The 2015/2016 Summer Improvement Thread

[Johnny75]

We will have to disagree then Lycan as I think it's a poor decision. Your points are valid and I would be far more comfortable if we'd played this once since January. However buying a left midfielder/ winger/ forward would've made far more sense. Especially as spunking 2m on a defensive mid wasn't really a priority. Very bad recruitment.

KJ is also on record as saying we play much better when we get the ball wide.

 

[Alan]

Not sure how it would make sense to buy a winger if going narrow is the plan anyway. "Welcome to Wolves, we'll get the bench cushions for you".

Beside which the transfer window is open for another six weeks. Plenty of time for pieces to move around, both in and out.

 

[Derby Wolf]

I'm all for a change in formation if Kenny can pull it off but the lack of depth wide is concerning when Ken has ruled out Zyro in the Depress and Blah today but it looks like Henry *might* be on his way. If we do need a change in formation to more traditional wide players the pressure will be on the younger players. As a rule this season the pressure the players largely didn't suffer from will be back now that they've had a whiff of promotion.

 

[Lycan]

We will have to disagree then Lycan as I think it's a poor decision. Your points are valid and I would be far more comfortable if we'd played this once since January. However buying a left midfielder/ winger/ forward would've made far more sense. Especially as spunking 2m on a defensive mid wasn't really a priority. Very bad recruitment.

KJ is also on record as saying we play much better when we get the ball wide.

IMO there were some big problems with the 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 hybrid we favoured in the second half of last season which were glossed over because of the form of Dicko, Afobe & Sako. With Afobe offering minimal support to the central midfielders, Price and McDonald ended up far too exposed as a pair and Henry/Rajiv didn't offer enough stability on the right hand side to let Sako push forward to become the third forward. It was unbalanced but we didn't really have any choice but to play it because Sako was our best player and didn't play any other position.

We either had to change formation or rip up our central midfield and buy in players who would fit in a straight 4-4-2, as Dan has mentioned more than a few times this pre-season.

We could've signed a replacement but if we thoroughly scouted potential left wingers (which we should've been doing for a while knowing that Sako was leaving) and decided that all available options within our price range would be a downgrade on Bakary then a change of formation is the next logical step.

 

[Johnny75]

Not sure how it would make sense to buy a winger if going narrow is the plan anyway. "Welcome to Wolves, we'll get the bench cushions for you".

Beside which the transfer window is open for another six weeks. Plenty of time for pieces to move around, both in and out.

The plan last season wasn't to go narrow but to have threats out wide and through the middle (post Afobe). worked pretty well too. Bit silly to change that now don't you think?

 

[Johnny75]

I've no doubt there were problems with 4-4-2/ 4-2-3-1 system. But it worked and worked very well. Wallace could well do that role a la Hazard for Chelsea. What is concerning is that in a year we could not find a Sako replacement. That's shocking from any recruitment team. And if they couldn't we should have played a diamond at least once.

This new formation looks like a 'these are the players, we have to make it work'.

This may be all of KJ's doing mind you and he had this in mind all along. If it works out of the gate and we fly I'll hold my hands up and say I was wrong. I just can't see it.

 

[Lycan]

I've no doubt there were problems with 4-4-2/ 4-2-3-1 system. But it worked and worked very well. Wallace could well do that role a la Hazard for Chelsea. What is concerning is that in a year we could not find a Sako replacement. That's shocking from any recruitment team. And if they couldn't we should have played a diamond at least once.

This new formation looks like a 'these are the players, we have to make it work'.

This may be all of KJ's doing mind you and he had this in mind all along. If it works out of the gate and we fly I'll hold my hands up and say I was wrong. I just can't see it.

We did play a diamond against Fulham at Molineux. Not sure if it was the cup or league game.

I'm not sure it is shocking from our recruitment team. Sako was a special player at this level, we paid a lot of money for him and he's twice the player he was when he first signed. I'm sure there were a number of names mentioned as potential replacements but I wouldn't be surprised if every one of them were ruled out as being too expensive or just a downgrade on what went before. Lets not downplay how important he was for us.

If we decided that adding Coady & Wallace and changing our formation was the best way for our squad to reach their full potential instead of downgrading our best player and going like-for-like then I'm all for it. IMO that shows far more ambition than just throwing £2 million at Zyro/Gudmundsson and expecting him to be the answer.

 

[SouthWestWolf]

Beside which the transfer window is open for another six weeks. Plenty of time for pieces to move around, both in and out.

Yeah but if we don't start #PantsWetting now when will we?!?!?!?!

 

[Johnny75]

Yeah but if we don't start #PantsWetting now when will we?!?!?!?!

This is a silly statement. It is not pant wetting to have concerns, on the contrary questioning decisions is what forums should be all about.

 

[Johnny75]

If we decided that adding Coady & Wallace and changing our formation was the best way for our squad to reach their full potential instead of downgrading our best player and going like-for-like then I'm all for it. IMO that shows far more ambition than just throwing £2 million at Zyro/Gudmundsson and expecting him to be the answer.

I'm not buying that at all. It is far easier to replace one player than it is to change the entire structure of the playing style. I presume the 21's and 18's will do the same as the new strategy is supposed to do.

People replace players all the time and don't change systems, Mourinho, Gaurdiola, Poccettino even Alan Pardew. Infamously Brentdan is probably the most famous for changing formation last season and look what happened to Liverpool. The lesson is clearly to replace quality with quality, whether that be through the youth systems, free transfers or at cost. It matters not where you get them from but you must replace. Changing almost never works unless you change managers/ coaches.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We did play a diamond against Fulham at Molineux. Not sure if it was the cup or league game.

