That is kind of what I was getting at above. People knew he could play, but you have to be REALLY fucking good at that other stuff to justify playing on a good side as a forward if you’re only getting 4 goals in a season. If you can push that to 12-15 league goals, which he did this year, all of a sudden you go from being a prospect to a real problem for teams to defend against.
1 Like
This is the conundrum. Was this season an anomaly for Ekitike? Was it his new normal? Or was it the start of even greater things, as he starts to put it together, still some way short of his peak years?
If it is the latter, and he is making a step up and will go from strength to strength, I really hope we sign him.
As Slot-ball takes hold, Wirtz is going to be putting them on a plate and two athletic fullbacks are going to offer width and plenty of chances too.
Allow me to dream for a second. Ekitike is making the step up. We have proprietary data to lead us to that conclusion. We told him we wanted him, but first let us clear the decks a bit. In the meantime, he slow-walked Chelsea - who wave the cheque book around but could not close a deal, and are now at the club World Cup.
Ekitike wants us. The fee will be a bit steep, but sales will more than cover it. Slot will rebuild the attack and we will be even better next season.
Bring it on!
1 Like
I prefer my Emma Watson fantasy.
1 Like
That was just Fergy being sore because Gerrard didn’t want to join United. The whiskey nose fucker wanted Gerrard in his team.
1 Like
Just seen that Villa are at risk of falling foul of PSR rules. Might need to sell.
Big fan of Rogers, but that seems unlikely as we are pretty well stocked in midfield.
Ollie Watkins on a 2-3 year deal, even though he’s 30 in Dec, would be interesting if there’s an opportunity to take advantage of Villa’s position, noting they’ve not got CL footy next year. As mentioned earlier in this thread, the strikers that are openly available have ridiculous fees byt aren’t overly convincing (except for Isak). Could Watkins be a stop-gap, whilst we try and find a younger rough diamond to work with.
Rogers is more of a versatile between the lines type of offensive player, not really someone who would compete with the likes of Gravenberch or Mac. With Szobo and Wirtz though, yeah, there’s not much room for him. But seems like a really good player.
1 Like
The problem with signing a striker like Ekitike…how do we get all of our best players on the pitch at the same time? If Wirtz plays the 10 then it means Dom is on the bench in our current 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 system. To accommodate both Wirtz and Dom it would mean a change in formation to something like a 4-4-2 or 4-2-2-2. That would mean Salah and only one more forwards on the pitch. That is fine, but do we need to bring in someone like Ekitike if we are rotating only 2 up top? Assuming Nunez leaves, we still have Salah, Gakpo, Diaz, and Jota plus perhaps an academy player. I think in that case Diaz will have to leave in order to bring another in. I am starting to think Wirtz will play as a false 9 in the Bobby role. I think he will be deadly in this role as he will be very difficult to pick up and can be the facilitator. Plus, Dom still gets in the team. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
2 Likes
That’s one view, perhaps not all the mentioned players (like Szobo) need to start every game. Maybe some will leave (like Diaz). We wouldn’t be doing this if we viewed it as a problem. New players arrive and for some it means dropping out or playing less. And we battle on all fronts, we need competition and depth. Nobody can dispute that we could do with a new main striker (and it’s been reported that we do want one), but we’ll see if it happens this summer (we might first do a bit of selling after Wirtz and Kerkez) or another time. It’s still only the start of June.
2 Likes
That’s the big question, for me, around the Wirtz signing. Will we sign a striker to play in front of him, while he operates as a 10? Or will he be more of a false 9?
I lean towards the former, but there’s merit in both ideas. I guess we will see!
1 Like
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Left CB, Lille, Brazil)
When the fatigue creeps in towards the sharp end of the season; which it probably will if we view our substitution changes during games as a mere ad hoc each time; but if/when given the right number of high quality calibre players within a squad, planned substitutions could take place each and every game, that could not only change tactics, but allow respite for players that would help keep the team refreshed through an entire 60 game season, and allow us to challenge on all fronts.
The more I come round to think of it, the more I lean towards this being the way forward, although if Harvey ends up leaving it paves the way for another #9/multi functional forward and this is where someone like a Cherki would’ve been handy.
Could even see something materialising in pre-season where Szobo and Wirtz are the 2 10s flanked by Diaz/Gakpo and Mo.
Don’t disagree…I’m just trying to anticipate what we might do for fun.
Completely agree
1 Like
Agreed. Especially with how good Dom is at making runs into goal scoring positions in the box, having a false 9 whose movement could help create even more openings for those runs seems like it has a lot of potential.
I have no idea if that is the plan, but you can see pretty easily how that might come together.
2 Likes
1 Like
Well whatever the plan, it must be a good one since he sold Wirtz on it!
2 Likes
An understudy for Van Dijk.
Especially if Quansah leaves.
Ancelotti uncovers a gem
Alexsandro started both of the Italian’s matches in charge of Brazil. His year in Lille and his performance in this qualifying window have revealed him as a center-back for the present and future.
2 Likes