I think it’s more of a reflection on Schamdtke and Klopp that they were willing to identify a 30 year old player who could be a viable stop gap. I do think pragmatism does play a part in that.
I’m really alright with Endo seeing out his contract. It’s just that this is the last year to cash out for the club.
We probably should have gotten Endo in much earlier. That remains my only regret with respect to the player.
I don’t think the money is the key factor here, at least not for our dealings this summer. Nor the possible difference in money from Endo’s sale in the summers of 2025 or 2026. I don’t expect us to recoup what we paid for him, but of course a certain fee will be useful in combination with other sales. It makes no sense to keep him for the rest of his contract because he isn’t playing enough, there are reasons why. We need to have 4 quality double-pivot options. Not have a 32-year old as last in the hierarchy, that we avoid using most of the times. It’s not a good situation for the club or the player.
I do think there’s a merit that a club needs a couple of seasoned professionals even if it’s just to hold the standards in training.
They have to be good enough first. We have enough experience as things stand, our average age and squad size is really where it should be. We’ll see at the end of the window though, depending on who comes and goes. We should be getting more from someone in Endo’s role on the pitch, because as it stands there is quite some pressure on our main 3 double pivot options: Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Jones. 3 is not enough, especially when Jones is also in competition (and getting picked ahead of Elliott) with Szobo for #10.
In an ideal world, a new midfielder would push one of Mac, Grav, or Szoboszlai out of the starting 11. I’m happy with all three, but I feel our midfield is still missing something - perhaps an aggressive player who can win duels. However, I don’t think it’s an easy task, and it could be costly. Currently, our priorities are: CF > LB > CB/RB (depending on Gomez’s situation) > CM. Considering this, looking for a cheaper option might make sense. An experienced player would also be more reliable off the bench than a younger one. Our current midfielders are already fairly young and adding experience like Endo is helpful.
Totally agree on this bit as we have come unstuck against teams with aggressive midfielders and a plan to beat our press by going long and then winning the 2nd balls, aka Newcastle and Forest.
They need to be strong, fast, aggressive and also need to be good in possession, not asking much and no idea who it would be.
I do think Grav is good in most of those metrucs but falls a little short in the strength and aggressive categories, wish he had Macca’s bit of mongrel in him.
I was thinking more Masch,less Mac.
Fully agree, 8 is right number providing the quality and fitness are there across the board.
And just to be clear I didn’t mean I think Huijsen would be 5th choice in the pecking order, just that he’d be one of five options at CB. Where he’d sit in the pecking order would depend on who, if anyone, leaves.
It’s big money for a CB so young but his rise has been meteoric and someone could well be getting a defensive mainstay for the thick end of a decade with him.
We’ve the third oldest squad in the league I believe and one littered with seasoned internationals and captains.
In Alisson, van Dijk, Robertson, Salah Szobo, Konate, Mac, Jota and Gakpo we’ve got plenty of top professionals to set the standard.
Lamine Camara at Monaco. He’s the lad Brighton will buy once they’ve fleeced someone for Baleba this summer.
This will be the drum I’m banging and the hill I’ll be dying on this summer.
I like the Camara shout. It’s a tricky one for us. Possibly not quite good enough to get the minutes he needs right now, but it is easy to see how he would have an intermediate club - and Brighton do this so well - and then when he is going for 80-100M everyone will be saying why didn’t we get him when he was at Monaco?
I wonder what we can do to bridge this sort of gap?
Presumably we know of lots of players we could sign, but they would be sort of stuck at Liverpool - too good for our kids, but not quite good enough yet to command a spot in a first team squad that is competing for the biggest prizes.
I suppose the multi club approach would help, and the likes of Camara, or whoever in the future, could develop under our auspices at Malaga, before getting into our first team set up, or being sold if they don’t quite get there.
Buying from a “Monaco” who are doing well (currently 2nd) is something we’re very used to, there doesn’t have to be a “Brighton” in between. I don’t know too much about Camara though, I see this is his second top flight club season and he’s got 29 international caps.
That is the challenge but there are more games than ever. There’s somewhere in the region of 160 to 180 midfield starts per season up for grabs, plus then appearances from the bench. And then maybe add in whatever this mad new summer Club World Cup might involve.
Our three main midfielder starters are third, fourth and fifth in terms of minutes this season. We’ve got to find players who are able to be trusted but who are also accepting of the fact they might not be automatic starters every game. Typically that’s going to be a younger player who isn’t the finished article but has the potential to grow into being one.
Then it’s up to Slot to find them minutes. Give whoever comes in all the minutes McConnell, Morton, Nyoni and Endo have got this year and you’ll have nearly what Jones has played this season. That’s before you even ease the workload on Mac, Grav and Szobo who’ve barely missed games through injury this season either.
