Transfer Rumours The Summer Transfer Rumour Thread 2016

If we play 2 up top then we have - Long, Austin, J-Rod and Gallagher as the options, need another one imo.

If we play 1 up front then those 4 may be fine, but in the 3 playing behind we have - Tadic, Redmond, Davis, JWP, Hojbjerg, Isgrove and the possibility of playing Long or J-Rod as one of the 3. Here we also need at least another player as the goal threat looks pretty weak from any of these players and playing a 4-2-3-1 formation you really need some of the 3 to be ideally getting close to or hitting double digits in terms of goals.

So whichever we go I would argue that we need to sign at least one form of attacking player

 

Please don't include Isgrove. He is not nearly good enough for the first team.

 

Don't think that the 4-4-2 diamond makes a tonne of sense with our personnel. We're light up top, and we don't really have a player best-suited to a central attacking mid role...both Tadic and Redmond can do it, but I wouldn't call it the ideal position for either. Beyond that, if we're playing a pressing game, it places a lot of emphasis on the work rate and mobility of the strikers, because they have to get wide to cover fullbacks frequently. Should be fine for Long; could be difficult for Austin.

 

I agree he isn't good enough, but was just listing all the players we have who could play there. Saints must see something in Isgrove though as he is 24(?) now and his deal keeps getting extended, usually by now a young player will have been released,sold or actually be playing pretty regularly for the first team.

 

Tello linked again I see

 

It would be good to have another option, but with our plethora of midfielders there is always the option of putting Tadic or Redmond alongside Long/Austin/JRod, as part of a front two, if need be.

Based on yesterday's friendly, Hojberg at the base of the diamond would need to be more controlled. I loved the way he liked to come forward, but, unless someone drops into the gap he leaves, we will be wide open for balls between the CBs, who will be pushing wide to cover the gap behind the marauding full backs.
Not losing my bottle, but with so many players coming back late, the change in style of play could give us some hairy, defensive moments, in the first few matches, until the players settle into a new system.

 

Yeah, Hojbjerg isn't ideal for the base of the diamond, and honestly I'm not sure that's the best place to deploy him. To make it work, you pretty much have to copy Poch's model, where Wanyama was dropping back into an effective back three when the fullbacks were occupying the wings. Otherwise, you're going to be wide open on the counter.

 

I have no objections to that.

 

I feel like under Pochetino, Wanyama played something like an anchorman but if you looked where he was actually standing on the pitch, it was often at or beyond halfway.

And IMO, Schneiderlin didn't move up quite as often as people think. He'd make a good run or two a game into the box, but for the most part he wasn't positioned too far from Wanyama.

It was closer to a pure double pivot with two interchangeable DM's than it would seem, because of the way we compressed the field.

Under Koeman, I felt like Wanyama definitely played farther back. Same general role, but because we weren't pressing, the formation was stretched more.

 

Nor I, but Hojbjerg might have more value remaining involved in the attack, rather than turning into a third CB every time we go forward.

 

Never stopped Jose to be fair.

 

Romeu at the base of the diamond for me.

Hojbjerg and Davis the box-to-box-ers.

Either Tadic AMC behind front 2, or Tadic and Redmond/Long wide with 1 up front

 

Or Virgil, for that matter. But as we saw under Poch, if you're getting most of your width from the fullbacks, and all of your mids are pinched in the centre and high up the pitch, there's an awful lot of room to roam for opposing attackers should they win back possession.

 

Already? It's been nearly two years since he played in a serious match. And nothing I've seen from him since he came back (twice) suggests he's still the player he was before his injury. I'm still hoping that he'll make it, but I doubt it.

 

Originally Posted by Guan 2.0

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We are looking to make 2 more (non youth team) signings by the 9th of august. Relax people!

 

Alex McCarthy and a back up right back

 

If the signings are a backup GK and a RB, I don't think it's going to have the intended calming effect.

 

Mcarthy and Dost.

 

#meltdown