A centre back of Konate’s level will rightfully demand to be a regular starter.
Can’t keep him on the bench.
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Can’t keep Konate out the physio room though.
A centre back of that level would get plenty of game time here and have a chance to stake a claim as van Dijk’s successor.
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That’s a different case, VVD is a LCB, you pair him with a RCB
There is definitely a good case to be made for better competition at CB. It’s part of also planning for the future and life post-Virgil. Even if it’s more of a RCB. If Trent goes and Gomez covers Bradley next season at RB, we do need someone. Hard to see us bringing 3 defenders, but 1 is almost for sure and 2 is a possibility.
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Read an article stating RM are also looking at Konate…!
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Yes but he couldn’t actually start work until July. Oh well, whatever.
See that’s the thing, I thought that too but I think literally every single thing talking about him seems to suggest that he effectively started around March or something.
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Hughes was instrumental in getting Slot. That’s a big plus. Great hire right there.
Not a lot of transfer business last summer, for lots of reasons. The team behind the team hadn’t been in place for long, and/or was still forming. And we also had a very good squad that did not need a lot of work.
Moving forward there will need to be some business, and we will see the mettle of Hughes and co. But so far, so good - mainly speaking about hiring Slot.
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They might be looking at Macca, Gravy, Diaz and Gakpo too. That’s the price of success.
There’s probably only one club bigger than us right now and that’s Real. The more successful we are, the more they’ll be looking at our players.
I hope our players tell them to fuck off.
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Nunez is breaking my heart! So fast, strong, works hard… I see so much potential there, but so far it has not been realized fully. He still plays his part in a devastating attacking group, but I would love to see more from him or it is getting precarious as to his future here beyond, say, summer 2025. We’ll see.
What we are not fully sure of is how Slot might want to shape the forward line, and if Salah - a crucial component, is signing a new deal.
I really like the look of Kudus, who gives me Mane at Southampton vibes. Dibling could be one for the future too - not fully sure how high his ceiling is, but he did really well against us and looked strong in his running. If we sign him he needs to stay put to see regular action to grow. Diaz needs to sign a new deal here too. He is a smashing player and Slot unearthed another string to his bow with his ability to play centrally, too.
I think Kerkez is the left back we need. Seems good on both sides of the ball and has stamina to run for days. Years of growth on the clock too.
I think we are fine at central defence with the four we have, but arguably we could do with one more signing, but it might be too many.
The squad is good enough, and big enough, that new signings will need to be very carefully selected. I can’t wait to see how it all develops.
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People make far too much of which side centre backs play on.
And it’s not as if you can’t train them to play the other side of they do have a preference.
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It’s kind of ridiculous to see Hughes already being accused of “wanting an easy life” and that’s why we didn’t sign anyone of note this summer.
Maybe it’s more the case that he walked into a situation where a legendary manager was being replaced (it was widely reported that he consulted with Edwards on the selection of Slot), an entire coaching staff that needed hiring, had a first team squad that was already exceptionally good - we are 6pts clear with a game in hand in case anyone needs reminding - and three world class players out of contract within the year. He had a pretty full inbox and still went out and got us our future #1 GK and took a punt on a backup RW.
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True in theory but it doesn’t happen very often, that you shift them around just like that, especially if there is order and not some mess.
It’s also about cohesion, understanding, little partnerships on certain sides. Passing lanes, ball manipulation, etc.
Of course if something outstanding happened and we got an amazing left footer, then that would be something to discuss and possibly decide together with Virgil to put him RCB. But there are reasons why it doesn’t happen often.
You also get “weird” examples like Matip (technically a very comfortable right footer, who on paper should be able to play both RCB and LCB) who has never ever played LCB for us. Even before Virgil or when Virgil was out. Not even in a friendly.
That used to do my head in for a while before I just accepted it is how it is, because Lovren then played LCB with him (will never forget when vdBerg made his debut, coming on off the bench for the final few minutes on tour in the US and we immediately shifted Lovren to RCB).
So we think Gomez can play right centre back, right back and left back but asking him to play left centre back wouldn’t work?
I get that players may have a preference but it’d be mad to think in training that the other CBs are queuing up for a go alongside Virg.
I said in the summer that a CB who could also do a job at LB would be ideal as it gives flexibility when needed and more opportunities for them to play. Still think that makes sense next summer.
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I was speking more general.
As for Gomez, he did show that he can do a job in any position, including LCB. How well, that’s for a more specific discussion. But style wise, he can do it.
But it can also depend. Last season he was mostly a full back, this season he’s mostly a CB.
If next season he’s starting as Bradley’s backup at RB, it’s maybe not the wisest to lean on him also being our backup LCB. We also need to think about actually improving our CB competitiveness, not only backups with what we have.
Of course, Konate also did a job at LCB in the past (but I personally think it’s best for all that he remains at RCB, he does have certain technical limitations).
Quansah for me did better at LCB than RCB last season.
It’s not only that the players have a preference, it’s simply how a team works.
I remember Rafa doing a grave mistake in Cardiff in '06 when he flipped Hyypia to RCB and Carragher to LCB. Apparently to defend better against Ashton and Harewood. It looked horrible and made no sense, because strikers can also move with more freedom than CB’s. They’re not fixed who they go up against.
As for defenders who can play both CB and full back, we were more linked with such under Klopp, not so much under Slot.
I think it’s possible that we sign both a CB and a LB. Trent might go and we might sell Tsimikas. We’ll see what the club decides on priorities considering where we need signings, how much we can spend and what might be market opportunities (as we’ve seen, we won’t panic if we don’t get who we want).
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I wonder how much of that is influenced by priorities (if we are now looking for a starting fullback rather than cover) or by media making assumptions or random claims without any real idea as to who we are after?
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I mean, it’s possible that we get a “Hincapie” and a “Kerkez”. Just throwing examples, not necessarily my wishes.
But I don’t think the chances are very high for that, at least not in the same window.
With time and more clues, we get a clearer picture what we’re after.
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What? Not making significant moves in the summer definitely wasn’t about wanting an easy life when supporters, media, everyone is often screaming about chopping and replacing. More so, I think the pressure to make changes was greater than doing nothing.
Thus, I give him the utmost respect for sticking to his guns and not making rash moves during the summer transfer window. In fact I’m not sure we would have made such a terrific start if not for the squad consistency (that isn’t to say that we shouldn’t make moves this Jan or moving forward but that too much change at one time could be disruptive - the big change being the manager).
After Zubimendi was identified as an upgrade but turned us down, we made the ballsy move to trust in Gravenberch with the excuse that “we hadn’t identified anyone else better than what we had.”
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Context also changes with time, not only from manager to another manager.
A year or two in football can totally change things, needs, etc. We’ve also employed other/new people who take part in these decisions.
And then there’s also the market, opportunities, etc.
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Google has gone shit so it now only wants to provide stories around the March announcement, but in the period between then and his contract starting in July there were numerous stories about how he had unofficially started.
Important context is Bournemouth knew Hughes was highly likely to make a step up sooner than later so part of his role was grooming his hand picked successor. He had already been doing that with Simon Francis so having that succession plan in place meant it was relatively low drama for them. As a result the were fine with him splitting his time between the jobs as long as he did what was necessary to get Francis up to speed before he left for good.
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