*Official* English Football Season 2014-15

[Tom Halsey]

I don't understand what they have to lose by paying a few million for Lambert. It's an almost identical move to United signing Teddy Sheringham, a very similar player, and that worked out great. You seem to think it's some kind of disastrous balls-up just because he isn't Diego Costa.

I agree with your main point but not the Sheringham comparison. The only comparison there that I can see is age because Sheringham and Lambert actually were very different players and Sheringham was far better.

 

[Uppercut]

Agree that Sheringham was much better but plenty of fans still felt the way Marc does about him, especially since he was replacing Cantona. I actually think they're very similar players in style- it's a much better comparison than Carroll anyway- Lambert isn't as good on the deck as Sheringham was but he is much tidier than he gets credit for, and he tends to drop off the centre-backs for passes to feet in a way that traditional target-men don't do.

 

[sledger]

Well he'd be Arsenal & Chelsea's second best striker, as of right now.

He's not as good as Giroud or Podolski, I'm afraid.

 

[Ikki]

Lambert isn't that good but isn't that bad either. I reckon if you were to list every Premiership striker in order of ability he would come out almost dead in the middle. Given the fee it represents very little risk and can't really hurt. He could be useful.

On the other hand given what I've heard of Liverpool's transfer targets I don't see how they are rectifying their most glaring problems from last year at all. Every name I've heard seriously linked (apart from Fabregas, but I'm not sure how seriously to take that just yet) isn't actually an improvement on their first choice XI from last season. I mean it's pretty obvious that a complete defensive overhaul is a more pressing priority than a backup striker. Admittedly it's possible I'm missing or haven't seen some players they are linked with though obviously.

13 goals, 10 assists; he'd probably be towards the top.

Liverpool are trying to add depth, but a good LB and CB (we've been connected with Alberto Moreno and Lovren heavily) we'll need.

He's not as good as Giroud or Podolski, I'm afraid.

Giroud: 16 goals, 8 assists
Podolski: 8 goals, 2 assists
Lambart: 13 goals, 10 assists

Not really that much of a difference, really - although I think Giroud's creative play better than the other two. I reckon people are underrating Lambert here. Won't have a long career but what he'll add for the next couple years is enough. Good in the air, good on the deck, technically pretty good and coming from Southampton he probably won't need a re-education on how to play the game.

Moreover, what he brings in terms of mentality - he is a huge Liverpool fan - will add to the squad's hunger. He's gonna give it his all out there and that positive approach tends to rub off on others.

 

[sledger]

Oh great, stats. From one season no less.

 

[Uppercut]

He's not as good as Giroud or Podolski, I'm afraid.

Maybe it's just Wenger getting it wrong but I feel like Podolski would have played at CF a lot more if this was true.

 

[sledger]

I can't believe this is actually a thing tbh. I don't feel like I am underrating Lambert here, nor do I rate Podolski amazingly highly, but to suggest Lambert > Podolski is nonsense imo.

 

[Ikki]

Oh great, stats. From one season no less.

The season before last (combined in brackets):

Giroud: 11 goals, 3 assists (27 goals, 11 assists)
Podolski: 11 goals, 9 assists (19 goals, 11 assists)
Lambert: 15 goals, 5 assists (28 goals, 15 assists)

Coincidentally, all 3 only have 2 seasons in the EPL.

I can't believe this is actually a thing tbh. I don't feel like I am underrating Lambert here, nor do I rate Podolski amazingly highly, but to suggest Lambert > Podolski is nonsense imo.

Podolski's better, but Wenger doesn't use him properly IMO.

I think GIMH is more or less right, he would be about 2nd best at Chelsea or Arsenal ATM. 4.5 mill for such a player is a no-brainer, especially as at Liverpool you want a quality back up who won't kick up a fuss at getting less minutes behind Suarez and Sturridge.

 

[Eds]

He's not as good as Giroud or Podolski, I'm afraid.

I can't believe this is actually a thing tbh. I don't feel like I am underrating Lambert here, nor do I rate Podolski amazingly highly, but to suggest Lambert > Podolski is nonsense imo.

Nah, it's not. If you're comparing who you'd rather have as a backup striker and for whatever reason they weren't allowed to play elsewhere, I'd much rather Lambert.

Has Podolski even had a single good game up front for Arsenal? Ever?

 

[Tom Halsey]

I'm with Sledger. Podolski isn't particularly good or bad, but he is Lambert's equal at the very least, and I'd marginally rather have him in my squad.

I feel like Ikki must be deliberately being a parody of himself here. Posts a load of tedious and, without context, fairly meaningless stats, gets an "oh great, stats" response and responds to that, quoting it no less, by posting yet more stats.

 

[Ikki]

I'm with Sledger. Podolski isn't particularly good or bad, but he is Lambert's equal at the very least, and I'd marginally rather have him in my squad.

I feel like Ikki must be deliberately being a parody of himself here. Posts a load of tedious and, without context, fairly meaningless stats, gets an "oh great, stats" response and responds to that, quoting it no less, by posting yet more stats.

