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Matt Ritchie (now playing for Portsmouth)

Fenham Mag

by Fenham Mag
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Stottie

Stottie

Posted
Posted

If he is replaced in a manner Rafa is happy with, that sounds like a good fee to me given his age. He's a good pro and he was good for us, so all the best to him.

 

The thought of the club operating in a competent and sensible manner feels weird.

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TRon

TRon

Posted
Posted

Crazy if they increase from £15m. Imagine getting £20m for him :lol:

 

His replacement cost is probably £20m+ tbh.

 

That's what it's all about. Richie is as good as gone.

If Palace want £23m for Townsend then we want £18m (23-5) for Ritchie etc

 

Townsend is two years younger than Ritchie, and crucially offers pace. I'd have been happy with £15m for Ritchie tbh as I don't think he's suited to Rafa's style of play.

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Sean

Sean

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Posted

Be sad to see him go more for his attitude and commitment as his ability. As others have said Rafa knows what both he and Townsend have to offer so if Rafa wants Townsend then I'm happy to go along with it.

 

Does stick in the throat a little when you compare Ritchie's clear desire to play here under Rafa to Townsend wanting to play in the Prem even under Pardew. On the other hand, Rafa has probably kept in contact with Townsend so will know more than us in terms of his desire to come back - it was supposed to be lined up 6 months after he left so I do believe Rafa has a better picture of Townsends character than us.

 

I feel we NEED to sign Kenedy no matter what else we do.

 

Will wish Ritchie all the best if he does leave. Interestingly I don't think he ever missed a penalty for us (unless you count THAT Burton one)  :lol:

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Guest Howaythetoon

Guest Howaythetoon

Posted
Posted

If we were owned by someone ambitious we wouldn’t need to sell the likes of Ritchie to improve the first-team, we could that and keep the lad so our overall squad is strong.

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TK-421

TK-421

Posted
Posted

If we were owned by someone ambitious we wouldn’t need to sell the likes of Ritchie to improve the first-team, we could that and keep the lad so our overall squad is strong.

 

Is it that simple though, for a club like us - i.e. not one of the top 6 sides?

 

If we were in a position to keep him and sign (arguably) better players for his position, would he be happy to warm our bench, especially at his age?

 

He's not young kid, and will still have ambitions with Scotland, which wouldn't be helped by warming our bench.

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Guest Howaythetoon

Guest Howaythetoon

Posted
Posted

If we were owned by someone ambitious we wouldn’t need to sell the likes of Ritchie to improve the first-team, we could that and keep the lad so our overall squad is strong.

 

Is it that simple though, for a club like us - i.e. not one of the top 6 sides?

 

If we were in a position to keep him and sign (arguably) better players for his position, would he be happy to warm our bench, especially at his age?

 

He's not young kid, and will still have ambitions with Scotland, which wouldn't be helped by warming our bench.

 

I think he would, I mean howay, he’s being linked with moves to a lower division. Rafa rotates enough and has never seemingly had a huge propeblem with players when it comes to keeping them happy.

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Mr Logic

Mr Logic

Posted
Posted

The Andros Townsend who was here under Rafa would be a huge upgrade on Ritchie imo. Pace, skill, ball carrying, threat, trickery, etc. Looked a quality player here, and almost single handedly tore a few teams apart and sparked a brief bit of hope for survival. If he's close to where he was, he'd still be a huge improvement. If he's waned, then maybe only a moderate/minor improvement.

 

Ritchie is in complete contrast to that imo. He's a decent player if you look at his performances in isolation (and ignore the large pitch of poor form in the middle part of the season), hard working and passionate, but in terms of a team game he unfortunately provides severe limitations/bottlenecks by virtue of not having pace/skill, and thus is comfortably inferior to Townsend. For example, when opposition left backs were out of position, how many times was the space left by them exploited by Ritchie? Answer: pretty much never. Townsend on the other hand caused all manner of headaches for opposition teams, hence why he's a huge upgrade. Kenedy did the same, and had he not then we'd probably have gone down again (and Ritchie would have been part of the problem - instead Kenedy's presence papered over that crack).

 

With respect to wanting to upgrade on Ritchie, I do think there's some rose tinted specs being used here (same applies in the Mitrovic thread). Last season it felt like there were too many games where he was visibly struggling to provide any meaningful threat on his flank. Alot of huff and puff, harassing defenders, etc, but very little by the way of any actual meaningful quality. Being a conduit for Yedlin issn't good enough because Yedlin's end product isn't exactly great, so that type of winger-full back relationship wasn't even worthwhile imo. On top of the lack of pace/skill I'd also say that whilst Ritchie has the reputation of being a sweet hitter of the ball, he consistently flopped decent shooting/crossing positions, which is sort of unforgivable because you'd expect him to be clinical/ruthless as way of compensation for not having pace/skill.

 

All of this is probably why only Championship clubs are really interested. You'd expect a good PL quality experienced 28 year old British winger available for £15m to have numerous mid table PL clubs knocking the door down to sign him. So far it looks like only Stoke and Boro have shown interest.

 

But anyways, decent player, and I'm sure he'll do alright wherever he goes.

 

Spot on for me.

 

Can't quite put my finger on why some people don't think he's an upgrade. I can only assume the judgement is clouded by the thought Townsend betrayed us by leaving.

(Don't slaughter me if I'm wrong - explain why he's not an upgrade.)

I suspect, maybe wrong, if you asked him now he'd say he should have stayed. Always easy to say in hindsight. Him, or us.

 

No football videos allowed, so

 

w.youtube.com/watch?v=CSxALAV6Oyo  Scores for England, Kane hugs him

w.youtube.com/watch?v=dbveI5iom2o  Works his bollocks off in the 5-1 against Tottenham

 

 

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Guest neesy111

Guest neesy111

Posted
Posted

Yeah but our transfer record was from 2007?!?! The world of football has moved on since then.

 

2005.

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duo

duo

Posted
Posted

Even if Townsend and/or Kenedy is/are brought in?

 

We need Kenedy in just to not be worse off than the second half of last season. Not particularly arsed about Townsend either way tbh.

Same - don't get why Rafa would be interested in him - I don't rate him at all.

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Shearergol

Shearergol

Posted
Posted

Could we not just sell Atsu instead. He’s a waste of space in comparison to Ritchie.

 

Although if he does leave I wish him the very best. He did well for us.

 

I think if stoke offered us £15m for atsu we’d sell him. Why would they though?

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Klaus

Klaus

Posted
Posted

Because he played really well under him here 2 years ago

He was average at best.

 

:serious: He was one our best players during his short time here. I am somewhat underwhelmed by his potential return , but he clearly improved us when he was here last time.

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