Summer transfer thread

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Good post mate. It seems to me that when we play a three at the back and we spread Dan Neil to the right and Pritch to the left,it's essential to have one of the three who can step into the middle,and Dennis is great at it. I agree he's vulnerable,especially to the ball played in behind him,but,he's still 20 and that's why we have coaching staff.He's a really important player to us atm.
Spot on mate. Having him step in, which he does well, gives the midfielders a lot more freedom. When Dan Neil goes to the right he always takes a player out of their middle and space opens up. Same with Pritch. It is a really clever tactical play by Neil I think, and so far teams arent cottoning on to it. When Sheff Utd got promoted and did well in the prem it was similar, with a CB that essentially pushed in and split the midfield. I dont think Alex is as rigid as Wilder was and he will mix and match formations this year, but for now you can see the challenge it is giving opposition teams.
 
During the KLD takeover I received a PM, on this forum, threatening me with legal action <laugh>

It came from someone who posts on RTG and came on here specifically to 'correct innacuracies'.

Now that Methven has gone various people seem to have posted much less or vanished altogether.

Which makes you wonder if it was a stooge of Methven or the big stooge himself.
Methven is enough of a whopper to threaten fans with legal action, never been happier to see the back of anyone from this club
 
Spot on mate. Having him step in, which he does well, gives the midfielders a lot more freedom. When Dan Neil goes to the right he always takes a player out of their middle and space opens up. Same with Pritch. It is a really clever tactical play by Neil I think, and so far teams arent cottoning on to it. When Sheff Utd got promoted and did well in the prem it was similar, with a CB that essentially pushed in and split the midfield. I dont think Alex is as rigid as Wilder was and he will mix and match formations this year, but for now you can see the challenge it is giving opposition teams.

Totally agree. Also,not only does it open space in the middle, it doubles up down the wings,with Neil and Gooch on one side and Pritch and Clarke on the other.With two,very mobile strikers ahead of them,it's a good tactic.Imo,a strong mobile central midfielder to take the weight off Corey would be bunce to this system.
I think other teams can see it,but,as you say,it pulls players wide out of the middle,which they don't like.
 
During the KLD takeover I received a PM, on this forum, threatening me with legal action <laugh>

It came from someone who posts on RTG and came on here specifically to 'correct innacuracies'.

Now that Methven has gone various people seem to have posted much less or vanished altogether.

Which makes you wonder if it was a stooge of Methven or the big stooge himself.
Kildare was a strange one, I no longer post on there or even browse so not sure if he is still around but he must have had links to CM
 
One thing you can be sure of is formations are like the moon, they keep reappearing. At some point 442 will make a comeback and a team will surprise everyone with it. We will even get commentators telling us it is new and create a name for it. A bit like this modern high press, except there is nothing modern about it of course...

One of the things, in my opinion, that makes Cirkin stand out is his ability on the ball. He has been coached to be a technically good footballer, before any positional side of his game has been thought about. This means when he plays in a 3 he is the one that can step into midfield with the ball, or carry it high up the pitch. I would suggest we would struggle to play a 3 without him because I dont see any of the others with that ability. You cant have 3 out and out centre backs in a team anymore. That doesnt mean he isnt a top class LB of course because I think he is. In that position too he can use his in possession skills to really give us a threat. I still think defensivley he has a couple of weaknesses, but those will disappear with experience. He can be vulnerable positionally at times, specifically a ball in behind him. But, as with all of our young players, he is on a massive learning curve, which has only been 1 year in when it comes to mens football for some. He is one that can keep growing with us and will inevitable play premier league football in my opinion, hopefully with us.
I once read something that said that, in coaching/managerial terms, true innovators only come along once a generation and everyone else just copies them. I'm not sure that's entirely true but it gets to the heart of the issue that formations are often subject to what's in fashion. Amongst teams that I watch, 442 is currently almost exclusively used as a defensive formation, perhaps influenced by Simeone and Atletico (in fact coaches I know have copied him and I've got a text book about it sitting on my desk currently) but it doesn't have to be used that way. That being said, due to the way I see it used most at the moment, I would anticipate (prior to seeing them play) that a team lining up that way would be keeping things tight and hoping to hit the opposition on the break. The way things are currently, I would expect teams lining up 433 or 4231 to be more attacking. That impression may well be completely reversed in 5 or 10 years time though.
 
