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Starting Eleven 24/25 Season

First game:

Poro Romero VDV Spence
Maddison Bissouma Bergvall
Johnson Kulu Son


Johnson hasn’t impressed me so far, but he can improve on his showing in preseason. Kulu isn’t a striker but his all round play and build up is good.

The question remains: who’s going to finish? If the opposition mark Son well, we don’t have a lot of potency in front of goal. Poro and Kulu the only other threats on goal. Maddison should score more. He’s got decent technique.
 
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SpurMeUp said:
First game:

Poro Romero VDV Spence
Maddison Bissouma Bergvall
Johnson Kulu Son


Johnson hasn’t impressed me so far, but he can improve on his showing in preseason. Kulu isn’t a striker but his all round play and build up is good.

The question remains: who’s going to finish? If the opposition mark Son well, we don’t have a lot of potency in front of goal. Poro and Kulu the only other threats on goal. Maddison should score more. He’s got decent technique.
Click to expand...
Ange has spoken about the need for work on the physical side with Gray and Bergvall I think. Both look fairly strong and if true I think it will be mostly about stamina and being able to play at a high intensity over time.

Sarr/the 8 role is so important for us in that regard. Often Bissouma sticks fairly deep along with the centre backs. But the full backs and the 8 has quite a lot of freedom to go forward, but a ton of responsibility to get back quickly and make good decisions on when to get forward.

I think that's a big reason in the Gallager links too. We need that athleticism and we need that discipline in that role. Think it will be Sarr starting, perhaps Bentancur if he comes back looking really fresh. But it will take some time until we see Bergvall starting in the league in that role.
 
braineclipse said:
Ange has spoken about the need for work on the physical side with Gray and Bergvall I think. Both look fairly strong and if true I think it will be mostly about stamina and being able to play at a high intensity over time.

Sarr/the 8 role is so important for us in that regard. Often Bissouma sticks fairly deep along with the centre backs. But the full backs and the 8 has quite a lot of freedom to go forward, but a ton of responsibility to get back quickly and make good decisions on when to get forward.

I think that's a big reason in the Gallager links too. We need that athleticism and we need that discipline in that role. Think it will be Sarr starting, perhaps Bentancur if he comes back looking really fresh. But it will take some time until we see Bergvall starting in the league in that role.
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Totally agree. And Sarr will probably start. But who for? Probably Bergvall. Who can come on as a sub.


Poro Romero VDV Spence
Sarr Bissouma Maddison
Johnson Kulu Son


I actually like it. Yes there are question marks up front. Is Johnson potent enough? Is Kulu clinical enough in front of goal? But if Maddison and Poro can contribute to the goals, its a decent side. Subs will play a key role.

We do need to sign one more goal-scoring player you feel. And we need Johnson and Kulu to step up putting the ball in the back of the net.
 
We need another CM, Bissouma just isn't good enough. Who that CM is I have no idea although I have suggested Tijjani Reijnders in another thread. If we could get him in from AC Milan, maybe as part of the Royal deal, I think our midfield would be a lot more stronger.
 
SpurMeUp said:
Totally agree. And Sarr will probably start. But who for? Probably Bergvall. Who can come on as a sub.


Poro Romero VDV Spence
Sarr Bissouma Maddison
Johnson Kulu Son


I actually like it. Yes there are question marks up front. Is Johnson potent enough? Is Kulu clinical enough in front of goal? But if Maddison and Poro can contribute to the goals, its a decent side. Subs will play a key role.

We do need to sign one more goal-scoring player you feel. And we need Johnson and Kulu to step up putting the ball in the back of the net.
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Agreed. Think Johnson has the ability to step up a bit with regards to goalscoring too.

Kulusevski up front during some of the preseason games, not sure how much to read into that. I'm somewhat less convinced about him as an 8/10 than some on here I think. He has some interesting qualities to play as a striker, but very much unproven.

Can hope for a few more goals from both the 8 and 10 in midfield. Maddison should be capable of scoring a few more. But yeah. Another attacking, goalscoring addition or two would be good to see.
 
yiddo37 said:
We need another CM, Bissouma just isn't good enough.
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Depends which day you get him on!

How much was his malaise last season due to malaria?

yiddo37 said:
Who that CM is I have no idea although I have suggested Tijjani Reijnders in another thread. If we could get him in from AC Milan, maybe as part of the Royal deal, I think our midfield would be a lot more stronger.
Click to expand...

True. A bit like elite strikers, elite midfielders are also hard to come by. Isn’t there an argument for trusting Gray and Bergvall? We need to be a bit patient but they are as good a shout as 90% of others we could attract.
 
SpurMeUp said:
Depends which day you get him on!

How much was his malaise last season due to malaria?



True. A bit like elite strikers, elite midfielders are also hard to come by. Isn’t there an argument for trusting Gray and Bergvall? We need to be a bit patient but they are as good a shout as 90% of others we could attract.
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Trust Gray and Bergvall if no clear choice deep midfielder is available to be signed. But also accept that it will probably take some time for both or either of them to really step up. We have good/very good players in Bissouma and Bentancur, we don't really need another good player.
 
braineclipse said:
Agreed. Think Johnson has the ability to step up a bit with regards to goalscoring too.

