Latest exciting news (subjective) from Ex is that Lobotka is proving difficult so we have turned our attentions to Fornals of Villarreal (as per Thorn's post above).
No mention of how this would affect our chances of getting Gomez.
Now I'm no expert on Spanish football, but I'm pretty sure Lobotka and Fornals are different types of midfielders :hmm:
So, apparently, and I'm on the edge of my seat as I type this, Lobotka isn't considered value for money at the price Celta are asking, so we're looking at Fornals and a defensive midfielder (see previous rumours around Isaac Hayden).
West Ham are understood to be working on five to six midfield targets this summer and expect to have made progress on signings within seven to 10 days.
Or maybe The Boleyn Insider (widely assumed to be Little Jack) who used to drip-feed us news on the OS (and I'm sure that's where the '7-10 days' came from :hmm: ) is now filtering information to Sky.
If you, like me, enjoyed this article on the BBC website about age profiles of squads, but didn't enjoy the fact that they didn't include a chart for West Ham's 2018/19 squad, then don't worry any longer, I made one.
X axis shows the % of PL minutes played and Y axis shows age (all according to transfermarkt)
'First Team' vs 'Squad' is determined by more or less than 50% of Premier League minutes played in the season. 'Potential' is anyone aged under 24 (it should say prospect but I wrote the wrong thing), 'Peak' is between 24 and 30, 'Past their prime' is over 30.
Make of it what you will, but I think it's an interesting way of viewing the age profile of the squad :ok:
On wiki - in the top section it has his birth year as 1996 - further down the page it has it as 1984 (which would make him 35). I would be very inclined to believe the rumour if it were the latter
I read into that, Gomez doesn't want to join us and is going to wait around in the hope and real probability a club with European football will come in for him. I hope I am proved very wrong.
"I was able to speak with the representatives of Pablo Fornals, and they confirmed there is a €27m offer from West Ham. Now negotiations will begin to reach an agreement with the player.”
Ex released an article last night that summarised the current transfer situation as he understands it. If he’s right, then our priority is now an attacking midfielder and a striker and this is where the majority of our budget will be spent. Fornals is the player most likely to come in, but subsequent tweets have made me a bit :hmm: about the whole situation.
Wilshere is, according to Ex, considered a ‘very important player’ by Pellegrini, and, contrary to speculation, we are looking to negotiate a new contract with Lanzini rather than sell him. So if this is true, we could be going into next season with attacking midfield options of Wilshere, Lanzini, Fornals, Snodgrass, Anderson, Antonio, Yarmolenko, Diangana and – if other reports are accurate – Nathan Holland and Marcus Browne. That’s ten players competing for three spots.
Our defensive midfield options are Rice and Sanchez, the latter being widely linked with a move away.
Now maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t feel like a particularly balanced midfield. The article says that once our priority positions are filled, we’ll be looking for a bargain or a loan to strengthen at the back. For a team that conceded 55 goals and forced our ‘keeper to make 206 saves (second only to Cardiff’s Neil Etheridge), I’d have thought that strengthening the defensive side of our game would have been our priority.
Pellegrini, it’s said, wants to go all-out attack next season, which sounds quite reckless for a manager of his experience. I’m all for a team that is very good going forward, obvs, but we also need that team to be able to defend effectively. We’re a Rice pre-season injury away from having no defensively-minded midfielders and it sounds like this will only be addressed as a secondary concern.
Maybe they are going to strengthen our defensive side by making the players we've got better. Presumably the 2 we bought were done so because the manager believes they can be a strong CB pairing going forward.
If he still thinks that, and with Reid back to add competition (provided he can recover fully from his injury layoff and it seems as though the boss thinks he can) there's another perfectly good CB.
How is it that we managed to have an outstanding keeper, at least one very good centre half (Balbuena) and an outstanding DM (Rice), yet still managed to concede goals by the bucket load?
Either our full backs are not up to it or Pelle is not a great defensive coach.
I would suspect both Snodgrass & Antonio are open to sales should we receive a reasonably decent fee. Say £8m & £15m respectively. That would leave us with similar players all operating behind Arnie, which is how Pelle has always played historically, with the one wildcard winger in Yarmolenko (see Navas when at City). Loads of creative, technical players supporting a strong forward.
