It’s not set in stone that Tsimi is now behind Gomez since Tsimi got injured. Kids got a chance when our senior LB’s were injured and Gomez had to cover elsewhere.
Especially since the end of the season is near and we have a new guy coming in. It resets and goes back to “normal”.
Like I said, we can aim to have all versatile backups, but then have players out of position who provide what exactly apart from bodies in position? That’s also not very good.
It is how it is with left footed defenders and full backs. I don’t mind if we have two who are LB’s. We have 4 competitions and ambitions.
Geertruida is versatile, but I’m not convinced by his quality. And his versatility, well, he’d come in to be more or a replacement Gomez then?
If there is genuine interest in Geertruida, I’m wondering if that’d fit into what I’ve thought might happen with some departures in midfield, maybe even Endo?
Numbers wise I think we already have a full squad even without Matip and Thiago, and that doesn’t include the additional youngsters beyond Quansah and Bradley that are also on the cusp of the first team.
By full squad, I mean that we have 3 keepers and roughly speaking 2 players for every other position. If we are looking to give players like Bobby Clark playing time next season, then I don’t think we have much space for bringing in other players without others moving out (whether on loan or permanently).
Technically we have Doak currently taking a spot which brings us to 6.
I’m not making a point as to whether the squad is strong enough or has adequate numbers to cover injuries - just pointing out that the squad size is already pretty much hitting 25 players.
Will Slot stick to our 4-3-3 or go with his prefered 4-2-3-1? If he desides to move to a 2 man midfield then we might not need to go out and buy.
How he rates players like Morton and Bajcetic?
Does he see Trent more as a midfielder ( ) or a RB?
In theory we may not need to bring in a new CM as we may already have that position covered in players already at the club or with a teak in our formation
Would need a new CB, preferably one that has the versatility to cover both FB roles as well (like Gomez currently does) Morton (will need to see how his loan at Hull has helped develope him) and Bajcetic in CM, Doak on the right of the 3, which could then allow Elliott to shift to one of the other slots, and Dunns can cover the CF role
Then we still have the likes of Bobby Clarke, Ramsey, Phillips and Sepp
Think it would be rather Szoboszlai at #10, not Jota. Jota isn’t really one to connect and link the play between the lines. I think Slot would want a highly technical player there. Jota would probably continue covering the left wing and striker position. And Jones could be used as a double pivot midfielder.
But we’ll see, because Feyenoord have been switching those midfield structures and it’s too early to know what will be our main one here.
True, I was merely pointing out that with our current options, we don’t really need to buy a new CM to replace Thiago. A new CB to replace Matip though is something we will need to look into
I suppose the next question would be, where would we be able to upgrade, and that would answer the “who would you buy” question.
I’m tempted to say, we need a LB upgrade, partly because I don’t think Kosta is quite at the level - solid professinal but a big drop down from Robbo. Also, Robbo isn’t getting any younger and we may see him not being a first choice in a year or so.
We need to think seriously about a replacement for Mo. I mean he is irreplaceable but we need something for that position.
I’d say that an upgrade to the No. 9 is in order. Could we get a clone of Ian Rush?
Still have names like Jones/Elliot/Clark/Danns etc to fit in there as well.
There’s plenty of people there now. I do think we need to search for Mo’s replacment though. But if we get someone who does what Diaz does on the left wing , it’s still fine. We don’t exactly need to replace Mo with a clone , that’s going to be tough to do. As long as the goals keep coming in , doesn’t matter who scored them.
) or a RB?