Christian Nourry

Fans were voicing their displeasure a while back at the fact Brentord have become extremely successful off the back of moneyball, the stats based transfer strategy whilst we stagnated. We are obviously trying something similar and people are moaning.

I'll be the first to agree, the signings don't look amazing as it stands, but lets give the club a chance to get it right before writing them off for trying something that clearly can work.

Its a v fair point Jimmy and I was among those.

I would just say using data is not enough on its own. 

What data are you looking at and how are you interpreting it?

For example, Madsen's data showed he had basically never won a header despite being 6ft 4, that would have been a small flashing light for me.

A lot of the other stats were not great.

Surely you also need to somehow measure the physicality of the league he was playing in. We all know that the Championship is one of the most physical leagues in the world. I would love to know what the stats were that led the club to believe Madsen could tackle?

Or was it more that they thought he was such a "baller" we were going to be so shit hot that it simply didn't matter, as Varane could do the dirty stuff?

If so wasn't that an incredible misreading of the Championship, given what Nourry and Marti had experienced the second half of last season? We as fans all noticed the quiet stuff Hayden did (the sneaky fouls, the nudges off the ball, the blocks, the tackles). If we genuinely couldn't afford him fair enough, but they were incredibly naive if they didn't recognise that any successful team in the Champ needs a few proper thugs. Varane's stats showed he could tackle, but again in a far, far less physical league.

 

Good post.

Who knows Stains, but I'd like to think it's a bit more than look at some stats and sign a player.

From the little I know, I believe stats are the basis of identifying a player and then it comes down to watching them for a number of games before making a decision on them. I'm sure we were diligent as we haven't a penny to waste.

So the clever bit is deciding if they can do it at a higher level - clever picks like Wrighty and Vardy from non-league spring to mind, although Wednesday had Vardy and binned him because he was so slightly built and ‘would never make it at the top’😁

Agree.

But I could understand their decisions far more if they had both arrived at QPR in the close season. Yet they had experienced half a season in the Champ where a lot happened. They had seen the team away at Stoke on a wet Tuesday. They saw how soft we were, especially at set pieces. Its why Marti pulled off the masterstroke of trying Jimmy at right back. Similarly he saw teams cutting through our midfield so he got Hayden on loan. He saw that Willock had attitude/ fitness problems and lacked fight so dropped him for some games. He off-loaded Dozzell.

In short, he seemed a pragmatist and understood you need players with bollocks to survive in the Championship. 

But in the close season him and Nourry presumably decided to go 100% purist, building a baby Barca. Whether you use data or scouts surely you somehow identify players with steel?

Madsen and possibly Varane (have a bit more hope for the latter) seem weak creatively AND defensively. We off-load Dozzell (great) but replace him with Madsen (not great). 

Confidence is a huge thing in football. Once they click a bit more (assuming they do) then the confidence should start to grow. There is still a lot of learning how to play going on, which is why this break is a massive one. They shouldn't need/want days off, they should be training Mon-Friday, really getting into it.

Marti has said about the physicality. But lets not forget, except Luton, most teams that go up these days do it playing football. Burnley will probably win the league with football players and not because they are overly physical.

That’s true but we do have physical players and experienced players. Also, Whatever thoughts on Varane going forward, he gets stuck in and doesn’t shirk the physical side of the Championship. I also thought he did well against a premier league midfield in Palace. So, he for has potential. With JCS, Cook, Dunne, Colback, Field and Varane players and I’d say all bar 1 (who would replace one of those injured) would be starters under Marti. I think we’ve been very unlucky with timing of injuries (Morrison being another) and suspensions (Varane).

In addition to players being out, difficult to legislate for Anderson basically being in terrible form. He’s been useless and needs time out of the side.

That said, the 2 signings that I do not understand is 1) Ashby - why on earth do we need a right back very similar style to our own current 2nd choice right back. And 2) Madsen - why are we signing a tall midfield player who was said at outset doesn’t like to tackle or head the ball! All the other signings are good to ok in my view. But these 2 are terrible.

How's the data looking?

Of that starting side, 7 were here last season. Dembele and Nardi were all thought to be good signings. We can’t blame it all on Madsen.

Saito I think could be great for us if we give him the ball in right areas. I also think Varane is improving game by game. His best game was against a Prem midfield. I think there’s more to it. You listen to Marti and I wonder whether his style ends up being too complicated and the players get confused with their roles. Football is ultimately a simple game.

How we going to offload the new signings and get our money back?



NOURRY has managed to sell our so called problems Dykes and Armstrong and replaced them with players that has left us in a worse position.

Amazing,unbelievable.

We need to start buying from Amazon.

A shit Messi got to be better than Madsen for example.