ts_1010

It looks like they have formed mini teams. 2 defenders one striker and the rest are midfielders.

I think we're having some concept issues here. Me included. We automatically think the guy screening the defence should be the destroyer. The guys up top near the striker have to be the creative types. Maresca doesn't seem to want this as much. The passer is now sat Infront of the defence to help break the lines and escape the press. He wants press capable players up higher on the pitch. KDH and Ndidi both have/had the energy to press and get recoveries high up the pitch. They can also prevent counters hopefully. However to release Vardy, Ndidi doesn't have to play a killer pass. If he makes a quick pass to a more creative player, the defence won't be able to recover before that ball goes forward to Vardy. That's just my idea anyway. Personally I'd rather play Praet.

Interested to see Hamza play instead of Ndidi in this one. Chuck Nacho up front, blow them away by 60 minutes. Sub off all the key players like winks and riccy.

I am convinced I have a memory of Morgan chasing down someone like Suarez or Aguero, getting back from a corner. They had the ball but still in a straight line he was blessed with a great top speed in his younger days.

Completely unfounded theory. But I think if Ndidi comes out of the team then so does Vardy. Pushing Ndidi higher gives us the best chance of a goal through turnover on the press. He's still the best tackler in the club. And Vardy being sat on the shoulder, would be best placed to take advantage. With Ndidi out, the case is stronger for a more fluid style of play with Kel in the team and an interchange with the more attacking 8s.

I'd say it's closer to the other way around. Hamer is unquestionably Covs best player. Him leaving reduced the burden on KDH, that's only to be expected. If your manager is calling Hamer the best player in the championship last season it's only logical to assume that both the high pressing 8s will have been told to worry about him. I actually think that Praet helped both KDH and young Mcateer. And was a bigger factor in the strong finish that the team had. He's much more adept and predictable on the front foot. He's not the second coming, but it's worth giving Denis a run from the start in the next league game.

I think Praet coming on at 62 minutes and Hamer going off at 70 changed KDH's game completely. Love Ndidi, but having a genuine number 8 up there with KDH must have made it much easier to pull Cov apart.

We are likely to need cover for winks/0ne of the 8s that isn't a CDM that's been forced into the position. Hamer for 12m is a bargain. He has the skills to be a starter in the mix alongside kdh casadei and winks. There will be 50 + games this season. It's also let's us crap on Cov and Leeds fans in one move. Do it Enzo.

Perhaps. But I can only see him being cover for anyone in the team at the moment. He doesn't have the skills to play in midfield if there is no destroyer position. At least at the back he has the pace to protect us against the counter. Ideally though I think Justin could do that better operating where Faes was today.

Thoughts on the game. Clearly a work in progress, but already very exciting entertaining stuff. We have 3-4 players out there that are simply too good for the league in Winks Ricardo and Nacho. Ndidi is not a forward player. In this system I can only see him playing as a CB. All the positions forward of there need real passing skill and technical ability. As we saw from his struggles today. CBs. We will be exposed in this position when teams start to adjust to our tactics. Vesty is slower than half the fat old men on this forum and can only be there as back up.Given the way we play I would like to see Justin as a CB. The pace he has might just save us on a few occasions. If Faes leaves then Justin can step in. If Winks and Ricardo stay fit, we will be right up there. But the heart of our team has seen more injuries than A and E. That's a real worry for me, especially with the way they get closed down. Mavididi looks direct and determined to get involved in pressing and defending. Wingers can drift in and out of form but he looks a real find. Vardy doesn't suit this system. Which means that Daka, his Wish.com knock-off won't either. Nacho has to start. Nacho needs cover. All in all a good day, but there is loads of work to be done.

If he replaced Youri or James, it's not like we've replaced a towering presence with a midget. Neither are aerially dominant or known for hard tackling. He can be effective in defense by pressing and disrupting runners at corners. Or closing down on the edge of the box.

Will Still please.

I think the only way to play such a high line it to have 2 rapid cbs. All teams know that there is a huge space behind us, and even if our guys are no slouches, they don't stand a chance. The only solution we have this year is to drop them back. It's not Rodgers normal strategy but I've seen far too many identical goals this year.

I think the only way this happens is if it generates money for a player more similar to Kel. Like De Ketelaere. I don't see it happening at all though. Patson could be very effective in this new formation, perhaps just not as effective as big Kel. I actually wouldn't mind seeing him replaced Barnes for 20 mins to see what he's like bursting off of the left.

