Bafetimbi Gomis

[duo]

George Caulkin ‏@CaulkinTheTimes 2m

 

Alan Pardew today: "I can confirm that we have expressed an interest in Gomis. We think that he’s a player who has great potential." #Nufc

 

Great potential??  He's 27, should be in the prime of his career not showing potential

Maybe he means great potential to be a success in the Premier League.  Looks big and strong...is he quick?

[Interpolic]

I don't think he's particularly great from what I've seen. Obviously much better than Shola and a bit more of a goalthreat than Gouffran but not exactly a worldbeater, guess this is what happens when you limit yourself entirely to one market and the cream goes elsewhere.

 

Would take without being ecstatic.

 

The obsession with the French market has become completely absurd like.  Mix it up FFS.

[Dave]

Nobody concerned that it would be yet another French player then? I'm not particularly arsed, just wondering.

[ponsaelius]

I don't think he's particularly great from what I've seen. Obviously much better than Shola and a bit more of a goalthreat than Gouffran but not exactly a worldbeater, guess this is what happens when you limit yourself entirely to one market and the cream goes elsewhere.

 

Would take without being ecstatic.

 

The obsession with the French market has become completely absurd like.  Mix it up FFS.

 

We have one scout. This is the problem.

[Yorkie]

I don't think he's particularly great from what I've seen. Obviously much better than Shola and a bit more of a goalthreat than Gouffran but not exactly a worldbeater, guess this is what happens when you limit yourself entirely to one market and the cream goes elsewhere.

 

Would take without being ecstatic.

 

The obsession with the French market has become completely absurd like.  Mix it up FFS.

 

Nobody concerned that it would be yet another French player then? I'm not particularly arsed, just wondering.

 

As far as I'm concerned it's worked so far so I see no need to stop doing it. Some scouts elsewhere would be handy but I've no problem with another French player coming in. We've recruited some brilliant talent from there (at absolute bargain prices). Like everything about the team, the problem doesn't lie with the (majority of) the players on the pitch.

[Interpolic]

I don't think he's particularly great from what I've seen. Obviously much better than Shola and a bit more of a goalthreat than Gouffran but not exactly a worldbeater, guess this is what happens when you limit yourself entirely to one market and the cream goes elsewhere.

 

Would take without being ecstatic.

 

The obsession with the French market has become completely absurd like.  Mix it up FFS.

 

We have one scout. This is the problem.

 

It's cheap though, who wants to waste another few hundred grand a year having scouts in other countries?

 

Honestly the total neglect for the bigger picture is unreal.  Total fucking cowboy outfit.

[Interpolic]

I don't think he's particularly great from what I've seen. Obviously much better than Shola and a bit more of a goalthreat than Gouffran but not exactly a worldbeater, guess this is what happens when you limit yourself entirely to one market and the cream goes elsewhere.

 

Would take without being ecstatic.

 

The obsession with the French market has become completely absurd like.  Mix it up FFS.

 

Nobody concerned that it would be yet another French player then? I'm not particularly arsed, just wondering.

 

As far as I'm concerned it's worked so far so I see no need to stop doing it. Some scouts elsewhere would be handy but I've no problem with another French player coming in. We've recruited some brilliant talent from there (at absolute bargain prices). Like everything about the team, the problem doesn't lie with the (majority of) the players on the pitch.

 

I disagree, I think it's unhealthy.  We could do with a few other nationalities, not necessarily English.

[ponsaelius]

It's just lazy and proves that they have no actual scope for the great plan they had in motion (sign young and cheap, develop etc). It's just lots of established French league players.

[Ronaldo]

I don't think he's particularly great from what I've seen. Obviously much better than Shola and a bit more of a goalthreat than Gouffran but not exactly a worldbeater, guess this is what happens when you limit yourself entirely to one market and the cream goes elsewhere.

 

Would take without being ecstatic.

 

The obsession with the French market has become completely absurd like.  Mix it up FFS.

 

Nobody concerned that it would be yet another French player then? I'm not particularly arsed, just wondering.

 

As far as I'm concerned it's worked so far so I see no need to stop doing it. Some scouts elsewhere would be handy but I've no problem with another French player coming in. We've recruited some brilliant talent from there (at absolute bargain prices). Like everything about the team, the problem doesn't lie with the (majority of) the players on the pitch.

 

The majority of the French players we've brought in lack generally the same qualities. Aside from that, I don't think it's conducive to fan and squad morale to continue concentrating on one nationality.

[ponsaelius]

Anyway, he's big and athletic so can see why Pardy is happy.

 

Still think we're absolutely desperate for some attacking midfielders/wide players who can create. Or at least more who do all the basics right (touch, close control, short passing, movement, ball retention etc) like Marveaux does when he plays.

[duo]

I don't think he's particularly great from what I've seen. Obviously much better than Shola and a bit more of a goalthreat than Gouffran but not exactly a worldbeater, guess this is what happens when you limit yourself entirely to one market and the cream goes elsewhere.

 

Would take without being ecstatic.

 

The obsession with the French market has become completely absurd like.  Mix it up FFS.

 

We have one scout. This is the problem.

It does beg the question as to how big our scouting network is. 

[pi_D]

The French league offers the best mixture of technical ability and physicality at a cheap price.

 

It's not that we only have one fucking scout

 

Although when your club is appointing the likes if jfk you never know...

