No it’s not.I very much doubt that. Some of our problems come from letting the wingers do a lot of work instead of finding them in free spaces. We want from Doku to beat several defenders and then deliver precise crosses. That's hard as in order to do the first he has to be very quick which makes the 2nd very difficult. Let him and Savinho play more often 1 vs 1 and they'll be a lot more productive.
If that applies to Liverpool, then by rights it applies to us, too.
We can't have it both ways, though. Rodri's return is a boost, true, but if he's not going to be at 100% for 5-6 months, then it's rather dangerous to overly rely on him, which is what got us in a pickle in the first place. I think we'll have to see how Rodri and Gonzalez look during the CWC, but I still think we're short on midfield energy/pace, especially heading back the way, and a right-back. However, until players start departing, it's difficult to see another arriving.It doesn't apply to us because we have Rodri returning. It's like Liverpool having VVD returning. Without him in 20/21 they won 69 pts and finished 3rd being ravaged by injuries, the next season they were competing for the quadruple...
Rodri is not likely to be at 100% for the next 5-6 months, but let's see what happens. Physically, he seems fine so far.
Also, part of our problems were aging players. Replacing them is more likely to guarantee improvement. We don't have a key player now who is over 30, Ederson aside. Dias, Gvardiol, Rodri, Haaland, Tijjani, Foden, Marmoush, Doku, Gonzales, Cherki, etc are fine age wise.
We can't have it both ways, though. Rodri's return is a boost, true, but if he's not going to be at 100% for 5-6 months, then it's rather dangerous to overly rely on him, which is what got us in a pickle in the first place. I think we'll have to see how Rodri and Gonzalez look during the CWC, but I still think we're short on midfield energy/pace, especially heading back the way, and a right-back. However, until players start departing, it's difficult to see another arriving.
Where do you get 5 or 6 months from?We can't have it both ways, though. Rodri's return is a boost, true, but if he's not going to be at 100% for 5-6 months, then it's rather dangerous to overly rely on him, which is what got us in a pickle in the first place. I think we'll have to see how Rodri and Gonzalez look during the CWC, but I still think we're short on midfield energy/pace, especially heading back the way, and a right-back. However, until players start departing, it's difficult to see another arriving.
Same question, where do you get 5 or 6 months from?It doesn't apply to us because we have Rodri returning. It's like Liverpool having VVD returning. Without him in 20/21 they won 69 pts and finished 3rd being ravaged by injuries, the next season they were competing for the quadruple...
Rodri is not likely to be at 100% for the next 5-6 months, but let's see what happens. Physically, he seems fine so far.
Also, part of our problems were aging players. Replacing them is more likely to guarantee improvement. We don't have a key player now who is over 30, Ederson aside. Dias, Gvardiol, Rodri, Haaland, Tijjani, Foden, Marmoush, Doku, Gonzales, Cherki, etc are fine age wise.
Same question, where do you get 5 or 6 months from?
Toward the end of the 23-24 season and even last season before Rodri’s injury, we were increasingly looking vulnerable to counters through the middle at pace. It doesn’t matter if you have a Walker or a Khusanov in your side, if the opponents commit men and can counter at pace, we simply don’t have anyone in midfield who can get back quickly. Across the league season, our superior quality will save us, but in cup competitions, and especially in Europe, we will remain vulnerable. It’s one of the reasons I presume they’ve looked at players such as Gibbs-White.Rodri even at 80-90% improves us a lot. And nobody says we'll be over reliant on him. We signed Gonzales and Tijjani for a reason.
How are we short on midfield energy and pace when we won the Treble with Gundo, Bernie and Kevin plus Akanji at RB (if you want to refer to Walker's pace...).
I'd say that this team has more energy and pace than the Treble team (even if it lacks in other aspects like experience...).
Toward the end of the 23-24 season and even last season before Rodri’s injury, we were increasingly looking vulnerable to counters through the middle at pace. It doesn’t matter if you have a Walker or a Khusanov in your side, if the opponents commit men and can counter at pace, we simply don’t have anyone in midfield who can get back quickly. Across the league season, our superior quality will save us, but in cup competitions, and especially in Europe, we will remain vulnerable. It’s one of the reasons I presume they’ve looked at players such as Gibbs-White.