That was plain weird (it was the league game), Price in a sort of withdrawn role on the right and Dave Edwards sitting in front of the back four. We won and won easily but that really was largely down to Fulham being so poor and so lacking in fight - that was the game where they committed a grand total of 0 fouls in the entire game.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

That was plain weird (it was the league game), Price in a sort of withdrawn role on the right and Dave Edwards sitting in front of the back four. We won and won easily but that really was largely down to Fulham being so poor and so lacking in fight - that was the game where they committed a grand total of 0 fouls in the entire game.

I have been refereeing for 30 plus years, and I cannot recall a game where a team did not commit at least one foul. I can only presume that Fulham did not make any tackles in the game against Wolves...

 

[slink]

I'm in 2 minds at the minute, i'm not against the switch of formation and i actually would prefer it to playing 4-4-2 and even if it meant changing further to 1 up top and that was either Afobe or Dicko then so be it. However i'm not sure about the recruitment at the minute either, the problem i see is if you are only prepared to offer so much when you could offer more (which is what it seems from being a fan who obviously doesn't have any actual facts about this but just what it feels like) then you are going to hit a ceiling and won't always be able to bring in players like Afobe.

We are spending like on Afobe in January and Coady this summer but i just feel we are missing out on those extra few players we need.

 

[Lycan]

I'm not buying that at all. It is far easier to replace one player than it is to change the entire structure of the playing style. I presume the 21's and 18's will do the same as the new strategy is supposed to do.

People replace players all the time and don't change systems, Mourinho, Gaurdiola, Poccettino even Alan Pardew. Infamously Brentdan is probably the most famous for changing formation last season and look what happened to Liverpool. The lesson is clearly to replace quality with quality, whether that be through the youth systems, free transfers or at cost. It matters not where you get them from but you must replace. Changing almost never works unless you change managers/ coaches.

What if the previous system was inherently flawed and the only reason we stuck with it was to fit the same player we're now trying to replace in the first team? For all we know, Jackett, Gallen & Thelwell have been looking at the diamond ever since we signed Afobe (whether that is just on the drawing board or in training) but have been unable to play it because of the personnel we had last season.

Then surely it makes sense to change the system to fit the majority of the payers still at the club rather than trying to replace one exceptional player and hope he's good enough to carry a flawed formation.

 

[Alan]

I've no doubt there were problems with 4-4-2/ 4-2-3-1 system. But it worked and worked very well. Wallace could well do that role a la Hazard for Chelsea. What is concerning is that in a year we could not find a Sako replacement. That's shocking from any recruitment team. And if they couldn't we should have played a diamond at least once.

This new formation looks like a 'these are the players, we have to make it work'.

This may be all of KJ's doing mind you and he had this in mind all along. If it works out of the gate and we fly I'll hold my hands up and say I was wrong. I just can't see it.

Personally I wouldn't make the change that we're making as I'm too married to the idea of wingers, but I'm no professional manager!

I don't see why a new system should have to be rolled out in the previous season. Last season our strength was wide, clearly, but this season it may not be. Surely adjusting to the players is the better strategy if replacements aren't readily available?

 

[malta mick]

Are we still lacking a back up keeper now Tommy has gone ? or is a current reserve good enough ?
I hope we aren't going to find ourselves coming up short again this season. We still appear to be missing the vital midfielder we've needed - hope this Coady is the one, but know nothing about him

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

McCarey isn't banned now so he will sit on the bench. If anything happens to Ikeme I would think we'll get a loan in as required - pretty much any Premier League team will loan you their 3rd choice keeper subject to a release clause if they need him again quickly.

 

[Norman Deeley]

I was v. impressed by DW's analysis last year of how many points it takes to make the play-offs. Statistically, we were very unlucky not to make the play-offs last year with our number of points, and a repeat this year would surely have seen us in the top six. A slightly wider question - and admittedly a bit more subjective - is "what does it take to be promoted from the Championship?" My gut feeling is that teams playing through the middle - Watford last year - are the exception rather than the rule. The important thing for me in football is pace - and a system which suits your best players. But if historically the teams that go up have wingers, as opposed to going through the middle, we may be making a serious mistake: we're only going to be able to hold on to Afobe, Dicko, Iorfa etc for so long in the Championship

 

[Alan]

I was v. impressed by DW's analysis last year of how many points it takes to make the play-offs. Statistically, we were very unlucky not to make the play-offs last year with our number of points, and a repeat this year would surely have seen us in the top six. A slightly wider question - and admittedly a bit more subjective - is "what does it take to be promoted from the Championship?" My gut feeling is that teams playing through the middle - Watford last year - are the exception rather than the rule. The important thing for me in football is pace - and a system which suits your best players. But if historically the teams that go up have wingers, as opposed to going through the middle, we may be making a serious mistake: we're only going to be able to hold on to Afobe, Dicko, Iorfa etc for so long in the Championship

Well, to get the whole story one must ask, what percentage of teams historically having even played without wingers? In England, I'd guess the answer is not many. That would certainly skew the "teams with wingers get promoted more often" line.

 

[Johnny75]

I can't argue with that Lycan. I still think it would've been easier to get a Jonny Russell type as it is a huge decision for all concerned to change formation through the whole of club. And essentially if it doesn't work after 10 games the entire hierarchy will be in deep shit with the fans. I don't know about ambitious but it's a hell of a risk.

If it pays off then I doff my cap to all involved.