I feel you talk a lot of **** but hey ho.

They're forwards, **** me if goals and assists aren't even a tiny bit relevant here. Moreover, he was playing at Southampton...you know, without them worldies around him. Let's give him a little bit of credit. If his name had a vowel at the end I wonder if he'd gotten more respect.

He's our 3rd forward, and that he compares with some of the better teams' 2nd best forwards then it just illustrates that it was a good transfer, and that's before you factor in his price. This is one of the few transfers that have little to no downside.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I feel you talk a lot of **** but hey ho.

They're forwards, **** me if goals and assists aren't even a tiny bit relevant here. Moreover, he was playing at Southampton...you know, without them worldies around him. Let's give him a little bit of credit. If his name had a vowel at the end I wonder if he'd gotten more respect.

Of course they have some relevance and are valid if you provide some other argument, but your entire argument can't be he's scored some goals and assisted some goals, which is all you've provided so far. Especially as a significant number of those goals will have been penalties.

 

[Cabinet96]

Podolski isn't a centre forward though, so the argument is redundant. Lambert is better than Sanago.

 

[sledger]

Podolski isn't a centre forward though, so the argument is redundant.

Maybe not, but in the event of Giroud being injured for long periods of last season, it's far more likely that Podolski would have been considered automatic second choice over Sanogo imo (had he not been injured himself, that is).

 

[Ikki]

Of course they have some relevance and are valid if you provide some other argument, but your entire argument can't be he's scored some goals and assisted some goals, which is all you've provided so far. Especially as a significant number of those goals will have been penalties.

You don't have to provide much more of an argument, that is the argument: that he's scored more and assisted more and forwards to a huge degree are judged on the amount of instances they directly affect goals. If you want to argue why he's inferior based on some other stat or argument, have at it. But you're bloody reaching by suggesting that you can't judge a forward by goals and assists. They're not some obscure stat mate.

Lambert scored 3 penalties last season (don't have the stats for the season before that)..how is that a significant amount? Impressively, he's never missed a penalty, ever, for Southampton - almost 40 penalties I believe. He's a good forward, full stop.

 

[Cabinet96]

Maybe not, but in the event of Giroud being injured for long periods of last season, it's far more likely that Podolski would have been considered automatic second choice over Sanogo imo (had he not been injured himself, that is).

Maybe. But when Podolski has played there he's been pretty dire. If Lambert were around I reckon Wenger would play him more up top than Podoslki.

 

[sledger]

But you're bloody reaching by suggesting that you can't judge a forward by goals and assists.

Andy Johnson - one of the best Premier League forwards of all time!

 

[Cabinet96]

Of course they have some relevance and are valid if you provide some other argument, but your entire argument can't be he's scored some goals and assisted some goals, which is all you've provided so far. Especially as a significant number of those goals will have been penalties.

Yeah, I would've hoped Ikki would appreciate the flaws in deciding who's a better goal scorer with really raw figures. Podoslki is a better goalscorer than both of them when you factor in minutes played and penalties.

That's not to say he's better. He does very little else and doesn't even play as a centre forward.

 

[Ikki]

Andy Johnson - one of the best Premier League forwards of all time!

Derp, no.

Yeah, I would've hoped Ikki would appreciate the flaws in deciding who's a better goal scorer with really raw figures. Podoslki is a better goalscorer than both of them when you factor in minutes played and penalties.

That's not to say he's better. He does very little else and doesn't even play as a centre forward.

I like Podolski, I don't think he gets enough time where he's best (in the middle). His numbers are low this season because he's been injured.

The p90 or npg90 (I've read this article) is a pretty decent guide; but probably not so useful when a lot of the forwards in question aren't getting lots of minutes because they're a) consistently injured or b) not trusted to play big minutes because they're not rated by their own manager.

 

[Tom Halsey]

You don't have to provide much more of an argument, that is the argument: that he's scored more and assisted more and forwards to a huge degree are judged on the amount of instances they directly affect goals. If you want to argue why he's inferior based on some other stat or argument, have at it. But you're bloody reaching by suggesting that you can't judge a forward by goals and assists. They're not some obscure stat mate.

Lambert scored 3 penalties last season (don't have the stats for the season before that)..how is that a significant amount? Impressively, he's never missed a penalty, ever, for Southampton - almost 40 penalties I believe. He's a good forward, full stop.

The penalty stat is exactly why I said it. He's been there, what, 5 years ish? That averages 8 a year. That is significant. I don't have stats for last season either but it's likely there was a few.

Strikers should be judged on far more than just statistics. Did you ever think Darren Bent was very good? Do you think Chicharito is particularly amazing? I heard not too long back that he has one of the top few goals per minute ratios in Premiership history, but he's correctly miles down the pecking order at United because he offers nothing else.

Besides even if goals and assists were the only relevant thing a striker ever had to do using one season's stats still isn't terribly informative because the variance in these stats is high enough that that one season is still a pretty small sample size.