WOLVES (H) OCT 1ST

jay_in_cpt

Fornals has been really poor, not sure he deserves his place in starting 11....

Lukerz

Thing is if we left out all our poor players based on form we’d struggle to field a side

welovethehammers

Seems our weak / out of form areas are:
Left back
Right back
Central midfielders

Lb - Cress, Emerson, at a push Cornet
Rb - Coufal, Ashby (if not injured), Kehrer
CM - Rice, Soucek, Fornals, Lanzini, Kehrer, Paqueta, Downes

Out of those options:
Lb - For me it’s a toss up between Emerson and Cress. I wouldn’t play Corner there as I’d like to see him higher up the park.

Rb - I don’t rate Coufal at the min so I’d like to see either Ashby or Kehrer. Ashby seems alright going forward and has pace but looks a bit raw defensively. Kehrer is great on the hall but has made a few major errors that have unfortunately lead to goals conceded. I’d be inclined to play Ashby over Kehrer (explained in my next paragraph).

CM - Rice is nailed on. Soucek and Fornals are a bit off form but still carry a goal threat - I’d avoid starting them though. Paqueta doesn’t seem ready. Lanzini is past it imo. That leaves Downes and Kehrer. So perhaps Downes and Kehrer sitting with Rice allowed a more attacking role.

Then since we’d play 3 CM’s I’d like us to go 3 up top- Benrahama is in form so I’d play him up front with Scammaca in the middle and either Cornet or Antonio on the wing. If we went with Antonio on the wing then I guess you could consider Cornet for the left back spot (especially considering our 3 CM’s are defensive so could cover for Cornet if he pushes forwards from defence). Or perhaps even Cornet could play as one of the 3 in the midfield?!

ASLEFshrugged

I'm not sure if Kehrer would work as a RB in a Moyes team as he never seems to cross the ball

He played RB for the 2nd half against Hungary on Friday but didn't put a single cross into the box and while I can find stats for him putting in a few crosses when playing LB I still haven't found any record of him doing so from the right

As for playing him as a midfielder he hasn't played there since 2019. We've got Downes and Coventry, why play Kehrer out of his natural position?

Whitehorsehammer

ASLEF. Perhaps because Kehrer is a higher quality player, IMO of course and subject to him proving that with us.

alderz

Paqueta played in a midfield two next to Casemiro for Brazil last night, in a 4-2-3-1. And the 3 was Raphinha, Vinicius and Neymar, so he won’t have been getting much help defensively. I think we need to give Rice & Paqueta a go very soon.

Fabianski/Areola
Kehrer - Dawson - Zouma - Cresswell
Rice - Paqueta
Bowen - Benrahma - Cornet
Scamacca

That is the midfield and attack of a very exciting side, IMO.

chicagohammer

It seems to be outside of WHUs DNA to play two up top and I fail to really understand why, we have IMO, three decent candidates who should be able to play together up top who all provide slightly different qualities.

Any combination of them should provide defenses with plenty to think about

buffybegood

alderz said:

Fabianski/Areola
Kehrer - Dawson - Zouma - Cresswell
Rice - Paqueta
Bowen - Benrahma - Cornet
Scamacca

I like the idea of Paqueta alongside Rice, at least to try it and to allow Benrahma, who has been one of our brighter players this season imo, in the position that probably suits him best.

Dawson's not ready to start imo, and I don't like a back 4 with him and Cresswell if we've got alternatives. I'm not as unhappy with Coufal as a lot of you seem to be, so happy to keep Kehrer alongside Zouma for the moment.

I know Cornet has played as a WB, but so far we've seen him much more advanced, so I'd be wary of him playing in front of Cresswell tbh.

alderz

I personally am much happier with Cresswell than with Coufal, and I think Dawson is our most reliable CB. Sure he’s limited, but he’s very effective and a real weapon at set pieces.

OutcastLondoner

chicagohammer said:

It seems to be outside of WHUs DNA to play two up top and I fail to really understand why, we have IMO, three decent candidates who should be able to play together up top who all provide slightly different qualities.

Any combination of them should provide defenses with plenty to think about

Is it just us or has modern football basically abandoned the two up top? Heskey and Owen for England is the last strike partnership I remember.

It’s very rarely used in an ad-hoc way during a match when a team needs a goal but can’t think of too many sides that start with two strikers and stick with it long term.

ASLEFshrugged

alderz said:

Paqueta played in a midfield two next to Casemiro for Brazil last night, in a 4-2-3-1. And the 3 was Raphinha, Vinicius and Neymar, so he won’t have been getting much help defensively. I think we need to give Rice & Paqueta a go very soon

In a friendly against Ghana, currently ranked 60th in the world and 11th in Africa, below Burkina Faso

Brazil could have played my 92yo Mum next to Casemiro and still come away with a result. I wouldn't read too much into that

Moyes said he sees Paqueta as a No 10 like Lingard so I don't see him playing anywhere else

claretandbluesky

If we are going to give Soucek a break, and arguably just after an international break may be a good excuse, I think Downes deserves a chance. let's see how he gets on alongside Rice.

