Put on record of severely disliking Pepi-to-Augsburg. Too many variables that can lead to problems, and decent shot of playing in BL2 next year as well. The pressure and travel of WCQ starting right away, right as he gets to his new club...ugh Would love to be wrong.
Okay everybody, this is what we have so far: Sunshine in a Baggie: Daryl Dike at West Bromwich Albion Go West Brom, Young Man! Daryl Dike at West Bromwich Albion Dike with a Beekay: Daryl Dike at West Bromwich Albion Bring your Baggies: Daryl Dike is at West Bromwich Albion. 11 Baggies of Cool: Daryl Dike at West Brom This Baggie Weighs a Lot: Daryl Dike at West Brom Bagging Cash and Bagging Goals: Daryl Dike, West Brom Story Baggieing All the Goals: Daryl Dike at WBA Stick it in the Ol' Onion Bag*, Daryl: Dike at WBA Baggies all my goals: Daryl Dike at WBA Dike Puts Another Bulge in the Auld Onion Baggie: Daryl Dike at West Brom West Brom Story: Daryl Dike at West Bromwich Albion Any more takers? Get ‘em in in the next day or so and we’ll create a poll.
Definite winner: Go West Brom, Young Man! Daryl Dike at West Bromwich Albion My suggestions: "How the West Brom was Won: Dike at WBA" or "Once Upon a Time in the West Brom: Dike at WBA"
Just watched highlight of WBA’s last game (1:1 vs Cafiff). Surprise! They actually played ball on the ground.
It shouldn't be a surprise. Ismael is French and spent much of his playing career in Germany, which included two seasons with Bayern and his coaching CV includes leading an Austrian that wasn't Salzburg to topping an EL group that included PSV and Sporting Lisbon, beating Basel on the way to qualification. That's not a Route One specialist's profile. Barnsley are a relatively poor club which had barely avoided relegation the previous season. He played Route One with Daryl up top because that was the best system for the (pretty crap) squad he had. With Daryl up top at West Brom, you can expect him to look at lot more like, say, Lukaku than his 2020-21 season's incarnation.
Expectations are high for Dike, based on the Barnsley stint last year. He seems like the kind of kid who doesn’t get down on himself easily, and he has already been through the culture shock element. I am cautiously optimistic for him. I hope Pepi has some wise helpers to navigate all the newness.
A bit on Dike from Larry Henry: https://www.expressandstar.com/spor...have-new-lukaku-in-daryl-dike-says-us-expert/
Sometimes we obsess too much on the specific situation where a player finds himself. A good player will show his quality. And I highly doubt Pepi will stay at Ausburg if they are relegated. They won't be able to pay his salary.
I'm excited to see how Dike does over there- so many upside elements to his game (especially relative to Sargent), particularly his determination to win the 1st ball and to find a space in and around the goal. Hit some real bangers for Barnsley and showed moments of great ability. But he's also shown some real down-side for the US... lack of consistent foot skills, lack of quick decision making, lack of understanding of his team-mates and spacing, and lack of understanding about how to defend from the front line. I have him a good ways behind Pepi, Sarge, Prefok and Zardoz, and am currently not interested in seeing him suit up for the US. But he's young in professional years and has a tremendous attitude (can't help but love the kid every time I've seen him speak/post off the field), so I have tempered hopes that he can knock down some of those negatives above and gain consistency, which at this point with how the other forwards have looked, would put him into a top 2 for me.
I have a similar scouting report on Dike, but I don't have him that far behind the folks you listed ... and maybe not behind some of them. I think maybe I just rate them less. Dike has some real weaknesses, for sure. I just wonder if his moments of brilliance can completely overshadow them at striker. If nothing else, could he help us fix our broken set piece offense?
Big Dike Energy: A West Brom tale. Baggies? We don't need know stinkin' baggies! : Dike at West Brom Albion the Prem soon: Dike at WBA A finger in the Dike at West Brom
I also wonder how much of our opinion of Dike in a USMNT shirt was tainted by his performances when playing while injured? At some point, I'd love to see him play with the A team when he's in form and healthy.
I think it didn't help. I think in one of his last games, he was something like 0/14 on aerial duels. I would be pretty shocked if that shoulder didn't affect that. That said, I think there are things that have nothing to do with his shoulder. He's slow to react at times, slow with his feet, and he really only shoots with his right. It leads to relatively long time passing between the ball to his feet and his actual shot. It's in sharp contrast to Pepi, who often finds a way to line up a one time shot and get the ball off quicker. Dike is a good finisher by the numbers, but he's a blast the crap out of it -- there's not a lot of placement in most of his shots. The net is that he's a strong finisher when he gets a shot off, but he gets blocked a decent amount, or fails to get a shot off more than you'd like. I also don't think the injury was really material on some of his issues with pressing and endurance. He's just not really build to run all 90. But unlike a lot of our young strikers, he's not getting muscled off the ball when healthy, and that's super valuable. As are the headers and his ability to make some good runs behind the defense.
this is a very fair point. I'm basing a lot of what I wrote above on those US performances, and he very well may have been injured for a lot of that.