To be honest, I don’t think we need a CM with defensive capabilities, I think we need a midfielder who can get about the pitch. An upgraded version of Kouyaté. It makes a massive difference to have a player, even if not the best reader of the game in the defensive third, that can get up & then back very quickly & fill holes. Rice is a sitter, Nobes has never been blessed with pace & Sanchez, well is Sánchez.
We got done on the counter so many times last season & that was because once we were pushing & lost the ball, it only took them to get behind Rice & it was often the oppo vs our CB’s. Somebody who can get back in that transition is what we need.
How is it that we managed to have an outstanding keeper, at least one very good centre half (Balbuena) and an outstanding DM (Rice), yet still managed to concede goals by the bucket load?
Either our full backs are not up to it or Pelle is not a great defensive coach.
We are right there in the middle of the table (11th) for goals conceded on 55. Man U 10th at 54.
Also, Balbuena missed half the season through injury.
It's not just about the coaching, it's about tactics and 'philosophy'. Would you rather we respected the point?
Comments
No mention of how this would affect our chances of getting Gomez.
Now I'm no expert on Spanish football, but I'm pretty sure Lobotka and Fornals are different types of midfielders :hmm:
58 more days of this :wahoo:
(( :wahoo: ))
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11685/11739752/west-ham-closing-in-on-villarreal-midfielder-pablo-fornals Are they trolling us
X axis shows the % of PL minutes played and Y axis shows age (all according to transfermarkt)
'First Team' vs 'Squad' is determined by more or less than 50% of Premier League minutes played in the season. 'Potential' is anyone aged under 24 (it should say prospect but I wrote the wrong thing), 'Peak' is between 24 and 30, 'Past their prime' is over 30.
Make of it what you will, but I think it's an interesting way of viewing the age profile of the squad :ok:
# :weep:
Standard fare, if true.
Throwback to The Carlos Bacca saga :wahoo:
I read into that, Gomez doesn't want to join us and is going to wait around in the hope and real probability a club with European football will come in for him. I hope I am proved very wrong.
"I was able to speak with the representatives of Pablo Fornals, and they confirmed there is a €27m offer from West Ham. Now negotiations will begin to reach an agreement with the player.”
Could be interesting if it happens. :pray:
#no mention of Liverpool
Wilshere is, according to Ex, considered a ‘very important player’ by Pellegrini, and, contrary to speculation, we are looking to negotiate a new contract with Lanzini rather than sell him. So if this is true, we could be going into next season with attacking midfield options of Wilshere, Lanzini, Fornals, Snodgrass, Anderson, Antonio, Yarmolenko, Diangana and – if other reports are accurate – Nathan Holland and Marcus Browne. That’s ten players competing for three spots.
Our defensive midfield options are Rice and Sanchez, the latter being widely linked with a move away.
Now maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t feel like a particularly balanced midfield. The article says that once our priority positions are filled, we’ll be looking for a bargain or a loan to strengthen at the back. For a team that conceded 55 goals and forced our ‘keeper to make 206 saves (second only to Cardiff’s Neil Etheridge), I’d have thought that strengthening the defensive side of our game would have been our priority.
Pellegrini, it’s said, wants to go all-out attack next season, which sounds quite reckless for a manager of his experience. I’m all for a team that is very good going forward, obvs, but we also need that team to be able to defend effectively. We’re a Rice pre-season injury away from having no defensively-minded midfielders and it sounds like this will only be addressed as a secondary concern.
If he still thinks that, and with Reid back to add competition (provided he can recover fully from his injury layoff and it seems as though the boss thinks he can) there's another perfectly good CB.
Either our full backs are not up to it or Pelle is not a great defensive coach.
To be honest, I don’t think we need a CM with defensive capabilities, I think we need a midfielder who can get about the pitch. An upgraded version of Kouyaté. It makes a massive difference to have a player, even if not the best reader of the game in the defensive third, that can get up & then back very quickly & fill holes. Rice is a sitter, Nobes has never been blessed with pace & Sanchez, well is Sánchez.
We got done on the counter so many times last season & that was because once we were pushing & lost the ball, it only took them to get behind Rice & it was often the oppo vs our CB’s. Somebody who can get back in that transition is what we need.
Also, Balbuena missed half the season through injury.
It's not just about the coaching, it's about tactics and 'philosophy'. Would you rather we respected the point?