We definitely need a fifth midfielder that Slot will use regularly. I am still keeping an open mind on Bajcetic, since he is doing well in Spain and starting to look like the player we were hoping he would become.
Since we have a lot of other business to do, most likely, I think the stars might align for Bajcetic to make a case for himself in pre season.
If he doesn’t get the nod as a fifth midfield option, Slot will either have to trust Endo more, and give McConnell more minutes, OR buy another midfielder.
At that point Camara comes into the equation, along with many others to be fair.
One option who is relatively under the radar is Stiller. It’s not that he is unknown, but the work he is doing probably commands more respect in the wider footballing world, and as such, I wonder if there’s a relative bargain to be had there?
I wish CONMEBOL would move the Copa América to January.
I know this is a bit old fashioned and quite reductive but I’d love to have another important player in the squad who plays every game like his fucking dinner depends on it.
I love the current lads but sometimes if particular combinations start, we can end up with a team where practically everyone on the pitch plays calm, relaxed football.
Diaz, Macca, Robbo I think are probably the only important players who have that quality. Maybe Bradley. Then definitely Endo but he hardly plays. Dom has the energy and enthusiasm but is a pussy cat when it’s time to make a challenge.
Would love to see us target someone with that profile. As uneducated and simplistic as that is.
I think Slot will want to add the opposite in the following transfer windows.
More technique and more control. It’s important for his style of football and for our likely evolution.
I can’t ever fault Robbo’s approach, he literally plays every minute like he’s on trial and not already one of the best LB’s in this club’s history. That doesn’t mean every performance is good, too much passion sometimes leads to mistakes.
That’s just one example. Sometimes passion is shown in different ways. I think this team and squad is really good in terms of habits, our star players aren’t lazy or whatever.
Diaz is a hard worker with some skills, but not enough consistent going past people or goal threat. He can carry the ball across the whole pitch, end up in blind alleys and still stay alive, keep us in possession. That’s good to have, but there are reasons why he often ends up from a promising position out wide in that crowded central area where he’s not needed; he didn’t succeed breaking part of a defence. Sometimes it seems like he has to piss blood in order to create a great chance for himself or others. But yeah, he at least has the capacity to keep trying all day.
Mac has even too much passion in duels sometimes, I want to see him be more careful in challenges (he is really good in small spaces on and off the ball, his lack of pace shows more in bigger spaces). Show more personality and courage in possession.
In fact, I think all of our starting midfielders can go up a level. They’re good, pretty good, but I don’t think our evolution in midfield is over as it is.
Gravenberch will hopefully improve even more in this role he earned and grabbed with both hands. Mac is entering his prime now and should be an important player for control. Even more than he is now. Szobo’s pressing and running is top notch, but we’ll need more creativity and numbers from our #10 (it ended up in our average structure looking more like 4-3-3 in some recent, especially big games.
It takes more personality and courage to do stuff in possession than sprint like a headless chicken and lunge into challenges. Also, likely losing Trent will increase our needs in our foreplay, how we progress from the first third to other two thirds.
Without losing passion and work rate (those things are not extra, they’re a must), I believe Slot will want to add more elements (be it through individuals or eternal internal group work) that will enable us to control more, dominate more and win more games with more conviction.
While we will miss Trent , I think it’s imperative that the side’s creative output needn’t be restricted to Trent and Mo.
We need to be more unpredictable, and that’s where additional reinforcements should help. Do we get a deep lying playmaker who can be a solid defensive rock and allow the likes of Soboszlai and Macallister the freedom to go forward ? And still be really good at pinging the balls forward to the forwards ? That could be an option.
We need some unpredictability in the attack as well too , not in the sense of missing chances like we see with Nunez. But the unpredictability in the sense that sides can’t continue to double mark Salah and kill a huge chunk of our attacking game. A part of that can be solved if we go for a 4-2-2-2 ish formation where Mac and Dom are the more advanced midfielders /10s if you will. That probably means that a deep lying playmaker can replicate quite a bit of what Trent offers in offense and we still have the likes of Bradley/his backup to provide pace down the wings (which Trent does lack).
I’d be looking at something like this
RB Konate VVD Kerkez
DLP Gravenberch
Dom. Mac
Salah. Isak
Atleast as our first choice starting XI.
Doesn’t mean we won’t need reinforcements in CBs. But this is probably how I’d see Arne lining up with pace down the wings with wingbacks. And then the link ups that ensue therein.
That’s pretty much what Iraola does at Bournemouth.
4 straight out starters in short. Because we would have to let go of Trent and Robbo needs to get his minutes phased out. I see Frimpong getting touted there , he might be one (if Bradley needs some time). A Kerkez in LB with Robbo increasingly getting his minutes managed. A DLP, maybe a player in the profile of Zubimendy. And then Isak (who’ll be the icing on the cake , provided we generate enough funds with sales of Nunez , Elliot , Morton).
Finally get in a CB understudy.