Yeah, I’m inclined to agree. Even last summer I would’ve preferred Whiteman. Think I’d prefer Meffert now over Travis.
Ball-winning midfielders are like buses. You wait ages (two years in our case) then two or three come in quick succession. I actually feel we’ve misused Seri in the entire time he’s been here, or at the very least not got the best out of him. Whilst he won more duels and tackles and made more interceptions than either Slater or Morton last year, I feel that’s just him compensating for the other two’s lack of defensive coverage. Under Shota and Rosenior, Seri was essentially asked to be both a playmaker from deep and a ball-winner. Whilst some players can do both brilliantly (Rodri being the best example), Seri lacks the legs and physicality to do the ball-winning/destroyer role in midfield. At his age and with his skill set, we presumably signed him to do a particular role and then expected him to do an additional role as well because we couldn’t or wouldn’t sign a ball-winner. That 2022 summer window was odd because after we signed Tufan and Seri, we did try to sign Ndayishimiye (couldn’t agree wages) and Özdemir (Trabzonspor refused to let him go at the time) but then couldn’t find someone else of that mould and panic-bought Woods. Shota/Acun in summer 2022 clearly wanted a ball-winner to compliment Seri. Rosenior just ignored the issue entirely. I think Meffert can do both the deep playmaker and ball-winner roles as a sole #6 so having Seri would just be pointless and expensive.
I don't see why, if it's in the budget, we can't have both. We play an incredibly intensive system, so Rosenior's "I like a small squad" approach probably isn't going to be conducive to success. Sinik aside, we've not got a huge injury list this year, but we've seen in the recent past what happens when you pick up four or five (or eleven, as was the case not so long ago) and it would certainly ease concerns were that to happen. If we can have Zambrano, Meffert and Simons, that's great.
Simons moves higher seems to make a lot of sense. He’s very mobile and his pressing would be relentless, not quite the right type for the deeper role as he’s not progressive enough
I like the look of Puerta, a Colombian fan on Twitter mentioned although he plays the defensive role very well he also has the technical ability to play as a 10. We need our midfielders to be good all-rounders for the system to work so he sounds perfect.
If we get Meffert and Puerta I wonder if we'll see a shock Slater exit. Meffert, Zambrano, Mehlem, Omur, Simons and Puerta for 3 positions is plenty and Slaters value is probably as high as it's ever going to be
Slater has been a good servant of the club and great value. Yes, Tim's system may be a step too far for him, but I wouldn't write him off just yet. Don't do Twitter so his dad's pearls of wisdom have passed me by.
Slaters been wrote off loads I wouldnt be surprised if he becomes a long term selection still once he and the players fully find their feet under the system
I wonder if we could borrow Habib Diarra from Racing Club Strasbourg? You never know Liam might do us a favour or maybe not.