[Away Toon]

This guy's not good enough, overall career scores 1 in 3 games, 1 in 2 in last 2 seasons, in the french league, won't be good enough in the prem.

 

Gouffran had a worse record in France and is clearly good enough.

I'm not at all sure that Gouffran is good enough, it's far too early to tell. He works hard but doesn't beat his man, and doesn't look like he's got a lot of goals in him. Not playing in the system we play in anyhow.

[Interpolic]

The French league offers the best mixture of technical ability and physicality at a cheap price.

 

It's not that we only have one fucking scout

 

Although when your club is appointing the likes if jfk you never know...

 

Funny how all clubs don't choose their favourite league and limit themselves to that market then.

[Ronaldo]

The French league offers the best mixture of technical ability and physicality at a cheap price.

 

If that's true - and frankly I don't watch French football so I can't argue - why have nearly all the French players we've brought in lack physicality?

 

That's another reason we shouldn't be concentrating on one league. It's difficult to judge how much a player can impose himself on the game when he's up against those of similar limitations.

[ponsaelius]

The French league offers the best mixture of technical ability and physicality at a cheap price.

 

It's not that we only have one fucking scout

 

Although when your club is appointing the likes if jfk you never know...

 

It's only got so many good players. Sooner or later you end up scraping the barrell when other teams beat you to the good stuff. Spain? Holland? Belgium? Germany? South America? Balkan countries? why can't we expand our market, there's talent to be found everywhere as teams like Udinese prove by leaving no stone unturned. And with the TV money English clubs have an advantage over more or less everybody.

 

If we've got more scouts then why aren't the finding other players? Why do we keep going back to one small shortlist of Ligue 1 players that have contracts situations we can exploit?

[pi_D]

The French league offers the best mixture of technical ability and physicality at a cheap price.

 

It's not that we only have one f***ing scout

 

Although when your club is appointing the likes if jfk you never know...

 

Funny how all clubs don't choose their favourite league and limit themselves to that market then.

 

I think the model is limiting them to the market because the french league appears to offer the best value for money...

[pi_D]

The French league offers the best mixture of technical ability and physicality at a cheap price.

 

It's not that we only have one f***ing scout

 

Although when your club is appointing the likes if jfk you never know...

 

It's only got so many good players. Sooner or later you end up scraping the barrell when other teams beat you to the good stuff. Spain? Holland? Belgium? Germany? South America? Balkan countries? why can't we expand our market, there's talent to be found everywhere as teams like Udinese prove by leaving no stone unturned. And with the TV money English clubs have an advantage over more or less everybody.

 

If we've got more scouts then why aren't the finding other players? Why do we keep going back to one small shortlist of Ligue 1 players that have contracts situations we can exploit?

 

I like to think we scout players in many countries, though out recent relationship with the French market is a bit too much . I don't like having too many of any one nationality .

 

Rinaldo...while the likes of hba, sissoko and cabaye are no physical tanks they are all capable of dealing with the physicality of the EPL 

[Away Toon]

I don't get this whole thing that Carr is some kind of scouting genius who keeps picking up gems that nobody has heard of. First of all they are all French which doesn't make for a balanced squad or any kind of team bonding I would have thought. Most of them were well known and French internationals well before we signed them. If Haidara turns out to be Paolo Maldini yes hats off, otherwise so far none of them have been any better than a knowledgeable fan would have expected, and many Cabaye, Sissoko, MYM, Debuchy to various degrees disappointing. Now Michu, that's scouting and knowledge at a much higher level of anything we've come up with so far.

[Interpolic]

The French league offers the best mixture of technical ability and physicality at a cheap price.

 

It's not that we only have one f***ing scout

 

Although when your club is appointing the likes if jfk you never know...

 

Funny how all clubs don't choose their favourite league and limit themselves to that market then.

 

I think the model is limiting them to the market because the french league appears to offer the best value for money...

 

We could find cheap, good players from other countries if we looked hard enough.

[pi_D]

We signed Anita from Holland and cisse from Germany based on scout reports surely?

[ponsaelius]

Yeah and we were sending Graham Carr to Germany to watch Cisse.

 

We scout France and Holland also admittedly, that is about it. Santon was a very blatantly agent driven deal as were the youngsters like Good/Mbabu who turned up on our doorstep for trials.

[pi_D]

For the record I would prefer to have a variety of nationalities, not just French.

 

I think its highly unlikely that we have just one scout who has been told only to recruit from league un

[Disco]

Nobody concerned that it would be yet another French player then? I'm not particularly arsed, just wondering.

 

Value/low wages > all else though so it's not going to change.

 

I'm relatively surprised that we're going after Gomis given that his legs are going to fall off in a couple of weeks. The fee must be massively low (I know OL are in financial trouble) for us to push ahead with this. Whatever he's on now too, it'll be nowhere near what Bent is on.

 

For me, for all the raving on Carr he isn't a talent scout, aside from Haidara we've signed no-one out of the ordinary, he is a networker and salesman with an exceptional array of contacts in France in particular.

[pi_D]

Yeah and we were sending Graham Carr to Germany to watch Cisse.

 

We scout France and Holland also admittedly, that is about it. Santon was a very blatantly agent driven deal as were the youngsters like Good/Mbabu who turned up on our doorstep for trials.

 

I still won't believe that Carr is the only person scouting players at nufc lol

 

But stranger things have been true recently