Dennis Praet - Finally Signed!

[Tom12345]

13 hours ago, inckley fox said:

I think another winger would have been overload. We've got Albrighton and Barnes who have featured as out-and-out wingers. Gray who they've obviously decided should be given another chance. Ghezzal, if we choose to register him and fail to off-load him to a European side. Pereira has played as a conventional winger on the right as well.

 

Then there's Perez who is, I'd imagine, frequently going to play on the right of a 4-3-3 / 4-1-4-1 this season and encouraged to cut in. Maddison has often been asked to do the same from the left. Praet has been played on the flanks before in a similar sort of role.

 

So we've got five wingers for two slots and a further three slightly less conventional wingers who can fill those roles too. Yes, the 4-1-2-1-2 will be used too, but I think it's merely a case of us giving ourselves another string to our bow. It's a way of sticking two up top, or combatting sides that crowd out the midfield.

 

And if you look at heat maps of a diamond and of 3-5-2, they're often not too dissimilar - one midfielder often drops back into the back-line, the full backs are advanced, the midfield is crowded out, two up front etc., so it may even be a case of Rodgers having tried and discarded 3-5-2, but still needing a means to the same end.

 

Of course, Praet is definitely the sort of player that could help us make something like that work. I wouldn't be shocked if Rodgers saw the Stoke friendly and thought we lacked the personnel to really pull that formation off, and that this realisation nudged us further towards signing Praet. But I'd be surprised if the signing indicated that the Plan B was going to become Plan A, not least because Praet may also have a lot to offer in Plan A.

I do wonder though, did Barnes play as a winger for WBA where he did so well? I thought he didnt and he played more down the middle. Has playing him out wide after he came back dragged him down?

[rachhere]

3 hours ago, Countryfox said:

Bigger version for the hard of hearing ...

 

 

Basing this on a sample of two (Youri and Dennis), but you have to wonder how much of Belgium's international success is because they have a less competitive domestic league and therefore can get their youngsters experience of senior football at a much younger age. 

 

Really looking forward to seeing him play.

[Beechey]

8 minutes ago, Tom12345 said:

I do wonder though, did Barnes play as a winger for WBA where he did so well? I thought he didnt and he played more down the middle. Has playing him out wide after he came back dragged him down?

Played as a winger, a 10 and a striker

[funkyrobot]

34 minutes ago, Beechey said:

Played as a winger, a 10 and a striker

He often played on the left but tucked in a few yards almost as a left sided striker, cutting in from the edge of the box. 

[leuven]

Here is the golden boy playing for the Leuven youth team.

[foxy boxing]

Looking forward to seeing him running our midfield and linking up with Tielemans. Hopefully he can be our quarterback and give passes to the Leicester players in the end zone.

[Eden De Bruyne]

22 hours ago, rachhere said:

Basing this on a sample of two (Youri and Dennis), but you have to wonder how much of Belgium's international success is because they have a less competitive domestic league and therefore can get their youngsters experience of senior football at a much younger age. 

 

Really looking forward to seeing him play.

Giving excellent youngsters a chance has nothing to do with the level of your league. Tottenham and even your own team are succesful with young players in the EPL. Barcelona under Pep was full of their own youth players.

[Eden De Bruyne]

The Belgian Pro League is also not ideal than. We are the only small league where you can send 8 teams in Europe who will all perform decent. No other small league comes even close.

Edited 10 August 2019 by Eden De Bruyne

[KingsX]

On 09/08/2019 at 03:00, MC Prussian said:

We may be lacking a bit of physical presence in midfield, though. Neither Tielemans nor Praet are big tacklers.

 

I think one of the reasons we went for Praet is his ball recovery prowess.  2.0 tackles per 90' (at #8).  Compare that to Mendy 1.4 per 90' (at #6).  Gets his share of interceptions too.  He won't bully but he will press with effect.

[MC Prussian]

12 minutes ago, KingsX said:

 

I think one of the reasons we went for Praet is his ball recovery prowess.  2.0 tackles per 90' (at #8).  Compare that to Mendy 1.4 per 90' (at #6).  Gets his share of interceptions too.  He won't bully but he will press with effect.

That's in a different league, where teams usually deploy a different system. Italian football is much more about ball control, a bit like chess.

 

The numbers are indicative of some of his strengths, but also misleading and he'll have to adapt first. How he does, remains to be seen. Of course, hopefully well enough. 

[spacemunky]

4 star weak foot

 

4 star skill moves

 

[volpeazzurro]

On 09/08/2019 at 13:55, Beechey said:

Played as a winger, a 10 and a striker

I think West Brom supporters though and certainly a West Brom season ticket holder mate of mine, commented that he appeared wasted at times fairly ineffective out on the wing. He was at his best as a ten in the hole when allowed freedom to roam a bit. In that role at that time he was heading for their player of the season.

