Ben Brereton Diaz

[roversfan99]

He will need to start scoring quite a few goals before that price tag becomes in any danger of being value for money or indeed a potential long term source of profit. His improvement is very promising and his goal again on Saturday was great to see but he will need to start adding a new dimension to his game by getting goals and anticipating chances before he can really kick on.

[K-Hod]

If he adds more goals to his game, then yeah, we will recoup what we paid and then some, for sure. For now, I honestly think he’s playing with real confidence, that he seemed to really lack previously. Whoever has gotten into his head on the coaching staff to give him that belief needs a lot of credit. 
He’s doing much better and playing well right now and long may that continue. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, K-Hod said:

If he adds more goals to his game, then yeah, we will recoup what we paid and then some, for sure. For now, I honestly think he’s playing with real confidence, that he seemed to really lack previously. Whoever has gotten into his head on the coaching staff to give him that belief needs a lot of credit. 
He’s doing much better and playing well right now and long may that continue. 

As far as I can see he's back playing where he was playing in those videos of his time at Forest. It's taken whilst now to get him into a position were he can make a contribution. Up until Dack's injury he was never going to play there anyway. Maybe he was brought with a view to replacing Dack when he was sold ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Playing with your back to goal and shielding the ball with a defender up your backside is a difficult skill and takes years to learn - Danny Graham was very good at it - and Brereton is getting better. The lad can play too outside the box, as he's shown in patches over the past 2 seasons.

He needs to score more goals though, get on the end of crosses, be brave and stick his head and boot in to get the last touch in front of defenders, and be more cute in his movements inside the area. When he starts to do that we'll have a .very good forward worth the £7m we paid. 

 

 

I played in every position as a young player, including goal, and I found playing up front ,leading the line, was by far the hardest position to play. That's why centre forwards  go for the biggest fees.

Edited November 9, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Blue blood]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

Matter of opinions- I am projecting the rate of improvement forwards, not a plateauing of where he is now.

Well yes it is a matter of opinions but I still think it's massively optimistic to see that he will make those levels based on what we see. 

Firstly it's taken 2+ years to get to where he is. so a similar rate of progress suggests  another 2 years to get to develop from his level. That's 4 years before getting anywhere near the money we paid. 

This becomes even more pertinent when we look at his current form which is a bit of a flat track bully. He's good against weaker teams, but poor Vs stronger teams. That doesn't shout out 7 million and suggests there is a fair way to go before developing to a level where he will be. 7 million talents can do it against tougher teams. 

Thirdly he has only looked good in this formation. That doesn't suggest huge quality and should the formation change due to injuries, personal change or unlikely as it is a new manager, that doesn't suggest he will continue to improve. 

And this is assuming there are no injuries or life events that impact Beretons development and stall it. Many a player has been transformed by an injury. 

Lots of its and buts however the evidence suggests that on balance of probabilities there s a long way to go before we get our 7 million back. 

That said as I have mentioned before I think the 7 million is a dead loss and that the best we can get from Bereton is a useful player. Looking for the 7 million perhaps isn't the most helpful thing in the situation. 

 

[chaddyrovers]

54 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

He will need to start scoring quite a few goals before that price tag becomes in any danger of being value for money or indeed a potential long term source of profit. His improvement is very promising and his goal again on Saturday was great to see but he will need to start adding a new dimension to his game by getting goals and anticipating chances before he can really kick on.

If he scores 10 goals and 10 assists this season would you accept this? 

Can you teach him anticipation? 

[roversfan99]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

If he scores 10 goals and 10 assists this season would you accept this? 

Can you teach him anticipation? 

Thats a hell of an if. But yeah I think that would be acceptable.

I still dont think that teams would be interested at 7m+ after a season of a wide forward getting 10 goals, but if he contributed those numbers after his first 2 years, the difference would be massive in terms of improvement.

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Thats a hell of an if. But yeah I think that would be acceptable.

I still dont think that teams would be interested at 7m+ after a season of a wide forward getting 10 goals, but if he contributed those numbers after his first 2 years, the difference would be massive in terms of improvement.

2 goals and 4 assists so far..

Not interested in selling him tbh. 

His improvement is vast and confidence is there

[Stuart]

8 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

It was absolutely vital that this transfer worked out. £7million is an enormous amount of money for modern day Blackburn Rovers in an FFP environment.

Has it worked out? Would we sell him in for a profit in January? Not yet and no. But there is undoubtedly a vast improvement and he is now contributing on a regular basis, so long may it continue.

Brereton’s problem has always been his price tag.

But it has also been the making of him. If Mowbray hadn’t paid all that cash and he had come through the academy he wouldn’t be getting a look in.

He has a long way to go. I’m still not convinced he has the mentality for it.

[4000Holes]

9 hours ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Which ever way you cut it - his starting position tends to be wide left (usually on the touch line). He is asked to track back to support the left back.

I think, at the moment, part of his success holding the ball, is that he is against smaller full backs. As he continues to improve and build up his strength - I would hope he could start to play more as a traditional centre forward.

As things stand - he is becoming one of our key players - especially for our current style of play.

For me, an example of his improvement was a cross field ball in the last match that he played behind Elliott and into touch. What struck me at that point - was how rare this had become - as I had come to expect these (relatively difficult) cross field balls to find their man. 

Fair enough

[47er]

10 hours ago, Kie_BRFC said:

 goalscoring isn't our problem

it isn't this season! But it has been over the last 2 years where we had to rely in Dack till he got injured.

