It's the morning after the window closed. Leeds concluded their summer business at 22:30 with the announcement of Isaac Schmidt from St Gallen. I thought about replying to a thread about our 'lack of a 10' signing but decided to address a few of our 'issues' on a weekend thread. Transfer Window Summary These are the major ins and outs from this summers business. Ins Joe Rodon (Spurs) - £10 million Largie Ramazani (Almeria) - £7 million (plus add-ons) Jayden Bogle (Sheff Utd) - £5 million Isaac Schmidt (St Gallen) - £4 million Ao Tanaka (Dusseldorf) - £3.5 million Alex Cairns (Salford) - undisclosed. Manor Solomon (Spurs) - Loan Joe Rothwell (Bournemouth) - loan Notable additions from last seasons squad. Max Wober - Returned from loan Brenden Aaronson - Returned from loan Charlie Crew - promoted from youth James Debayo - promoted from youth Outs Georginio Rutter (Brighton) - £40 million Archie Gray (Spurs) - £30 million Cree Summerville (West Ham) - £25 million Glenn Kamara (Stade Rennais) - £8.5 million Marc Roca (Real Betis) - £4 million Charlie Cresswell (Toulouse) - £4 million Diego Llorente (Real Betis) - £3 million Cody Dramah (Hull City) - TBD by tribunal Robin Koch (Frankfurt) - free Luke Ayling (Middlesbrough) - free Liam Cooper (unattached) - free Jamie Shackleton (Sheff Utd) - free Ian Poveda (Sunderland) - free Rasmus Kristensen (Frankfurt) - loan Sam Greenwood (Preston) - loan Darko Gyabi (Plymouth) - loan Sonny Perkins (Leyton Orient) - loan The "10" role. Alot of discussion among fans about a lack of a Pablo or a replacement for Rutter. At the risk of stepping on Aski's toes, I thought I'd add some interesting stats for some of our options for that role. Gnonto. Has played in all of the forward roles in his career. It might suprise a few that his most productive position in his short career is as a second striker. Left wing - 32 apps, 6 goals, 4 assists Right Wing - 45 apps, 10 goals, 5 assists Second striker - 47 apps, 20 goals, 7 assists. CM - 16 apps, 4 goals, 1 assist. The stats suggest that he might be the answer as a more central player. Given his performance at Sheff Wed last week when he drifted inside he might just be the one to replace Georginio. Dare say it, he will score more goals than him and get double figure assists. Gnonto might be an upgrade as Rutter has played 25 games as a second striker and scored only 4 goals and has 6 assists. They aren't great figures. Aaronson. Struggled at Leeds and on loan at Berlin last year. I'm quietly optimistic that this might be the year he turns it around somewhat. He has put the hours in at the gym and has put several kg of muscle on since last winter. That resulted in an uptick in form for the last few weeks of last season and he has been very good so far this season scoring twice in only 134 minutes. He also got a couple of assists in pre season. His stats as a 10 over his career look like this. Apps 125, Goals 14, Assists 20. They aren't quite Rutter levels but given his uptick in form (and physique) in recent months maybe this could be his chance to kick on. Tanaka Not played as the attacking midfielder often with 12 apps, 1 goal and 1 assist from the 10 role. However, I've added him in for his role a bit deeper to have a look at the "lost assists" from Georginio. From central midfield he has played 95 games, 14 goals and 12 assists. This is just an indication that this lad might just replace Rutters goalscoring from a deeper role. He could take up the slack of assists from Gnonto or Aaronson in the 10 to make up for Georginio. Ramazani As a second striker, Largie has only played 4 times, 2 goals and 1 assist. As a main striker he has played 22 times scoring 5 goals. He is a winger and nothing more. Solomon Pretty underwhelming stats here for Manor. He has played 20 games as a deep lying forward scoring 3 goals and having 3 assists. This guy is also an out and out winger. Gelhardt Joffy has often been lauded as the player who likes to play as the 2nd striker in a more deep lying role. His stats suggest, like many of us have already concluded, that he really isn't the answer. 13 apps as a deep lying creator, 3 goals and 1 assist. One thing in his favour from my point of view is that he might just add a genuine impact from the bench for the last 10 minutes as a super sub. He brings that energy and is willing to take players on. That might be a decent ploy against a tired defence. Summary We have two strong contenders for the 10 spot and Farke will surely play either Aaronson or Gnonto there. My personal thinking would be that Gnonto is the better option and hopefully with a fit Solomon and Ramazani coming in to help James we can utilise Gnonto in the 10. If not then Aaronson has shown that he would be a decent alternative. The addition of Tanaka in a deeper role should add more goal involvements from deeper. Bogle on the right will get more goals and assists than Archie. Firpo if he stays fit will eclipse the assists he got last season. Struijk will get goals from centre half. We might lose the Summerville goals but the new wingers might be more willing to get the ball crossed in the box and if so Joseph should score more than Bamford. If deployed further forward, Piroe at 9 might get more supplies in the the box where he thrived at Swansea. Bamford will probably get his little purple patch for 5 or 6 games and get his 5 goals. We look a more balanced team. Danger from both wings. More goal threat from midfield in Tanaka and Rothwell. Struijk adds goals from defence. Full backs look evenly balanced so opposition won't find it easy to just defend Summervilles side. We look good. All aboard HMS Piss the League.
pretty much cover most bases, good post. On Solomon I have done bits of research and the reason Big Ange will not sell him is because of him obviously having better data than I looked at. Solomon it seems is classed as one of those enigma type players. Unplayable at times, mesmerising, but without the problems. He works hard, has fantastic ball control at full speed, scares defenders and will literally breeze past most defenders at this level. Spurs tried to get him from Ukraine where he was outstanding. War broke out and Fulham managed to get him so he had part season with them and Spurs finally went in and got him. By all accounts Spurs coaching staff and our own Steinsen decided he was future gold. Did you notice in that very short clip posted by Leeds of his first traing session. Smaller than I thought but powerful the way he was pulling players. His technique for sprints sees him stooped very low like a sprinter coming out of the blocks and lifts his head when he gets to optimum speed and then hammers it.
