Pliskin

The only way Ayew doesn’t play is through injury.

This is about right….

Good point, I think I was so angry we didn’t win I’ve blocked any positives out.

Great post.

One of the things that irritates me, is we don’t seem to stop anyone playing to their strengths. No doubt we will allow Wrexham to bully us today, rather than seek to play through them.

If Ward is playing, we can’t let him off lightly. We need to make an atmosphere that will make him fold like a deckchair. None of this woke clappy bollocks. Get into him.

Not really, we were poor, but I didn’t think much to West Brom at all…. Though they were a poor side, that we should have dispatched of with a degree of comfort.

Isn’t Ward out with a long term injury?

It’s a bit of a myth staying in this league will allow you to rebuild….. well, this won’t necessarily be the case…… the longer you spend in the EFL the worse you can get, especially if you’re a club that has over exerted, the likes of Bolton, Stoke, QPR act as a reminder of how this can happen. You need to rebuild in the premier league, because there’s more allowance to do so. The EFL financially is worse, you won’t be afforded the same kind of financial clout needed to do a full rebuild. And one season becomes 2 which becomes 3 which becomes 10…. The best way to become stable is what the likes of Fulham and Bournemouth have done, go down a couple of times and come back up… a few years yo-yo-ing won’t harm you provided you do some good business. In my eyes we have to get up again this season, we’ve had a good summer window and have more or less reset the PSR clock, so next season we should be in a position to do what Sunderland have done to some degree. In a nutshell, it’s a bit of a myth that you can build at this level, you can’t really, you can if you’ve had recent PL exposure and have the benefit of those finances. Plus, this league of ****ing awful, the football is dross and it’s so ****ing depressing being crap at this level. I’d rather be average in the premier league than crap in the championship.

Yes!

There is such thing as a transfer window you know….

Respectfully I disagree re Ayew. There are two scenarios where Ayew’s profile benefits us: 1 - We are winning a tight game of football, and need someone to slow the game down at the top end of the pitch, and be a general obstruction to the momentum of the game…. Win cheap free kicks and run down blind alleys. 2 - We are down to ten men, and need all of the above to stay in the game. Other than that, Ayew is of no use to us. This idea that he’s a “target man” needs to be binned, because he isn’t… What Ayew is, is a greedy footballer, who clearly thinks a lot of his own ability, tries to do too much and achieves nothing. If Ayew was a painter decorator, he would spend 8 hours unloading his van, and wouldn’t actually do any work. In this system we play, your ten has to be dynamic, they’re either a driving force powerhouse, who can drive beyond the defenders and act almost as a second striker or a nimble fleet footed player who operates around pockets of space giving and receiving the ball on the back foot and creating space for their fellow attackers…. As well as pulling defenders out of position. Ayew can do neither of those things, so he can’t perform the role of a 9 or a 10….. so he needs dropping. Bobby Reid may not be brilliant himself, but he’s certainly better than Ayew. He has the ability to play as a high 8, as he did at Fulham, as well as a right midfielder. He’s more nimble than Ayew and would probably get the ball out to our more effective players quicker than Ayew does. The preference would be Ramsay, but he still isn’t available, so we may as well try something different because Ayew is negatively impacting our attack. As for Daka, we need to not think of him as the main guy, this league is shit, 99.9% of the defenders are shit, they’re slow, clumsy on the ball and are only really good for a scrap. They love players like Ayew, hate players like Daka…. Any amount of pace terrifies defenders, Daka could be a good foil four our wingers and advancing midfielders. So far James has proven to be excellent at driving through the lines with the ball, but because Ayew is ****ing useless he either clogs up that area of the pitch, or is occupying a half decent space but hasn’t the pace to exploit it. Daka’s pace would open up space, and would made defenders drop a bit deeper. Regardless of his ability he has enough on his game to trouble defenders, and he will score as many goals as Ayew won’t. What he can’t do, is hold the ball up and lay it off very well, but that’s where the 10 or high 8 comes into things, and a more dynamic footballer than Ayew would allow our front line to be a bit more fluid. Marti has to try something different, because the longer Ayew plays from the start, the longer this turgid run will go…. If you were a manager at a supermarket, and you had a really hard working, efficient staff member who always kept the shelves fully stocked, but repeatedly put the items on the wrong shelves, and even after coaching decided to just carry on doing it because it worked for them, you’d probably dismiss them…… or ask them to do another job……. That’s Ayew, he works hard, and is always on the ball…… but he does **** all with it and doesn’t help the team one bit. You’ll get no more out of Soumare and Ayew than we’ve seen, and what we’ve seen is a bag of bollocks, so why carry on using them? Id also be open to Page playing as a high 8 too.

