The makings of a good team?

[TraffordBlue]

So many people are highlighting the need for a striker, however I think we would look a different team if we had a top centre back and a top left back signed.

A top striker/s seems to be the difference between getting in the top 6 and not though. If you look at all of the top 6, their main attacking options are far superior to ours now we have lost Lukaku, and all of those teams had more than one goal threat from someone other than their main striker last season too. City have Jesus, de Bruyne, Sane. Spurs have Eriksen, Alli, Son. Arsenal had Sanchez and Walcott. Other than Lukaku, our next best goalscorer was Barkley with 5. We have now lost our star player who was on a par or close to the likes of Kane, Aguero, Morata, Lacazette etc.

Obviously you need a well rounded team overall which is why Liverpool and Arsenal won't challenge for the title because their back 5 lets them down. The frustrating thing for me is that we have addressed most of the key areas - Goalkeeper, Centre Half, brought in Sigurdsson to add more goals, as well as some others who may weigh in with some too, but we have shot ourselves in the foot by losing such a key player and not replacing him.

 

[Stephenlloyd]

So many people are highlighting the need for a striker, however I think we would look a different team if we had a top centre back and a top left back signed.

Fielding a really strong back 4 with pace who can pass the ball totally changes the game. To get better defensively weve played very deep under koeman with 2 defensive midfielders. If we had better defenders rather than the useless Cuco and the veterans Baines, Williams and Jagielka we would be able to play a high defensive line...

Opposition is further away from our goal and were closer to theirs...

Not rocket science. This would mean that our 'playmakers' would be passing the ball around the opposition box drawing fouls for Gylfi at the least.

Playing the deep defensive system as we are doing doesn't work unless we have players with pace like Lookman in the side...bizarre to bench him.

If it was me the priority signings would be a centre back and a left back + then third, a striker.

No point signing a striker now when were playing so deep.

I read that both Stefan de vrij and Luke shaw are both out of contract in the summer, not sure how true that is. They would be 2 fantastic signings on frees. Shaw has had injuries but on a free worth a gamble, did he play for koeman at Southampton? And could stay in the north west.

Of the top 6 only Spurs, if they sold rose could be interested. And I'm sure koeman gave de vrij his debut.

More money for a striker and top class wide player.

 

[Joey66]

DCL is 20 years old, he doesnt know how to lead a line, hes doing ok, but hes a young lad, we need a player with nous, not just a young lad who will run all day.

And we havent got a good squad, Ronny has just lashed a load of players together with no real plan, its madness unlike anything ive ever seen, the only saving grace is that we havent bought any bad players which means that hopefully when we sign the 3 players the squad needs it can be salvaged, but that wont happen till next summer with the new manager.

If things and results stay the same RK will be gone by Xmas!

 

[murphy89]

Everyone keeps going on about wingers, but you can be successful without wingers. Look at Spurs, they don't play with them and instead use their fullbacks overlapping. I think we are trying to do something similar, with Sigurdsson playing the role similar to Eriksen and cutting in.

If you look at the heat map from last weekend, the main difference is that they have a major outlet with Kane who pushes the CBs back. Sandro, on the other hand, played mainly in infront of their CBs.

Also, Dier drops back to make a back three when their wingers bomb forward, whereas Schneiderlin doesn't leaving us quite exposed at the back.

For me, we need to play Davies over Klassen for now.

I also think we will see a huge difference when Coleman is back. I also can see why Martina is playing ahead of Holgate as he offers more moving forward.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

Bit experimental this in that it's never been tried before, but anyone else think that a line-up like this would be worth a go (assuming everyone in the squad is fit & ready)?

Pickford
Coleman - Holgate - Keane - Baines
Davies - Gana
Bolasie - Sigurdsson - Lookman
DCL
​

That still gives us options off the bench like Sandro, Morgan, Besic, Rooney, Klaassen & Vlasic.

Lookman & DCL have displayed decent link up play at international level and I think they should be tried together. Lookman himself & Bolasie on the other side would finally provide us with some real dynamism on both wings and, combined with Sig playing as the number 10, should provide DCL with more ammo than he's currently been getting. Gana & Davies would currently be my preferred duo in DM as they are the most productive and Morgan just seems to have hit the brakes this season. Holgate should be given a chance next to Keane on the right side of centre half with Coleman next to him.

The good thing about this is that it leaves us with a good base system to rotate players in and out where we need to.

 

[riddick]

Bit experimental this in that it's never been tried before, but anyone else think that a line-up like this would be worth a go (assuming everyone in the squad is fit & ready)?

Pickford
Coleman - Holgate - Keane - Baines
Davies - Gana
Bolasie - Sigurdsson - Lookman
DCL
​

That still gives us options off the bench like Sandro, Morgan, Besic, Rooney, Klaassen & Vlasic.

Lookman & DCL have displayed decent link up play at international level and I think they should be tried together. Lookman himself & Bolasie on the other side would finally provide us with some real dynamism on both wings and, combined with Sig playing as the number 10, should provide DCL with more ammo than he's currently been getting. Gana & Davies would currently be my preferred duo in DM as they are the most productive and Morgan just seems to have hit the brakes this season. Holgate should be given a chance next to Keane on the right side of centre half with Coleman next to him.

