1 Buy Spence
2 Sell Tsimi
3 ???
4 Profit
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Is the ??? part āimmediately sell Spenceā?
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I think Spence would be a really smart signing.
We know Kerkez is the long term first choice Left Back. We know Bradley is (ideally) the clubs first choice long term Right Back. What we need is cover and versatility.
Spurs want to sell him, he would want the move, he could do a job for us for a few years and then we can move him on.
He could come in primarily as RB until Bradley is ready, do bits on the left when Tsimikas leaves next summer, and the we can make a decision on whether we move him on at that point.
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Was anyone arguing for Spence when the season ended?
His really good WC tournament seems to have erased his time with Tottenham from memory. Heās an excellent athlete, but a limited footballer. We should be looking to do better.
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Spence is too low value. Should be looking at Djed Spounds.
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Where has this idea come from?
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But if you look after the Spence, the Spounds look after themselves!
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Iām not sure he would want to come here as a back up, even if he gets to start in the near term - unless he believes Conor isnāt going to stay fit enough to get into the team on a regular basis.
It would be worth it if we face Atletico in the CL and he tackles Simeone again.
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If Frimpong isnāt seen as a RB I am surprised there has been so few links to right backs after Dumfries went to Madrid. If Bradley is going to he out for a while and we donāt know how his recovery will go we need a starter. I still like the look of Doue at Strasbourg. Has played a lot of games at CB as well.
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In terms of who we buy I was always thinking in terms of a 433. Are we sure we will set up that way? The profile of an attacker/winger (433) vs classical wide midfielder (442) can be quite a different skill set. Not sure if it is possible for us to be 442 next term but it could be the longer term goal and so the profile of the newbes maybe/would be very different - skill set and in terms of how much of a finished article we are after.
I donāt think we can be sure of anything until we see a few games. From what Iāve gathered though, Iraola tends to set up more in a 442 than a 433. So based on that Iām guessing heāll do the same at Liverpool. Thereās some good videos out there about how he likes to set up. But looking at the players he used wide at Bournemouth, they werenāt all similar types. Semenyo, Tavernier, Brooks, Outtara, Rayan, Adli, Doak..maybe others, but theyāre the ones I remember.
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Itās an interesting example of the limitations of describing someoneās approach with just a formation.
I dont know how much it evolved with Bournemouth, but last season at least it was mostly something that most resembled a 4-2-3-1 with the ball, but with FBs giving a lot of the width (often only 1 at a time) and the wide guys often working out to in (maybe this makes sense of Akliouche). It means that at any time a snap shot of the positions might make it look something closer to a 3-3-3-1, or a 3-3-1-3
Without the ball it tends to retreat initially into a fairly narrow 442, but then quickly morphs into something very fluid (I am really trying to avoid using the word chaos as that makes it sound unstructured or random, and its anything but that).
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Always had the impression that this sort of malleability requires either deep coaching or relatively āquick to learnā players. Last season left the feeling that the players slipped into old mind sets during game time because of the historical coaching. Of course the other option is that the players are simply unable to adapt. The first few signings may be informative as to where weāre headed.
Indeed, I donāt really think about formations when a team has the ball. For me itās mainly just a way to describe the ārestingā shape of a team. With the ball, I donāt think a formation says much about what a team wants to do.
Iraola, Guardiola, Arteta and Roy Hodgson all like to set up in a 442 without the ball. But their approaches are obviously quite different.
Iām ridiculously curious to see what the team looks like this pre-season. How does he use Szoboszlai and Wirtz, can there be a way back in for Elliott, how good is Jacquet. And more. All up in the air.
Oh, and please buy some players.
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And there were games when they played the asymmetrical shape. Truffert pushing up more than their RB (for example, when it was Smith) on the day, someone like Kroupi playing more inside off the left (and being like a second striker) than their RW on the day, etc.
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Starting to get a bit concerning now.
We need players. This is not a squad that we can get by on for a season.
What are we doing? Diomande was a top target, it didnāt work out and now it feels like we donāt know who to actually go for as the plan b.
Our full back positions lack quality and depth, our centre back options lack experience and donāt even get me started on the number 6 we have needed for about 3 seasons.
Sorry for the rant but this all just feels like the arrogance of last Summer when we faffed about until deadline day to get Guehi in.
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