When he was partnered with Dembele, Dier's weak short passing was covered as all he really had to do was roll it off to Dembele who would then take care of the rest - but it was only covered when paired with Dembele When he was paired with Wanyama due to Dembele being injured or suspended our play ground to a halt through the middle because neither man could take on their man and neither were particularly progressive passers, when paired with Winks we had the same problem as neither would take on their man so we effectively slowed down our move in the hope Winks would send somebody on their way, while Sissoko on paper looked like a like-for-like replacement for Dembele but any advantages of him moving the ball up the field was negated by Sissoko not knowing what to do with the ball when he'd got it up the pitch That's why he got repurposed as a CB, but the combination of Toby/Verts being the preferred pairing coupled with him bulking up way too much and losing at least a yard of pace as a result meant that at first he wasn't the preferred option, and when he became the preferred option due to verts leaving he wasn't the player we needed
I agree. Dembele was a one of a kind in your midfield in that he was strong and he could very easily go past a man, none of which wanyama or dier can do. I think Diers passing was slightly better than Wanyamas back in the day (and he had some pretty good mid range passing) compared to now here Diers just lost the ability to pass whatsoever (although sissoko is pretty much on the same level). Going back to the original arguement though, it was more about protecting the defence which wanyama and dier could do in abundance alongside dembele. He even lost that ability (think someone mentioned he got heavy and slowed down and couldn't keep up with play) and thats whats ultimately cost dier the DM role which he seemed to excel at initially (with dembele playing a hybrid of DM and Playmaker)
Rarely listen to Talkshite for obvious reasons but I have to say Simon Jordan was spot on. Kane and his camp have handled a transfer that will completely smash the British record with all the carefree naivety of a kid trying to swap shiny stickers for his Merlin collection.
He was never good enough to play CB either hence why he couldn’t get in above a declining Toby and Jan nor Sanchez there. Sanchez has always been guilty of lapses in concentration and silly mistakes. Forgivable for the first year or two, not when you’re about to enter your fifth season and cost the club £40m. Neither player is at the level we need them to be. If they were, Romero wouldn’t have been brought in and the club wouldn’t be looking for another CB to join him. One great game against Man City can not just cancel out years of mistakes and mishaps.
No one’s pretending anything about not having Dembele. Lapses in concentration and unforced individual errors can’t be pinned on the lack of Dembele though and that’s exactly what we’ve been seeing too much of the current CBs.
Still surprised no one’s snapped up Jerome Boateng yet, especially someone like us who could do with an experienced head at the back after the losses of Toby and Jan in the last two seasons. With Milenkovic now a no-go (really thought he was a goer!) I think the club should definitely look at Boateng. Though I presume we’ll switch full focus back to Tomiyasu.
Reports saying we're closing in on Nandez, €5m loan fee with an option to buy for €20m. We're in for an expensive summer next year what with Gollini, Romero and now possibly Nandez all likely to be purchased by then assuming they impress.
This is pretty much spot-on https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/08/...gn-harry-kane-because-of-one-player-our-view/
I Agree mate. Think Boateng would be an astute signing for a season or two. Tanganga, Romero and Reguilon are 23 or under. We could then loan Rodon out to Brighton and we have the highly rated malaki Walcott coming through too.
Yeah I think a 12 month contract with option for a second year would be good, similar to how Chelsea have done with Thiago Silva. I reckon ***an-Walcott will head out on loan around January. Only returned not so long ago from a terrible injury so I think the club will bed him back into U23 football then try and find somewhere for him in January all being well.
As I've mentioned previously I think Nandez would be a very good signing. Will compete with PEH and Skipp and can also cover RB too. From what I've seen and read he has a fantastic attitude , runs all day and hes pretty good on the ball too. He could be our James Milner and every squad needs a James Milner.
Romano reckons they want €30m for him and we’re not willing to meet that, so are looking at different targets. Can never be sure though.
Can't pretend to know too much about him, mate. Serie A isn't really my forte and yet typically it's where we're seemingly doing a lot of our business due to Fabio, lol. Does sound like a James Milner-esque type player though and I agree with you that teams can always do with one like that. Whilst I'm liking the look of the signings we've made/ are making, I am also hoping we try and bring in one or two HG options before the window's out, be good to get some Prem experienced buys.
Loving the journo wars of late. Longari's currently 1-0 against Romano after the latter said Barca weren't interested in Romero yet they seemingly were - and Longari made sure he knew about it by reminding everyone! Now Romano's challenging the Calcio rumours about Nandez. He nailed the Gil stuff before anyone though. Mad how not a single ITK picked up on that, eh?!
Aouar Watch Lyon sporting director Juninho claims that the reason the club is willing to listen to offers for Aouar, even ones below their €30m valuation, is because of his poor attitude Usually that would be reason to look elsewhere, and if we have time note how it seems to be a recurring theme of French midfielders to have poor attitudes at the moment while citing examples such as Pogba, Guendouzi and Ndombele However, on this occasion there's reason to believe that Juninho is trying to pull the wool over Lyon fans' eyes while he signs off on a fire sale of assets. Why is there reason to believe that? Well, the fact that Aouar isn't the only player he's citing for poor attitude, as he's also accusing Marcelo, Thiago Mendes, Maxwell Cornet, Islam Slimani and Rayan Cherki of the same thing and just so happens to sanctioning a move for Cornet with both Burnley and Hertha Berlin interested, while Lyon have been trying to get Slimani's wages off their books for eighteen months without citing his attitude
Boateng is finished, he would get destroyed on a weekly basis in the prem. The last 2 season particularly in the Champions League the opposition would target him and he would usually be taken off at half time. Also not keen on Umtiti he is the same as Dier and Sanchez, he looks good for most of the game but will switch off and make mistakes. Any CB we sign has to be a clear step up from what we already have.
Wasn't everybody raving about Cherki a couple of years ago? I'm not sure about Aouar, isn't he really good mates with N'Dombele?