Edited 11 August 2019 by volpeazzurro

[Foxxed]

2 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

I think West Brom supporters though and certainly a West Brom season ticket holder mate of mine, commented that he appeared waste and at times fairly ineffective out on the wing. He was at his best as a ten in the whole and allowed freedom to roam a bit. In that role at that time he was heading for their player of the season.

It was strange he suddenly got put on the wing at the baggies. I assume we told west brom to do it. I much preferred him as a number 10 or a roaming winger. He tended to roam to where the action was in the match, find space and inevitably score. I don't know if Bren thinks of him as or even knows he can play as a number 10.

Edited 11 August 2019 by Foxxed

[Beechey]

3 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

I think West Brom supporters though and certainly a West Brom season ticket holder mate of mine, commented that he appeared waste and at times fairly ineffective out on the wing. He was at his best as a ten in the whole and allowed freedom to roam a bit. In that role at that time he was heading for their player of the season.

I heard this as well

[StriderHiryu]

On 09/08/2019 at 13:50, rachhere said:

Basing this on a sample of two (Youri and Dennis), but you have to wonder how much of Belgium's international success is because they have a less competitive domestic league and therefore can get their youngsters experience of senior football at a much younger age. 

 

Really looking forward to seeing him play.

The Belgian FA had a major revamp of all youth training programs after they became the first team to crash out of their own hosted tournament in the group stage - 2004 IIRC. 

 

People forget but during the 80’s Belgium had a great team and got to the World Cup semi finals twice. But then they stopped producing talent and the results fell off a cliff. In order to revamp their football they made some wholesale changes:

 

- Every national team from U11 to senior team played the same formation, a technical possession based 433.

- Results were considered irrelevant until U21 level. Coaches found to be focusing on results over technique were given short term bans. The idea here being kids need to have fun, and all kids need to be a base technical level before playing competitive football. 

- The emphasis was placed on technique similar to the Ajax academy. Players learnt multiple positions on the pitch. 

- Kids were grouped together based on technical ability rather than age group. The FA found that some players slipped through the cracks because they took longer to reach their physical peak than others. I believe this happened to Dries Mertens of Napoli. 

 

 

There were other things involved too but that’s the gist of it and it’s why so many of the current Belgium team are so technically gifted. In fact I’d argue Tielemans and Praet as we will in time could pass for Spanish players in terms of the way they play. Tielemans is very Xabi Alonso esque. 

 

These learnings are being applied to the English system now which is why we are now developing players like Sancho and Hudson-Odoi. Still our central midfielders are still behind their European counterparts in terms of being able to direct play. It will be interesting to see how far Phil Foden goes but for example if Tielemans was English he’d already be a first team player for the national side. To be fair he seems to be a starter for Belgium which is pretty great going!

[Nicolo Barella]

4 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

I think West Brom supporters though and certainly a West Brom season ticket holder mate of mine, commented that he appeared wasted at times fairly ineffective out on the wing. He was at his best as a ten in the hole when allowed freedom to roam a bit. In that role at that time he was heading for their player of the season.

 Think Barnes has been a bit f***ed. He's probably 2nd choice Second Striker, 3rd choice winger, 2nd choice .10. 

[Vindaloo FOX]

I was impressed.

[Shane]

When he won the ball back he immediately passed it forward

[foxes_rule1978]

For the short time he was on, he looked good. Seems to have good strength which is needed in this league 

[Royston.]

The answer to our praets?

[Vindaloo FOX]

Just now, foxes_rule1978 said:

For the short time he was on, he looked good. Seems to have good strength which is needed in this league 

Yes I was worried about his strength, but he seems to keep the ball well, can win it back and looks to get it forward asap.

[Deeg67]

4 minutes ago, Shane said:

When he won the ball back he immediately passed it forward

Sure didn’t look like one of ours...

 

In addition to skill on the ball and looking to advance forward, I also liked his willingness to get stuck in defensively.  He’s an all-arounder, not a one-way creative MF.

Edited 18 August 2019 by Deeg67

[Harry96]

Good cameo nice few tackles and passes

[Paninistickers]

13 minutes ago, Vindaloo FOX said:

Yes I was worried about his strength, but he seems to keep the ball well, can win it back and looks to get it forward asap.

He looked a bit of a mix between Wilf and Albrighton...he looks awkward (in a good way) and slightly unorthodox. 

 

I like him already

[ScouseFox]

is he name actually pronounced prat? that’s what they were going with on sky. i assumed it would be sorta “pry-ey” or something. 

 

then again carragher spent the whole game calling giroud “oliver”