23 Oct 2022 21:29:33
We aren't a million miles away.

The next two windows should hopefully see us head into 23/ 24 with:

- a new rb to challenge Dalot
- a centre half with pace to fill in for / learn from Varane
- a top notch central midfielder so that the drop off from Casemiro, Eriksen and Bruno isn't as steep as it is now
- a goalscorer

Others would be great, but improvements in those four areas over the next eighteen months could see us back challenging for titles.

1.) 23 Oct 2022
23 Oct 2022 22:22:10
Downsie I hope that list is in no particular order, as point 1 should be a goal scorer and 2nd should be to refer to point 1.

2.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 06:23:25
Add a top GK to it as well.

3.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 06:57:39
Nope, no order and obviously agree that a goalscorer is the priority. Not sure who is realistically attainable though. Osimhen is probably most suited to how EtH has got us playing.

4.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 09:08:45
I agree with TRD, I think we will need a top young keeper who suits a more modern style of keeping. That should enable us to play out from the back with more confidence and play a higher line safe in the knowledge that the keeper can sweep up behind.

If you look at all the teams that have done well over the past 10 years they all pretty much play with a keeper who is both comfortable playing out from the back and can play the sweeper keeper role.

Alisson at Liverpool, Ederson at City, Courtois at Real Madrid, Ter Stegen at Barcelona, Neuer at Bayern, Maignan at AC Milan, Navas first at Real Madrid then at PSG.

All comfortable with the ball at their feet, and more than happy to come out of their box to sweep.

It enables you to effectively play with an extra man further forward.

5.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 09:39:26
I expect that EtH and the board are looking at the same 2 windows (long term as well) and the same positions. Personally I am less concerned initially about the right back position and think that we need to focus on Striker (depending on availability in Jan this could be a summer purchase), goalkeeper (assuming that De Gea is not the long term solution and EtH does not see anything in Henderson) and Central Midfield to play alongside Cassimero and one of Erikson/ Fernandes.
If it was at all possible we got Martinez (St), Maignan (GK) and De Jong (M) then with the team we currently have I think we could challenge next year. Those 3 however would be costing £150+ so not sure the current board would do it! However players of there ilk are needed if we can spot a bargain.

6.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 09:56:43
Downsie, I'd be very disappointed if we went for Osimhen.

His first touch is poor, which he tends to get away with more in Serie A due to its slower pace. In the EPL if you have a loose touch you'll have a defender in your face and challenging you in a second. Just look at the difference between Serie A Lukaku and EPL Lukaku.

His link play isn't particularly standout, it's okay. I wonder if it would see a drop off in a quicker paced EPL where he'd have less time and space on the ball. That could be a concern.

He's reasonably clinical, scoring with 47% of his shots on target. However, he only gets around 28% of his shots on target.

So if he had 8 shots you'd expect him to get around 2 on target, and score 1 goal.

To compare him to Rashford for example. Rashford scores with only 29% of his shots on target, 18% less than Osimhen. Yet Rashford gets 43% of his shots on target. Which is 15% more than Osimhen.

So if Rashford had 8 shots, he'd get around 3 shots on target and score 1 goal.

Which means statically Osimhen has a similar scoring rate to Rashford. Both scoring around once every 8 shots.

Finally Osimhen has a pretty bad injury record, missing between 15-20 games over each of the past 3 season's. Making available only marginally more often than Martial.

That's my assessment of Osimhen as a player. I'm also not convinced about his suitability for how EtH likes to play.

It's difficult to ascertain exactly how EtH would look to play as really it's only possible to judge him on his time at Ajax. In that time he played with both Haller and Tadic as his most regularly used centre forward.

Both are fairly obviously very different stylistically. With one being fat more physically imposing while the other far more technically gifted.

Tadic played more as a false 9 with Haller more of a traditional target man. Two very different ways of playing. However, there is one clear aspect where both roles are the fundamentally the same. That is in link up play.

The role of a false 9 is to drop off the front line and link the play with both the wide players and the attacking midfielders. At Ajax Tadic would drop deeper and link play to the wide forwards such as Ziyech and Neres, with the attacking midfielder (Donny) often running beyond Tadic in attack. It was a very fluid system that was hard to defend against due to player rotations.

With Haller playing more as a target man, someone they could always ping balls to over a longer distance. He would then bring the ball down and play passes to on rushing wide players such as Antony or Tadic or back to Berghuis who was the attacking midfielder.

So the only thing we can really take away from EtH's managerial career is that he likes his centre forward to be technically good and able to link the attack with the other forwards.

With regards to Osimhen that isn't something that he is great at, okay at best really. So I don't think he is a good fit for how EtH has typically played.

7.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 10:17:25
Could be worse, we could have a GK sides are targeting because their goalie is renowned for being crap at kicking and being slow off his line. Poor Spurs.

8.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 11:08:49
Shappy so many stats. The old eye test is the one for me. Against liverpool he was superb to he got hurt.

Every time I’ve seen him play I've been very impressed. Did you see his goal last night? Absolutely bullied smalling who was in his time a decent enough PL defender.

