completely agree. the style of play and pace in the two recent friendlies was a noticeable improvement and that can't be just down to 4 new players. That has to be coaching and the way the lads are being drilled in pre-season.
To be fair, KS has said himself that the recruitment model and strategy will be adjusted, as the way of getting promoted to the Premier League isn't the way to stay in the Premier League, and it needs to be adjusted accordingly. Xhaka is still operating at a very, very top level and is still a very good player regardless of age. His data is great and his leadership, experience and ability could be crucial for this side. Worth the money imo
Its interesting that we need a keeper and we’ve only been linked with two that were in quick succession, Lucumi i dont really know much about but he seems solid and reads the game well. I think finances on the players side will dictate his next move not a team Playing in europe. as said further down Lille have bought in a CB so fingers crossed Diakite could be our man as he is keen to link up with RLB
I remember being similarly impressed last pre season too with the pace of the counter attack, and then the first 10 games or so where teams couldn’t handle us at all. Think bringing in a lot more numbers, especially in midfield and wide areas, will allow more rotation and keep that fast counter attack football up.
if anything breaks or anyone signs it will be tomorrow when I am out all day with me Dad to celebrate his Birthday,
As someone said above sneaky feeling the diakite move is moving along nicely, if you have Twitter take a read of these I put together
Yep. I've read a lot about this. An utterly mental, untenable vanity project. They are only doing a bit of it now to safe face I think You could literally never stop spending money trying to accomplish the original plan, still never ever achieved it and some of it was out of Dan Dare anyway. Arrogant hubris out of control. As much as it is sometimes said that Saudi Arabia is the " richest country in the world" and that it has "limitless wealth", this is just not true. It is just that the wealth there is concentrated in the hands of a very, very small amount of people. For reference, the sovereign wealth fund of the Saudis is much smaller than that of Norway, about half the size I think. And the GDP, (though this is a coarse measure ) of Saudi Arabia is about one third of the UK's.
I have a lifelong love affair with Italian football. Football is treated with such reverance, and I love it. When you look at their coaches they are some of the absolute best. It isnt just a golden era, they have always been class. They just seem to me to be absolute students of the game at all times. I cant wait to Vulcano on the touch line and the impact he has on Regis and the players. I would love to spend a week watching the coaches work tbh, would love it.
Yeh I'd love to spend just a day with the lads training and watching them all work and then maybe a day with the recruitment team to see how they go about their business versus us enthusiastic amateurs watching from the internet. Wouldn't even want any ITK information and would keep it all to myself, would just purely be fascinated in it all.
Teams that come back down have a tendency to play, in the PL, as they did in the Championship which rarely works. Wilder and Farke are examples of that but I think RLB already knows how he'll have to change things. One thing that struck me, watching our friendlies, is that some things are clearly being 'hidden' such as corner kick routines, etc ... ... I think we'll see tactics/selections we weren't really expecting. At least we now know there's no chance of us 'doing a Norwich' and going for next season's parachute money, KLD really means business.
Get a team behind Isidor and Mayenda, see how it goes , change it if neccessary. Using the resources we now have could give us a chance , any additions will be belt and braces, personally I think we will defy the odds next season and stay up. I am never wrong . OaU
personally i think we will see a spread of goals across squad with Mayenda and Isidor possibly contributing 8-10 each. Keeping it tight at the back will be far more important imo as we have the speed and skill to score on the counter
Last season we had scorers from virtually every position bar goalie, we need that sort of action again.
it would be a huge achievement for any of our players to hit double figures at this level, so I’d be owa the knot if two did.
Keeping it tight at the back is,of course,important,but even Liverpool conceded more than a goal a game last season. Nobody keeps a regular clean sheet against the quality strikers and attacking play in this league,Arsenal were the only team to keep it under a goal a game.Brighton conceded 59 and still finished 8th. If you concede one,you have to be able to score two. Our ability to score on the counter will demand quality finishing, with a high percentage of the chances we create turned into goals.