Johan Lange - Sporting Director

[Bishop]

now that its almost over can we discuss why we overhauled the defence when the attack needed more attention and for a longer time too?

also, while midfield and attack are clearly stronger, is the defence better or worse? more attack minded defence for sure and maybe better overall including depth, but we have the oldest LB pairing in the world and only one proper RB.

don't get me wrong, we did a lot of work and i am very happy with what has happened so far. and i think the RB position is going to be fixed in the next window. but we are stuck at LB.

We needed work everywhere. I suppose what you could say is we didn't manage to get our No1 striker target due to injury (Kroupi), but we did get our LWF. We also tried for a AM/WF hybrid in Ndiaye which failed at the last minute, so then got in Mudryrk.

So if you look at the window overall, we did actually try for the positions we thought we were most in need, just for unfortunate reasons we were unable to pull them off.

It's far from a perfect window, but then it never could be. I see it as a start or more realistically a continuation of the floor raising we've been doing in recent windows. Over the next year we probably address the forwards areas some more. Whether that's Mudyrk becoming permanent or more likely finding a better option next summer.

 

[Muttley]

now that its almost over can we discuss why we overhauled the defence when the attack needed more attention and for a longer time too?

also, while midfield and attack are clearly stronger, is the defence better or worse? more attack minded defence for sure and maybe better overall including depth, but we have the oldest LB pairing in the world and only one proper RB.

don't get me wrong, we did a lot of work and i am very happy with what has happened so far. and i think the RB position is going to be fixed in the next window. but we are stuck at LB.

When you look at the finances then clearly you don't upgrade the midfield and attack unless you create money from selling defenders. Then you have the scenario where players wanted to leave. Without those 2 variables we could have been aiming for:

Porro, Spence, Romero, JPvH, VDV, Senesi, Vuskovic, Udogie, New LB - Net spend of £100-120m on defence. Massive competition for places.

That feels more like a back line that Pep would have managed in the City winning years.

We're just not ready to be that club yet unfortunately.

 

[glasgowspur]

now that its almost over can we discuss why we overhauled the defence when the attack needed more attention and for a longer time too?

also, while midfield and attack are clearly stronger, is the defence better or worse? more attack minded defence for sure and maybe better overall including depth, but we have the oldest LB pairing in the world and only one proper RB.

don't get me wrong, we did a lot of work and i am very happy with what has happened so far. and i think the RB position is going to be fixed in the next window. but we are stuck at LB.

On paper the defence may look weaker, in real life I'm not yet convinced it is.
Romero and mvdv never looked like a good pairing to me. They were OK, but lesser than the sum of their parts.
If mvdv can forge a better partnership with jpvh the I think we could be stronger.

 

[Muttley]

On paper the defence may look weaker, in real life I'm not yet convinced it is.
Romero and mvdv never looked like a good pairing to me. They were OK, but lesser than the sum of their parts.
If mvdv can forge a better partnership with jpvh the I think we could be stronger.

I think the 3 key variables are

1) no UEFA football
2) injuries
3) what happens ahead of the defence

If we get it down to 1 game a week, with the same GK, defence and centre mid then we have a fighting chance of these guys building their understandings and RDZ getting his philosophy across.

I worry about our defence if we see as many injuries as we've had for the last couple.

 

[glasgowspur]

I think the 3 key variables are

1) no UEFA football
2) injuries
3) what happens ahead of the defence

If we get it down to 1 game a week, with the same GK, defence and centre mid then we have a fighting chance of these guys building their understandings and RDZ getting his philosophy across.

I worry about our defence if we see as many injuries as we've had for the last couple.

I'd worry about any defence if it had the injuries we've had over the last three seasons.
Agree on the shield in front of the defence, I don't think our defence has looked solid since we lost the spaghetti monster and we've never replaced him.

 

[Ace Face]

We have better depth at CB swapping Dragusin for Senesi. Until we see Tosin play I’m going to consider him and Danso an equal swap (the fact we made 23mil is an unexpected bonus)

We finally have two left-footed LBs plus some needed experience.

