Leroy Sané

[ADegenerate]

Not been keeping up, is this transfer moving along or is it still at the "interest" stage?

Moving along...almost done if you're an optimist.

 

[citizens_1976]

CM is our worst area tho. It's mid table at best.

First 11 shouldn't include a Fern. 1st choice bench shouldn't include Fernando.

Fernandinho gets my POTY but that's because we have been atrocious at controlling games. The haphazard way we played resulted in our best play coming from quick turnovers by Dinho and the thrust he can bring.
In a Pep team he's a bench player imo - a very good one, and one which will play a lot of minutes, but CM needs a major overhaul. It's shit and it's going to be the most important part of the pitch for us.

Not even sure Pep will want Fernando at the club since his possession game in non-existent.. Delph is nowhere near good enough. Toure is gone. We need at least 2 CM signings imo, even with the use of Silva or Nasri in there

Agreed, 2 central midfielders is an absolute necessity.

 

[citizens_1976]

I agree we need a CM. One. We have Nasri Silva and DeBryune who are all CMs masquerading on the wing. Move all 3 centrally and we are better at CM. Add Gundogan, and we have an orchestrator.

You can't mould a David Silva or a Samir Nasri into a central midfielder, they simply do not provide a balance between defence and attack. We need 2 minimum for me or else we can kiss goodbye to another premier league title. We need a proper deep lying playmaker and another midfielder who can give us more solidity and stability. Gundogan and Xhaka would be absolutely ideal.

 

[citizens_1976]

I'd call them attacking mids rather than centre mids, they're all much more effective further up the pitch; I could see Nasri dropping deeper into that role out of the 3 but even that's no guarantee. None are hard-working physical midfielders that I'd much prefer in that role (and are usually required in the PL). I agree that none of them should be our wingers though, I actually think we have 3 players who all should almost exclusively play the number 10 role (centrally, but still up the pitch). We only have 2 natural wingers (Sterling/Navas), so like you said really we need 2 more, but I don't see that as a necessity compared to CM, so getting one winger would be alright as we know Nasri/KDB/Silva can do a job out there when required.

We've seen it with many Arsenal teams over the past few years, and say Fabregas for Chelsea - similar sorts of players to the guys you've named, who can no doubt be effective in that role, but come with some serious downsides.

This is why I see Pogba as the perfect signing for us, he's got the ability on the ball but also the physical presence to be able to cope with the role.

I suppose it depends which position you see as more important, I think the guys you mentioned could do a job at CM, but also could (and currently do) do a job on the wing. I see CM as the more important role for us at the moment so would rather have experts there, from what I gather you perhaps see wingers as more important & so would rather experts there.

Bang on. Pogba can give us that perfect balance between defence and attack.

Most of our bigger games were completely lost in central midfield and not on the wing, Yaya was found completely exposed, Fernando is a very limited footballer and half of the time Fernandinho looked like a one man crusade in the middle, felt a bit sorry for him.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

We should definitely sign him along with Kevin McNaughten from Wigan.

A midfield of McNaughten 'n Sane would be simply crazy to watch. Mental, in fact.

 

[Wolfkin]

A player i would love to see in our team, we have been crying out for a fast skillfull right mid for some time.

But i refuse to get my hopes up when the likes of Barca want him.

 

[Kinkys Left Foot]

Pity there's nobody called "Completely", "Absolutely" or "Fuckin" available to go with Sane!!
What a midfield that would be :)

 

[Dax777]

You can't mould a David Silva or a Samir Nasri into a central midfielder, they simply do not provide a balance between defence and attack. We need 2 minimum for me or else we can kiss goodbye to another premier league title. We need a proper deep lying playmaker and another midfielder who can give us more solidity and stability. Gundogan and Xhaka would be absolutely ideal.

Okay.if we play a 433. It would be a DM probably Gundogan, a CM, probably Didhno and an AM probably DeBryune. Backup s to those guys would be at DM, probably Fernando, at CM Nasri and at AM Silva. That's a full house. Sure if Pogba or isco is an option, You drop one of Nasri or Dihno. But even without Pogba it's a pretty solid Six no.matter how you view it.

At winger though, unless Sterling pushes on significantly. We are looking at Starting Sterling and one of the AMs probably DeBryune on the he wings. This possibility is significantly weaker and Les explosive.

I simply think a healthier Silva with fewer games, DeBryune, Nasri and Dihno are 4 players totally capable of holding there own in midfield. And if Gundogan is the orchestrator from deep, even better.

But if we go into the season without the explosiveness on the wings, we'd be slow in our buildups, and still get bogged down in our attacks. We really need that top end outlet on the outside. Guys that scare the bejesus out of fullbacks and yet produce.

I noticed in the Swansea game how much more explosive we could end up being next year. As Navas pretty much owned their fullbacks, even though he didn't have the end product. The guy was in teror of Navas's speed. Can't imagine that being a 'player like Costa, Dybala or Griezmann. We'd have diced them into smitherings.

We need that really. Thays where the magic is. Pep's passing phosophies will improve our retention, bit it is wide talent that brings the edge. Always!

 

[Dax777]

I'd call them attacking mids rather than centre mids, they're all much more effective further up the pitch; I could see Nasri dropping deeper into that role out of the 3 but even that's no guarantee. None are hard-working physical midfielders that I'd much prefer in that role (and are usually required in the PL). I agree that none of them should be our wingers though, I actually think we have 3 players who all should almost exclusively play the number 10 role (centrally, but still up the pitch). We only have 2 natural wingers (Sterling/Navas), so like you said really we need 2 more, but I don't see that as a necessity compared to CM, so getting one winger would be alright as we know Nasri/KDB/Silva can do a job out there when required.

We've seen it with many Arsenal teams over the past few years, and say Fabregas for Chelsea - similar sorts of players to the guys you've named, who can no doubt be effective in that role, but come with some serious downsides.

This is why I see Pogba as the perfect signing for us, he's got the ability on the ball but also the physical presence to be able to cope with the role.

I suppose it depends which position you see as more important, I think the guys you mentioned could do a job at CM, but also could (and currently do) do a job on the wing. I see CM as the more important role for us at the moment so would rather have experts there, from what I gather you perhaps see wingers as more important & so would rather experts there.

You are right that I see wide players as more important. Not in of themselves, but rather the type. I think we have enough of a semblance of the type of midfielders we want. Add one of Pogba, Gundogan or even Kroos and we can make it work. But on the wings, at least based on this season's performances, we are pretty impotent. Sluggish touch out left, and drab crosses out right.

I truly believe the removal of Yaya and Kolarov alone will drastically improve our efficiency in midfield. But so far, nothing we have in-house helps the paucity out wide.

 

[oakiecokie]

Nice to see the FIFA Game Specialists are out in force.