I don't think it's quite as simple as that. The selling club might have an important match in mid January or might want to wait until they have signed a replacement. The better the player they are selling, the more likely they are going to worry about timing. It isn't just about money.
Money will often change the stance though. It almost always does. We can’t afford to wait til mid or the end of January to sign a CB. We’ve already seen how easily we concede with a pairing of Dier/ Emerson and Davies, it’s just not good enough and the build up play from out the back is also non-existent too which stifles Ange’s system. I’d go as far as saying that the longer we wait, the more the selling club may choose to up their price once they realise how desperate we’ll be for their player.
Whilst - obviously - they're not at fault for all goals, especially as against Chelsea where they came on when we had less men: We've conceded 7 goals in the time Dier has been on the pitch (three appearances). We've conceded 11 goals in the time Emerson has been played out of position at either CB or LB (five appearances).
Possibly worth considering Hojbjerg's role, given he slows down our transition with a lot of backwards and sideways passing so maintains pressure in our half - which is not something a makeshift backline wants
On the balance of it, it is highly improbable that Phillips is (yet) better than Dier. The latter has many, many faults but is still comfortably good enough to play for most lower half PL teams. The former has a total of 8 senior appearances in the Championship and tbh the only reason we kept him around rather than sending him off on loan was down to our failure to bring in a second senior CB in the summer. I've been one of Dier's biggest critics since day one and I still wouldn't start Phillips over him in almost any situation.
I've no idea how this will turn out after just seeing both injury lists , can our defence of Porro, Emerson , Davis and Udogie hold out will be key to the game I'm sure the front 4 will deliver
Dier and Emerson’s lack of on the ball ability increases oppositions chances of gaining possession anyway, regardless of Hojbjerg playing or not. But if Hojbjerg plays with them in the team too, it just doubles the issues. Sort of like a double-edged sword. I said in the summer Hojbjerg wouldn’t be good in this system to you though anyway. With Emerson and Dier, they’re just not good footballers in general, system or not. Dan KP has supposedly said it will indeed be Emerson playing at CB… footballing gods help us.
Any chance of the Premier League making an exception and letting this one be a five-a-side match for both team's sakes? I mean they routinely let certain teams play with twelve men...
Skipp is out with a knock because of course he is. This season is a ****show for injuries in the Premier League.
The main issue is how they very neatly break down into a few categories, and TBH there's little to review Injured on international break Son Heung-min Cristian Romero Destiny Udogie Pape Matar Sarr Giovani Lo Celso Ashley Phillips Clattered by opponents James Maddison Rodrigo Bentancur Tweaked something in a match Cristian Romero Mickey van de Ven (though this was more due to VAR stop-starts) Injured in training Ivan Perisic Manor Solomon Delayed having surgery last season Richarlison Ryan Sessegnon
"But I want to play badly for my country!" should no longer be an option. You're not helping them, you're just hindering us.
Painful. Gonna need our forwards on form today because we’re probably gonna need at least 3 goals to win.
