January 2017 Transfer Speculation

Bazshuayi

Calleri's touch and movement looked pretty good when he first came to us. He's technically decent (like most S Americans) but perhaps a little lightweight. Confidence levels are obviously crucial to performances. I think there's a decent striker there. I also think strikers with a lot bigger reputations than him have failed in the Prem. I hope he gives Bilic a selection headache or two in the near future (with some decent performances off the bench)

Huttonhammer

Marseille lost their first game with Payet , with him coming on in the second half to Metz who were second from bottom.
Reports say Payet is not going to play any more as he wants to play for a better team .

Moore_than_a_nick

Mrs Grey, yes, I agree that your best team is not necessarily the same personnel and formation for every game, even if everyone's available. But I think every team needs to know it's best formation and line-up (Plan A) for most games, and then tweak it, or just have a plan B, when the oppo or availability calls for it. I don't think we know what our Plan A is. We can't say that we moved to 3 at the back because we didn't have a good RB available - it's not like we were missing anyone. We simply don't have a good defensive RB. So clearly (for me) either Plan A has to take this into account or we have to buy one. The club clearly noticed this but either thought Byram was still the future or didn't have the cash or the drawing power for a top-class RB, so they bought a veteran who just hasn't worked out for us. So Plan A (again, for me) can't be 4-4-2, yet that is the system we seem to be settling around. Cressers' poor form in his own half makes it even less suitable. Furthermore, I don't think we can rely on Feghouli on the wing or Antonio as a second striker. The former has only shown a few glimpses of attacking threat among a lot of dross, and the latter will play his heart out anywhere, but seems best suited as one of the wide players of a front 3.

I can see why we started off the season with 4-4-3 - it served us well last season. But when we were being opened up too often due to the poor form of many players, the change to 3 at the back stopped the rot. After that, I suppose it may be that Bilic did want to continue with this system, but just couldn't find 3 good enough CBs available for all games. He clearly doesn't want to play Oxford, Burke, Henry or Nordveidt there at the moment, so if Collins and Kouyate were unavailable, he chose to play 4 at the back. I would say that if this was his judgment, he underestimated the defensive frailties of our full backs and midfield.

IronHerb

I watched the last 20 minutes of the Marseille game and they made us look half decent. Metz could have scored 4 in the last 20 minutes although they did hit their own bar from a Payet cross. Very poor.

Expat_Hammer

IronHerb said:

I watched the last 20 minutes of the Marseille game and they made us look half decent. Metz could have scored 4 in the last 20 minutes although they did hit their own bar from a Payet cross. Very poor.

There, looks much better now

IronHerb

;hmm

FlorinRaduclious

Moore_than_a_nick said:

...I can see why we started off the season with 4-4-3...

No wonder we started the season so poorly - we had nobody in goal!

Yeoldhammer

NEoldiron said:

Yeold, I think Sane would give any RB in the PL a roasting. Byram's not as bad as you make out and he's still young and learning, give him a break.

I wasn't even referring to Byram at the time, i was referring to Pre-Byram even being available. Arbeloa and Nordveit are liabilitys at right back including Antonio at right back. Bilic was forced to a back 3 because there was no sense playing a back 4 with a DM / Winger / Striker or whatever playing that RB position.

There was no tactical nous or sense involved. He changed the formation to suit what he had available. Had there being a quality RB available i very much doubt he would have gone 3 at the back at all.

NEoldiron

Yeold ;ok

Moore_than_a_nick

FlorinRaduclious said:

Moore_than_a_nick said:

...I can see why we started off the season with 4-4-3...

No wonder we started the season so poorly - we had nobody in goal!

Ouch! Your nick starts to make sense. You evidently lick an iced bun. ;puzzled

alderz

Yeold

Surely there is tactical nous in looking at your squad and trying something different? He could have stuck with a back 4. He could have kept Antonio at RB. And then he changed it to try something different

Moore_than_a_nick

I agree we must give Bilic some credit for creativity - he could have played 3 at the back (yes, plus a goalie, Florin!) with Antonio or even Feggers at right wing-back. He could have been tempted to put Kouyate in CM. But he decided Obiang was good enough to do the DM job with only Noble partnering him in CM, and that Kouyate could do a good enough job at RB to allow him to carry on with what is now obviously his Plan A: 4-4-2 with Feggers and Snoddy on the wings and the two big lads up front. Obiang was MoM, so you've got to admit it worked out for him.

Is this 4-4-2 a good long-term Plan A with Brian or Kouyate at RB? I'm not convinced, but the permutations are doing my head in.

Two more of the five main options (4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3) also require a decent RB, so don't help in that regard. And the other 2 main option (3-4-3 or 3-5-2) require a decent right wing-back. Now, the interesting new question is whether this right wing-back might be Kouyate rather than Byram, Antonio or Feghouli, or at least whether it might be Kouyate if Byram is missing, allowing Antonio to play as second striker of wide in a front 3. I've tried a few permutations, but feel that to get the most out of Antonio and to include Snoddy (who looks good and in form), we do in fact need to play 4 at the back, and therefore find a RB, and that as long as Obiang and Noble can do a job in CM, Kouyate, playing Kouyate at RB might be better than switching to 3 at the back.

----------GK
--Kouyate-Fonte-Reid--
Antonio-Obiang-Noble-Cressers
-Lanzini--Carroll--Snodders

Quite like this first one, but looks like we could get exposed on our right side. Lanzini would drift in-field, Antonio would go on the rampage, and Obiang would need to cover Kouyate quite a bit. Could work.

--------------GK
-----Kouyate--Fonte--Reid
Antonio-Obiang-Lanzini-Noble-Cressers
---------Ayew-Carroll

Don't like this second one, since no room for Snoddy.

----------GK
Kouyate-Fonte-Reid-Cressers
-----Obiang-Noble
Antonio-Lanzini-Snoddy
--------Carroll

This third one accommodates our four best attacking threats in positions that seem to suit them well. We could play Byram at RB, Kouyate in midfield and drop Noble, depending on form. But I would currently have more confidence in Kouyate at RB than Byram. So this is how I'd start against West Brom...

I'd better hope Ayew doesn't hit form, otherwise it's back to the drawing board. Though I suspect injuries would prevent that from being a problem...

Ravel49

MrsGrey

Ceefax and Teletext. ;bowdown

OldCastleSwift

Club Call ;wahoo

grey_til_I_dye

Teletext put me in mind of Teletext Alex, who did a version of Bohemian Rhapsody using footballers' names, and while looking for it I came across this stunning effort by someone else:

MrsGrey

;nonono

That is absolutely genius. ;bowdown

You have to listen to it.

;wahoo

deehammer

;wahoo
Somebody found a good use for Benni McCarthy!

grey_til_I_dye

New transfer thread here: http://www.whu606.com/discussion/10091