Stolorczyk Ricardo Faes Vestegaard Thomas Winks James Fatawu Bobby Mavididi Carranza Out of possession Stolorczyk Faes Vestegaard Thomas Ricardo Winks Fatawu James Bobby Mavididi Carranza In possession. I know people will not want Bobby, however, 1 we still need some impact from the bench, at the moment I like Monga coming off the bench, he can change the dynamic of the game, and at this stage until he’s shown a bit more (and he’s only a kid) this is the best role for him. Bobby, at this level isn’t a terrible option, we simply can’t play Ayew or Soumare any longer. He’s fairly tidy on the ball and can act as a link between the two deeper midfielders. James has to play, and he can be used more as that heigh 8, lolling to drive from deep, very similar to KDH during Enzo’s season.

Okoli can’t come back in, he’s too poor in possession.

From what I saw of them at the weekend, they’re all physicality and nothing else. They will press, run and try to bully but lack quality. However, Windass is handy for a goal or two given half a chance…. It’s clear as day we will need some pace at the top end of the pitch, if we play Ayew we will just see the same old struggle as always, I’d be willing to see Carranza given a go from the off, and hopefully Ayew on the bench…. Or even Daka, as I’ve said before it’s my belief his pace would occupy the defenders and allow our other attacking players to come into play. If we actually dropped Ayew and Soumare for James, and one of Carranza or Daka, we would win this comfortably.

Bunch of knuckle draggers the lot of them. It’s all going to cave in, they’ve spend too much too soon, and are losing their best players. Next two years they will drop. Their fans are a bunch of bellends. I work with a few and you’d think with the way they boast they have had the decade we’ve just had.

Don’t sign shit players like Soumare, and you’re all good.

Any reason Reid is stood like he’s on a ship?

Hutchinson is going to be some player. He’s got the lot.

Forest are bobbins.

I agree, we may as well. But we know Marti won’t.

As much as people hate Faes, he’s better than Okoli with the ball, so he won’t be dropped.

It’s not about overrating…. It’s about what profiles will maximise our attack. At the moment, Ayew doesn’t, he is single handedly dragging down our XG. In doing so, he occupies the space that should be occupied by the ten, and doesn’t badly, he doesn’t get the ball out to the wingers, and whenever he does, he’s never in the penalty area to get on the end of anything. He doesn’t score or create, and he doesn’t even create space for the other attacking players to exploit. Daka presses really well, I think he will get you as many goals as Ayew, he would leave space for the ten to occupy, and his pace and threat running in behind will occupy the centre halves. Defenders love playing against players like Ayew, he’s slow and likes to battle, so it’s an easy day for them, Daka will chase everything, press and run in behind, which defenders don’t like, this then creates space for our other attacking players, like James, Fatawu Mavididi, Ramsey and Monga. Daka isn’t really much of an upgrade, but the profile he has will at least cause some problems for the opposition, mainly down to his pace. Ayew offers us nothing, and Carranza seems like he needs more time to settle in. It’s worth a try. If he’s willing to play Ayew who is completely ineffective, he has to be willing to try Daka or Carranza.

I agree. I think with Daka, he can occupy the centre backs. Even with his limitations his press and running in behind will cause issues. This then frees up space for the CAM, the box to box and the wingers to exploit. At the moment, Ayew is constantly clogging that part of the pitch by Being there humbling around and not helping to advance the play. Problem is, it goes against Marti’s philosophy, and would probably make us more transitional. Od personally prefer that, because with Mavididi and Fatawu were designed to be a transitional team.

I agree. I just feel that Daka may be a good fall for others. Eventually Ramsay will be back, and Daka’s pressing may create more space for the likes of him, Fatawu and Mavididi/Monga.