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January 2022 Transfer Thread

I’m no football system expert, but I would like to try something like below at some point -

Sa
RB CH Max Jonny
Neves Mout
AM
Pod Raul Neto
 
I still want Yunus Musah. He’s absolutely perfect for what we need. And the sooner he gets out of Valencia, the better.
 
Jabbawolf said:
That is kind of my point - think the issue is more fundamental - we always seem a man or two light when we get to the final third.
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I think the choice would be to go to two up front and rely on the wing backs for width or four at the back. At the moment I'd go two up front as the loss of an inside forward/winger really won't make much difference based on recent games whereas losing a sweeper could significantly weaken the defence.
 
Jabbawolf said:
That is kind of my point - think the issue is more fundamental - we always seem a man or two light when we get to the final third.
Click to expand...

That’s because we are.

Liverpool (I know we aren’t as good as them) attack with the FBs, 2 8s and the 3 forwards (7) Leaving the CBs and Fabinho to defend. Obviously helps if you have a player of Fabinho quality to instantly press as soon as the ball comes out the attacking 1/3 to win it back or hold them up so the 8s can steal it off them too.

We attack with at best 5. There’s just not enough their to cause anyone problems without individual brilliance. The WBs don’t even try to beat anyone (I have no idea why not) and the 3 forwards aren’t “individual brilliance” players for differing reasons.

So we’re shit 1v1 in an attacking sense and don’t throw enough forward to turn the tide. Makes scoring goals difficult.
 
The reason some are suggesting a C/H & C/M (preferably one who can play a more advanced role) is that we have no depth in the squad whatsoever just now (look at the bench for the Burnley game - there was one I have never heard of even if I possibly should have done).

Very limited or no experience in senior football at all.

Saiss will go to African Cup in Jan (so will Boly, but he's not really played this year anyway) and we have little cover.
 
Deutsch Wolf said:
Sanches has 12 goals in 205 career appearances. He isn't the silver bullet that people think.
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For me that stat is by do by, if he can link up with Raul and Hwang better then Traore or Trincao etc then thats what we need as at the moment nothing is coming into those players.
 
PuntsWolf said:
Liverpool (I know we aren’t as good as them) attack with the FBs, 2 8s and the 3 forwards (7) Leaving the CBs and Fabinho to defend. Obviously helps if you have a player of Fabinho quality to instantly press as soon as the ball comes out the attacking 1/3 to win it back or hold them up so the 8s can steal it off them too.

We attack with at best 5. There’s just not enough their to cause anyone problems without individual brilliance. The WBs don’t even try to beat anyone (I have no idea why not) and the 3 forwards aren’t “individual brilliance” players for differing reasons.

So we’re shit 1v1 in an attacking sense and don’t throw enough forward to turn the tide. Makes scoring goals difficult.
Click to expand...

I still think against gash like Norwich and Burnley we could do a 4 with Donk in the Fabinho role freeing up Neves/Moutinho who can make the slide rule passes or combination play that the FB's can get onto instead of the safe/boring easily defended shite to feet, get the opposition turning and facing their own goal.

Somedo might not be a marauding WB but I refuse to accept that he couldn't be asked to do combine as Aarons did versus us, indeed, he already has more than once via Watford. The WB's while not naturals are playing within themselves, by instruction IMO.
 
Don't know if you watched the game yesterday or not ? RAN is definitely playing within himself, but I think that's confidence rather than design. Semedo after Troare was our primary attacking outlet, he's holding back because he's incapable, it makes zero sense for that to be by instruction given how far forward he was pushed.

Look at Totenham's second goal today, playing a system as close as you can get to ours (in theory). We aren't scoring that goal...ever amd that's not because of the Son element

3 at the back, no AM and wing backs that can't play the role are killing us offensively. We can all pick holes in Hwang, Troare, Trincao or Podence, but they aren't the biggest problems, even if there are instances when in front of goal they should have done better. It's more systemic than that
 
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I don't think the WBs themselves are the problem, it's the way we attack. The single time I watched RAN for Angers against PSG he was a constant attacking threat, never afraid to take his man on and drive towards the box, and while I never watched Semedo play for Barca apparently he was better at attacking than defending.
But as its stands we're always giving them the ball when the opposition defence is set meaning they have zero outlet in the box and most of the time are forced to play it backwards. It's been mentioned that we rarely play the ball in front of them to run onto while there's space to attack, it's always given to feet while they're standing waiting for it which is always going to take the majority of impetus out of any attack. I think they're both more than capable but our style of play just doesn't offer the wingbacks the chances they need to break the lines.

I think the flat midfield doesn't help, no runner to break the lines or draw the opposition through the middle just allows teams to set up against us and contain pretty quickly, the amount of times RAN makes good runs only to get caught out of position when we lose the ball as he's just not a viable option for the pass is quite telling. Until we start attacking with more urgency and intent I don't think it matters who you put there we'll still nullify them as attacking options until we change our style of play. RAN would have been in his element the way we played against Spurs and Man U.
 
I think it's because our attacks are so one dimensional, it's coming down the wings whether you like it or not, to be honest if it weren't for the fact that occasionally balls do actually make it into the box, you could play us without central defenders, two left backs, two right backs were scuppered, it's only my opinion but we seem so easy to negate recently.
 
The one issue we can address easily is getting the wide forwards into the box quicker so the WBs have more than Raul to pick out. Hwang does on occasions but Traore always seems to hang back. As it is the opponents’ centre halves can focus on Raul and whilst he’s good he’s always going to struggle to do much in such circumstances. The header at West Ham was the exception not the rule.
 
Paul said:
I think it's because our attacks are so one dimensional, it's coming down the wings whether you like it or not, to be honest if it weren't for the fact that occasionally balls do actually make it into the box, you could play us without central defenders, two left backs, two right backs were scuppered, it's only my opinion but we seem so easy to negate recently.
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I’d agree with that when we’ve not played so well. And…without looking (or wanting to either) at any statistics it has looked like we have, at times, consciously looked to play quicker and more decisively from midfield through central channels. I’ve been happy about that when it’s happened and it might have coincided with our better performances? It’s looked to me that, at times, Neves in particular has been encouraged to play faster balls into feet centrally. We have either stopped doing that, or it’s not clicked, when we look more ponderous. I was hoping to see that develop more with an emerging understanding between Raul and Hwang in particular, but it hasn’t quite happened yet.
 
We’ve been seen in the same room together, unfortunately

(and Johnny is a top man)
 
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