yes. yes i did.
i see that as being consistent with my post, I.E theres issues with all four centre backs, but im not so Niave that we can have 4 centres backs without ay question marks over them…at least one though…
but i digress…it wasnt the overriding arc..
as for the Diaz shaped whole…its probably not worth the discussion… its obvious and hard to watch a player who i think is a decent human being struggle the way Gakpo has…
Very harsh to be having a go at Virgil, he has to play every minute of every game last season and this with Konate so out of form beside him and trying to bed in new LB and RB.
Yeah, but then you also have off the ball phases, how that would all work.
I mean we know that the best positions or zones where they operate the best are pretty much central. Let’s also not forget that we have a performing Szobo this season (and I think he reacted brilliantly, because he probably felt under threat with the signing of Wirtz, there are reasons why we did it…).
That is all much easier said than accomplished in a functional team.
We already had to camouflage Salah’s defensive game before last summer, then we added two important strikers for a massive combined fee, had Szobo, added Wirtz and you still need to have a quality midfield… that is a lot. These are serious tactical questions. We can say “quality players, depth, let them play”. But it’s not easy.
We’ve seen a lot of examples where it didn’t work.
I hope it does here, but it doesn’t even bother me that much because Liverpool comes first to me. Whether we’re successful with Ekitike, Isak or someone else, I don’t care.
I remember when Mourinho decided to flip to a diamond in 2006 on the back of winning two titles. Trying to fit in both Lampard and Ballack, both Drogba and Shevchenko. Great players, even more proven players, depth, but we know how it ended.
There are many examples that don’t involve the diamond, but simply throwing a bit too many big moves at once. Real when they had the idea of playing with Modric, Kroos, Bale, James, Ronaldo and Benzema. Great players, depth, but it didn’t work.
Is the fraud still here.
I don’t think there has been much of a physical decline with VVD, I think it’s more a mentality issue in that he thinks he’s above the nitty-gritty, put your body on the line stuff.
no doubt there are issues, but they could opperate in the defensive phase as a unit…i dont think the three of them are as bad as pressing as this season would have you belive…
i also dont think Wirtz and Ekitike have an aversion to playing behind the ball…the current set up makes them look a bit of fish out of water when they do.
but i digress, im just playing the game of trying to fit them in the same line up… that was the challenge i thought?..i also, would prefer a successful team over seeing three players link well together…i dont think that needs to be pointed out.
edit…i just re read the convo…i suppose i just ran off with the idea of how to fit them alltogether…which i find an interesting task to do…but yes…its more important to get the team playing well… ive seen people just pop Ekitike out on the left in these hypotheticals, which i think would be a mistake
Yet Palace agreed the deal and made the farewell video…And 5 months later they still only have the young CB signed in the summer..
You’re not making sense..
Multiple social media accounts have posted that there was another meeting took place with Slot. The meeting was handled by Edwards. Decision made but the outcome has not been announced (typical of click bait, and more typical of click bait from one of the account is that it could be tomorrow, or it could be 3 weeks. Hahaha)
a couple of CB’s who can play straight away for around £70M to £100M in todays inflated transfer market which we helped inflated by signing Isak and Wirtz for huge fees,
great…
I’ve seen Isak spearhead the attack of Newcastle in a pressing approach, albeit somewhat inconsistent because they’re not “there” yet, that’s true. But he arrived totally unfit.
Ekitike arrived fit and ready, but pressing and defensive game are aspects he will have to improve. Half of Slot’s first talk with Ekitike was about his defensive aspect of the game and what’s needed here in order to be the team’s first defender.
Wirtz is not a pressing monster, but I’ve seen him being able to bite, albeit in a somewhat lesser league.
And even then, if they’re all fit and ready and know how to press in an organized way, it all needs to make sense in all phases of the game.
So with all moves we’ve made last summer, it was hard to imagine what our more often starting XI would be and in what way it would function.
And even potentially without Salah from this summer onwards, my questions will remain.
As I said in my earlier response, Parish said they didn’t want to lose him for nothing this summer.
Circumstances are clearly different now compared to what they were as the window closed last summer.
Having already seen out the first half of the season, they now believe themselves to have navigated enough of the season to feel they can survive the rest of the season without being relegated using their current CBs and/or whoever else they have lined up this window to bring in, and whether or not the manager stays.
yeah, the manager told him in October he’s leaving at the end of the season regardless and so Parish is done trying to mollify him
Which puts the lie on the statement that they didn’t have enough time to secure a replacement.
Parrish pulled the deal to appease his manager.
It is what it is…
How many times do we have to discuss Guehi, he is a city player you can’t change the past, just have to learn from it!
