Connor Southwell has some interesting insights into what to look for in the pre-season games: "Whilst his development hasn't come as a shock, the acceleration of his improvement has. If Omobamidele does display performances in pre-season that suggest he is a credible frontline option for next season, then City may head down the route of recruiting a Premier League loanee rather than an expensive addition. Omobamidele is currently boasting a better physical profile than Ben Godfrey was showing at the same age. There is plenty of excitement about his potential inside the walls of Colney but also a recognition of what is needed to improve further." The last time in the PL Godfrey was the CB used most in spite of only recently having converted from DM. To have a new option now in Omobamidele who has been training and playing as a CB throughout his career seems a reasonable choice to make as a 4th CB option, or 5th if City go for a loan. I struggle to think of any time before SW/DF in the past 50 years when we had more than 3 CBs available for a season. https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwich-city/canaries-ncfc-five-things-pre-season-8136820
Going by this video he looks like an attacking midfielder, we are still looking for a Tettey Skippy tidy holding midfield type . A hulking great Viera type to protect our defence and keep the ball moving is what we desperately need .
Southwell in the Pinkun: "Lees-Melou is a box to box midfielder capable of combining solid defensive work with an attacking threat, especially from range." According to the official site though: "The attacking midfielder, who can also play on either wing or in a deeper central midfield role, began his youth career at his hometown club, Langon FC in 2011." Only one of his 31 league performances last season was at AM, so he can play there but it wasn't his usual role. We have much to learn.
Another review of PLM: Very much a 7.5/10 every game. Plays left of midfield 3 ...not wide player...right footer. Keeps possession and closes down well. Not bad in air at 6'1"... Corner taker and free kicks into box ok. Captained Nice quite a bit last season. All round decent/average player.
I wasn't suggesting that PLM was a Stiepi clone, just that PLM appears capable of providing some of what we lost when Marco didn't play, while at the same time having the ability to contribute more than Marco when out of possession. In that first respect I'd say he offers something which McLean does not. What worries me is the possibility that you might be right in suggesting that we are going into the season with a midfield of e.g. McLean, Gilmour and PLM, having abandoned the idea of recruiting a genuine DM in the Skipp mould.
Fair enough, but that's very subjective without any stats to back it up. His WhoScored rating is 6.9, which is high for a top division player. His Transfermarkt valuation is £6.3m and has been as high as £9m, so getting him for under £4m is a coup for SW and allows more scope for other purchases. He played on the left of a midfield 3 for Nice and could do that with Gilmour is playing but would be more likely to play on the right for us if McLean is playing. I'm hoping for a midfield 3, Robbie, with a DM in the centre. That could be Sørensen or Skipp or Garner on loan or someone not even on the radar yet. Edit: You might also like this from the Pinkun: "One theory is that Norwich could adopt a more counter-attacking approach. Given Rashica was largely somebody who contributed at the end of the move, rather than the start like Buendia, that would suggest this is something being considered by Farke and his coaching staff." Not to mention that he has the pace which Buendia lacked.
Coincidentally, the Pink Un has an article today headlining McLean's ambition to one day join Rangers. Just the player to have in your side when you have the SPL title to defend wouldn't you think?
Pleased with this signing. I agree with Robbie that while he might not be a like-for-like with Stiepi, everything I can see suggests he has more of the Stiepermann about him, perhaps a little more consistency too. I think that’s great news. I genuinely believed we played better football when Stiepermann was on the pitch, more so when he was on good form. When his form was bad, we rarely played well (save for last season). I can see him being the number ten with Dowell moved out wide. He could also indicate that Cantwell might be going. Either way, it feels like this is a low risk transfer at the price, with the potential to be a bargain. I wouldn’t read anything into the “able to play more defensively” - I think that just means he can play as a central midfielder, not that he is capable of the defensive midfielder role. One or two more DMs, a CB and possibly a fullback, then I will be very happy. Can’t see what more the board could do with our financial constraints, but I’m willing to predict if we can get that over the line we might finish 14th or so.
Lots of exciting players coming in but we could do with another striker Idah scored twice although he missed alot of games and Hugill I don't think is going to be good enough for the prem . If Pukki gets suspenjered or loses form we will struggle. The price for Armstrong looked a bit beyond our reach so hopefully we are looking at others. Aarons and Cantwell may need replacing too if big bids come in .
It's a tricky one because Nice usually played a 4-3-2-1 without a number 10. The one time he did play there his rating was 8.38 on WhoScored so it's difficult to know. DF talks about the range of positions he can play, so that might be a bonus. The thing about Dowell playing WR is that he doesn't really have that ability "to play more defensively”, so it could be Pierre plays WR if we stick to a 4-2-3-1 with Rashica behind Pukki in a 2nd striker/AM role. I think we will bring in a DM to compete with Sørensen but the uncertainty about Skipp may make that a late decision. It's even possible that Sitti could provide back-up there.
Sancho to Man Utd for £73m. I don’t think our whole team is worth this even with Cantwell and Aarons?
I can't get my head round the idea that we would be bringing in a DM "to compete with" a player who has never consistently featured as a starter for us in that position, even in the Championship. Sørensen remains completely unproven in that role. We might well have seen more or him had Skipp not been signed on loan, but even in that event he would almost certainly still have been behind Tettey in the pecking order. For all that we hear he is highly rated by the club, the idea of his suddenly being cast as our first choice DM in the EPL is surely fanciful in the extreme?
Tend to agree here , we don't currently have anyone in the squad that's played in the Skipp position . Rupp I guess but he didn't really strike me as being anywhere near as good as Skipp . Gilmore may be as good as Skipp but that's a big ask at Premiership level . He was amazing last season and a big part of our mean defence stats.
