Yeah, just caught up with the right thread! Came here to delete all reference to my little panic, but now you've quoted me
quite possibly, yes. playing 1striker, we're going to need players who can deliver a cross. I'm hoping willian is capable of this!! from what i've seen, GH, he's not a striker at all. he's almost a "free" player, who wanders about causing problems, thus being very hard to mark. We MUST be in for another striker. Infact, I'm convinced of it. there's no way we'll manage other wise. if Ade goes to the ACON, we're screwed as things stand. I think the creative mid and striker are top priority and these will be finally settled last min, after some serious negotiating for a long time, which will finally come to fruition. I think the likes of Dembele, Lloris and possibly Wllian are the "easier" targets which we're currently just wrapping up, sorting out the formalities.. however, in the background i think there's chaos trying to get deals in place for the 2 priorities mentioned above! time will tell.
I'm not sure about this, if there's any truth in it... http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896...van-der-vaart-up-for-sale?source=breakingnews
was trying to see what the comments were like (expecting it to be full of idiots), but in the end, even the idiotic comments were too difficult to find amongst the bloody spam!!
don't think the selling Lennon part is true,as he is one of AVB's favorite players,or so i am lead to belive.
we all seem to love Lennon but me for one would be highly critical of his development if he played for someone else.....take his pace away and he becomes another Stuart Downing.....so when i look at it like that then we do need someone like Willian who seems to be influential in his own way for a team..even though he does share some traits with Lennon...i think he has more ability to grasp a game by its throat so to speak..but as is usally the case with these flashy types..it's when the mood takes them there.
How do we know we need willian? who here has watched him play a full 90 minutes, on more then one occasion? be honest people! no one here knows much about the guy other then he is from brazil, plays in a crap league and can do a few step overs.
A quick stat comparison from last season Willian 39 games, 6 goals, 17 assists Gareth Bale 44 games, 14 goals, 18 assists Aaron Lennon 32 games, 4 goals, 8 assists From the statistical standpoint, Willian does look like a potential improvement on Lennon in those regards...but, then again, he's also an obvious improvement on Bentley, who AVB doesn't rate.
I hope you're right, because Lennon has not had the best of times recently. I think he came back from the World Cup low in confidence and his realtionship with Harry wasn't always easy. A new move can kick start a players' career, but a new manager coming in can have the same effect. I hope in Lennon's case, it's the latter.
Stats are everything, remember? Oh, wait, this isn't the Arsenal board... Lennon may have a lot of talent, but his final ball has always been lacking, which Willian's isn't. Willian has also performed in the europa league and Champions League, so his performances aren't just made to look good by mid-range opposition.
We can't say if Willian isn't lacking with his final ball as what great performances has he put in agaisnt top teams in europe? as the champions league isn't just full or top quality, and the europa league isn't awash with great quality. Just as a comparsaion, Kuyt scored 70 odd goals in 101 games for Feyenoord, so fans would have been saying " he knows how to put the ball in the back of net" what happens when he comes here? he turns into jigsaw striker. Until I see a player perform in this league then no matter how great there stats are from another league (especially a crap one) then they are a risk. If Willian is a great player then it won't matter what his stats are from before but has anyone here actually seen him play a full game and on more then one occasion, against top class opposition and if so, how did he perform?
We dont. i'm still trying to work out the role for him. I have genuinely watched him about 4 times and have stated what I witnessed. but i havent seen enough to know why shakhtar want a reported £20 odd mill. from what i've seen. he's not an out and out winger and he's not a modric replacement. but perhaps his attacking versatility, is what we need.
I think teams in the ukraine and russian league buy players from brazil and other countries knowing they will look great in their league, the russian league has a few players that look great, especially strikers so if they buy these players for fairly low fees and then sell them for higher fees to european clubs, that must be part of their thinking.
As for crossing specifically,I don't know. But he is skilful and doesn't panic on the ball. Lennon does. He's an all round attacking player. Whether he's good enough to cut it in the prem, I also dont know.
But will he panic on a wet tuesday evening, away to stoke when Huth and Shawcross both try and take him out?
not me i havent seen him but i have seen enough of Lennon to know that he is replaceable...as for Willian..if you read my other posts you will see that i am not overly excited about however i did look and read into him further and im confident enough to say that he would bring things to our game that Lennon does not. everything is a risk just as shevchenko the milan goal king.
