Peps Targets

[Neville Kneville]

I would play DeBruyne as one of the front 3 personally, but with Pep, anything is possible position wise. Literally anything. In Pep's system, I can imagine Silva & DeBruyne being a lot more effective defensively, as the team shape is so much better, so either could maybe start deeper. Silva keeps the ball better so I'd imagine it would be him who drops back but...

Seeing as we had an ongoing Pogba fixation last summer, I imagine he must be an official 'Pep type player' as no way would we have been trying to sign him for that money on the offchance Pep might like him, & we have been expecting Pep since before then. (Likewise DeBruyne & Sterling).

So I would have thought Pogba is high on the wanted list for midfield. Gundogan rumours could be a good shout as Pep has seen him in Germany & may fancy him for the job.

At least two fullbacks needed imo, or it won't work, possibly 4 depending on whether the kids develop quickly or not.

Denayer looks a shoe in as one of the 4 squad cbs, but whether both Mangala & Otto are good enough footballers for Pep to keep both, I'm not sure I could see one at least going & a classier one coming in.

If an attacking superstar becomes available, we will try. But who ?

 

[blueparrot]

Depends on who's behind them really. If Barcelona got away with Xavi and Iniesta as part of a three and Yaya backing them up there's no real reason why we shouldn't be able to use KDB and Dave in front of a good screening midfielder.

Just going with names we have been linked with, I could easily see us with one of Gundogan or Fernandinho sat behind 2 from KDB , Silva, Isco. With Delph it would give us 3 from 6 to play with.

 

[ljones15]

The dream right here

 

[chicagoblue23]

Fernandinho seems great to me, but if with just him were getting run out of midfield now, what changes?

 

[Neville Kneville]

Just going with names we have been linked with, I could easily see us with one of Gundogan or Fernandinho sat behind 2 from KDB , Silva, Isco. With Delph it would give us 3 from 6 to play with.

The other consideration re midfield is that Pep's fullbacks are normally more like midfielders & fast. So a 3 man midfield which looks weak on paper, may actually be more like a five, all pressing quickly. We can't play like that currently.

The dream right here

Ha that illustrates it pretty well!

 

[blueparrot]

Seeing as we had an ongoing Pogba fixation last summer, I imagine he must be an official 'Pep type player' as no way would we have been trying to sign him for that money on the offchance Pep might like him, & we have been expecting Pep since before then. (Likewise DeBruyne & Sterling).

So I would have thought Pogba is high on the wanted list for midfield. Gundogan rumours could be a good shout as Pep has seen him in Germany & may fancy him for the job.

I'd see Isco as an alternative to Pogba, and in my mind more a Guardiola type of player, I would be surprised to see us with both. If we don't get Isco then I agree Pogba would be high on the list of targets.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I'd see Isco as an alternative to Pogba, and in my mind more a Guardiola type of player, I would be surprised to see us with both. If we don't get Isco then I agree Pogba would be high on the list of targets.

Possibly, but one thing which slips by in consideration imo, is that this is the Premier League & we still have to defend corners & set pieces more avidly than in any other country. We tend to consider things from a Barca/Spain type perspective re Pep, but I would be surprised if Pep hasn't considered physique & numbers at set plays as being important.

I remember Mancini looking shellshocked when we first played Stoke ;) Then suddenly our team became much bigger. I might be wrong but I recon Pep will be on that & thus Pogba becomes ideal.

 

[BigOscar]

Possibly, but one thing which slips by in consideration imo, is that this is the Premier League & we still have to defend corners & set pieces more avidly than in any other country. We tend to consider things from a Barca/Spain type perspective re Pep, but I would be surprised if Pep hasn't considered physique & numbers at set plays as being important.

I remember Mancini looking shellshocked when we first played Stoke ;) Then suddenly our team became much bigger. I might be wrong but I recon Pep will be on that & thus Pogba becomes ideal.

Makes the Andre Gomes links make more sense as a Pogba alternative, given his combination of height and the technical skill to play the Pep way. He'd make more sense in midfield than the usual Spanish type player

 

[ljones15]

I reckon peps first signing will be the anchor of the team, almost like a QB, someone who dictates the tempo and pulls the strings. He had Xavi/Busquets at Barca, Thiago/Alonso at Bayern. Yaya is past it for me and Fernandinho is more of a box to box destroyer. Gundogan/Pogba fit the mould, excellent technical ability whilst both players are extremely comfortable receiving the ball with their back to play. Pogba could be that face Balague was talking about yesterday, we have the infrastructure in place, guardiolas on his way, we now need an icon to work under peps tutelage.

 

[ljones15]

Makes the Andre Gomes links make more sense as a Pogba alternative, given his combination of height and the technical skill to play the Pep way. He'd make more sense in midfield than the usual Spanish type player

Seen DiMarzio linking him with Napoli yesterday. : (