The main issue is cover at RB. Porro has been incredibly reliable (touch wood) but Gray is a significant drop off. Maybe he’ll play JPVH or Tosin there if necessary?

Going further, the midfield needed a complete overhaul. It hasn’t been above-average since the height of Poch’s tenure with Dembele…we started the CL Final with Winks and Sissoko for Christ’s sake and it hasn’t improved since then. So fixing the base and beating heart of the team made a lot of sense, especially when there simply weren’t many CF options available.

The attack is still a work in progress for sure, there are several variables (aka gambles) up there but if we can stop shipping avoidable goals and keeping possession with midfielders who can pass a ball we’ll have put the foundations in place from which we can start thinking about adding the final touches.

 

[Benny_Lad]

We have better depth at CB swapping Dragusin for Senesi. Until we see Tosin play I’m going to consider him and Danso an equal swap (the fact we made 23mil is an unexpected bonus)

We finally have two left-footed LBs plus some needed experience.

The main issue is cover at RB. Porro has been incredibly reliable (touch wood) but Gray is a significant drop off. Maybe he’ll play JPVH or Tosin there if necessary?

Going further, the midfield needed a complete overhaul. It hasn’t been above-average since the height of Poch’s tenure with Dembele…we started the CL Final with Winks and Sissoko for Christ’s sake and it hasn’t improved since then. So fixing the base and beating heart of the team made a lot of sense, especially when there simply weren’t many CF options available.

The attack is still a work in progress for sure, there are several variables (aka gambles) up there but if we can stop shipping avoidable goals and keeping possession with midfielders who can pass a ball we’ll have put the foundations in place from which we can start thinking about adding the final touches.

Interesting point about the midfield.

I listened very carefully to yesterday’s presser regarding Fernandes, Tonali and Lolo. Clearly RDZ thinks Lolo is undroppable and he almost intimated that he is shoe horning Fernandes into the 10 at the moment. That won’t last once one of the proper 10s is available unless he really wants to control a game with 3 x 6s/8s.

So if he rates Lolo so highly, was it right to spend almost £200m on the same position? I rate both Tonali and Fernendes by the way, but should we have taken half of that money and focused on a striker?

If we find ourself in a poison where either of our new midfielders are bench starters then that is bad planning.

 

[robp135]

now that its almost over can we discuss why we overhauled the defence when the attack needed more attention and for a longer time too?

also, while midfield and attack are clearly stronger, is the defence better or worse? more attack minded defence for sure and maybe better overall including depth, but we have the oldest LB pairing in the world and only one proper RB.

don't get me wrong, we did a lot of work and i am very happy with what has happened so far. and i think the RB position is going to be fixed in the next window. but we are stuck at LB.

Only the teams that’s got relegated conceded less than we did the past 2 seasons. That’s why we finished 17th.

 

[robp135]

The main issue is cover at RB. Porro has been incredibly reliable (touch wood) but Gray is a significant drop off. Maybe he’ll play JPVH or Tosin there if necessary?

Did Spence ever play well for us at RB?

 

[metalgear]

Did Spence ever play well for us at RB?

Porro is keeping him out but i am in the minority preferring players who are good in 1v1s.

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https://www.instagram.com/chriscowlin/
Djed Spence on playing on and right and on the left...

“Obviously I’m naturally a right back but I’ve been playing left back for a couple of years now so I’m still learning the position, still trying to get better but versatility is a good strength to have.

“I haven’t played on the right for a long time but it’s still a strong position for me and hopefully I might be out there on the right in this tournament but if not then I’m happy to be there on the left.

“It is my position now on the left so I just have to practice more and there are things to perfect and hopefully produce more assists like that one for the rest of the tournament.

“Everyone knows how good I am one v one, but going forward is a bit different playing on the left because it’s not my natural side going forward. There’s still stuff I can improve on and I’ve got to try and get more numbers in attack.”