Who would you buy? (Part 2)

I think there is probably some combination of them now being under prepared (from training), overcooked (from overuse relative to their level of conditioning), playing to game plans that has them generally trying to be more economical, and likely confused from trying to figure out how to respond to what they are being asked to do working so poorly.

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And some people will still be wondering why I make Eeyore look happy! :frowning:

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Yeah, I mean other than 4 things, Slot has us purring.

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Salah is allow to ā€œrestā€ is not help too. We basically play with 10 man off ball with Salah in the field.

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This! For the sake of balance, we need a different profile of player than Maca. Wharton doesn’t seem athletic enough for me though. I think we need to look elsewhere. Anderon looks very good, but will be very expensive too.

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Man, it is (sadly) clear that we need to buy a winger for each side. Mo and Gakpo are just not good enough. I’d be happy with a new winger on each side with Rio and Frimpong as alternative options.

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Arne Slot has read this and agreed until he saw you mention Gakpo

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Anything beyond our games with Anderson. I’m especially wary about a Forest side that can’t be arsed suddenly turning into Everton when we rock up.

Anderson of the two but he’s not even close to being worth Ā£100m if that’s the legitimate figure they are demanding.

I’d prefer Wharton. Whenever I’ve seen Palace he has been class.

He’s a great player but I get the feeling he’d need to be paired with somebody like Anderson which is a profile we don’t currently have. Our midfield already lacks physicality when Dom is not in it, I’m not overly convinced Wharton does much to solve that.

Maybe the solution is to buy both.

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He’s not as good as Anderson when he doesn’t have the ball. For us, more than the creative side it’s been a massive problem when we don’t have the ball.

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Creative without the ball? Mmmmm

we’re like a sieve in midfield when the opponent have the ball. A lot of it is tactical. But we are just as bad in one on one encounters.

Mate, we still don’t know how our side should look with Szobo & Wirtz and Ekitike & Isak going forward, let’s not create more of those ā€œtoo sweetā€ problems.

:joy:

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Nope.

I’m firmly in favour of getting both. Try them as a double pivot to screen the defence. Then have Grav as the third one there for rotation.

Dom and Wirtz can rotate at the number 10 spot, although as we’ve seen Dom can fit in well at most positions so depending on the opposition he could even drop back deeper if needed.

Sell MacAllister and, as much as I would like to keep him, if he wants to leave then let Jones go too to help raise funds for both midfielders.

Yes, this is a pipedream and probably unrealistic but until I see Slot trusting more than the same 15 or 16 players and running them into the ground I’d love to have an extra two homegrown players who you’d imagine Slot would trust if we splurged out anywhere near the amount that both Anderson and Wharton are being priced at.

If I remember correctly some time after we had signed Alonso under Rafa there was a quote from Houllier that he didn’t want to sign Alonso because he thought that he was too close to being the same type of player as Gerrard.

And as much as it always sounds great if we’re getting someone from a different country we already know that neither of the two will need to acclimatise to be PL ready.

This is an honest question and I’m sure opinions will vary but since Mascherano and Alonso left have we had two players capable of playing in a double pivot that could help out the defence?

I’m honestly sick and tired of watching teams go through our midfield with relative ease all season long.

Send Isak back to Newcastle and swop for Guimarães.

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Kicking around some ideas in my head. Feel free to critique.

Sell:
Elliott - 20M (reduced rate after the Villa fiasco)
Gakpo - 50M
Salah - 50M
Macca - 70M
Jones - 40M
Alisson - 30M
Chiesa - 15M

Total sell - 275M

Buy:
Anderson - 80M
Wharton - 70M
Olise - 80M
Diomande - 70M

Total buy - 300M

We’d need to re-sign Ibou under this scenario, or else we’d need another CB.

Gives us lots of options in terms of set up.

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I think your fees sold for are very unlikely. Particularly Macca, Gakpo and Mo.

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Gakpo is 26 years old. He’s still in his physical prime. I don’t think 50M is unrealistic. Look at what some other forwards have been sold for.

Salah for 50M is a stretch in Europe, but I think you could see the gulf states fighting for the chance to sign the most famous Arab football player of all time.

Macca’s fee is a question mark, certainly. But he’s still only 27, he’s a serial winner, he’s scored big goals, and I could see a Spanish side trying to buy him. An AtlĆ©tico or Barca.