It was pretty apparent we needed at least one more attacking player that we didn’t get. I thought it was a striker but it is looking more like a creative type who could also score. So basically the guy we tried to get late on and failed We are also clearly light in defensive midfield and have been for years now. A Romeu replacement should have been sourced. We needed the addition of Lavia regardless for depth. It was the only position where we didn’t have two for every one last year. You could tell because we changed all in the Newport game except JWP because there weren’t 4 proper central midfielders I thought maybe it might have been AMN but he clearly is a different type of midfielder. I was convinced we would go for Garner as he seemed like he could do it. But he chose the Everton bench over the Man United one It’s tricky because unless there is a player who can also play as an 8 (or perhaps CB or FB) as well as a “lonely 6” then we’ll have to be convincing someone to come in as back up to Lavia. That said - his phenomenal form but young age and exposure to one big injury so far should show us that we can tell a prospective signing that rotation will definitely happen and that Lavia will move sooner than we expect … (Relies on Ralph rotating because my scenario above could easily apply with the names being Livramento and KWP. And we know how that worked out) But there are still some glaring squad holes. Put it this way, if I were playing football manager (manager to stop myself buying it for a fair while now) then I’d be looking at: - Creative attacker - Defensive midfielder - Striker With one probably being a loan and the other being the “best we can afford” on the attacking front. And probably in that order
Won't be surprised if the new manager is relatively unknown (to me), but I wouldn't be disappointed if we got Thomas Frank. The connections are there with Ankersen and a similar model/style of play.
Not saying he would, but if we have less ambition, spending power and a worse plan/future than Brentford, then we're in trouble. We should be setting our sights high.
I think we might have been able to tempt him away over the summer. But four months later, I think it would be a much harder sell now. I still wouldn't completely rule it out - eg we might be willing to spend big in January - but I wouldn't expect him to leave them for us.
Talking to Brentford fans, I get the impression they don't think he'd be ready for a move in the way that Potter may have been. Has it v good at Brentford but they're not thinking he's super special just yet.
Wouldn’t be in my top five tbh. Ex Leipzig and Spartak boss. Looking at Jaissle’s 4-1-2-1-2 formation tonight and thinking how that really could work for us…*sigh*
Came in at Leipzig last season when they were doing ****, turned their season round, getting to the semis of the Europa and finishing in top 4 (they were something like 15th when he took over I think). Started this season terribly so has been sacked. Hard to really judge how good he is with such a small sample size in Germany, I don’t follow Russian football so not sure how he did over there
Didn’t realise he was also the guy who got Schalke to 2nd in the Bundesliga a few years ago, so definitely has some pedigree in Germany at least
Just a thought regarding Jaissle. I wonder if there’s an element of him not wanting to move whilst Salzburg are still competing in the CL. If we did want him, that would be a bit of an issue as they’re doing well, but might explain the wait. My main issue with that, is someone irritating like Leicester somehow gazumping us, which would be doubly frustrating as it would seriously improve a rival.
I wouldn't be surprised if Villa's owners have their finger hovering over the trigger. Their match away to Fulham in midweek looks just as big as ours vs Bmouth.
