Beto

[777Kidnappings]

He's also missed numerous great chances including 4 or 5 one on ones, couldn't trap a bag of cement, heads the ball back towards his own goal instead of flicking it on, dives constantly despite being twice as strong as anyone jostling with him, and unless he scores offers absolutely nothing but hard work and bumping in to people whilst the ball rebounds off his shins 30 yards.

The worst part is that he's even less effective when coming off the bench. It's not like he's some marauding wild card who can come on and cause bedlam, everything he's bad at is amplified when he comes on and has to quickly get up to speed with the game.

Beto should never be kept as a backup striker, DCL off the bench is a far better option.

Neither should be a starter but I know that's not what we're debating here.

What would happen the last 10 weeks when dcl couldn't come off the bench because he was injured again

[AjaxAndy]

What would happen the last 10 weeks when dcl couldn't come off the bench because he was injured again

If he's a bit part player I doubt he'll pick up many injuries, he's played 33 games this season in the premier league and I'm pretty sure 30+ were as a starter being flogged to death, so it's really not the issue people make it out to be.

[AjaxAndy]

Nah, he’s just isn’t as bad as that.

Why the hyperbole?

He is though, genuinely a terrible footballer who occasionally scores. He's not even a good finisher as people keep trying to make out, he's missed more one vs ones than he's scored and his other attempts are usually pretty awful including not making contact with headers from a few yards out of blazing it nearly out of the stadium.

If you get lucky he'll score but aside from one purple patch where he scored twice against one of the worst defences the premier league has ever seen he's not even shown himself to be a dependable finisher.

Utterly out of his depth in this league but obviously running around trying hard and being a nice bloke gets him a huge amount of leeway for some reason.

[TheRam]

Calm down ffs

[AjaxAndy]

Calm down ffs

I'm perfectly calm... You asked, I answered. If you don't want a reply don't ask a question 'ffs'

[777Kidnappings]

Beto is obviously nowhere near a great footballer but he's a much better finisher than DCL, much more dependable in terms of fitness and DCL consistently good performances are an age ago.

It feels like even performance wise we are arguing over tallest dwarf. Given that I'd take betos goals and availability over dcl.

Think we need to start DCL these last 3 games. See if his fitness holds up. See exactly what he gives us in terms of goals and performance. I imagine it won't be much either

In an ideal world we'd move on from both. Neither are good enough for most premier league teams

[blueToffee]

Beto is obviously nowhere near a great footballer but he's a much better finisher than DCL, much more dependable in terms of fitness and DCL consistently good performances are an age ago.

It feels like even performance wise we are arguing over tallest dwarf. Given that I'd take betos goals and availability over dcl.

Think we need to start DCL these last 3 games. See if his fitness holds up. See exactly what he gives us in terms of goals and performance. I imagine it won't be much either

In an ideal world we'd move on from both. Neither are good enough for most premier league teams

What are we going to learn from DCL now though? Even if his fitness holds up...history has shown we can't really trust that. No guarantees for any player, but we've seen enough of DCL to know the elevated risk is there and through no fault of his own that he can't really be relied upon.

DCL ultimately belongs in a team that doesn't need to depend on him. We aren't that. We're going to have a smaller squad I imagine and we'll often need to rely on a core set of players.

[74Blue]

It's not even a debate when it comes to which one of DCL or Beto is better at holding the ball up, then yes, DCL all the way. However, we have another 38 league games to navigate next season. If we do decide to give DCL a new deal, how many of those 38 games is he going to sit out through injury? We are not in a position to carry a 3 goal a season striker, who spends more time on the treatment table than on the pitch. Let DCL go get splinters in his arse on someone else's bench.

Do I want to see Beto starting games next season? Hell no! If we're offered some cash for him,cut him loose too!

[Cods]

Just for comparison this season,

Beto has scored 7 goals from 7.6 xG
Dom has scored 3 goals from 7.9 xG

[777Kidnappings]

Just for comparison this season,

Beto has scored 7 goals from 7.6 xG
Dom has scored 3 goals from 7.9 xG

Dcl seems to have become 1 of the worst finishers in top flight European football.

[Matt1878]

He's also missed numerous great chances including 4 or 5 one on ones, couldn't trap a bag of cement, heads the ball back towards his own goal instead of flicking it on, dives constantly despite being twice as strong as anyone jostling with him, and unless he scores offers absolutely nothing but hard work and bumping in to people whilst the ball rebounds off his shins 30 yards.

The worst part is that he's even less effective when coming off the bench. It's not like he's some marauding wild card who can come on and cause bedlam, everything he's bad at is amplified when he comes on and has to quickly get up to speed with the game.

Beto should never be kept as a backup striker, DCL off the bench is a far better option.

Neither should be a starter but I know that's not what we're debating here.

So effectively you're wanting your back up striker to have a strike rate of a goal a game, slotting every chance that comes his way, rather than a paultry 6 in his last 11, to make it on your bench.

Big shoes for the lad who's keeping that out of the starting XI

[Cods]

Dcl seems to have become 1 of the worst finishers in top flight European football.

The xG stats certainly suggest it over the last couple of seasons.

And whilst it’s been suggested that lower xG chances, even if we’ve created much much more of them, produce fewer actual goals, it is actually built into the xG model. But yes, there might be something to suggest that Dom might be one of the absolutely worst from shots outside the box, but quite reasonable in ‘the spot to 6 yard’ region of the pitch from crossed delivery …


The style (and quality we had in the side) under Carlo certainly played to Dom’s strengths.

But by the same token I imagine if we played to Beto’s strengths (as obvious as it sounds) he’d significantly improve his output too.

Problem is we’ve bought square pegs for round/hexagonal/oblong etc holes over the last few years due to no stable management or team style - we’ve actually gone from one extreme to the other and back again. We’ve also had either considerable recruitment lag, or most likely no clear recruitment strategy to match at all.

Anyway, heading off topic a bit….

[AjaxAndy]

So effectively you're wanting your back up striker to have a strike rate of a goal a game, slotting every chance that comes his way, rather than a paultry 6 in his last 11, to make it on your bench.

Big shoes for the lad who's keeping that out of the starting XI

Haha, I mean that'd be amazing... But no, I just want the back up to be able to come on and impact a game immediately. We've seen with Dom that the moment he comes on he's winning flick one and holding the ball up. He needs to up his goal involvements there's no denying that, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable seeing him come on after 70 mins than the other option.

[brap2]

Well, we'll see I suppose. Points are all well covered now.

Certainly feels like someone is going. I can live either way. Just a shame it's probably flavour of the month delap coming in

[Audrey Horne]

Well, we'll see I suppose. Points are all well covered now.

Certainly feels like someone is going. I can live either way. Just a shame it's probably flavour of the month delap coming in

Delap will go somewhere better than here unfortunately.