I once read something that said that, in coaching/managerial terms, true innovators only come along once a generation and everyone else just copies them. I'm not sure that's entirely true but it gets to the heart of the issue that formations are often subject to what's in fashion. Amongst teams that I watch, 442 is currently almost exclusively used as a defensive formation, perhaps influenced by Simeone and Atletico (in fact coaches I know have copied him and I've got a text book about it sitting on my desk currently) but it doesn't have to be used that way. That being said, due to the way I see it used most at the moment, I would anticipate (prior to seeing them play) that a team lining up that way would be keeping things tight and hoping to hit the opposition on the break. The way things are currently, I would expect teams lining up 433 or 4231 to be more attacking. That impression may well be completely reversed in 5 or 10 years time though.

This is a great discussion. Alex Neil has talked about his philosophy of attacking football,and there doesn't seem any doubt that's the way he wants to play.
What do you think of the 3 at the back,with wing backs? Would that system be even more attacking than the two formations you mention?
 
This is a great discussion. Alex Neil has talked about his philosophy of attacking football,and there doesn't seem any doubt that's the way he wants to play.
What do you think of the 3 at the back,with wing backs? Would that system be even more attacking than the two formations you mention?
I think it depends on your approach to it really. Like 442, you can play a defensive game based on it, or you can play a more attacking game. I think its working really well for us at the moment, in the way that you and FellTop describe. If you push the wing backs on and the 10, you can almost make a front 5, which I suppose is inherently very attacking.
 
One thing you can be sure of is formations are like the moon, they keep reappearing. At some point 442 will make a comeback and a team will surprise everyone with it. We will even get commentators telling us it is new and create a name for it. A bit like this modern high press, except there is nothing modern about it of course...

One of the things, in my opinion, that makes Cirkin stand out is his ability on the ball. He has been coached to be a technically good footballer, before any positional side of his game has been thought about. This means when he plays in a 3 he is the one that can step into midfield with the ball, or carry it high up the pitch. I would suggest we would struggle to play a 3 without him because I dont see any of the others with that ability. You cant have 3 out and out centre backs in a team anymore. That doesnt mean he isnt a top class LB of course because I think he is. In that position too he can use his in possession skills to really give us a threat. I still think defensivley he has a couple of weaknesses, but those will disappear with experience. He can be vulnerable positionally at times, specifically a ball in behind him. But, as with all of our young players, he is on a massive learning curve, which has only been 1 year in when it comes to mens football for some. He is one that can keep growing with us and will inevitable play premier league football in my opinion, hopefully with us.
Indeed. Formations and tactics are fluid. We go around in circles with them. Football and Rugby were closely linked back in the 19th century and both styles were pack hunting where players moved as a unit. That was the press happening right back then. Football slowly evolved away from Rugby and we began to find our own style.

I agree, in the future 4-4-2 will come back and people will be lapping up how it counteracts most styles and formations.
 
Blackburn according to local sources (and also hinted by Nixon) are back in on van Hecke. But we are still in race.

Nixon suggesting Blackburn want him permanently but Brighton want to loan out

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Blackburn according to local sources (and also hinted by Nixon) are back in on van Hecke. But we are still in race.

Nixon suggesting Blackburn want him permanently but Brighton want to loan out

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Probably makes Blackburn favourites to sign him on loan unless he's crossed paths with Embo
 
Dunno what you were watching to think Cirkin was poor last season but it can’t have been us :emoticon-0102-bigsm

4-4-2 isn’t modern and I don’t like it, I agree there. But none of the best teams play with 3 CB’s either. Imagine TAA or Cancelo playing as a LCB with Salah/Grealish as a wing back? IMO even though Cirkin is playing well there it stifles both him and Clarke. Clarke is much better further up the pitch.
Whatever. Any differing opinion to yours must be watching someone else! Not the first time you’ve said that either is it?

As a left back in a 4 Cirkin struggled defensively. As a lwb in a 5 he looked good.
 
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We will still play 4231 on occasions in my opinion. Why buy this young Costa Rican and have Roberts on the bench if we are sticking to a back 3 for the rest of the season. The key will be to sign a good right back. Cirkin is a top, top player at lb or lcb.
Whilst I agree mostly, I hate the second “top”!!!!! A mountain climber never tries to get to the “top top” of Mount Everest do they? :1980_boogie_down:
 
This Costa Rican we are supposedly signing, was reported to be flying over Wednesday last. Has he gone by north and south poles. Or on a hang glider.

Please don't say you're hanging around in Ponteland.
Train from Kings Cross.