that there is a big difference between ‘couldn’t afford’ and ‘wouldn’t pay’.

Robinson was on £5,000 a week at Wigan. Fulham decided to pay him £50,000 a week after less than 100 championship games for two sides who both got relegated. I can see why we balked.

You're spot on, we don't have the luxury of being to cave into whatever ridiculous wage demands these players make. Watkins probably costs wage wise Brewster, McBurnie and Burke combined.

As for Robinson you also throw in the fact he would have started second choice LWB and you can see why we'd laugh at the £50k a week he wanted. Even if we could match it, he was guaranteed first team football at Fulham. We couldn't say the same.

 

[DronnieBlade]

That's the problem there^^^
How many chances do our strikers get in a game? McBurnie got 2 last night - the header and the one where he took the touch in the box. If he had been banging them in and was on 10 goals or so, he may have scored both.

Here are the top goalscorers in the division. Look at their conversion rates. Salah leading the way on 17 but has had 60 shots - a goal every 3.5shots.

View attachment 106754

Then you compare the conversion rate to our players.
View attachment 106755

Sharp looks great until you realise 3 of those 12 shots were penalties. Wilder has often said that we work, work and work some more to create the ideal chance. Maybe we should start shooting on sight.

People compare our strikers to Maupay. He has had 40 shots (same as Didzy) and scored 7 goals (1 more than Didzy). But Maupay takes penalties

So I think what we can take from this is that the top strikers at the top clubs are in the general range of 20% - 30%.

A few of our players ARE within touching distance of these numbers so not too bad.

One, sadly, is a million miles off.

So first name on team sheet for our last chance saloon game tomorrow it will most certainly be then !

UTB.

 

[BettingBlade]

So, if I'm understanding this right we can't afford "The Best of the Championship"

But we could afford a 22 year old international player from a Champions League team.

How anyone can defend United's recruitment policy, which must consist of Wilder and a bloke playing re-runs of EFL on Quest, is beyond me.

The point here is, if Berge was English you could double his price tag and more.

So we’ve signed a player that imo is the most technically gifted player at the club and we paid a similar price to what we bought McBurnie for. It’s actual proof that there is value for money in other markets but for whatever reason, we won’t explore it any further. We really haven’t adapted our transfer policy well enough.

I understand that Wilder wants to buy British but if he does that he has to accept that he’s going to have to settle for 3rd or 4th choice on his list and still massively overpay in transfer fees for them.

 

[DronnieBlade]

The point here is, if Berge was English you could double his price tag and more.

So we’ve signed a player that imo is the most technically gifted player at the club and we paid a similar price to what we bought McBurnie for. It’s actual proof that there is value for money in other markets but for whatever reason, we won’t explore it any further. We really haven’t adapted our transfer policy well enough.

I understand that Wilder wants to buy British but if he does that he has to accept that he’s going to have to settle for 3rd or 4th choice on his list and still massively overpay in transfer fees for them.

We’ve been lucky getting Sander through the door, due to a fairly unique set of circumstances the club found itself in at the time.

If we somehow manage to keep hold of him, with good players around him (JF specifically), he will shine like a beacon next season.

He should be taken to one side for a quiet word and reminded that the club significantly stretched itself to invest heavily to secure his services and that because of injury, he should seriously consider giving us one more year to give it our best shot of an immediate return.

Just put his agent in the bogs tied up and gagged for 12 months !!!

UTB.

 

[mattbianco1]

So I think what we can take from this is that the top strikers at the top clubs are in the general range of 20% - 30%.

A few of our players ARE within touching distance of these numbers so not too bad.

One, sadly, is a million miles off.

So first name on team sheet for our last chance saloon game tomorrow it will most certainly be then !

UTB.

No, it means that our strikers need more chances and more clear cut chances than the world class players.

Based on quality of chances, his expected goals this season is 3.43 so he is down by 2.43. Last season his expected goals was 8.07 and he got 6. He's performing similar to how he was last season



Sharps conversion is pretty much nob on (which suggests the 2 penalties and the WBA goal were the only chances he should have scored).


Compare these to the top end strikers in the PL and this is where the stats skew. They are scoring harder chances, hence why they are so good:

Salah (3 goals above)


Son (always scores more than he should)