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Fixing the defence?

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tomasjj said:
Baleba to plug the holes?
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Premier League Football GIF by KICK
 
Fabio said:
Haven't got the budget. I would have loved it.
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Not sure it’s doable in terms of numbers in midfield. For 110 mill £ he has to be a nailed starter.

Would be better to swap Endo with a Camara type. But that’s for next summer I reckon
 
Hansern said:
Not sure it’s doable in terms of numbers in midfield. For 110 mill £ he has to be a nailed starter.

Would be better to swap Endo with a Camara type. But that’s for next summer I reckon
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Depends really. Baleba and endo as DM, Macca and gravy as the 2 pivot options, then wirtz and szob as the 10 options. Or mix it all up. Jones misses out as he's just not quick enough on the ball.
 
Fabio said:
Depends really. Baleba and endo as DM, Macca and gravy as the 2 pivot options, then wirtz and szob as the 10 options. Or mix it all up. Jones misses out as he's just not quick enough on the ball.
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Jones as the cover for all of them.
 
Pesam said:
Obviously we need a centre back to replace Quansah but centre midfield is a bigger issue for me. When Gravenberch & McAllister both start we are okay but last season we were very lucky that neither of them picked up any injuries. I doubt we’ll be as lucky this season.

Also, we need to rotate Gravy and McAllister because by the end of last season they were both knackered and our form suffered.

szobozlai is very good but he is a very spontaneous player and always looking to get forward so he needs a Mascherano/Hamann type of midfielder beside him for that to work.

Jones simply isn’t good enough and Endo is decent for 10 minutes to close out games.

I hope our scouting team can see that the best way to improve our defence is to sort out our centre midfield.
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I'm on the fence for this one. It would be nice to have say Wharton but unrealistic. How many teams have a midfield backup to their starting 3 (which alone look to be the best in the PL and are all young / coming into their prime) stronger than Szobo, Jones, Endo and Nyoni? We can hope for better but who is going to come here when they look at those 3 and Szobo on the bench?
 
Markeh said:
imo there was a basic balance problem in the side, which was too many attacking players.

i’m also kind of concerned about what slot is planning to do with wirtz this season because his defensive output doesn’t seem like it’s going to be huge if he’s considered part of the midfield.

obviously first game, new players, missing players we’ll see what happens
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I do not know why we bought Wirtz.
 
FreshRed said:
Since when has Bradley held back to protect a high-line on the opposite wing. He bombs forward as much as anyone. I think all four backs are need to know when to attack and when to hold. Robertson has learned this, but unfortunately, is often vulnerable these days even when holding.
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He wasn’t bombing forward as much this pre-season - it’s about the tactical tweak required if it’s Kerkez on the other flank - but I agree it’s about picking your moments.
 
Markeh said:
i’m also kind of concerned about what slot is planning to do with wirtz this season because his defensive output doesn’t seem like it’s going to be huge if he’s considered part of the midfield.
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Wirtz was effective defensively. See stats below - most of which was first half. He was very good pressing and causing Palace to cough up the ball.

He is not going to outmuscle people, but seems quite similar to Macca defensively.

🇩🇪🔴 Florian Wirtz vs Crystal Palace:

• 1 Assist
• MOST CHANCES CREATED (4)
• 88% Pass Accuracy
• 49 Passes Completed
• 10 Passes Into Final 3rd
• 7 Ball Recoveries
• 3/7 Ground Duels Won
• 1/2 Tackles Won
 
FreshRed said:
Wirtz was effective defensively. See stats below - most of which was first half. He was very good pressing and causing Palace to cough up the ball.

He is not going to outmuscle people, but seems quite similar to Macca defensively.

🇩🇪🔴 Florian Wirtz vs Crystal Palace:

• 1 Assist
• MOST CHANCES CREATED (4)
• 88% Pass Accuracy
• 49 Passes Completed
• 10 Passes Into Final 3rd
• 7 Ball Recoveries
• 3/7 Ground Duels Won
• 1/2 Tackles Won
Click to expand...
be interesting to see szobos stats beside that. not an entirely fair comparison given he played deeper but many people expect wirtz to replace him when all midfielders are available.

we’ve lost a bit of work rate with diaz too
 
Markeh said:
be interesting to see szobos stats beside that. not an entirely fair comparison given he played deeper but many people expect wirtz to replace him when all midfielders are available.

we’ve lost a bit of work rate with diaz too
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Fair question. I thought Szobo was excellent first half and he and Wirtz worked well together to win the ball.

Not sure how it compares to Szobo and Mac last season though.
 
Squiggles said:
We cannot change 50% of the defence and play without our regular six and not expect some moments against a strong and counter-attacking side like Palace. We have also been leaking goals pre-season granted, but some of those goals were scored against bat-shit defences and set pieces (which is a whole team issue).

The defence is the main point of concern with this team right now, but when Bradley is back we can field the same defence as last year, which was plenty good enough, so I'm not overly stressed. We do need a CB, though. I'm done watching Endo/Grav there, especially when we're throwing money around. I also think we'll see two holding midfielders to give Wirtz that platform to do his thing. It'll get better and click into the place. The trouble is we have a tough start to the season and our current problems have been exposed to everyone.
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I am glad we lost the game against Palace. The Charity Shield is cursed

The gaps at the back were symptomatic of last season and throughout preseason. If we had Grav we would have won I am sure of it. The getting caught on the counter would have been less frequent, but still present.
There isn't going to be MF additions - I want that Moroccan kid who plays for Lile but I doubt he is on Hughes list and we will have todo what we can with the players we have. I think Trey should get minutes, by the end of the season, I would like to see him get more total minutes than Endo
 
Buddha said:
Was about to post something similar - what’s the latest with him?

I also think Nyoni is more ready than Slot seems to think…that was an impressive half at CB vs Bilbao for a kid that is a hybrid 6/8..
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Had a hip surgery (I think) end of last season. Read on twitter that he is expected to be back in training by end August. As you said interested to see what are the clubs plans for him. I would definitely keep him in the squad as he can also cover CB position. McConnel I think will be loaned out this season to the championship and it would make a lot of sense.
 
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