by Good Bob » Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:24 am
I've kept quiet on this so far, with it looking more likely by the day its a done deal I supose I'll say what I feel this.
In my opinion we could and should have signed a better player. I rate Bellamy as a good player, but I'm not convinced he's the 25 goal a season striker we need. This clubs always had class strikers, Owen, Fowler, Rush, Beardsley, Dalglish, Keegan... he's not that standard of player.
Some of Rafa's signings so far have been questionable to say the least and he's got it wrong with quite a few so far. I'm hoping this turns out to be a good signing but I can't help myself thinking that this is another Crouch situation where he could have got a far better player for similar money. He signed Crouch when he should have signed Ashton and if i'm honest i although he's a greedy little **** i think Defoe's a better footballer and would be available for not a great deal in price.
The lad does have a good alround game though, but his only truely outstanding attributes are work rate and pace.
I remember him coming from Norwich where he looked a real prospect, then at Coventry he really did struggle to impress consitently and failed to do what Robbie Keane had done the season before.
He improved at Newcastle and was then made a scape goat by Souness once he took charge.
What concerns me is can he do is against the very best defence's, IE Chelsea and United and can he stay injury free.
The lads injury prone, granted, not as much as Owen, but he still misses alot of games throughout the seasons with injury. Also his obvious attitude, although i think alot of this is simply down to bad press i would agree this is something that would cause a slight concern.
The scarey thing is if Rafa has this wrong and Bellamy fails we could find ourselves even further behind Chelsea.
Will Belamy improve the squad and help us beat lesser sides more convincingly? I think he will do yes.
Can Bellamy help us open up Chelsea and Uniteds defence consitently? I'm not so sure...
The reason i ask that question is i can see United, Chelsea and Liverpool being so strong next season that the only teams they will drop points against is against each other and MAYBE Arsenal and Tottenham away.