[philipl]

In business, you have to ignore sunk costs- it is money that is gone.

[LeftWinger]

13 hours ago, 47er said:

it isn't this season! But it has been over the last 2 years where we had to rely in Dack till he got injured.

Not a problem now though. There's only Liverpool, City and Brentford scored more league goals than Rovers in 2020.

Just need to stop being so porous at the back.

[47er]

33 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Not a problem now though. There's only Liverpool, City and Brentford scored more league goals than Rovers in 2020.

Just need to stop being so porous at the back.

Well I said that. The point I'm making is that we did have that problem 2 years ago when we signed him----presumably to do something about it!

2 years wasted----unless you're a fan of TM's "gradualist approach."

And--he still doesn't score many.

Having said all that, at last he's a contributor, a major one so far this season which he has never remotely been till now.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Quite endearing really!

 

[benhben]

On 09/11/2020 at 14:05, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I played in every position as a young player, including goal, and I found playing up front ,leading the line, was by far the hardest position to play. That's why centre forwards  go for the biggest fees.

On a different and irrelevant tangent to the main topic I have also played pretty much every position in my 15 years and soon to be finished amateur 11 a side football career. An crap amateur James Milner I guess. By far the hardest position I play regularly is Centre Back. The strikers can suck all game but score one at the end and everyone is happy. A centre back can be outstanding all game and make one mistake that leads to a goal and everyone blames them. The concentration required is immense.  

[Sparks Rover]

3 minutes ago, benhben said:

On a different and irrelevant tangent to the main topic I have also played pretty much every position in my 15 years and soon to be finished amateur 11 a side football career. An crap amateur James Milner I guess. By far the hardest position I play regularly is Centre Back. The strikers can suck all game but score one at the end and everyone is happy. A centre back can be outstanding all game and make one mistake that leads to a goal and everyone blames them. The concentration required is immense.  

Most of the least technical footballers tend to be centre halves...in my opinion.  Its always easier to spoil than create so I agree with Tyrone

[oldjamfan1]

2 hours ago, benhben said:

On a different and irrelevant tangent to the main topic I have also played pretty much every position in my 15 years and soon to be finished amateur 11 a side football career. An crap amateur James Milner I guess. By far the hardest position I play regularly is Centre Back. The strikers can suck all game but score one at the end and everyone is happy. A centre back can be outstanding all game and make one mistake that leads to a goal and everyone blames them. The concentration required is immense.  

I think that applies even more to a goalkeeper tbh.

As someone who played the best part of 600 games at a fairly decent amateur level, most of which were as a centre forward, but the last 100 or so as a centre half, I definitely agree with Tyrone

[DaveyB]

I think it depends on what comes most naturally to you. I too played at a fairly decent level and started as a winger, before moving up front where I played for the majority of my time, before then moving back in my final couple of years to DM and then eventually to CB. I definitely found playing up front easier as I had to concentrate on what I was doing less, although obviously I found the deeper positions less physically demanding (hence why I moved back there)

Anyway, on BB (as this is his thread) it is great to see him contributing to the team and I do think to an extent that the stats don't really tell the whole story. For instance, I was thinking during Saturday's game that if Armstrong was as unselfish as Ben, then he would probably have more than just the 2 goals - on Saturday alone there were two occasions where Armstrong took the harder option of trying to shoot past (or through) a defender where a relatively simple square pass may have put BB in with a chance on goal.
(BTW, I am not criticising AA for his 'selfishness' - good strikers need that, and when I played I was often the most selfish player on the pitch, but it is just worth noting that if BB were to develop that more 'ruthless' side to his game, it may well also result in less chances falling to AA and maybe even less goals for the team as a whole)

[bboy]

Interesting I saw news today Ben is eligible to play for Chilie as his mother was born there. Would be bizarre if he ever made that team. Don't think he'll ever be England material.

 

https://redgol.cl/amp/seleccionchilena/Ex-delantero-de-la-Sub-20-de-Inglaterra-quiere-jugar-por-Chile-Soy-seleccionable-20201123-0050.html

Edited November 23, 2020 by bboy

[Ossydave]

What a bloody shame nights like tonight he hasn't got the fans singing his name, cos he sure as hell deserves it.

And slowly some of the doubters are starting to believe ?

Edited November 24, 2020 by Ossydave

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, Ossydave said:

What a bloody shame nights like tonight he hasn't got the fans singing his name, cos he sure as hell deserves it.

And slowly some of the doubters are starting to believe ?

Fancy having doubts over the £7m man who fell over his own feet for two years. ?

[frosty]

He’s got a load of Chileans on his Instagram now asking him to play for them ? now that word has got out about him being eligible.

He’s been excellent lately and delighted for him to have 3 goals already (plus a few assists). Can’t believe he’s the same player as the one we saw before the first lockdown. Keep it up Ben.

Edited November 24, 2020 by frosty

[Admiral Nelsen]

I've always been an optimist when it came to Rovers. Only wanted Ince potted after the third went in at Wigan. Even expected Murphy to show his ability once he got used to the Championship.

Even so, I never in a million years thought it was possible for Ben to improve so much so quickly. A full season like this and nobody will be mentioning his price tag, which is amazing where we were at the start of the season.

[Exiled in Toronto]

16 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Fancy having doubts over the £7m man who fell over his own feet for two years. ?

176 pages of writing a young player off magically becomes “having doubts”