I am not so convinced by the signing but it is a sign of where we stand at the moment. I am not really certain who would want to take the punt on as at the moment, that I would class as a exciting CF. Hope he proves me wrong. If he can bag a few goals between now and March then it was worth it, for sure.
The only way anyone should be agreeing to the purchase of Wood is if he is Gayle's replacement and we are guaranteed to get another striker in alongside Wilson and Wood being third choice and used for cups if there are injuries.
As I said, these names are not anything that are going on in the background as far as I'm aware or even realistic - its simply names I can see us being linked with on either Twitter or in the Press due to the agents involved. Story going around that agents are looking to gain favour with our new board and falling over themselves to achieve this, they aren't looking to make money out of us on a single deal as they see us as a long term cash cow doing deal after deal after deal.
We're not signing a £25m striker to have him warm the bench when Wilson's fit though surely? Signing a wing back in Trippier removes the thought process of 3 at the back so 4-4-2 it is.
Like most of what's going on, it's polarising. You can either look at it optimistically - that Wood is a decent enough, experience PL CF who will likely bag 6-10 goals with the right service to see the club safe. Or that it's just another hugely underwhelming signing which again highlights how ****ing useless Steve Nickson is - the idea that there is nobody available in the entire world for £25m better than Wood is just plain wrong. Origi is better, just for starters. If we go to 4-4-2 with some kind of big man/little man, we're absolutely ****ed. If that's the plan here, then I absolutely ****ing give up. I hadn't looked at it like that but if you're right it's incredibly, deeply disturbing. I'm also still quite astonished that Eddie Howe and the gang seem to think the problems aren't linked to central midfield. The fear for me is that these guys believe Shelvey, Hayden, Willock, Longstaff are good enough and there's no need to bring in players here. If that's the case and we're looking at the problem so one dimensionally, and we go to 4-4-2, then Howe can **** right off.
I'm just looking at the 2 signings - a wing back known for his crossing and a target man - can you think of anything else unless it's a narrow 4-3-3 without wingers?
I may be wrong but doesn't Wood have a similar goal scoring record to Wilson over the last couple of seasons?
Simone changed his style with Athletico between 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 with Trips playing either RWB/RB - he is versatile and can play either. I think you look at Howe at Bournemouth and he favored a 4-4-2 variety e.g. 442 becomes 4411 which becomes 4231 - depends who we are playing and what is required but I think he knows the simple fact *we need to stop conceding goals* so could be tempted back to a back 3/5 if he can't get Schar and Lacselles defending properly - i know people love Schar and hate Lascelles but honestly they both equally **** defenders (say it quietly Schar is probably the worse defender - but just to keep you lot happy - a better all round player)
New Zealand play over 2 weeks for World Cup qualifiers in March I know he’ll be released prior to that etc but I don’t think he’ll be missing for 2 months???
I'm not sure if I've said it before, you can't play 2 in midfield in the PL. The only decent performance of Howe's attempt at management so far is Man U, when we had a 4-3-3 formation. A return to 4-4-2 is ****ing suicidal - we don't have a single CM capable of working in a 2 man midfield, they're all so poor the only option is 3. Even if we improve, you cannot have two in the middle, nobody in the top half of the division plays like it (correct me if I'm wrong). In fact, I'm not sure ANY team bar Burnley do. The only other possible scenario is a return to 5-3-2. I'm not against that, if it's done on the front foot so it's more 3-5-2, but again we're lacking in personnel because you end up with Lascelles, Clark or Fernendez in a three. Schar at RCB just about works. Howe's first game was 3-4-3, but again we were so exposed in the middle it was ridiculous.
I think Leicester winning it with that formation is what killed it, the greedy 6 pushed to 3 in midfield and made sure a small, 4-4-2 playing club wouldn't win a game against them ever again. Besides which, their midfield two was Drinkwater in the form of his life and Kante, who's effectively as good as two players!!! Since then, more and more managers have adapted to this and subsequently everyone plays with numbers in the middle We've shown time and time and time again, whether with 4-4-2, 5-4-1, or whatever stupidity comes out of the brain of Bruce/Howe, that it doesn't work. If we went all out and signed two top class CM's, it's possible it could work as a very attacking 4-2-4. But we do not have the personnel right now. Willock can't do it, he's a late arriving AM, Shelvey can't do it, he's a deep lying playmaker (in his head), Longstaff, Hayden, Hendrick can't do it because they're the equivalent of half a player. Each.
