StriderHiryu

The more I look at it, the more the tactics could be this:

It looks like 4231, but when we are in possesion, Ricardo pushes up to become a wide player, and Daka moves inside. At times we have two players up top.

First goal is exactly what I'm talking about!

Yep he had that problem at Man United too! But the thing is that often times the team scores more goals because of him. The Dutch Okazaki?

Hardly prolific, but he does tend to improve the teams he plays for. Mavididi and Fatawu would likely benefit with more goals themselves with Weghorst in the team. Let's not kid ourselves, Fotis Ioaniddis he is not, but as a player who can make an impact this season, he has value.

Think it's a bit of a misnomer about him that he's an old fashioned target man. Yes he his physically strong, but he's a fantastic presser of the ball, that's his real strength. I went to the Carabao Cup final two seasons ago which Man United won, and when he played, and he was a pressing machine. I posted his stats above, he's actually a great link man with his feet, not just in the air. The fact that Ten Hag used him a lot I think is a good testamanet to his work ethic and what he offers. For Holland when they brought him on, it was when they embraced chaos and were happy to be vulnerable on the break so they could chase the game. But they started with Memphis Depay as their Plan A.

He's 31 so personally I wouldn't be too keen on him being for a long time. But he's a decent player. He presses hard from the front, can hold up / link the play and is a physical threat. His finishing isn't the best and I'm not sure he's a starter, but in the modern game with 5 subs, someone like him 100% has value. If you are in a relegation dogfight, he's got a lot of characteristics that are to be admired. He got 7 goals and 3 assists from 28 games (4 sub appearances) last season. Needless to say he ranks very highly in duels won, but his "team play" statistics are very good:

Most likely he would be a loan signing as Burnley won't want to cover his wages in the Championship. The Dutch team proved during the Euros that when they needed a goal, bringing the big man on and making it messy worked. As an impact player, he's got value.

Yes it explains it all there, but if you need any help just let me know. Yep those were the days!

Did you know that it's possible to play CM01/02 in 2024? And did you know you can play it with up-to-date transfers and teams!? Well you can, and it's something I enjoy doing. Why would you want to do this? It's free! Because the game is so old, you can download and play it totally for free. The game is simple. Recent versions of Football Manager added a LOT of complexity and whilst this can be engrossing, it really slows down gameplay. It's fast. You can get through a few months of a season really quickly. In fact because this a 20 year old game, with modern PC's, it flies. It's highly customisable. You can modify work permits, loan settings, add your own custome leagues, etc, etc. It's addictive. Because it's fast and simple, you can fly through seasons quickly. It's low intensity but a ton of fun. Here you can see my playing our current pre-season. As you can see I have signed Tammy Abraham, Cameron Puertas, Filipe Relvas and Matias Palacios, as well as getting rid of a lof of the chaff in our squad. If you're interested in finding out more, then check out this video and channel: And it's also worth checking out this site for more information: https://champman0102.net/viewtopic.php?p=110259#p110259

Whilst I don't think O'hare was the answer, I find it baffling that we haven't gone in for a CAM, given that we would have needed to sign one anyway even if KDH stayed. It's possible that Michael Golding might be a breakout star. It's possible that Soumare somehow ressurects his career (unlikely). Even if both those things were true, we'd still need another CAM. Soule looks fantastic, but also seems like an unneccesary player. I'd prioritise O'riley, Puertas or someone like that instead. The only thing I would say is that Cooper may well be examining his squad in the next week or two before making any big moves.

In my youth I LOVED fighting games. I used to run tournaments for Street Fighter 3. This year there was a huge retro tournament for the game in Las Vegas and this happened: An incredible moment from an incredible game!

Honestly he was not too bad at all. MOTM in the game against Serbia, where he was up against Milkeovic-Savic who is a top player. Didn't do much against England, but then can anyone remember that game? I'm pretty sure I fell asleep during it! He's a Left footed CAM, to me he looked like he would be a good squad option as the left sided high 8 in the old Enzo system. https://www.whoscored.com/Players/316390/Show/Timi-Max-Elsnik I dare say he'd be a pretty sensible, if not exciting, signing!