9.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 11:46:40
Caolan, Osimhen was good against Liverpool until he go injured. Same as Martial really. Also that was probably around the time Liverpool were at their absolute worst this season.

When I've watched him he's tended to be fairly average but often comes up with a goal. I watched the Napoli vs Lecce game earlier in the season where he was probably Napoli's worst player on the pitch in what was probably their worst performance of the season.

He's playing currently in a Napoli side that is probably playing as well as anyone in Europe. Hell I'd score goals in that Napoli side based on their current form.

Having watched a few Napoli games this season if I was to sign one player from them it would be Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who has been head and shoulders their best player this season.

10.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 14:31:02
That’s what we need though, someone to put the ball in the net. I don’t care who if I’m honest with you.

Yeah kvaradona looks a serious player.

11.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 14:51:16
Caolan you got Shappied :D
I'm sure even Kvaradona would be poor away from the slower pace of serie A. :p.

12.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 15:47:34
Caolan, there aren't many more deadly, clinical finishers than Ronaldo.

If you want a guy to just put the ball in the net then surely he's your man.

However, as seen this season already we have less control of the game, create fewer chances, score less goals and win fewer points when Ronaldo starts.

It's almost like EtH has a style and system and he needs all his players to be doing their role and pulling in the same direction for it to work.

A pure finisher is just a decent option from the bench in how EtH is trying to get us to play. He needs someone who'll press from the front so we can win the ball higher up the pitch. Someone who can hold the ball up and interlink with those around him in a controlled possession based way to manipulate the space to create high quality chances.

Those are things that I haven't seen from Osimhen with any sort of quality or quantity.

He's a good fox in the box striker, someone who'll sit high, run the channels, and get on the end of chances. But probably not have more than a dozen touches and do little else for the team.

13.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 17:08:20
Shappy you do like to berate Lukaku don't you? Lukaku has 120-125 goals in the premier league in 9 seasons. You take his 8 goals and 3 Chelsea seasons out and you get a striker who averages 19 goals a season. Not bad for a player with supposedly a poor first touch. He was doing decently for United until the time that buffoon came along and played Rashford and martial ahead of him and he still outscored them.

My point is first touch is irrelevant till the time you are doing your job well for the team.

14.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 17:57:54
Snappy, ronaldo is a ? ? who is well past his best.

15.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 18:40:01
Need to think about youngsters potentially coming in too (maybe next 1 - 3 years? )

Savage
Iqbal
Mainoo
McNeill
Garnacho
Fernandez
Jurado
Shoretire
Hannibal
Laird

Next season: Laird, Fernandez, Hannibal, Garnacho

Seasons after: rest

Though big glaring needs now are striker and goalkeeper.

Hoping we go Portuguese for both.

16.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 20:13:12
UA, I'm not sure if you know how stats work but you can't just ignore the bits you don't like?

Lukaku didn't score for 3 seasons so we'll discount them?

My that metric I scored 100% of the games I played, as long as we don't count the ones where I didn't score?

To be fair Lukaku has been a fairly consistent goalscorer. I'm not sure he has done enough to officially be the player who has had the most money spent on him (over 300m in his career so far) .

However, it's all the other parts of his game where he struggles. Hold up play, link play, first touch, work rate, pressing, passing, distance covered etc all poor. He's a classic goal hanger, that's it. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you manage to get the number of goals he has managed. But at the very highest level that just isn't enough.

Which is why he's only been a regular player in one serious title challenge by the age of 29. Just not good enough for a team that regularly challenges at the sharp end.

Nothing wrong with that, just annoyed my club spent so much money on signing him in the first place.

17.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 21:02:30
So what we’re saying is we need a whole new spine of a team?

18.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 22:00:54
Eric, I'd suggest that the only seasoned player would need to be the CF. All others could be up and coming youngsters good enough to debutise, like Malacia. I don't think we have many players of that ilk, the likes of Iqbal/ Garnacho will still be eaten alive and I doubt we'll ever see a few mentioned in the first team. Presently when we bring in squad players it's Maguire, Lindelof, McFreddo, AWB, all players routinely torn apart here. For me our best XI isn't that bad, save for having a top CF.

19.) 24 Oct 2022
24 Oct 2022 22:27:49
I like our first eleven for sure Spenno I’d agree.

The drop off in quality once we have injuries and suspensions is quite serious though. It’s a poor squad.

20.) 25 Oct 2022
25 Oct 2022 02:34:00
Yeah, we're "not far away". But also need 5/ 6 new first teamers and perhaps some bench strength might be needed also.

Just another 3 years, £250m and 7000 stat laden essays from Shappy. FML.

21.) 25 Oct 2022
25 Oct 2022 10:24:25
Dodgy, we aren't far away from having a good team. Maybe looking at improvements in 2 maybe 3 positions.

However, a good first 11 won't win you anything of note in this league or in the UCL.

Where we really need to the overhaul is in terms of squad depth.

Currently our second 11 would look something like this:

Heaton, AWB, Maguire, Lindelof, Malacia, McTominay, Fred, Donny, Elanga, Ronaldo, Garnacho.

Of those 11 players who is really good enough?

