I seriously beg to differ. Technically Carroll is excellent.I was against him signing for us and completely changed my opinion of him by the time he left.
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the occasional signing like this is fine tbh.
as long as we aren't relying on him to play 30+ matches and aren't paying him a king's ransom.
the problem comes when too many of our players are of that kind of age profile, then you get into problems where half the squad suddenly declines rapidly. as it is, we have enough younger / pre peak age players to be able to tolerate one or two like this
I still don't think he's the kind of signing we should be making right now unless we're desperate, but he did "score" these 2 last season https://youtu.be/8v6KGSJzb-I
Exactly. I do think the game has moved on with 5 subs too. I think it will prolong the playing time of players (Bale) and management strategy comes into play. We all know how bad we were with our contracts and wages. Sometimes I think there's ageism too, which is strange considering players should be playing longer and be fitter than ever before. As always, it'll be a gamble but as long as a player has a good ROI and we're not reliant then older players have got a part to play.
I didn't say he was terrific- an actual Reading fan did. Not convinced he will be terrific, but he'll certainly be better than what we've got and be a handful for defences if nothing else.
I must have watched a different game to you, as Watters for me was completely anonymous until about 5 minutes before he went off. That being said, it was not a game which lent itself well to the strikers of either side.
I would take Pearcey's assessment over most others on here. At least he has watched him recently, and more than just a few highlights clips on Quest.
If Carroll was available on the same basis (fitness, pay etc) as for Reading last season it would be madness not to take him. With five subs having the skill, experience and presence of Andy Carroll as a second half impact sub would be excellent. If on the same limited pay as at Reading it shouldn't block the signing of two other strikers either - the plan for one on a fee and one on loan as confirmed by Mehmet Dalman.
But it's all pointless speculation isn't it? Nathan Blake was probably foolish to do his ITK 'reveal' after the Norwich match and is probably embarrassed now. The club and Carroll's agent (or 'sources close to him') have denied the story.
That would depend on a lot of factors including wages, length and terms of contract and, perhaps most importantly, whether or not there are other signings that are genuinely in the pipeline.
Personally, I'll be amazed if either Watters or Harris ever prove to be good enough for this division. Their Championship stats are:
Harris - 24 (+29) appearances, 6 goals
Watters - 7 (+5) appearances, 1 goal
Carroll's Championship stats last season were:
17 (+6) appearances, 5 goals
And we know he's far more of a handful for defenders than either Watters or Harris. The former looked like a fish out of water on Saturday. Frankly, he was effectively useless. Is he likely to improve significantly on what we've seen from him so far? It would be good if he could, but I doubt it.
How anyone can write off and insult a young player after only 7 (+5) Championship appearances is beyond me. Plus the whole team deserve praise for the performance last Saturday, including Watters. They all put in a shift and neutralised a midfield and attack that is supposed to be the best in the Championship. Watters had little or no service up front anyway but thats hardly surprising bearing in mind the amount of work the whole team had to do to control what Norwich did. But what do we get - the usual suspects nit picking, moaning, insulting and making out they know better than the manager and other staff. We won the game when most people said we would lose heavily.
I note that Watters was hooked after just 52 minutes yesterday. It was 60 minutes last week. Don’t anyone dare suggest he’s not good enough, though.
It appears to be be he is now the latest scapegoat. In all fairness to the guy Harry Houdini could be up front and not do any better, service and support to whoever is supposed to be leading the line is pretty abysmal.
Watters up front,Nelson in defence, they are the targets.