Reijnders acknowledges that he’s much better in attack than defence, and Porto fans cautioned us here that Gonzalez's weakness was his lack of pace, which we've seen evidence of already. Similarly, Lewis also struggles to get back quickly. Ideally, one of the 3 midfielders (Bernardo, Gundogan, Kovacic) could be replaced with someone with a different skillset, but that's unlikely, which is why I acknowledge that the rebuild won't be complete until next summer.
Rodri was never the quickest. Remember being at Norwich away in his first season and the whole away end were slagging Rodri off. He'd scored a 25 yarder and was our best player, but because he wasn't as fast as Fernandinho the whole away end slated him. Plodri and so on. Even got into a heated debate with another fan who stated that "Rodri wasn't as good as Ged Brannan".Toward the end of the 23-24 season and even last season before Rodri’s injury, we were increasingly looking vulnerable to counters through the middle at pace. It doesn’t matter if you have a Walker or a Khusanov in your side, if the opponents commit men and can counter at pace, we simply don’t have anyone in midfield who can get back quickly. Across the league season, our superior quality will save us, but in cup competitions, and especially in Europe, we will remain vulnerable. It’s one of the reasons I presume they’ve looked at players such as Gibbs-White.
Reijnders acknowledges that he’s much better in attack than defence, and Porto fans cautioned us here that Gonzalez's weakness was his lack of pace, which we've seen evidence of already. Similarly, Lewis also struggles to get back quickly. Ideally, one of the 3 midfielders (Bernardo, Gundogan, Kovacic) could be replaced with someone with a different skillset, but that's unlikely, which is why I acknowledge that the rebuild won't be complete until next summer.
Yes defo away at the harder games that would be a Mid 3 of much more power/ line breaking ability and excellent passing/ball retention.Rodri was never the quickest. Remember being at Norwich away in his first season and the whole away end were slagging Rodri off. He'd scored a 25 yarder and was our best player, but because he wasn't as fast as Fernandinho the whole away end slated him. Plodri and so on. Even got into a heated debate with another fan who stated that "Rodri wasn't as good as Ged Brannan".
Nico Gonzalez may not be the quickest but he's clever. I can't actually remember a bad game he has had for us. When we took him off away v Forest the midfield fell apart. We are missing a trick not using him more.
A midfield 3 of Rodri, Nico and Reijnders in the big games would be class. You'd have power, pace and control.
Not disagreeing that they’ve all got talents, but my point still stands that none are genuinely quick in terms of chasing back to support the defence. As such, teams will continue to lie in wait, funnel us inside, and then try to go at us straight up the gut. The irony, of course, is that the player who is quick in that sense, Nunes, isn’t trusted to play in midfield. It’s not something I think will be remedied in this window, but even at a young age, Bouaddi at LOSC Lille looks to have the attributes we currently lack.Rodri was never the quickest. Remember being at Norwich away in his first season and the whole away end were slagging Rodri off. He'd scored a 25 yarder and was our best player, but because he wasn't as fast as Fernandinho the whole away end slated him. Plodri and so on. Even got into a heated debate with another fan who stated that "Rodri wasn't as good as Ged Brannan".
Nico Gonzalez may not be the quickest but he's clever. I can't actually remember a bad game he has had for us. When we took him off away v Forest the midfield fell apart. We are missing a trick not using him more.
A midfield 3 of Rodri, Nico and Reijnders in the big games would be class. You'd have power, pace and control.
Has any of the Pep teams ever had those attributes in midfield ?Not disagreeing that they’ve all got talents, but my point still stands that none are genuinely quick in terms of chasing back to support the defence. As such, teams will continue to lie in wait, funnel us inside, and then try to go at us straight up the gut. The irony, of course, is that the player who is quick in that sense, Nunes, isn’t trusted to play in midfield. It’s not something I think will be remedied in this window, but even at a young age, Bouaddi at LOSC Lille looks to have the attributes we currently lack.
Fernandinho. Before he realised that wiping them out would add another couple of years to his career. ;-)Has any of the Pep teams ever had those attributes in midfield ?
Luckily both very young so surely deemed they will improve. They tick many other boxes . . .Still think alot of our problems is down to the wingers.
They are just not good enough at passing the ball accurately to another player in the box.
