Thread for less speculation re: incomings / outgoings, and rather to focus on:
Out: Jesus, Sterling
In: Phillips, Cucurella (or other LB)
Staying: Zinchenko, Ake.
Squad depth:
GK: Ederson, Ortega, Carson
LB: Zinchenko, Cucurella
CB: Dias, Laporte, Stones, Ake
RB: Cancelo, Walker
DM: Rodri, Phillips
CM: KDB, Silva, Gundogan
W: Foden, Palmer, Mahrez, Grealish (McAtee?)
ST: Haaland, Alvarez
This is only 'natural' positions. I'd expect some flex to cover where we might end up short, such as Foden / Grealish dropping into CM or Cancelo covering at RB / DM.
On how we might line up, for all the talk of a potential 4-2-3-1, I think it's unlikely. Pep's a student of the 4-3-3 and has been for the best part of 15 years. That said, the 4-2-3-1 might make an appearance against certain teams, similar to how we saw Bernardo dropping deeper to support Rodri and KDB assuming more of a central #10 role. I don't think it'll form our 'go-to' shape though. Rodri and KP aren't enough to fulfil 60 games with two DMs.
Going forward (and wide...), looking at how we originally utilised M*ndy, bringing in a natural LB like Cucurella could mean a reversion to inverted wingers and overlapping wing backs. I know M*ndy and Sane played together or not, but unless my memory fails me their linkup was, well, shite.
On paper, we might be short on the left wing. There's already been talk about Foden playing on the right as an inverted winger, too, so we're looking at Grealish being our only 'natural' LW in the squad. Alvarez is right footed and seems capable out wide, but too early to even nearly expect he'll be capable of playing to the standard we need.
If we're using a 4-3-3 with a left footer on the left hand side, I'd expect Cancelo to step back in. Left sided partnerships, IMO, will be:
Cucurella / Zinchenko + Grealish
or
Cancelo + Foden.
Hot take for this season's Pep Surprise is that we'll see Cancelo shifted up as our other inverted left winger, rounding it off as Grealish/Cancelo for LW and Foden / Mahrez / Palmer at RW.
In all, despite the flapping, I think we're pretty set with the right personnel for a cohesive 4-3-3 with overlapping full backs and inverted wingers to supply Haaland.
Only position we seem to be short for is CM. Unless Pep is ready to trust Foden / Grealish there, we're looking at 3 players to cover 2 positions.
Nobody to get offended by the player choices below...just a play around with different versions of XIs :)
- What we already have
- What we realistically expect to have
- How we might utilise the squad from a depth and tactical perspective
Out: Jesus, Sterling
In: Phillips, Cucurella (or other LB)
Staying: Zinchenko, Ake.
Squad depth:
GK: Ederson, Ortega, Carson
LB: Zinchenko, Cucurella
CB: Dias, Laporte, Stones, Ake
RB: Cancelo, Walker
DM: Rodri, Phillips
CM: KDB, Silva, Gundogan
W: Foden, Palmer, Mahrez, Grealish (McAtee?)
ST: Haaland, Alvarez
This is only 'natural' positions. I'd expect some flex to cover where we might end up short, such as Foden / Grealish dropping into CM or Cancelo covering at RB / DM.
On how we might line up, for all the talk of a potential 4-2-3-1, I think it's unlikely. Pep's a student of the 4-3-3 and has been for the best part of 15 years. That said, the 4-2-3-1 might make an appearance against certain teams, similar to how we saw Bernardo dropping deeper to support Rodri and KDB assuming more of a central #10 role. I don't think it'll form our 'go-to' shape though. Rodri and KP aren't enough to fulfil 60 games with two DMs.
Going forward (and wide...), looking at how we originally utilised M*ndy, bringing in a natural LB like Cucurella could mean a reversion to inverted wingers and overlapping wing backs. I know M*ndy and Sane played together or not, but unless my memory fails me their linkup was, well, shite.
On paper, we might be short on the left wing. There's already been talk about Foden playing on the right as an inverted winger, too, so we're looking at Grealish being our only 'natural' LW in the squad. Alvarez is right footed and seems capable out wide, but too early to even nearly expect he'll be capable of playing to the standard we need.
If we're using a 4-3-3 with a left footer on the left hand side, I'd expect Cancelo to step back in. Left sided partnerships, IMO, will be:
Cucurella / Zinchenko + Grealish
or
Cancelo + Foden.
Hot take for this season's Pep Surprise is that we'll see Cancelo shifted up as our other inverted left winger, rounding it off as Grealish/Cancelo for LW and Foden / Mahrez / Palmer at RW.
In all, despite the flapping, I think we're pretty set with the right personnel for a cohesive 4-3-3 with overlapping full backs and inverted wingers to supply Haaland.
Only position we seem to be short for is CM. Unless Pep is ready to trust Foden / Grealish there, we're looking at 3 players to cover 2 positions.
Nobody to get offended by the player choices below...just a play around with different versions of XIs :)