Mohammed Kudus

[Jurgen the German]

Pointless getting into a debate with @Bishop on this one, he's not going to budge on Johnson

Actually think Kudus v Johnson is an interesting case. I have been critical of Kudus purely from an end product point of view. Johnson has the end product which is crucial and a very positive thing to have at 24 years of age but needs to improve in other areas.

The opposite is true of Kudus - he needs to improve his decision making at the final hurdle ie when to pass vs when to shoot, which will help his overall figures.

However history tells you that the end product does come as age improves if you have the ability and Kudus is still fairly young and certainly has ability. Johnson improving aspects of his game such as beating his man etc isn't so easy to do, whilst not impossible. All in all I'd say it's good to have both these different players as options and will be interesting to see how the next couple of years go for them as there is plenty of scope for them both to improve....

@Bishop doesn’t think we should settle for players he deems not good enough and I agree

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Football was brick back then though, it was normal for attacking players to completely disregard their defensive responsibilities.

It’s completely unacceptable and unprofessional now.

Was there football back then? I thought it was invented by Sky and Premier League. Back then the players used their own judgement playing in a loose playing system on awful playing surfaces with a cannon ball, they were so naive they tried to win games by scoring goals and had little idea of the high level of systematic cheating we love today.

 

[Baleforce]

Was there football back then? I thought it was invented by Sky and Premier League. Back then the players used their own judgement playing in a loose playing system on awful playing surfaces with a cannon ball, they were so naive they tried to win games by scoring goals and had little idea of the high level of systematic cheating we love today.

Like I said, brick.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Like I said, brick.

Superb analysis of the game so on trend.

 

[Baleforce]

Superb analysis of the game so on trend.

Sign up to my substack and follow my socials for more.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Sign up to my substack and follow my socials for more.

Don't know what that is.

 

[Daisuk]

Poor comparison, first Jimmy Greaves was a striker and secondly he scored at a rate that was undeniable. If Johnson gets 25+ goals a season in the league then his rudimentary football abilities will be more than made up for by his goal contribution but sorry he was playing out wide and we need more than tap ins from a wife player.

Johnson is a striker as well, played there for Forest. I hope Frank will play him there and see how he performs.

 

[Lemonade Money]

Johnson is a striker as well, played there for Forest. I hope Frank will play him there and see how he performs.

I think he may serve the team there better, but how would our midfield look in a 4-4-2, or would we need to drop Solanke? Would 3-5-2 be better?

Solanke...Johnson
Udogie...Bergvall...Bentancur...Kulusevski...Porro
van de Ven...Danso...Romero
Vicario​

 

[Pandy]

I think he may serve the team there better, but how would our midfield look in a 4-4-2, or would we need to drop Solanke? Would 3-5-2 be better?

Solanke...Johnson
Udogie...Bergvall...Bentancur...Kulusevski...Porro
van de Ven...Danso...Romero
Vicario​

Think we will see less of Johnson overall but a lot more of him in this sort of system.

Baffles me that people keep saying X or Y player "will start". They'll all start some games more than others. Especially with this manager there won't be a fixed XI and team selection will depend on opponent/form/fitness.

 

[Bishop]

Johnson is a striker as well, played there for Forest. I hope Frank will play him there and see how he performs.

The comparison was with Johnson playing on the right, not as a striker. If he plays up top then his lack of touch and general technique is less of an issue if he is scoring, but that wasn't the case last year, so yes all the parts of the game hes not good at do indeed matter. They are part of the reason we were so poor.

 

[Daisuk]

The comparison was with Johnson playing on the right, not as a striker. If he plays up top then his lack of touch and general technique is less of an issue if he is scoring, but that wasn't the case last year, so yes all the parts of the game hes not good at do indeed matter. They are part of the reason we were so poor.

I agree, I didn’t like him out there. Which is a weird thing to say considering his output.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I think he may serve the team there better, but how would our midfield look in a 4-4-2, or would we need to drop Solanke? Would 3-5-2 be better?

Solanke...Johnson
Udogie...Bergvall...Bentancur...Kulusevski...Porro
van de Ven...Danso...Romero
Vicario​

I like that set up
Gives us a lot of flexibility

 

[Finney Is Back]

I like that set up
Gives us a lot of flexibility

In danger of getting overrun in midfield IMO. Bergvall and Kulusevski are both poor defensively (Kulu really poor) and that puts a huge amount of pressure on Bentancur.

 

[Lemonade Money]

In danger of getting overrun in midfield IMO. Bergvall and Kulusevski are both poor defensively (Kulu really poor) and that puts a huge amount of pressure on Bentancur.

Would obviously look a lot better with peak Kante/Makelele there, but was basing it on our current players. Who would you put there? Bissouma?

 

[Finney Is Back]

It doesn’t have to be deep, but it has to be something, we could have saved 15/20 goals last season just by bringing the wide players back into the box when out of possession.

Our right and left wing players defended against their fullback. That was the tactics under Postecoglou. Johnson played to instructions here. Was pretty clear to me that Postecoglou didn't want those players coming back to defend and thus inviting the opponents full backs forward, it worked the other way round with them only defending if the opponents pushed their full back up.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

In danger of getting overrun in midfield IMO. Bergvall and Kulusevski are both poor defensively (Kulu really poor) and that puts a huge amount of pressure on Bentancur.

But he would have 3CBs to support plus the wing backs

 

[Finney Is Back]

Would obviously look a lot better with peak Kante/Makelele there, but was basing it on our current players. Who would you put there? Bissouma?

I think the central defender needs to be able to step up into the midfield so that is either Romero playing in the middle and Gray (or perhaps Spence) on the right. Or perhaps Gray playing in the centre instead of Danso.

Midfield 3, I think either Maddison comes in for Kulu. Or if we really want to play Kulu then Sarr probably needs to come in for Bergvall.

 

[Finney Is Back]

But he would have 3CBs to support plus the wing backs

The wing backs are going to have to provide the width and also help defend against the opponents full backs. They aren't going to be playing inverted like they did under Postecoglou.

Kulu is a terrible defender. He is typically wrong side and commits a foul every time he tries to make a tackle. IMO Bergvall is incredibly naive in his play in deep positions and puts us in trouble quite often. I'm sure he will learn but at present he probably needs to be a bit further forward while he continues to learn.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

The wing backs are going to have to provide the width and also help defend against the opponents full backs. They aren't going to be playing inverted like they did under Postecoglou.

Kulu is a terrible defender. He is typically wrong side and commits a foul every time he tries to make a tackle. IMO Bergvall is incredibly naive in his play in deep positions and puts us in trouble quite often. I'm sure he will learn but at present he probably needs to be a bit further forward while he continues to learn.

Dont disagree around who is a terrible defender. It’s plain to see when they play
However it’s why the extra CB works well IMO. And 2 of them are great at progressing the ball which is what our midfield lacks

 

[Finney Is Back]

Dont disagree around who is a terrible defender. It’s plain to see when they play
However it’s why the extra CB works well IMO. And 2 of them are great at progressing the ball which is what our midfield lacks

It means one of the central defenders pushing up into the midfield (usually the one playing central). I don't think that is Danso. I think it would have to be Gray. I think I would rather see us play a back four with attacking full backs and then have a dedicated DM (again probably Gray at present) drop in between the two centre backs when the opposition attack and the two central defenders have to fan out wide to defend the balls over the top into our channels (very much in the way that Pochettino had us playing with the Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose back four and Dier playing the defensive midfield role.