Bazshuayi

I said the same thing earlier in the thread. I dont see why he wouldnt do a good job in there

alderz

ASLEFshrugged said:

alderz said:

Paqueta played in a midfield two next to Casemiro for Brazil last night, in a 4-2-3-1. And the 3 was Raphinha, Vinicius and Neymar, so he won’t have been getting much help defensively. I think we need to give Rice & Paqueta a go very soon

In a friendly against Ghana, currently ranked 60th in the world and 11th in Africa, below Burkina Faso

Brazil could have played my 92yo Mum next to Casemiro and still come away with a result. I wouldn't read too much into that

Moyes said he sees Paqueta as a No 10 like Lingard so I don't see him playing anywhere else

I’ll have to double check tomorrow, but I’m fairly sure I remember that he had played in that role a lot for Lyon and for Brazil in the past.

alderz

alderz said:

ASLEFshrugged said:

alderz said:

Paqueta played in a midfield two next to Casemiro for Brazil last night, in a 4-2-3-1. And the 3 was Raphinha, Vinicius and Neymar, so he won’t have been getting much help defensively. I think we need to give Rice & Paqueta a go very soon

In a friendly against Ghana, currently ranked 60th in the world and 11th in Africa, below Burkina Faso

Brazil could have played my 92yo Mum next to Casemiro and still come away with a result. I wouldn't read too much into that

Moyes said he sees Paqueta as a No 10 like Lingard so I don't see him playing anywhere else

I’ll have to double check tomorrow, but I’m fairly sure I remember that he had played in that role a lot for Lyon and for Brazil in the past.

Transfermarkt has him with 88 appearances as an AM, and 61 at CM. Last season, he almost exclusively played as a #10 for Lyon, but the season before that he made 24 appearances as a CM, and the year before that he played 15 times as a CM for AC Milan - in both those seasons CM was his most common position.

Whilst I agree with you that it seems Moyes wants to play him as a 10, I think my initial point wasn't me reading too much into the Brazil - Cameroon game.

ASLEFshrugged

alderz said:

I’ll have to double check tomorrow, but I’m fairly sure I remember that he had played in that role a lot for Lyon and for Brazil in the past.

He played CM mostly in a 4-3-3 as one of the two ahead of a DM rather than a 4-2-3-1 double pivot.

To my mind playing Paqueta deeper is like playing Rice as a CB instead of CM

alderz

ASLEFshrugged said:

alderz said:

I’ll have to double check tomorrow, but I’m fairly sure I remember that he had played in that role a lot for Lyon and for Brazil in the past.

He played CM mostly in a 4-3-3 as one of the two ahead of a DM rather than a 4-2-3-1 double pivot.

To my mind playing Paqueta deeper is like playing Rice as a CB instead of CM

I don't think that's strictly the case. There are a lot of examples of him playing in a midfield role in a 3-4-1-2 formation, behind a number 10.

Ravel49

#StatWars 😜

OldCastleSwift

BubblesNeverDies

ASLEF cast as the villain, hmm.

OldCastleSwift

BubblesNeverDies said:

ASLEF cast as the villain, hmm.

Based on age alone, Bubbles.

I obviously have no idea whether ASLEF has ever served the Galactic Empire.

Ravel49

I’d like to see them take their #statwar to The Bet365 Stadium.. on A Wednesday night.. When it’s cold.. and it’s wet..

And see who comes out on top..

PrestonHammer

I'm outside the Bet365 as we speak. Hahaha

ASLEFshrugged

I had to Google "Bet365 Stadium", it seems its what used to be the Britannia in Stoke...

I'll take Alderz word for it, I only casually looked at Paqueta's recent Brazil games and last season at Lyon, I could well have missed something

Alderz, I know what you're getting for Christmas...

...I felt your presents

IronHerb

I obviously have no idea whether ASLEF has ever served the Galactic Empire.

He served TFL. Will that do?

buffybegood

IronHerb said:

I obviously have no idea whether ASLEF has ever served the Galactic Empire.

He served TFL. Will that do?


Well, the second Death Star was behind schedule, so it's close enough 😂🤣😂

welovethehammers

I’ve been having a think about Kehrer and since you could argue right back might not be his natural spot due to not offering much attacking prowress, how about he plays as the right sided centre back in a 3? Then with the fact that Coufal is off form, we could play Ashby as RWB… especially considering I prefer him going forward to him defensively

ASLEFshrugged

Moyes has brought n players to work in a 4-2-3-1

The problem with switching to 3-4-3 is having to drop a forward player

We'd have to pick a front three from Antoinio, Benrahma, Bowen, Cornet, Fornals, Lanzini, Paqueta and Scamacca

alderz

The other option for Kehrer as a right back is to adopt the Arsenal back four system. White / Tomiyasu stay back a lot and don’t bomb up and down, while Tierney / Zinchenko get forward constantly. It gives a bit extra defensive reinforcement and, with our squad, could mean that Emerson can play on the left and not leave us too exposed.

Brother_Sledge

Fabianski
Coufal - Dawson - Zouma - Cresswell
Paqueta - Rice
Antonio - Benrahma - Fornals
Scamacca