The comparisons to Mane are pretty obvious. He has that trait of often looking more difficult to play against than his numbers suggest. While that is a back handed compliment for many, it actually described one of Mane’s best traits in that he made life absolutely hell for the defense, often 2 to 3 players, even in games where he wasnt scoring or creating. In Jurgen’s first version of this side that was perfect as while Mo might have lit up games with moments of magic, Mane bludgeoned sides to death over 90 long minutes eventually caused them to break from his unrelenting pressure. Critically Mane did also increase his output once he joined us, which there was no guarantee of and without that you can be a bit of a Doku or Traore where defenses are fine having their FB be terrorized without having to make the defense altering shifts to help them out knowing that he’s probably not going to do much with that advantage anyway. That’s the gamble you’d be taking on Kudus.
Think we might find it difficult to bring Cherki in, even though it’s definitely the type of opportunistic signing we’d make. It probably comes down to who can offer him first team football, although I could see a world where we sell Chiesa, replace him with this guy, who is younger, fitter, and allow a potentially serious option to rotate with Salah, so he’d still play quite often. Lay down a marker to him to learn from some of the best attackers in the game, still have plenty of games off the bench, cups, and push to eventually replace some of those players.
Salah, Cherki, Gakpo, Diaz, and it’d leave us with plenty to spend on a forward, although that depends on Jota’s body, and whether the club thinks he can go another year.
Salah is hardly ever rotated, though.
I think that would change if we had another option who wasn’t Chiesa.
That too for 20 million for a 22 year old. That’s hardly a gamble. This will turnout great both in terms of quality and value.
Also regarding what @Limiescouse said about the gamble. I’m wondering if Kudus’ conversion rate is poor because he has to fight off multiple opponents to progress the ball for West Ham every time he plays. Today he got subbed as he was shattered. He starts a lot deeper than our wide forwards as well. Maybe in a better team with threats demanding attention in other areas he will be sharper when he gets to his strike zone?
That needs to change next season. It’s clear he’s not producing as he was and, especially with ACN, it’s important for him to know he’s under pressure and will be dropped if he’s not contributing enough (as lately).
The challenge is that last season more than ever Mo pulled off the “I’m not playing well, but gradually figuring out how to unlock this game” and pulled out a moment that won us a game. As long as he remained fit, it justified keeping him on even when seemingly not playing well.
The luxury of being able to do that, with the “remained fit” bit, cannot go on for ever, but people prognosticating would have assumed that point had already happened and you tend to lose money betting against Mo.
Haven’t looked at the stats, so I’m sure I can be ‘proved wrong’, but to the eye Mo really looks like he’s lost a gear since around the time of signing his contract. Tbh, I don’t think he is the player he was even last season and his loss of pace (coupled with no reqf protection) means he is now much easier to contain which results in him playing too deep. But then again I’ve felt we’ve needed a New Salah (or two) for a couple of seasons.
I think this has been said since the first post-COVID AFCON, no?
He was always going drop off, his figures weren’t far off his best ever and still are not, if he had continued he would have crushed pretty much every 38 game scoring and assist record.
He will win the golden boot at a canter (unless Beluga has a scoring spree) and no one is even close on Assists.
But apart from that what has the Egyptian done for us?
MO will be moved into the middle… with Pongo pushing up on the right, Bradley behind him
…the aquaduct?
This is a mistake, IMO. Mo is not nearly as effective through the middle, it doesn’t allow him to drag defenders out wide then cut in and use his close control and skill to either score or assist. His hold-up play isn’t great either, and he’s not that effective with his back to goal. I’d prefer Jota/Diaz in the middle with Salah/Gakkers either side. Even Gakpo in the middle with Diaz on the left would be better than having Salah come inside.
I think Mo will still play off the right, but with Frimpong offering a pacy outlet on either the overlap or under lap, it will buy Mo a bit of space to carry on at a very high level. He is frequently double teamed and now that his powers are waning (he’s still got plenty left in the tank) some help from Frimpong will give him a new lease of life, or at least extend his productivity for the next two years. We probably won’t see numbers like this season, which has been exceptional, but I think it will be very respectable.
To tweak that, and seeing pretty much all our opponents just sit deep and hope to hit us on the counter these days, wouldn’t it be great if we went 2-4-4 next season?
Ali
Ibou Virg
Conor Mac Grav Kerkez
Jezza Mo Lucho Cody
It’ll never happen, of course, but it’d be fun to watch.
Maybe Arne’s bringing the 2-3-5 back!
I’m not sure about that. I think we might see the team focus much of its build up play down the left, particularly if we can get Kerkez, this will help to draw players away from the right flank giving both give Mo and Frimpong (as RB) more space on the right.