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Harry Kane MBE

I think that a fit Kane will be quite comfortable playing as a target man, bullying defenders and laying off the ball to inside forwards.

I mostly agree but not winning headers, he can play with his back to goal superbly but needs balls to feet and chest rather than head. He looks demoralised when having to go for flick ons that don’t reach anyone. If the rumours about him wanting to play ten are true he clearly wants to be more involved.
 
But he hasn’t played yet with a genuine 10 behind who can actually create (Lo Celso) for some time
Let’s give him 3/4 games to get up to pace and also play with GLC and see

Dele is the 10 that he has played best with throughout his career. I'd like to see the two of them back together and Lo Celso at the base of midfield, where he was playing so well for the first two months of the year.
 
Dele is the 10 that he has played best with throughout his career. I'd like to see the two of them back together and Lo Celso at the base of midfield, where he was playing so well for the first two months of the year.
I’d argue Eriksen is the number 10 you mean who started the attacks and that’s now Lo Celso (but that’s also me being pedantic)
Lo Celso dropping into CM really means we have to buy a capable DM who can also pass
Would also mean no place for Ndombele as Record signing...
unless of course we drop son or Bergwein
It’s why I’ve said for a while the acquisitions we made, me made me think 4-3-3 and in that set up Dele doesn’t fit well enough
 
I’d argue Eriksen is the number 10 you mean who started the attacks and that’s now Lo Celso (but that’s also me being pedantic)
Lo Celso dropping into CM really means we have to buy a capable DM who can also pass
Would also mean no place for Ndombele as Record signing...
unless of course we drop son or Bergwein
It’s why I’ve said for a while the acquisitions we made, me made me think 4-3-3 and in that set up Dele doesn’t fit well enough

Lo Celso is harder working, fitter and has better defensive awareness, so for the moment, I would prefer him playing deeper than Ndombele. Whilst clearly talented, I think that Ndombele needs to earn a starting place. I'd be tempted to give Ndombele minutes further forward where he can take on players without having to worry about tracking back.
 
Lo Celso is harder working, fitter and has better defensive awareness, so for the moment, I would prefer him playing deeper than Ndombele. Whilst clearly talented, I think that Ndombele needs to earn a starting place. I'd be tempted to give Ndombele minutes further forward where he can take on players without having to worry about tracking back.
In the Dele role for Ndombele then...
But apparently we have a rubbish squad
 
In the Dele role for Ndombele then...
But apparently we have a rubbish squad
We have very good attacking options in the squad. Kane, Son, Dele, Bergwijn, Moura, Ndombele, Lo Celso are all players in the top bracket for quality. Behind them there are still the likes of Lamela & Sessegnon who are PL standard players. I think we have two big problems at the moment.

1. (as you know I'll say and I know you disagree with me on). A proper Defensive midfield who will allow us to actually allow our attacking players to attack with a bit of freedom.
2. A manager who doesn't seem to want to play to our strength (which I think clearly is our attack). Perhaps Mourinho will change that once he has that proper defensive midfielder in the squad? If I were him I'd be doing huge amounts of work with Skipp (as capable back up) as well as spending all of the money that we actually have available to us on a DM this summer.
 
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I’d argue Eriksen is the number 10 you mean who started the attacks and that’s now Lo Celso (but that’s also me being pedantic)
Lo Celso dropping into CM really means we have to buy a capable DM who can also pass
Would also mean no place for Ndombele as Record signing...
unless of course we drop son or Bergwein
It’s why I’ve said for a while the acquisitions we made, me made me think 4-3-3 and in that set up Dele doesn’t fit well enough
I'm not sure that Eriksen really played the number 10 role for us. When we were at our best Eriksen typically played as the 11 in a 4-2-3-1 with his defensive job being to track the opposition's right back (which he did a better job of doing that Son does). If we were chasing/looking to win a game and on the front foot then he would also sometimes come inside and play as one of the 2 in our 4-2-3-1.

I think our signings last summer were made by Poch with his diamond formation in mind. Los Celso and Ndombele to play the two sides of the diamond with Dele in front of them. As with all formations that we play however the diamond also lacked the proper quality defensive midfielder that disappeared with Wanyama's injuries.

I agree with you that Dele doesn't fit too well in a 4-3-3. In our current 4-2-3-1 though he has the 'number 10' shirt in the middle of the 3 until somebody shows enough to take it off of him. Ndombele has the ability to take that shirt off of him but needs to work a LOT harder and If Ndombele is prepared to work harder then he'd probably be better off playing a little deeper as one of the two.
 
