That’s my preference 100%, Bellingham next year to start to pick up Henderson’s minutes over the next few years. I read somewhere that Thiago might want to try another country in a few years (which I think could be possible) as well so again more forward planning.
Hence why I think someone who can play no.6 should be more priority than a true box to box. I half expected Klopp to shift to a 4231 this summer but he’s stayed true to his 433 and the slight shift is a more attacking no.8 on the right hand side. Wonder is Clarkson is on the same pathway as Elliot?
I think you need to pay attention to the roles in CM not just midfield.
We tend to have one anchor and we did used to have two wok horse 8s but we have started to evolve one of those positions into more of a technical 8, something we only really used to use in the past with Lallana and Ox (so not often).
We have absolutely loads of depth in the technical 8 role with Thiago, Elliott, Keita, Jones, Ox, Minamino and even Firmino able to do it (and that assuming the departures of Shaqiri and Woodburn go through). We’ve also got good academy options like Balagazi who could be tried out there in cup games.
The other two roles aren’t as stacked. Henderson is the main choice now for the work horse role with Milner as the back up. We’ve started trying to evolve Keita and maybe even Jones into technically capable options in this role but Keita isn’t exactly reliable with availability, with Henderson missing fair number of games here and there too and Milners age we aren’t as strongly set up as we could be.
Likewise we have a world class anchor in Fabinho who we hope won’t have to cover CB again. Henderson is also fantastic in this role but he’s ideally starting in the other role when available.
I’d say the issues with CM are actually that, due to injury issues, we keep on bulking up on the technical types even though we don’t use them much. And we are a bit stretched deeper. Ideally one or more of those more technical ones, who aren’t available much, move on and we strengthen the deeper options.
Not sure we’ll see it but a Camavinga type coming in wouldn’t surprise me with Keita or Ox moving on or possibly Ox being used almost exclusively in attack to make room.
He can do it, if he stays uninjured, but it is a bit like getting a sports car to help you move some boxes when you move home. There are better, more natural, tools for the job. And that player will give more in the more technical option 8.
Maybe we just aren’t seeing the bigger picture though? Maybe once he’s fully up to speed with the work horse role and responsibilities he will be given freedom to supplement that with the creativity he can bring so we end up with two creative 8s but with no drop off in workload and stability?
I’m not sure I see the hype with Camavinga to be honest. I try not to judge teenagers too harshly but since he’d be an incredibly expensive transfer I think it’s fair to point out some glaring flaws.
For a start he is pretty lethargic off the ball, I doubt his ability to play any other role than the 6 to a high level and he doesn’t seem particularly interested in defending. Not sure we can get away with just playing a “deep lying playmaker” in our 6 role, given how good PL teams are at counter attacking that just seems a recipe for disaster.
He’s got lovely ability on the ball, is press resistant and a great passing range but thats secondary to play that role for us, I believe.
And his performance yesterday was better than any game Shaqiri played in midfield for us IMO.
I’d love Bissouma though, he’s the best midfielder outside of the top 4 for me (Tielemans runs him close, but I’d take Bissouma first).
Same. He’s obviously amazing for his age, I just wonder how much further that’ll take him. Have similar feelings to him as De Ligt, being the best player at 17/18 doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be the best 25 year old.
I’m fully sold on Bellingham though, barring injury I think he’s an absolute dead cert to becoming a top player. One of the few teenagers in football I think would be worth silly money.
It really depends on how you see the Thiago signing last summer. I personally think he was both an opportunity signing and a replacement for Gini. I think we could or would have sold Gini last window if the right fee came in. So losing Gini and Shaq and gaining Elliott and Thiago is how I see the replacements in midfield.
I totally think we would be far too stacked in midfield with one extra ontop of what we have now, given Elliott’s rise.
Kind of agree but also Thiago seems more like trying to replace what we had lost to injury, what Keita/Ox were supposed to bring. Wijnaldum plays/played a bit deeper and more Conservative for us. Although Thiago is by no means an attacking centre mid I don’t mean that. Its almost like Thiago has replaced what we’ve been missing due to the injuries for Keita and Ox and now Wijnaldum has gone Keita has started molding into the Wijnaldum replacement, which is going promising so far. But 1 we don’t know for sure that’ll work properly yet and 2 even if it does we don’t know if we can rely on Keita to be available. I feel at the moment that Ox is an extra player we are carrying because nobody wants to buy him but we’ve had to structure the squad without him so he’s now just an additional to use if he’s available and opportunities appear. But feel Keita will be heavily depended upon in rotation with Henderson (injury prone too) and Fabinho and only really old man Milner and possibly young talent Jones as other options.
Yes, I think the club viewed Thiago as Gini’s replacement - with a view to picking him up on a free if Gini stayed and saw out his contract, or buying immediately if Barca stumped up the cash for Gini. Given Bayern’s eagerness to get a deal done, and our difficulties in finding a suitable CB we appear to have jumped early to guarantee his signature and provide him with more time to adjust to the league and team.
We also had Jones come in for Lallana, and who should be able to provide more minutes than his predecessor was able to.
We’ve been linked to Neto frequently for the last couple of seasons. I think he is out injured until February though, so would expect a move for him next summer. Selling Origi to them this summer could help facilitate that move…
If he was due back before the Afcon then I could perhaps see it, but if it’s February then no.
Perhaps sell them Origi, who we really don’t need, take Neto on a season long loan allowing our physio and medical department to have a real good look at him, see if they can get him ready for January, option to buy for x if he plays y amount of games…
