I've got some highlights of Lille's last five games for those who are interested in seeing a bit more of Sow and Gervinho. Lille 1-1 Bordeaux - Sow scored for Lille but Gervinho was suspended. Monaco 1-0 Lille - No goals but Gervinho gets sent off for lashing out at a Monaco player. Lille 3-1 Caen - Great link up between the two for the third goal. Brest 1-2 Lille - Both on the scoresheet. Really impressive performance from Gervinho, a goal and an assist. Lille 2-1 Valenciennes - Sow scores with a deflected effort. Gervinho (90% sure it's him) with a clever pass for Hazard's goal. Gervinho looks a real handful, not a prolific goalscorer though. Him and Ben Arfa playing either side of a target man (Ameobi??) would be pretty potent, but I think we'd need a new midfielder to play alongside Tiote and Barton (Nolan would be useless in that formation) so I don't think he'd really be practical. Sow looks like the type of player we should be signing but I'm not sure he's good enough. The defending in Ligue 1 looks pretty sunday league, he'd be a massive gamble. Plus, the Mackems are interested in him apparently, so he's probably ****.
Cheers AG, and anyone who remembers, Lille v Lorient next Sunday - Sow, Gervinho AND Gameiro all playing (unless Gervinho's still suspended?)
Totally agree on that point. Nolan's too slow to play in such a flexible formation like the 4231.. maybe someone like Dorrans would fit in perfectly? All-round action CM who can pick out pass, has good pace, good ''engine'', can score a goal and he's only 23 so he'll be the the perfect replacement for a ageing Nolan. Nolan can come off the bench if needed to bring strength, experience and goalscoring threat if needed. On Sow, he looks OK, nothing overally outstanding or special but I can see why we are interested. But I also have my doubts weather he's good enough or not. But you can't fault his goalscoring record this season. 20 goals in 30 apps is pretty good Gervinho looks a real talent. Bags of ability, energy, power, strength and a good technical footballer. In conclusion.. wouldn't mind having Sow and I'll be over the moon with Gervinho. Nice video here of Gervinho.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDBLgxSjgrE
Not convinced with these two I'd very much prefer Kevin Gameiro I can't rate Gameiro enough, he is brilliant. He can finish from outside the box and he also has that annoying knack of arriving on the end of crosses all the time with a finish to boot. A real poacher of a goalscorer with great movement, excellent footwork too. Gervinho would only fit in as an attacking winger but we need to be looking for our main goalscoring threat first before looking at more midfielders (albeit attacking ones). Sow for me is a no go, just doesn't score enough natural goals like Gameiro does. I know Sow and Gameiro are in the same league but there's a huge difference in scoring goals in an easier league and just knowing how to find the net. I feel Sow is the former and Gameiro is the latter.
Do we really expect to get one or both of these? I'm sure they will both want and get CL football at Lille. I do hope we go for the 2 of them though.
I'm not, I was just making the point that if we got Gervinho we'd probably have to. Gervinho, Ben Arfa, a striker and Kevin Nolan just wouldn't work.
Good call with both. I'm a big fan of Dorrans in particular. Problem is it's a complete overhaul of a side which is doing pretty well, it's a lot of money for a team which might not gel. I'd rather just bring in Ba and Samba and slot them in to the squad we currently have.
He's American(He was born in Scotland though) ^ And Bolton got him for free. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Holden