The ball is either played into open space,played behind attacker or not beating the first defender.
It’s wasteful not productive and allows the opponent to counter.
Doku and savio would need to improve significantly.
Is that not just a tactical issue? We used to push up as a unit and trap teams in a "box". They didn't have the space to counter us. Nowadays our defence and midfield are too far apart from one another and there's so much space to hurt us when we are out of possession. If they fired a ball over the top we had Walker dropping off or we'd intercept the ball in the middle. In possession of the ball we pushed Otamendi/Stones into midfield to create the numerical advantage. By the time we had lost the ball, our team had created that box and trapped the opposition in it so they couldn't get out. Only way to try was by a player running through the middle into traffic, hitting the long ball which was cut out by the covering defender or making a mistake and giving it back to us. PSG play a very similar way now.Not disagreeing that they’ve all got talents, but my point still stands that none are genuinely quick in terms of chasing back to support the defence. As such, teams will continue to lie in wait, funnel us inside, and then try to go at us straight up the gut. The irony, of course, is that the player who is quick in that sense, Nunes, isn’t trusted to play in midfield. It’s not something I think will be remedied in this window, but even at a young age, Bouaddi at LOSC Lille looks to have the attributes we currently lack.
That’s possible, though it will depend on us being able to retain possession, suffocating teams, and not giving it away cheaply, especially in the middle on the edge of their box. Lose it there and it’s like the 100 yard sprint. Teams know that we’ve been vulnerable there, still are, so I’m looking forward to seeing how we counter the counter, so to speak.Is that not just a tactical issue? We used to push up as a unit and trap teams in a "box". They didn't have the space to counter us. Nowadays our defence and midfield are too far apart from one another and there's so much space to hurt us when we are out of possession. If they fired a ball over the top we had Walker dropping off or we'd intercept the ball in the middle. In possession of the ball we pushed Otamendi/Stones into midfield to create the numerical advantage. By the time we had lost the ball, our team had created that box and trapped the opposition in it so they couldn't get out. Only way to try was by a player running through the middle into traffic, hitting the long ball which was cut out by the covering defender or making a mistake and giving it back to us. PSG play a very similar way now.
This is where I feel Khusanov comes in with a new midfield. He has the pace to drop off or push tight due to his pace. Nunes's pace from right back does help us massively.
Nunes, Khusanov, Gvardiol and Aït-Nouri would be a very quick, athletic back four, even before the addition of a new right-back (and a more solid midfield)Is that not just a tactical issue? We used to push up as a unit and trap teams in a "box". They didn't have the space to counter us. Nowadays our defence and midfield are too far apart from one another and there's so much space to hurt us when we are out of possession. If they fired a ball over the top we had Walker dropping off or we'd intercept the ball in the middle. In possession of the ball we pushed Otamendi/Stones into midfield to create the numerical advantage. By the time we had lost the ball, our team had created that box and trapped the opposition in it so they couldn't get out. Only way to try was by a player running through the middle into traffic, hitting the long ball which was cut out by the covering defender or making a mistake and giving it back to us. PSG play a very similar way now.
This is where I feel Khusanov comes in with a new midfield. He has the pace to drop off or push tight due to his pace. Nunes's pace from right back does help us massively.
I think if we got forward quicker, to 'counter the counter' if you like, sides would likely be less willing to commit so many men on the counter, as you rightly describe.Toward the end of the 23-24 season and even last season before Rodri’s injury, we were increasingly looking vulnerable to counters through the middle at pace. It doesn’t matter if you have a Walker or a Khusanov in your side, if the opponents commit men and can counter at pace, we simply don’t have anyone in midfield who can get back quickly. Across the league season, our superior quality will save us, but in cup competitions, and especially in Europe, we will remain vulnerable. It’s one of the reasons I presume they’ve looked at players such as Gibbs-White.
Reijnders acknowledges that he’s much better in attack than defence, and Porto fans cautioned us here that Gonzalez's weakness was his lack of pace, which we've seen evidence of already. Similarly, Lewis also struggles to get back quickly. Ideally, one of the 3 midfielders (Bernardo, Gundogan, Kovacic) could be replaced with someone with a different skillset, but that's unlikely, which is why I acknowledge that the rebuild won't be complete until next summer.