Lindelof maybe as a 4th choice CB.

Malacia and Garnacho have potential.

Fred or McTominay as 4th or 5th choice midfielder. But both just bloat the squad with players who aren't good enough.

So that's 2 squad players and 2 players with potential. The rest need replacing with higher quality players better suited to how EtH wants the side to play.

Whereas City's second 11 are good enough to give our first 11 a good game.

If the aim is to finish above City and win the title then we need more strength in depth.

While that doesn't even take into consideration that we currently have players like DDG, Varane, Casemiro and Eriksen in the first 11 who are all either over 30 or turn 30 this year. Meaning they probably don't have a long term place in this side. Meaning they will likely need replacing in 2 to 3 years time.

I'm more than happy with the improvement we have seen and am really enjoying watching us play football.

Yet if we are to avoid disappointment we need to ground ourselves in reality. We are moving in the right direction and soon will be able to beat most if not all sides on our day. But that doesn't mean we are ready to compete on all fronts across a 50-60 game season.

22.) 25 Oct 2022
25 Oct 2022 12:05:42
I don't agree that we're 5/ 6 first teasers off and I don't believe EtH believes that. 2/ 3 max in my view. CF for sure, and maybe GK - but how much of that is because the DDG isn't good enough narrative seems to have spiralled for some reason in recent weeks, most likely it's because his contract is up in the air. Genuinely very happy with that first team if we had a more consistent striker.
But I definitely think we need a few squad players in a couple of positions as most if not all rotations are weakening us at present.

23.) 25 Oct 2022
25 Oct 2022 15:49:02
Spenno, I think the DDG thing has come from EtH not wanting to give players a new deal until they prove themselves as vital players.

Personally I think DDG has done better than I expected in trying to adapt his game. But it's not me he has to impress but the manager.

It's a big decision for the club to give him a new deal. It'll likely have to be on the same wages or more. Given that he is the highest paid player behind Ronaldo and earns more than players like KDB and Salah, then you can only really extend his deal if he is exactly the player you need/ want. If he can't play in the manner EtH wants to the level that is required then the club is best off letting him leave.

I think the wait and see approach is the sensible choice.

As for squad players, I don't agree with buying squad players. You buy only players good enough to be in your first team or high potential young players who can be developed into first team quality players.

If your are just signing a player to take up a place on the bench then I'd rather we give that slot to an academy player. We have wasted far too much money in recent memory signing players who aren't good enough.

If we are going to sign a RB for example they have to be better than Dalot, otherwise just bring back Laird and let him be the back up.

It's madness to spend 10, 20, 30, or 40m for a player to sit on the bench and start maybe 10 games a season.

Better to put that money into buying a player who actually improves the first 11 surely.

24.) 25 Oct 2022
25 Oct 2022 16:18:09
So by that analysis Shappy you don't think Malacia for example is a good signing? It would seem he wasn't signed as our first-choice, so would you have preferred to bypass him and use Fernandez in that role?
Of course by squad players I mean just what Malacia is. Not the finished article, but young, hungry and good enough to at least push those players deemed ahead of them in the pecking order and maybe replace them now and then.

25.) 25 Oct 2022
25 Oct 2022 16:37:19
Spenno, I'd have considered Malacia a high potential young player. The fact he he benched Shaw highlights that he wasn't signed to just make up the numbers.

If Malacia starts do you think the side is weaker? He's as good as Shaw with potential to be better.

That's the level of player we should be signing. Either better than what we have or as good with potential to be better.

26.) 25 Oct 2022
25 Oct 2022 16:53:18
I'm sure you'll have the answer for anything Shappy, but were Chelsea wrong to buy Carney Chukwuemeka for £16m (19 yo, certainly won't reach your 10 game starting threshold) - was there really no player of similar potential in their ranks of hundreds of youth players? Or City to sign the relatively 'old' Gomez (22) at the expense of promoting an academy LB?

27.) 26 Oct 2022
26 Oct 2022 10:06:15
As for City signing Gomez, he was clearly signed as City sold Zinchenko to Arsenal and with Mendy's legal issues meaning they had no natural LB in the squad.

It was there one area of weakness, they first moved for Cucurella who would have come in and probably been first choice with Cancelo likely moving to RB. However, they weren't prepared to pay the fee that Brighton were demanding.

Likely because they knew they needed to spend on the squad elsewhere, needing to sign a ST to replace Gabriel Jesus, a CDM to replace Fernandinho, a CB given the ongoing injury concerns of Stones and Laporte. As well as a LB.

With Haaland, Philips and Akanji already costing around 130m they weren't prepared to spend upwards of 60m that Brighton were demanding for Cucurella.

However, City are in a very different position to ourselves.

When you have 18 of the best players in the league in your squad then you can maybe look to bring in a squad player or two to make up the numbers. Although I'd prefer that be done with academy players (as long as you have someone ready and suitable in the academy to step up) .

The problem we have is we have too many squad players in the first 11. Players who should be 2nd or 3rd choice for a top side.

If we want to get back to the top then every player we sign needs to be better than what we have. Otherwise we are just bulking out the squad with players who aren't good enough.