Emerson's workrate is a big part of why Conte keeps picking him. He's up and down the flank all game long and has spent an eyewatering amount of his own money on a personal gym and fitness program to work on his fitness and stamina, so Conte is going to reward that - it's just that, for all his workrate, he lacks end product when getting into the final third (that and, realistically, his best use would be a defensive WB for games where we need to keep a Salah or a Grealish quiet, as he has shown he can do that) Of course, the real question is when does somebody put out a Will Lankshear supercut from tonight?
Sarr’s definitely got that slick technical ability that can’t be taught. Baller in the making. As for Emerson… it’s painful. Although Sanchez and Sessegnon run him close for biggest duffer at the club. I’d love to think we’d sell all three in January but I’m almost certain they’ll all be here by the end of the window, with Sessegnon probably signing a new deal.
The defence still is miles away from what it needs to be. Problem is once they’ve got round to fixing centre backs and right wing backs, Perisic will be gone and they’ll need more work on the left hand side.
I wouldn’t even say miles away to be honest, get in a good RWB and a good CCB and we’ll be sweet, Udogie arrives in the summer anyway so that’s the long term Perisic replacement already sorted (or so we hope). Simply just giving Spence a run could even lessen the need to spend big on a new RWB too but this stubbornness Conte has with him prevents us from ever knowing.
Highlights: Sarr is listed as 6'1" on his wiki entry. I think that might be a little short now. He was kicking it about with a coach at half-time and made him look like a child. If we can bring in a couple of players in January, then Sarr, Gil and White should go out on loan. They need regular football and they're clearly good enough. They won't get it under Conte.
The long overdue lesson learned last Jan was that a mass splurge is rarely a wise move. We've done it twice under ENIC and with very mixed results. Our single greatest challenge since the early Poch days has been the difficulty in improving a first team already at a pretty high level without breaking the bank with each improvement. Last Jan showed that by carefully scouting just one or two players and securing them, it can be transformative for the entire balance of the side. Right now we are unbalanced for two main reasons: A) The right flank is a footballing vacuum, especially when Kulu is out. B) The back 3 still aren't good enough to cope with the sustained pressure a Conte system often produces as a by-product, again - especially when key attackers are out and opposition teams play more expansively as a result. A RWB and a CB in Jan would be incredible business. We should be banging on Inter's door for a Bastoni/Skriniar double deal. RWB is much, much trickier. The FB role in general has evolved rapidly over the past 5-7 years and not many established players have kept up with the changing job description. Most players who could genuinely improve us are at much bigger clubs already while a lot of the younger prospects like Porro or Livramento are technically contracted to or have first dibs from other clubs. Lamptey would be my pick but he would cost an absolute fortune.
I can see the appeal, but he's not even a regular starter for Brighton any more. His height would be an issue for Conte, he's very injury prone and he'd be off to the ACON now, too. He's played less than 180 minutes in the Premier League this season. Big risk.
It does seem like Conte has reservations over Porro's height so Lamptey would just fall into the same bracket. Feels like he wants a natural WB with solid attacking ability, ok defensively, pace and also some height. If only we had someone like that at the club...
