Summer 2021 transfer window

[prawnking]

If we sign a centre back this summer we'll have

Boly, CB, Coady, Saiss, Kilman

I assume Kilman will go on loan or be sold tbh. So that puts us with those four with Dendoncker as an emergency centre back option. I don't think that is overly negligent if it is the plan.

I'm not saying it's negligent, but we're all in some kind of agreement that we don't have a flexible pool of CBs, so their suitability depends on what formation you're talking about, unless (as I mentioned) we can put a lot of work in pre-season and get some viable partnerships in the event of our first-choice pairing being broken up. I don't think anyone wants to see Kilman or Donk as part of a CB pairing any time soon.

If we're playing a 4 then Boly and new CB need to be able to play with Coady and Saiss also and not effect a catastrophic drop in our team performance, or we're just crossing our fingers with no suitable backup like we did with Raul at the other end of the pitch.

If we're playing 3 at the back at any point (which I presume we will), then that lets the second tier CB's off a bit, but then we need to ensure we have solutions elsewhere on the pitch to negate the creative and attacking ineffectiveness we've seen this season post Jota and Doc

 

[lemonjelly]

Playing a ball winner such as Fernandhino also helps as it frees both full backs to go forward. I think we could do that. My wider point is that we shouldn't be asking Neves to cover anything but central positions as Rodri does. Donk should be doing the same but Nuno has both of them going into full back areas for some reason which creates a gaping chasm in the middle of the pitch.

This has always been Nuno's style though. In the championship, Saiss/Neves were constantly dropping in to the full back positions to cover Douglas/Doherty when they went forward.
I assume it was done for pragmatic reasons, ie to prevent the counter. And it was very effective then.
It's remained a focus in the premier league though. Neves in particular is frequently out wide when we don't have the ball (and he also drops there when we do have possession too tbh).
In my mind, Nuno needs to figure out what he wants his midfield to do. Does he want it to shield the defence, control the ball and game, or dominate possession.

 

[lemonjelly]

If we sign a centre back this summer we'll have

Boly, CB, Coady, Saiss, Kilman

I assume Kilman will go on loan or be sold tbh. So that puts us with those four with Dendoncker as an emergency centre back option. I don't think that is overly negligent if it is the plan.

less certain myself, though theres much merit in your comment. I did ask a while ago whether people thought needing 2 CBs was advisory, and most of the replies were very negative on that. However, I've not seen anything to change my view, and AFCON actually exacerbates it a bit tbh.

 

[AndyWolves]

So we sign one readymade CB and a hot prospect who can cover

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Depends how ready they think Sanderson/Marques/Lonwijk/Richards are to fill the latter role.

I think we could do worse than play Hoever at centre half if we're in a pinch. I'd rather see him than Kilman for sure.

 

[Tredman]

Hoever & Sanderson (possibly Kilman) are as good as we going to get to sit in our squad and cover (probably not even make the bench assuming number of subs goes back to normal).

 

[Lycan]

I haven't been that impressed with what I've seen of Hoever at RB/RWB so far to be honest, I certainly don't see anything in him to suggest that moving him inside to CB would improve him, especially given how slight he is.

 

[PuntsWolf]

I haven't been that impressed with what I've seen of Hoever at RB/RWB so far to be honest, I certainly don't see anything in him to suggest that moving him inside to CB would improve him, especially given how slight he is.

He’s definitely no WB. I’ve been a little concerned by his positioning at FB which would only be exacerbated at CB.

 

[AndyWolves]

I think Hoever could do with some games under his belt. Maybe a loan move to the champ next season?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

No thanks.

 

[AndyWolves]

I know you hate loans and I understand why. I do think there is value in gaining competitive experience though.

 

[Templeton Peck]

Gary Neville made a good point on MNF last night when he was talking about the England squad. He said you don't try and cheat on a position. As in, you don't take Shaw as your only left back and leave Chilwell at home because you have Saka in the squad who *could* play at LB. You cover all bases with the strongest options possible.

So if we really want to improve and strengthen the squad, realistically, we need two new readymade CB's in the next window, who can rotate/compete with Boly in a back 4, with Coady/Saiss as the back ups/cover elsewhere and Kilman sold. Otherwise your new CB signing gets injured and you're left with the same players.

We probably both agree that it won't happen though.

Disagree with Neville there. Tournament squads aren't like Premier ones. Saka is great because he can play LB and be a threat off the bench.

We need to strengthen the team first. We don't want to sign 2 top CBs if it means missing out on a DM.

 

[Tony Towner]

Neville wasn't talking about Wolves just England. His point was if you are playing against a top right winger and your left back goes down you don't want to be replacing them with a player who can do a job as that won't be good enough, so you don't use Saka or a Tripper as your fall back option you take both Shaw and Chilwell.

Then he put Dier in his squad which contradicted what he was saying as he'd be 4th choice centre half and centre mid. His 8 defenders were TAA, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Mings, Chilwell, Shaw and Dier. Carragher had 9, no Dier, but Coady and James in

 

[Johnny75]

Neville wasn't talking about Wolves just England. His point was if you are playing against a top right winger and your left back goes down you don't want to be replacing them with a player who can do a job as that won't be good enough, so you don't use Saka or a Tripper as your fall back option you take both Shaw and Chilwell.

Then he put Dier in his squad which contradicted what he was saying as he'd be 4th choice centre half and centre mid. His 8 defenders were TAA, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Mings, Chilwell, Shaw and Dier. Carragher had 9, no Dier, but Coady and James in

I thought the conversation was interesting and relatable to club squads. Neville sounds an increasingly bitter man when talking about coaching and Nuno. Hard to take him seriously when he's picking man Utd players without real reason and then talking about squad depth and picking players for roles.

 

[Jinky]

Neville wasn't talking about Wolves just England. His point was if you are playing against a top right winger and your left back goes down you don't want to be replacing them with a player who can do a job as that won't be good enough, so you don't use Saka or a Tripper as your fall back option you take both Shaw and Chilwell.

Then he put Dier in his squad which contradicted what he was saying as he'd be 4th choice centre half and centre mid. His 8 defenders were TAA, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Mings, Chilwell, Shaw and Dier. Carragher had 9, no Dier, but Coady and James in

What he said.

 

[Tredman]

Neville sounds an increasingly bitter man when talking about coaching and Nuno.

I very rarely watch pre-match stuff, but thought exactly this yesterday. Seemed a tad pathetic really.

 

[Jinky]

Regardless of how Neville came across, he was much better than Carragher, who basically leapt up and down in his seat like a small child at everything GNev said.

I saw something on Twitter earlier along these lines:

David Jones - "So Gary, heads or tails?"

Gary Neville - "tails"

Jamie Carragher - "YOU'D GO TAILS OVER HEADS?!"

Which I thought was quite accurate. Neville may have some bitterness (and of course, bias towards Utd) but he's still miles better than any other pundit on Sky.

​

 

[Tony Towner]

Regardless of how Neville came across, he was much better than Carragher, who basically leapt up and down in his seat like a small child at everything GNev said.

I saw something on Twitter earlier along these lines:



Which I thought was quite accurate. Neville may have some bitterness (and of course, bias towards Utd) but he's still miles better than any other pundit on Sky.

​

I think both are better without the other. I'm not high on bantz when it comes to punditry, podcasts etc

 

[Jinky]

I'm not high on bantz when it comes to punditry, podcasts etc

or just generally...

 

[PuntsWolf]

Not sure Neville hates Nuno. He just says we are defensive and dull, which is the same as what plenty have said on here.