The good thing about this is that it leaves us with a good base system to rotate players in and out where we need to.

I know you are thinking about what our 'best team' is, but that will not happen until after the Christmas period. Waiting until that point is a bit mad, no?

 

[PeregrineT]

I think what many people dont realize or have forgotten in a fit of madness is 3 important things about this team.

1. We are playing the toughest schedule to start a season of any team, and the toughest weve ever faced. Judge the team maybe after we arent playing teams like Man City and Chelsea for 4 straight weeks. What did people seriously expect? Lets not pretend we are losing to Stoke and BHA. Last season out of 10 matches the 2nd place finisher, Tottenham, only won 4. The third placed finisher, Man City, only won 2 of 10.

2. We have an entirely new attacking lineup. Again, are people naive enough to think that you can just throw in 5 players who havent played together before and within 1-2 games they are already playing at their peak performance? Its going to take until probably November before the offensive side of the ball really starts working well together. On offence its not about reacting, its about anticipating and dictating, things that need more coordination than the other side of the ball.

3. Perhaps most importantly, have people considered that we appear to be building a team in the mold that Mourinho did last season with United. United scored few goals. But what he did was build a defensive foundation in that first season. He realized that like with any house, you HAVE to have a solid foundation to start, and in this sport, the foundation is defence. Now look at United. They are picked by many to be much improved this year and take a CL spot because they have the defensive foundation, but now have added the offensive pieces. You cant compete with teams that have spent hundreds of millions per season, over the past decade, by spending in just one. It takes time. But keep in mind we have spent 4th highest in the league in net spend since Moshiri came. We are spending like a CL team, we just need to build the foundation first.

 

[Zatara]

Of course we need a striker Zat, we just sold one who bags us 25 goals, what logic are you applying to suggest that we no longer need one?

I didn't mean that we don't need one, simply that would be our third priority in my opinion.

Some people think having a striker would put us on the front foot @bluestevon (?) but I think the manager is so negative that the only way for us to be pushing forward is to bring in a centre back and a left back with pace which enables us to play a high line.

Once we have this in place then we can look at bringing in a top striker.

At the moment were so deep, whats the point of punting the ball to one player isolated against 2 defenders (and perhaps a defensive midfielder also)...the way we need to play now without these defenders in place is to play our quick players on the counter..

 

[TennesseeBlue]

I think what many people dont realize or have forgotten in a fit of madness is 3 important things about this team.

1. We are playing the toughest schedule to start a season of any team, and the toughest weve ever faced. Judge the team maybe after we arent playing teams like Man City and Chelsea for 4 straight weeks. What did people seriously expect? Lets not pretend we are losing to Stoke and BHA. Last season out of 10 matches the 2nd place finisher, Tottenham, only won 4. The third placed finisher, Man City, only won 2 of 10.

2. We have an entirely new attacking lineup. Again, are people naive enough to think that you can just throw in 5 players who havent played together before and within 1-2 games they are already playing at their peak performance? Its going to take until probably November before the offensive side of the ball really starts working well together. On offence its not about reacting, its about anticipating and dictating, things that need more coordination than the other side of the ball.

3. Perhaps most importantly, have people considered that we appear to be building a team in the mold that Mourinho did last season with United. United scored few goals. But what he did was build a defensive foundation in that first season. He realized that like with any house, you HAVE to have a solid foundation to start, and in this sport, the foundation is defence. Now look at United. They are picked by many to be much improved this year and take a CL spot because they have the defensive foundation, but now have added the offensive pieces. You cant compete with teams that have spent hundreds of millions per season, over the past decade, by spending in just one. It takes time. But keep in mind we have spent 4th highest in the league in net spend since Moshiri came. We are spending like a CL team, we just need to build the foundation first.

It's been horrendous to watch so far, no doubt about that. But no sane person can judge this squad for another month or two at least.

 

[Paul E]

No

 

[bluestevon]

I didn't mean that we don't need one, simply that would be our third priority in my opinion.

Some people think having a striker would put us on the front foot @bluestevon (?) but I think the manager is so negative that the only way for us to be pushing forward is to bring in a centre back and a left back with pace which enables us to play a high line.

Once we have this in place then we can look at bringing in a top striker.

At the moment were so deep, whats the point of punting the ball to one player isolated against 2 defenders (and perhaps a defensive midfielder also)...the way we need to play now without these defenders in place is to play our quick players on the counter..

Read my prior posts mate, always said we need both of them, without a target man the ball wont stick and we are vunerable of the counter so naturally sit deep, without a centre back whose decent alongside a keane who is rapidly getting his confidence destroyed now we naturally have to sit deeper, combine the two we sit awfully deep

Not that any of this matters as looking at tonight and the last couple of games it reminds me of the last days of martinez, the players have quit on this fat headed beaut

 

[bluestevon]

It's been horrendous to watch so far, no doubt about that. But no sane person can judge this squad for another month or two at least.

wanna revise that after tonights display mate?