Could just be me, but it seems more like his reaction time is slower this season; which results in rash / poor last minute decision making at times.
Still a great defender but I think the decline is setting in.
It’s bound to be, he’s getting on and he’s got plenty of miles on the clock.
That said I think we could get a couple of good seasons out of him after this one, maybe the last one in a reduced role, but the VVD we’re seeing this season (and further back tbh) is way off his best and his demeanour suggests to me he thinks he can get away with it without putting his body in where it hurts. That VVD should be moved on if it doesn’t change. Almost unthinkable I know.
Others have suggested it’s the result of having the likes of Konate next to him and having to organise the new lads, plus getting poor protection from the midfield. All that might be the case.
That’s why we need to change the manager, not just because of poor results and performances but a fresh pair of eyes are needed…someone who’ll demand more.
He won a league title. Have some fucking respect.
I’m not defending him. I’m not fighting his corner. I think it’s going to be hard for him to stay, and (as I said on Saturday night) I think it’s getting to the point where you change the manager because something needs to change and it’s the only thing you can change.
But for fucks sake, can we have a little bit of class about us as this plays out. Does it need to be so personal? Is it not enough for a man to lose his job? Do we need to insult him as well.
yep.
we need to be respectful to a man who didnt just bring us THE shiny pot we all crave…but lets just play a game where he didnt win that, and we didnt see it over the line…he has STILL acted with honesty and dignity through at all of this, he has taken it on himself to wear the blame, and dished it out where he saw appropriate, but hes never, on purpose, clouded any waters, and tried to manipulate the fan base with internal politics…
he hasnt treated us like fools, hes explained his decision making as if we are of a certain level of intelligence, not given it the old ‘you wouldnt understand, your not ‘football’ enough to know’ level of press conferance.
Hes never one ‘Mikel Atrteta’d’ a press conferance, or even smirked arrogantly Ala Pep
hes been very true to Jurgens way of honesty and respect ( to the paying public, not so much the press)
all the issues when he has kinda crossed a line have been minor (Ramsey sticks out) where if you have to answer enough questions sooner or later you’ll give a shite answer…
all in all…ill be trying to remain respectful through this…and…i mean…the guys not actually even DONE here…its very hard to see how he comes back…but football is a funny old game…
Xabi takes the city Job, Enrique takes the UTD job and we are left with no real alternative… then all of a sudden things, somehow…‘click again’… stranger things have happened.
I think when TAA left, the plan was for Writz to be our main creative outlet, with our attacking width coming from Frimpong/Kerkez bombing down the flanks, almost like wingbacks.
Moving forward I think that’s what we commit to, and build the squad around.
I would go with a front two (rotating Salah, Isak. Ekitike and Gackpo). Writz siting behind in AM role (principally rotated with Szoboszlai)
A double pivot central midfield (Mac Allister,
Gravenberch, Endo, Jones) where one is happy dropping to create a back three. Two proper wingbacks bombing down flanks. Then VvD and Gomez (on current form) rotated wirh Konate and Leoni as our CBs.
i dont really have a preffered starting line up… i think its too fluid for that nowadays
but…a few things id like to see from this squad
Frimpong high up the park, but coming from a full back role, same with Kerkez, to a lot lesser extent where i think players floating into his area is a better option. i like frimpong in the box and the byline, i prefer Kerkez leaving those areas free to exploit, and crossing from deeper.
the best ive seen our midfield was first half vs Arsenal and i still cant exactly tell you who was playing where, but there were points where Wirtz was playing a false nine and then Dom doing same…(there was no Ekitike, so that raises its own questions)…but yes, i think Wirtz role needs to be undefined in many ways, hes so intelligent he can drop into areas where he sees fit, not many players can do that anymore without direction (opinion), so leaving a fixed (taditional) front two is a no no from me, it really pidgeon holes Wirtz and restricts him.
i dont know if this is just fanboying or legitimate opinion, but id love to see Ekitike continue his progress, he might be a bit too passive to play that lone striker role, but hes amazing in tighter spaces from just outside the box , then penetrating into it…getting him and Wirtz to co exist would be something id want
i rate Gravenberch higher than alot on here it seems, id play him deeper, split the centre backs in deep possession and have him in that area…i understand the concern with that, id just do it anyways…if players are happy to stand off him and let him turn, then let him turn from deeper, theres some space freed up right there EDIT - this is not a back three, its only in moments in deeper possession
so yeah…width from the full backs, free(ish) role for Wirtz, but he needs to be able to drop deep when he wants, and change it up with a Sobz or Macca…,