Mentioning you heard the Liverpool link is the kiss of death. You can write this one off.
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Another one who canāt win a header. We donāt sign CBs who are that weak in the air.
Heās six foot four. Iām sure JĆ¼rgen and Virg can teach him to head a ball properly.
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But being big doesnāt mean someone is good in the air. Heās young but not a kid, so only winning 1.06 header per game and barely winning 50% of duels looks concerning for a league where aerial weakness can be fatal.
Especially at the end of this season as lack of dominance in the air has really hurt us at times.
Heās an outlier on his own team with this. The other CBs have way higher stats for aerial duels. In fact they win more headers per game than he even competes for and they win at a higher rate than his very poor 52%.
I admit I donāt watch Wolfsburg so Iāve never seen they guy play but stats like that concern me that he would be way too passive for the Premier League - in our system at least. Man City seem able to get away with it but our CBs all have way higher raw numbers and win % aerially.
Its not like his other numbers are outstanding either. Not a particularly good passer and ery low in all defensive categories.
Until I see a real link to him, I donāt buy that we have any real interest at this point. Heās 22 so no doubt some potential there but he doesnāt seem ready for the step up to us yet. No doubt we will scout him and continue to do so in case he improves but I think the links the Inacio or Greaves make more sense based on the stats - which I know arenāt the be all and end all but they also arenāt insignificant. It would be a lot of money to spend on someone in the hope you could teach them fundamental defensive skills.
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They wonāt need to, I ām sure heading will be banned soon along with tackling.
At that height, he just has to stand there and the ball will come off his head. Problem solved.
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I havenāt watched any Wolfsburg games, so I wonāt pretend that I know how they play, but maybe itās his partnerās job to aggressively win headers? Or maybe teams deliberately avoid putting high balls into Mickyās zone? Or, perhaps, he simply needs to work on timing and leaping fundamentals?
I agree that itās a concern that a 22yo has middling stats, but statistics arenāt the be-all and end-all. If the recruitment team and coaching staff believe that thereās something they can work with there, weāll bid for him.
Iām not pinning my colours to any particular centre half, by the way. Iād be happy to go into next season with our current quartet and SVDB as backup.
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Yeah absolutely there could be real life factors that donāt show up on a stats sheet that contribute to low numbers. Just personally I find having low to middling numbers right across the board to be a bit of a worry. All four of our CBs rank really high in major defensive categories and I donāt see much value in bringing in someone who is worse than Gomez, Konate or Matip (provided of course that those real life, non-statistical factors arenāt hiding the truth of a great defender in there, and thats for scouts to identify).
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Just heardā¦āITS LIVEā is leavingā¦tfftā¦
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I am okay with our attack and have the feeling that Kaide Gordon will get some games in the domestic cup games to give Mo a rest.
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our season depends on signing another CM if not two.
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doubt Trent will move to midfield permanently but nevertheless itās about time to bring in RB cover like we did with Kostas at LB. We have to. Gomez not good enough and after the season we had we donāt have time to prepare some kid.
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for our standards weāve been lucky with CB injuries and still a bad season for that department. Konate a bit of a shining light in the end. Nat unused. Rhys unused. Matip being phased out. Gomez and Virg bad season.
Would be a stupid decision not bring in a new player.
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For me, itās an absolute must to identify and bring in the right midfielder and a centre back this summer. As unsure as I felt about our midfield last year, I feel even worse about our centre back options now.
Given that Matip and Alcantara will see their contracts expire, it would be nice to plan ahead of their departures (especially if Gomez gets to play as a right back more often), possibly add another centre back and another midfielder this time next year.
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The centre back is the one that bothers me. It wouldnāt surprise me if we sign another player in January if they become available before the summer. That seems to have panned out quite well with Diaz and Gakpo.
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Equally could have kicked his insane ass out of the club for being a dickhead. Sakho says hello.
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Sakho was drummed out for being continually late and not showing respect to the manager. Luis was a dick on the pitch but he was a nice guy and a professional off it.
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And for intimidating young players on the pre-season tour.
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Get out of my head Charles Xavier.
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Imagine.
Equating Suarez to Sakho.
We either have a no dickheads rule or we donāt. And further, what Suarez did was much worse than anything Sakho did. Iām comparing their actions, not their talent.
So am I
2 MFs and a CB are needed this summer and if they settle well we should then look for 2 CBs and a MF during next summers window .
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