It's quiet... summer 2018.

[mccity]

Yes,its been touched upon already.

ok

 

[SebastianBlue]

It seems Brighton are going with the minimal and sumpremely confident ‘One Andone’ transfer strategy this summer...

 

[cjn]

Yes,its been touched upon already.

Great post

Mahrez and Jorginho would also be great signings for a reason that may have not been touched upon too often yet.

One very large and contributing factor to our success this season has been the incredible VARIETY we've had amongst our high quality attacking players. This has allowed us to be able to play in a multitude of ways that makes us far less predictable to defend against and is a big reason we only failed to score twice in the league last season. All of our players have a lot of similarities obviously but they all have unique qualities that sets them apart, not just in our team but in the league too when you think about it.


For example, there are things Aguero can do that nobody else can do. Similarly, there are things Jesus can do that nobody else can do. Same with De Bruyne. And Sane, Sterling, Silva, Bernardo, Mendy, and a fully fledged Gundogan too. That's a crazy amount! Then take into account that in some way or form, the likes of Fernandinho, Delph, Zinchenko, Walker, Danilo, Stones, Laporte, Kompany, Otamendi and even Ederson too have some fairly unique way of contributing to our attack and all of a sudden we will always have an answer.

So if a defence can deal with Sane running directly at them, they still have to worry about Sterling on the other side finding space in a dangerous area. If they can do that, then they still have to worry about De Bruyne hitting a cannonball pass/cross and blocking it out. Meanwhile Silva's drifting around in the final third constantly threatening to set loose Aguero and that's a bigger nightmare than anything. To top it off, even if you can deal with all that, Kompany will end up scoring from a corner. And that can be told so many different ways depending on the players picked too.

To contrast, look at Liverpool. They're front three is incredible and a hard working midfield behind has helped them immensely; it's no accident they have scored a lot of goals this season. But in the league every now and again they've come massively undone by any defensively organised team that's stifled their trident, as their complete lack of variety behind (and slight lack of variety between Salah and Mane too, at least tactically) has made them very predictable. There's a reason we looked like scoring against United and they didn't.

Bringing in Mahrez and Jorginho (and even increased appearances from Foden and Diaz) gives us more depth, which will be necessary moving forwards with a hopefully very busy season, especially on the back of a World Cup. But they also bring in extremely unique skillsets that set them apart from everyone else. We've seen what Mahrez can do and we've heard plenty about Jorginho and his excellent passing capabilities and intelligence.

As I think it's proven with our signings last year, the goal is not to bring in that one mega all round super footballer. But just a series of high quality players that can fit in the system whilst bringing something unique to the table. This means that going forwards Pep has the unique opportunity to not just rotate for the sake of fitness and maintenance, but for effectiveness and tactical variety dependent on the opponent ie rotation with purpose.This helps keep things fresh, competitive and allows us every chance to play every game of the season without ever dropping in standard significantly. Which will mean no stupid cup exits, no unnecessarily scrappy games around Christmas and a set of hungry, injury free players. Should be great.

I agree with you, I don't think it's a coincidence Pep tends to target versatile players and shoots to have two in each position. I also think people are materially underrating Mahrez. In our system, with our creative midfielders, he's going to be dynamite. It's not the most exciting because there isn't much mystery but he'll be very good.

 

[Edwin Edwin]

Does anybody feel that as good as Jorginho and Mahrez are, they're not automatic starters in terms of quality which means this will be the third time that we'll start a title defence without actually having a better XI than the season before?

Because such players are already at Madrid,Barca or Bayern and big clubs don't sell their assets?

 

[richards30]

If we have the following options:

Fernandinho
Jorginho
Gundogan
De Bruyne
B Silva
D Silva
Sterling
Sane
Mahrez
Jesus
Aguero

As our midfield and attacking options we will hit 10 at some point next season!!!

 

[Rammyblues]

If we have the following options:

Fernandinho
Jorginho
Gundogan
De Bruyne
B Silva
D Silva
Sterling
Sane
Mahrez
Jesus
Aguero

As our midfield and attacking options we will hit 10 at some point next season!!!

Who is going to play fly keeper :=)

 

[richards30]

Who is going to play fly keeper :=)

Well ederson is probably better on the ball that half of them on that list! ;-)

 

[cityzennn93:20]

if psg get hit with ffp it is likely that they cant complete the deal for mbappe this summer which makes him a monaco player again. which leaves either us or madrid to sign him
if madrid sign him then chelsea wont have a choice but to sell hazard to us if he wants to join. so really psg getting hit with ffp could be the best thing for our summer. how ironic that ffp is going to help us sign a 100m plus player.

 

[davek1808]

if psg get hit with ffp it is likely that they cant complete the deal for mbappe this summer which makes him a monaco player again. which leaves either us or madrid to sign him
if madrid sign him then chelsea wont have a choice but to sell hazard to us if he wants to join. so really psg getting hit with ffp could be the best thing for our summer. how ironic that ffp is going to help us sign a 100m plus player.

yeah it's a funny old game as they say.

 

[cjn]

if psg get hit with ffp it is likely that they cant complete the deal for mbappe this summer which makes him a monaco player again. which leaves either us or madrid to sign him
if madrid sign him then chelsea wont have a choice but to sell hazard to us if he wants to join. so really psg getting hit with ffp could be the best thing for our summer. how ironic that ffp is going to help us sign a 100m plus player.

Mbappe is a PSG player, period. There no scenario in which UEFA is going to tear up a previously agreed upon transfer. We have a 0% chance of getting him.