I’ve seen highlights but I’ve not been fortunate to see him play a full game yet. I briefly looked at his stats on Sofascore and he usually starts as a #6 of a three-man midfield or as the more defensive midfielder in a two-man midfield. I’m just curious if he can play a bit further up as an #8 in place of Slater as he’s young, not the tallest/strongest but seems to have a good engine to cover lots of ground, is quite agile on the ball and likes to pass forward.
Apparently we're preparing a bid for Ben Wilmot from Stoke too. It's thought Stoke value him around £4M so it's unclear how much we'd need to splash. But, we're preparing to test them and their resolve.
I have not seen many games i watched 3 of them only plus the highlights but he did play alot more forward he looked more like an attacking midfielder than a DM but he was also making alot of tackles pretty hard ones to, thing i noticed with him was he often moved out to the left and come in behind the front 2 which is what made me think he can play forward but also to a degree confused me a little when he often did these things as that does not strike me as a DM even though he is. Wether he can do that here not sure game here is alot quicker he won't have the space i think to do the things he did out there but we will see when TW plays him.
A lot of people complaining about pre season planning are miraculously expecting us to now be world beaters. Can’t have it both ways, unbeaten when most thought we’d be sacrificing the opening games
Interesting. Like I said, I’ve never seen him play a full game but I’ve read a few of those ‘scout report’ articles about him. They all seem to praise his vision, technical ability, composure on the ball, tenacity when pressing/tackling and work rate but they list his height and build as being weaknesses as he can struggle against taller and stronger opponents by being nudged off the ball easily. It’s why I wonder if we’ve signed him as a #6 or #8 as his skillset seems more suited to the role Slater is currently doing. If he plays a little further up with a more physical holding midfielder behind him, he can press higher when out of possession and could be really useful during counter-attacks by carrying the ball and playing passes in behind the opposition. Slater just seems to watch the game go by him in this system.
I can see what your saying with those reports but in all honesty from what i have watched to me he certainly was not nudged off the ball easy infact the opposite he used his body well to cover the ball making it very difficult for the opposition to get it off him so strength wise on the ball he looks ok, but off the ball i could see him losing out to bigger players with a nudge if they are challenging for it but not when he has the ball i never noticed him lose it much, to taller players in an aerial yes i agree but then even in those 3 games i never saw him challenge really for aerial duals don't think that is his thing. As an 8 i could agree with you as in he may be used as that and that could be TW's plan but i think he could quite comfortably play both roles. Been trying to think of a player that he could maybe be similar to i did think a Kante sort of player.
The rumour about Wilmot is a bit odd. I think we’re pretty set now for centre-halves with Jones, Hughes, McLoughlin, Burns and Smith. Even if we sent Smith out on loan, we’d still have decent depth. Only reason it would make sense is if McLoughlin leaves soon but even then, selling McLoughlin and spending £4 million on another centre-half seems like an odd use of our transfer budget.
Teamtalk is a terrible source, so doubt it’s true. Acun mentioned nothing about another centre back anyway
Baz mentioned on the 1904 post match thing that we are in for a winger, striker and the Hamburg midfielder. Said he wouldn’t be surprised at 1 before Millwall
Also where does it leave Burns. Came on in CM against Argyle so seems to suggest he's not been brought in as a CB, but then it seems to be that he'll be largely brought off the bench or as a rotation option if one of our mids needs a rest.