Kulusevski up front during some of the preseason games, not sure how much to read into that. I'm somewhat less convinced about him as an 8/10 than some on here I think. He has some interesting qualities to play as a striker, but very much unproven.

Can hope for a few more goals from both the 8 and 10 in midfield. Maddison should be capable of scoring a few more. But yeah. Another attacking, goalscoring addition or two would be good to see.
Click to expand...

Effectively we’d be playing without a forward. It would strengthen us in midfield. And the goons did okay playing a similar way last season.
 
yiddo37 said:
We need another CM, Bissouma just isn't good enough. Who that CM is I have no idea although I have suggested Tijjani Reijnders in another thread. If we could get him in from AC Milan, maybe as part of the Royal deal, I think our midfield would be a lot more stronger.
Click to expand...

He has talent for sure but he is a bit hit and miss, was the same at Brighton you never know what you are going to get.
 
parklane1 said:
He has talent for sure but he is a bit hit and miss, was the same at Brighton you never know what you are going to get.
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Big season for him coming up. Take that step up into more consistency or he'll probably at best be looking at a squad role or a sideways or downwards step a year from now imo.

I get the point that he was inconsistent at Brighton too. But he's had a season here now under Ange, him and the teammates much more familiar with the system and what's expected from them. I think there's at least a decent chance he steps up another level in terms of consistency. And I don't really see who we could sign that would be a clear upgrade on him overall.

If he doesn't someone else will have to step up or it will be a problem to solve next summer imo.
 
braineclipse said:
Big season for him coming up. Take that step up into more consistency or he'll probably at best be looking at a squad role or a sideways or downwards step a year from now imo.

I get the point that he was inconsistent at Brighton too. But he's had a season here now under Ange, him and the teammates much more familiar with the system and what's expected from them. I think there's at least a decent chance he steps up another level in terms of consistency. And I don't really see who we could sign that would be a clear upgrade on him overall.

If he doesn't someone else will have to step up or it will be a problem to solve next summer imo.
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I hope you are right and that he steps up he has talent for sure, my biggest worry about him though is he seems to switch off at times during games and it is not a skill problem more a aware thing of what is happening around him.

To be honest with players who do that its not something time on the training ground will fix its in his head. He is not a kid anymore [ a lot of young players go through that but move on from it].
 
yiddo37 said:
We need another CM, Bissouma just isn't good enough. Who that CM is I have no idea although I have suggested Tijjani Reijnders in another thread. If we could get him in from AC Milan, maybe as part of the Royal deal, I think our midfield would be a lot more stronger.
Click to expand...

Not happening mate

- CM role (I'm assuming here you are looking at the base of midfield/DM play) is Biss or Gray (we paid a lot of money, he will play)
- Next season if Bissouma hasn't been able to find his form back, he'll get moved on
 
Pretty optimistic about the season ahead to be honest, esp if we can add someone like Solanke and a winger and/or a physical no. 6. Difficult to predict with four weeks of the window left. My guess:

Vicario

Spence, Romero, VDV, Udogie

Bentancur, Sarr, Bergvall

Johnson, Solanke, Son

Harsh on Deki, but I think his versatility might be held against him (in terms of the starting 11).
 
Hotspur75 said:
Pretty optimistic about the season ahead to be honest, esp if we can add someone like Solanke and a winger and/or a physical no. 6. Difficult to predict with four weeks of the window left. My guess:

Vicario

Spence, Romero, VDV, Udogie

Bentancur, Sarr, Bergvall

Johnson, Solanke, Son

Harsh on Deki, but I think his versatility might be held against him (in terms of the starting 11).
Click to expand...

No porro? Think maddison will start, bring in bergvall as sub till we see how he copes. Although maddison will have to up his game.
 
Lilbaz said:
No porro? Think maddison will start, bring in bergvall as sub till we see how he copes. Although maddison will have to up his game.
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Porro has to start, I actually think this could be a big season for Porro, he looks like he has adapted well now to the 4 atb and Ange's system. His long range passing and goal threat is big part of our game now.
 
Raziel said:
Not happening mate

- CM role (I'm assuming here you are looking at the base of midfield/DM play) is Biss or Gray (we paid a lot of money, he will play)
- Next season if Bissouma hasn't been able to find his form back, he'll get moved on
Click to expand...
I think we'll also see Bentancur at 4, as well as rotating with Sarr at 8
 
Raziel said:
Not happening mate

- CM role (I'm assuming here you are looking at the base of midfield/DM play) is Biss or Gray (we paid a lot of money, he will play)
- Next season if Bissouma hasn't been able to find his form back, he'll get moved on
Click to expand...

Gray will play and pretty sure he'll be first choice by the end of the season. Think he might be eased in though. He's still very young. Might not want to put too much pressure on him too quickly. It is a step up. There's a reason the 3 teams that came up are some of the favourites to go back down.
 
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