We have very good attacking options in the squad. Kane, Son, Dele, Bergwijn, Moura, Ndombele, Lo Celso are all players in the top bracket for quality. Behind them there are still the likes of Lamela & Sessegnon who are PL standard players. I think we have two big problems at the moment.

1. (as you know I'll say and I you disagree with me on). A proper Defensive midfield who will allow us to actually allow our attacking players to attack with a bit of freedom.
2. A manager who doesn't seem to want to play to our strength (which I think clearly is our attack). Perhaps Mourinho will change that once he has that proper defensive midfielder in the squad? If I were him I'd be doing huge amounts of work with Skipp (as capable back up) as well as spending all of the money that we actually have available to us on a DM this summer.
I said yesterday we need to change the squad and IMO that’s right back (Aurier was ok on Friday although did rooster up badly for the second penalty) and an alternative to Kane
United struggled today create anything from their midfield and if we had Lo Celso on, and an alternative to kane and we would have won that
If Jose wants a DM then I’m fine with it
I do think the players we need are gettable even in the current climate
I also think the fans won’t be excited about anyone we sign as I doubt any will be “names”
 
I'm not sure that Eriksen really played the number 10 role for us. When we were at our best Eriksen typically played as the 11 in a 4-2-3-1 with his defensive job being to track the opposition's right back (which he did a better job of doing that Son does). If we were chasing/looking to win a game and on the front foot then he would also sometimes come inside and play as one of the 2 in our 4-2-3-1.

I think our signings last summer were made by Poch with his diamond formation in mind. Los Celso and Ndombele to play the two sides of the diamond with Dele in front of them. As with all formations that we play however the diamond also lacked the proper quality defensive midfielder that disappeared with Wanyama's injuries.
I’ve never seen the diamond work anywhere. It’s the same as 4-2-3-1 but with a theory that two of the CMs can be more attacking
If we were to play that way you would need a true DM I agree which is why I don’t think it was the plan... but then I can’t see what the plan was with those we brought
 
I’ve never seen the diamond work anywhere. It’s the same as 4-2-3-1 but with a theory that two of the CMs can be more attacking
If we were to play that way you would need a true DM I agree which is why I don’t think it was the plan... but then I can’t see what the plan was with those we bought
The diamond is about getting players on the ball in space when in possession against 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formations. Typically in those formations the wide players in the three have quite a simple defensive job of simply having to track their own full back. The midfield diamond disrupts that and requires the opposition's wide players to help in defending against the player in the diamond to avoid being outnumbered in the middle, our full back then pushes up and is in space, meaning that either the opposing full back or one of their defensive midfielders has to engage our full back leaving either space in behind for one of our two strikers to get into or space centrally for our number 10. In Dele, Lo Celso and Ndombele we had three perfect players to play in a diamond. Put (say) Partay from A. Madrid at the base of that and you'd be in business.
 
The diamond is about getting players on the ball in space when in possession against 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formations. Typically in those formations the wide players in the three have quite a simple defensive job of simply having to track their own full back. The midfield diamond disrupts that and requires the opposition's wide players to help in defending against the player in the diamond to avoid being outnumbered in the middle. In Dele, Lo Celso and Ndombele we had three perfect players to play in a diamond. Put (say) Partay from A. Madrid at the base of that and you'd be in business.
I’ve never seen it work in the prem
And partay is class and start for any team over here IMO
You could argue that Leicester play the nearest to it - they have Ndidi who was their best player up until the break but their worth comes from their full backs as much as anyone
 
I said yesterday we need to change the squad and IMO that’s right back (Aurier was ok on Friday although did rooster up badly for the second penalty) and an alternative to Kane
United struggled today create anything from their midfield and if we had Lo Celso on, and an alternative to kane and we would have won that
If Jose wants a DM then I’m fine with it
I do think the players we need are gettable even in the current climate
I also think the fans won’t be excited about anyone we sign as I doubt any will be “names”
Adding a better right back makes us marginally better defensively on our right hand side. That doesn't go anywhere near solving our problems. Aarons is an example I have seen given by many people of a player that would improve us. The difference would be negligible IMO. Man Utd still had an XG of something like 1.8 even with us completely sacrificing our own attacking threat, playing very deep, with two players detailed to be defensive midfielders.
 
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