One thing I will add is the new lad Schmidt. He plays left back mainly but can play anywhere. Interestingly he has played 55 career games in the "front" positions of Striker, CAM, Second striker and on the wings or wide midfield. Of those 55 games in the front third of the pitch he has scored a very respectable 14 goals and has 2 assists. Might be the dark horse for us if he can step up. The St Gallen fans were saying he was far too good for them and he leaves a hero with the fans because of his performances. Fingers crossed he can step up.
My only question on Solomon is his fitness. His knee is a recurring one. If we get him fully fit then he will tear this division up. He is capable of eclipsing Summervilles impact IF (big IF) he gets fully fit.
Good thread fella. I think aaronson brings the pressing energy. It’s why orta and Marsch wanted him. We’ll be better off the ball with him Playing. Less so on the ball. I want to see more of gnonto in a central/free role. He never had the 1 on 1 ability of rutter and Jimmy, so his ability on the wings is good but not highlight reel. He does though have good passing range, great touch, reads the game well, won’t cough up possession as often as Rutter. And of course he’s quick over short distances and has that low centre of gravity to change direction.
Willy has signed a new contract with the club and he gave a decent interview about wanting to be part of it
Re Schmidt. I like that he risked injury to play for his team in a really big game for them before signing for us. Sign of good character and team player. He looked classy on the ball in his YouTube clips (doesn’t everyone). The question is the step up. The pace of the championship takes some adjusting to for foreign players. Some hit their straps straight away, some adjust over time… some just can’t. It’s hard to tell until they try. Same applies to the other signings. Will only know whether they’re inspired or cheapskating folly later in the season.
Great window for the 49ers but lets hope it was a good window for FARKE and the fans spend £27.6m Sales £143.5m Net Spend -£116m
I think the question is, do we have a 10 good enough for this division and level and we do even if it is a make shift one. I get frustrated that it took Farke several games to realise it wasn’t Piroe and I’m really hoping he picks the best 11 for their positions week in week out and we don’t start getting square pegging and shoehorning I believe the team is good enough for autos, Farke needs to win me over still, I’m not confident in him, at the same time he isn’t a Jesse, Gracia or big Sam, probably the best we can attract who has the right experience
Just trying to debunk comments (not necessarily on here) about not replacing Georginio and Summervilles goal contributions. Just because those two left doesn't mean we will score 25 goals less this season. When you break down the squad and see the type of player coming in, there is a valid argument that the likes of Bogle, Struijk, Schmidt, Tanaka, Solomon, Aaronson, Gnonto, Ramizani and Joseph could between them eclipse what we did last season. We might even be harder to defend against due to being alot more balanced. Last year teams would man mark Georginio and double up on Summerville and we were screwed. They also knew that our left side was our attacking focus because Gray wasn't a natural attacking full back and Firpo was used further up. Of course, recruitment has to be bang on and some players won't settle as easy as others. We'll wait and see but although they have done it on the cheap, the recruitment looks like it was done in the right areas. Hamer would have been the cherry on top and probably guaranteed promotion but this is now Farkes squad. He has Tanaka and Gruev which are very much HIS signings.
Here's a question for you. Do you think that our current team, and the way we play, will suit Piroe better? I have noticed that we don't run into dead ends like we used to with Cre and Rutter. I think, especially with Joseph's movement dragging CB around, that Piroe might get more space. There's no doubting his finishing.
It's really early to tell. There is potential for that to happen though. The way I see Piroe is like a poor man's Harry Kane. He's not going to press, he's not going to run in behind, he's not blessed with pace but if you put the ball in front of him in the box he will score a high percentage of the time. He isn't a 10. He is a false 9 if you like. A 9 that likes to drop and link up play and get in the box. Last year he didn't have anyone to play off with James hugging the touchline at one side and Summerville doing the same on the other. Georginio didn't often run in behind from the 10. I think Joseph will be the main 9 this year. However, if he can't play then Piroe might be the answer at 9. Aaronson likes to run in behind, Ramazani looks the same and Gnonto playing more central will have more scope for doing the same. Firpo and Bogle will offer the width and probably an increase in crosses in to the box. Solomon will offer more crosses like he did for today's goal too. In short, if Piroe is at 9 then feed him the ball in to the box. The likes of Aaronson, Tanaka and Gnonto will fill that box too at times so the 9 should get less attention from defenders. That includes Joseph and Bamford.
I may be wrong, but I thought we went 4-4-2 when Piroe came on, which clearly suited him. We were a bit ropey leading up to the subs coming on & it looked like our subs came on to rearrange the setup to park the bus. We weren't that organised, sadly. I remember saying to the bloke next to me that the only way we were going to score another was from a hump up the park or a breakaway. I was right for once!
I only watched it on Ell tv but it looked like Piroe came on in the 10 role and Aaronson moved to where Gnonto played in that inside left channel. When Joseph went off I thought Piroe went up top on his own. I'd have to defer to you though as you were there.
Are you kidding? With my memory problems? LOL. The sunstroke didn't help either, or the kinky painkillers!