Definitely possible, but last season, often times when we pressed up high, we pressed in such a way that one of the 8's jumped to make it look like a 442. From the two shots above you also see instances where it's NOT a traditional 442. But in general it's usually pointless to take too much from the behind closed doors games as they are all about fitness. Sadly it looks like the next game isn't going to be shown either!

100%. But I think too many fans are disingenious towards Enzo's style. Last season many teams parked the bus against us. This season there might be the case where not a single Premier League tries to do that against us. This season we are the underdog!

It seemed notable to me in the clips that instead of attacking with 5, we attacked with 3. It also looked more like playing on the break and faster vertical transitions. However, we did play like that at times last season too, specifically on the counter attack and against teams that had more possesion than us, like Southampton.

Check the tactics thread, they did start that way, and from the little footage on show, there are times where they did that. The game on Tuesday will answer more of our questions. This game was for fitness, for Stephy's gol, he was playing striker and JJ left winger!

Can't take much from a short highlights reel in a game for fitness, but based on this, I'm not sure if they had the 3241 shape when building from the back in those clips: You've just got Hamza here on his own, last season in this phase, you'd expect to see his midfield partner within 10 yards. The position of the fullback on the other side suggests more of the shape that Spain recently used to build up, where the full backs hugged the touchline in the build up to make it hard for the counterpress as there's a lot of distance to cover. If this is the case, there should be another fullback out of sight hugging the nearest touchline. One to keep our eyes on... EDIT: From kick-off, we did have the classic 3241 shape:

Not sure if they had the 3241 shape when building from the back in those clips: You've just got Hamza here on his own, last season in this phase, you'd expect to see his midfield partner within 10 yards. The position of the fullback on the other side suggests more of the shape that Spain recently used to build up, where the full backs hugged the touchline in the build up to make it hard for the counterpress as there's a lot of distance to cover. One to keep our eyes on...

And Souttar painted his skin for the own goal!

I thought we had two teams playing two different opponents today. So two games of 60 minutes?

This is like the days of following games on Teletext!

I think it's important to note that he's not saying another striker is the priority, he's saying another FORWARD is, of which Soule is one. Soule is such a saucy signing but also totally out of the blue in the sense that on paper it really doesn't make that much to sign someone who isn't neccessarily going to start! That said, in the article it refers to Soule as a winger, not a forward, so maybe another striker is on the cards...

Definitely not for me. I think he's an oustanding player, but I'm suprised we are linked with him, because he's not a like-for-like replacement for KDH. He has played the 10, but really played as a winger last season. So I'm not sure he's being recruited for a formation change either. Yunus returned to Galatasaray and we do need cover. Bobby Reid probably fills in for one position, but we need another. Personally I would have thought that we could loan such a player, or perhaps someone like Clarke or Phillogene would come in as competition for Fatawu. The reason why people are rightfully excited about Soule is that he looks the absolute business. Fans love flair players, and a trick argentine with a left foot that can dribble and score... well that's usually a killer combination. Over the last 10 years, players like Knockaert, Mahrez and now Fatawu were beloved. For me we must get in a high quality box-to-box midfielder with proven end product. It's from a weak league but O'Reilly scored 18 times and got 13 assists last season, so for me is the standout player to sign of those we've been linked with. If not him, then it needs to be someone used to playing in the middle of the park, scoring, assisting but also tackling and pressing too.

I don't get the Armstrong hate, he's a very good player, and was one of the only players Southampton had that put in good performances the last time they were in the Premier League. He had a very strong season last time round too. I doubt he will be coming here, but you could do far, far worse than him! Yep don't get why Clarke is here, he's a winger! I suspect it's because KDH pushed so high up the pitch that at times he occupied the spaces Clarke did. Timber I think would go to a bigger club than us. Good list that. Sara and Szymanski are lefties. Gloukh is only 19, probably expecting a bit much of him to perform right away, even though he looks very good. Any other under the radar types you can think of?