The decision to release General Franco seems like a bad mistake to me. We are not exactly blessed with great forwards at the club and whilst not quick over the ground, Franco had what our other strikers distinctly lack, a quick brain.
He made 16 starts last season, with a further 7 appearances as a sub, and netted five times. That's not a great record, I know, but look at the stats and you find that when Franco figured, we scored an average of 1.39 goals per game; and this drops to exactly one goal per game in the Premiership games in which he didn't figure. We averaged a point a game in Franco's games, and just 0.8 points in the games he didn't feature in.
Those stats suggest that Franco was worth retaining, especially as he was on a relatively modest £20k per week as a salary. He also seemed a very popular figure amongst his team mates and a pain in the arse as far as opposition players were concerned. Watching him turn King at Wembley made you realise what a good job he could do if used by a more tactically astute manager than Zola. The decision to let him go seems flawed.
16 comments:
As long as we replace him with someone as good or better I wont be to fussed that he has gone. On his last legs in my opinion.
our squad will be down to the bare bones by the time pre season comes!
sack the board
We will be down to the bare bones by pre season!
Any striker playing in the world cup is good enough to have in the WU squad especially when you look at the strikers we are being linked with (apart from Henry which will never happen as another PR stunt).
Sack the board
I blame the manager and his tactics.... let's get rid and get someone else in.
Regrettably, it looked inevitable that Franco's stay was only going to be for 12 months! The deal that brought him in from Villareal was 'arranged' by Nani and Duxbury and was reportedly financed in part out of their own salaries!!?
He's 34 early next season, so the most he could have hoped for was probably only another 12 months max!? He would have done another good job for us, no doubt...but obviously Mr Sullivan, or rather Miss Brady, thinks otherwise?!
we let franco go yes bad mistake
squad to bare bones by pre season doubt it the fact henry hasnt rejected us yet is a surprise but ilan was ordinary and can leave but we will sign 5 or 6 players bak from 5 or 6 going me thinks sooooooo
How come Spector is not released yet?
franco is a quality player so we should keep him on a short term conract as back up for the forever injuring carlton cole
This club is pants and always will be pants FFS Sky Sports is reporting that West Ham have tabled a bid for Lyons striker Freddie Piquionne, he is SHITE!!!! is 31 and can't hit a barn door with a banjo!!!!!!!!!! I can see another season the same as last if not worse..........
sav gd point hope he leaves cant bear seeing him in a west ham shirt next season
He's a good player who is a bridge between midfield and attack. Is daft that we didn't even try and keep him, even on a reduced wage. I'm getting hacked off with all our alleged bids for strikers when our real problem last year was defence. Sugo need to stop posturing and make some signings!!!
Orgster,
Yep, another Pompey player. It is obvious Grant's calling the shots:
O'Hara, for Pompey under Grant
Boateng, for Pompey under Grant
Piquionne, for Pompey under Grant
Yakubu, for Maccabi Haifa under Grant
No thanks to Piquionne, not prolific enough. Makes Yakubu look like a world beater. Good thing about Yakubu is he does get goals wherever he goes.
Sav & DantheIron... Sorry guys, looks like we're saddled with Spector for the time being!? He can't be 'released' as he still has 12 months to run on the contract he signed in 2008! He's been quoted recently as saying he hopes to have a good World Cup with USA and hopefully be rewarded with a contract extension?!
Let's just hope Ilunga gets back to full fitness a.s.a.p....IF that's the real reason for his absence?! Nicky Shorey and Luke Young have been mentioned in transfer rumours too!??
ive just found out avram grant is def the new manager. hes just waiting for a work permit. and he will be confirmed on tuesday or wednesday.
I said it from the start; Franco will be better than we all thought he would. He has little pace, but his experience will help us score some goals and assist some too! I cannot believe we let him go! We could have had him for another year! Can't believe we wasted time on Mido and money on McCarthy! Ridiculous!
In total agreement, it's not as though we're the most attractive club to come to at the moment. A year's extension would have been perfect, now we've got to try to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a decent striker again, unless diddy David would like to prove us all wrong.
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