What was it Shankly said? “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more about transfers”.
How does it look though without that bolded element, which it seems we're only getting around to last (and after spending at least 120 m on Tielemans and De Jong, if we get both). Also, even if we do get around to that, why do we need at least three good players for the No 8 role? And 7 players for three slots? That midfield is overpopulated and unbalanced. At least as far as I can understand - I'm sure there's some more solid logic behind the thinking, but I can't see it.
The other day I watched a magpie try and take the zip of the net that goes around the trampoline. It gave up in the end. If I was Devilish I’d probably say that it reminds me of United trying to do dealsI think we need to focus on fixing the first 11 before worrying about backups.
I thought EtH's preferred formation was a 4231, with a pretty clear No 6 generally staying back and doing the defensive work? I realise that's not necessarily hugely different from what you're describing, but most accounts at least stress how he's always had a midfielder with a role that sounds a bit more defensive to me than a 6/8 hybrid. Also, I'm not sure I see any player in that group who I'd think of as a potentially good 6/8 hybrid.
Transfers > Football
Not really, that's how they did things with Alvarez but not before that with Schone. ETH has always adapted to the players at his disposal using mainly a 433 or a 4231 with different profiles and roles.
Transfers > sanity
Thanks, interesting. That makes a lot of sense vis-a-vis the moves now being pursued.
Tielemans isn't exactly a Zidane, he's just as careless as Bruno with the ball.
He's an actual midfielder who makes himself available for a pass and he's a much better passer than McFred. He's an obvious upgrade. I think he's a decent enough player who could adapt when paired with a player like de Jong.
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Agreed they are not even remotely the same profile of midfielder. I see Tielemans as more of an traditional 8 while De Jong has the influence of a 6.
Why do you think so? What midfield does Arsenal have, Tottenham have? Elneny, Xhaka, Hojbjerg, Betancur?
Bruno would play #10
We may get overrun with De Jong in a deeper role and Tielemans box to box.
Good thing Alex Crook likes to talk bollocks, Tielemans is pretty average.
We aren't signing Eriksen for the second CM spot, he is far too lightweight and defensively weak for that position. He'll be a squad option at 10. Tielemans plays next to Ndidi at Leicester, a proper athletic ball winner, not a playmaker like De Jong.
His pressing numbers aren't even that bad. He'd actually be one of our higher pressers if he had the numbers he delivered last season. His pressing numbers are also higher than Eriksen who seems to be our alternative for the position. I'm sure these numbers would go up under ETH too. Neither Salah nor Mane did any pressing really before Klopp signed them but they improved (signed at roughly the same age as Tielemans is now also). At no point have we been linked with a traditional dm destroyer so people should probably get past the idea that we're signing somebody like that. It's clearly not what ETH is looking for from his cms. He wants good passers for his possession style, and Tielemans is a fantastic passer and progresser of the ball.
And who says ETH intends to play Tielemans the same way Rodgers does? De Jong is going to be the deepest cm. We haven't been linked with a single Ndidi-like dm since ETH came in and we started getting more reliable transfer rumours. So who are you expecting to play alongside De Jong if it's not Eriksen or Tielemans?
Think his pressing numbers are horrendous.
It 100% will not be Eriksen for the reasons I already mentioned, you must know very little about him as a player if you think that's a viable option in the premier league. I am expecting it to be Fred who plays next to him as that's the best option we've got barring another signing. De Jong will be the deepest midfielder collecting the ball during build up play, that's not the same as being the most defensively responsible player out of possession, those are two different things.
