He said Stoke or lower. Meaning he wouldn't want to see him at club at Stoke's level or lower, not that Stoke is inherently a lower EPL side. Though, c'mon, you are. Being in 10th place may literally be in the top half, but Stoke is still closer in points to relegation than it is to European competition. And 10th place would be Stoke's best finish since being promoted 6 years ago. Still, I wouldn't take it personally. I am wary of seeing US strikers go anywhere in the EPL. If they go to a team that's too high in the table, I worry about the player losing playing time due to high priced competition (like Dempsey at Tottenham). If they go to a team too low in the table, I fear they won't get much service and will fail and then get buried on the depth chart (like Altidore at Sunderland). Of course in an ideal world a US striker would just take the league by storm, but I'm not holding my breath.
I wouldn't want any US striker near a Pulis-led Stoke side. Under Hughes, though, they actually try to pass it around a bit. I'm not one for style over substance (grind it out by all means necessary if that's what it takes to stay up), but if you can get results and play a relatively attractive style at Stoke...I don't think that's the worst situation.
And then again, Pulis-led Crystal Palace is one point behind Stoke at the moment and considering how their season began, one could make the case that Pulis' current club is a better team.
Their top striker has 5 goals in 29 games and their leading scorer is a midfielder with 7. His teams aren't great places for strikers to develop regardless of how well the team is doing.
In all fairness, Pulis doesn't have much to work with. Take his primary penalty kick taker, for example, one Jason Puncheon.
He did have Crouch. He scored a bit for Liverpool and Spurs not too long ago. Might have to think over that last club.
I agree that i don't particularly want to see US strikers in England. I think the lesson to learn is that, one, there is no team where you can go and not have competition. Jozy has competition for his spot even at a bottom team. I think expecting to go somewhere and get no competition is unrealistic unless your in MLS where there is not the player depth or the daily pressure and scrutiny. The second lesson to me is, at most teams in the EPL, but especially at the bottom teams, a striker is not going to get many chances so they need to be ruthless finishers to survive. They may get two half chances a game. They need to take them. If that player is dependent on service and struggles to create their own shot they really need to be careful they go to a team that matches their needs and maybe that's not just any team that will pay you. Yeah when Brek Shea went there I thought it was a bad idea. I looked at all stoke tranfers for about the last 6 years and didn't find a single attacking player (not defender) that has gone to stoke (like Shea did) and then was sold on to a better team. They all stayed or got sold to the championship. I was of the impression that Stoke's style simply didn't develop attackers. None of their players were like getting better and being sold off to top 6 teams. So i thought it was a bad place for our attackers to go. Pulis is gone now so who knows but i'm still skeptical. And it doesn't surprise me that their top strikers are not exactly prolific. Now by contrast I don't think it's bad that Cameron is their cause they slant towards being defensive.
Aron's style would work well in Spain. Problem is--what team there would want him/afford him otuside of the big ones?
how could they not? Malaga, Sociedad, Sevilla, Valencia. Aron is a decent scorer in the Dutch league. 4-5 million euros and i'm sure he can be picked up.
Malaga and Valencia were in financial shambles a couple yaers back--have they changed? Sevilla would be nice....
I think Valencia is making it along. My point is AJ won't cost much unless suddenly he scores goals in Brazil. Otherwise a few million euros and he's gone. Best for him to pick a smaller club where he can be the star man. Maybe a decent club in Portugal or France.
Valencia are in a world of trouble financially. IIRC, they are currently being run by a lender, Bankia, who desperately want to sell the club. However, there is a dispute over who actually has the legal right to sell the club. That's a stumbling block as well as the €300M they owe to various creditors. In other words.............. it's a bloody mess. Sadly, many, many Spanish clubs are in the same boat.
How many strikers will admit to themselves that they are dependent on service and struggle to create their own shot? Especially those who have done well enough to attract some kind of transfer offer.
There are no guarantees Aron will make a transfer this summer. AZ has no replacement ready like with him and Altidore last year. The back up striker Avdic has not impressed at all. Then there is the new coach Marco van Basten. What striker would not want have master classes by one of the best center forwards of all time. Finbogason decided to stay longer at Heerenveen for that reason alone.
13. I don't know. I not out polling players? I think if you're a player and don't know your style and your weaknesses you don't know what you should be working on and I'd expect any professional player to be engaged in such self evaluation. I'd expect any quarterback in the nfl to know what type of offense he can run, what sort of throws he struggles with, what aspect of his game he needs to work on. I'd expect that of any athlete. If they aren't maybe we know right their why they could fail. If they aren't looking at themselves then they aren't working hard enough. Do you really think, say Russell Wilson isn't watching film day and night, evaluating his play to improve constantly. Honestly maybe that's the problem. Maybe some of our soccer players need some of that NFL religious off season work ethic trying to improve.
Johannsson can create his own shot. I think he will choose a much better team than Altidore, did either way when he transfers out of Holland.
agreed. i thought he'd looks like a man who'd murder you with a pick-ax and then drive his truck down to the bar for some beers with the boys and never say a word about it.
I am sure that most top level strikers (players) evaluate themselves, but they also tend to have an ego/self belief that says that they can succeed against adversity. So my GUESS is that they tend to over-rate themselves, especially after a good season. It is their agents and advisors' job to set them straight (and I don't mean that the players bear no responsibility when the transfers don't work out).
An Agent by definition works for you. He represents the Principal. If the Agent is telling a player what to do than that player is a fool for not controlling his employee. The Agent is literally an employee. He doesn't tell anybody anything if he's doing his job. If you let the Agent run anything outside the scope of his role you're a fool. I'm not saying European football isn't full of fools because i bet it is. But Lebron makes the Agent do the bidding at his direction. The agent doesn't tell Lebron what to do and where to go. Lebron will just fire his agent and get a new one. There's lines of agents waiting. If your agent can dictate where you play you're ruining your career. You're letting some guy that's a glorified negotiator make decisions your career. crazy.