I hope Luke looks at the massive forward leaps that KDH and Chilwell took during post/preseason. And the improvement to Alexander-Arnold, since he's packed on the muscle. Chilwell was doing endurance runs in his local park weeks before pre-season started. He ended that season with a transfer to Chelsea. KDH did son conditioning and endurance after coming back from Luton. He topped the fitness tests in Pre-season that year. Which helped force his way into the first team. Thomas has always had questions hanging over his physicality. Rodgers was saying that he couldn't manage 2 games in a week when he was 19. There are 17/18 year old all over the leagues who could do that. If he can work on himself and make himself a real physical presence, both as a strong player and a guy who can bomb up and down. He could take a massive leap forward in his career.

I think KDH has the potential to be a Youri replacement. Youri currently shows more vision and confidence in games. But then you might expect that of a guy with so much experience. KDH's left peg is underrated by most on here. With a genuine right winger to ping it out to, we will see it more and more. Hes has some development to do, certainly, but I think he's getting better. When he broke through he seemed to be focused on running the ball up the left flank interchanging with Barnes. Now there is more variation. It's the complete opposite development plan to Youri, who was in the Champs League at 16. But as long as he keeps adding to his game, I think we should give KDH the chance next year to be our main man.

I think we need 2 Attacking mids if Madders goes. And by that I mean out and out number 10s not just a jack of all trades. If one is a younger guy like Scott then fine, but we definitely need a real player in that position. The difference between our team with maddison playing, or in the stands is massive. Yes hes a great player, but some of that difference is because he is our only real CAM. We cannot allow the squad to become so unbalanced again. Only one CAM, only one winger (ignoring those on loan).

Hes key to us playing this new formation. He's the only striker we have who can drop back and link play. He plays almost as a false 9 at times. With the right players around him he's a big problem for defences.

I know he's not had the best form but I feel like Ndidi might well be needed in this. Kane will find a lot of space in front of our defence without a proper defensive minded player there. The best team I've seen play a false 9 433 is Liverpool a couple of years ago. It feels like we have the players to do something similar to them.(without necessarily reaching the same heights) With Soutar behind him, i would hope that the passing problems he has will be compensated for.

Every time I see stuff like this my eye gets drawn to Ben Bouregard. The guy is a creative machine. Yes he's nearly 30 but we can't sign just young players. He's got a different style of corner kick to most and it seems to be really effective. He also makes loads of clever runs into space. He might have a place here as a CAM that helps a young prospect like Scott bed in by taking the pressure off him. Either way we need more than just the one decent CAM at the club.

Haha. If Lyon DID have a buy out clause. Imagine the meltdown on here if that happened!

It's a tricky situation for FIFA really, they don't want to force Ukrainian clubs to lose out, which is really unfair on the victims of an invasion. But they also can't really send professional footballers back to a country that is being attacked by a military super-power. A compromise would be a levy on any transfer away from a Ukrainian club, agreed by a panel, that tried to bridge the gap between what the player is worth and what the player left Ukraine for. Much like the tribunals for youth transfers in this country. I think they will just do over the Ukrainians tbh.

Yeah i was, hurriedly during my lunch trying to run through some scenarios. Didn't do a good job to be fair. IF lyon did have a buyout clause, there is nothing to suggest that we have one now anyway. But as you say it may not be possible. Shaktar and the other Ukrainian clubs, are asking UEFA to pass a ruling on what happens in situations like this. They've been forced into a fire-sale of all their foreign players. I think Shaktar want all their foreign talent to return to them after a 2 year break as though nothing happened, this causes a lot of issues but so does forcing them to lose players for cheap of free. I still think that if we don't have a buy-option. (And I don't think we do, purely a guess I admit ). The best course would be to arrange a pre contract on the basis that Tete's deal currently expires with Shaktar at the end of this year. If UEFA/FIFA rule that he has to go back to Shaktar for 2+ years, then our Pre-contract is null and void, we've not really lost anything. But if UEFA/FOFA state that Tete only has to see out the remaining 6 months, then we are in a really strong position to negotiate over those last 6 months with Shaktar. It also fends off any other clubs who might poach him. All of this is conjecture, but I would have expected a buy option to have been leaked by now. Edited because @Ric Flair pointed out I'm a bit daft.

Im not sure there is at all. I want there to be, don't get me wrong, but I doubt it exists. From what I can tell, it seems we dealt almost solely with Lyon to take up the remainder of their loan agreement. Shaktar would be reluctant to agree a option to buy as they are over a barrel due to the war. The original loan to Lyon was just 2 years no option as it was a special war loan. I believe the Ukrainian clubs are applying pressure to UEFA over the position they are in now regarding all their foreign players. So this may change things. However, it make sense to me that we would sign a pre-contract to kick in after his current deal finishes. That only gives us 6 months from June to December to argue about with Shak.

Loved watching Yakubu, the world's oldest 28 year old, somehow rack up 11 in 20 or something. Mental times.