Mendy

[Ric Flair]

10 hours ago, FoxinNotts said:

With purse strings being tightened, could it be that we don’t ‘replace’ Mendy, and instead put Adrien Silva back in the squad, giving us midfield options of Ndidi, Tielemans, Choudhury, Praet, James and Silva. Thoughts?

Silva is on 90k a week, doesn't really fit in with " the purse strings being tightened "

[FoxinNotts]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Silva is on 90k a week, doesn't really fit in with " the purse strings being tightened "

Good point.

[RutlanderFox]

2 hours ago, frany104 said:

We needed to shift his wages off the books. He adds very little and we could use that wages in an area we need. Use the youngsters to bolster the squad instead of paying squad players 50k a week to do nothing. Hamza , KDH and others can sit on the bench for a lot cheaper wage. 

True. Plus we need 4 home-grown academy players registered in our Europa League squad. With Chilwell staying we only have 3 established first-team players who meet this criteria

[Meat and 2 veg]

52 minutes ago, RutlanderFox said:

True. Plus we need 4 home-grown academy players registered in our Europa League squad. With Chilwell staying we only have 3 established first-team players who meet this criteria

3???

[Bezzanator89]

Best of a bad bunch I'm afraid from that much-maligned 2016 Summer transfer window. Thank him for his contributions (albeit few and far between) and get him off the books.

[UHDrive]

Injurys and managers aside Mendy was never good enough in the passing department just like Hamza, who needs a lot of work too if he is to be a fist team player.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

Surprised at the love for Mendy.  All in all, an incredibly average midfielder and the fact anyone even thought he could have been the replacement for Kante is laughable.

 

When it looked like we were trying to convince him to stay, my heart absolutely sank.

 

Good riddance and hopefully the last reminder of that dreadful post title winning spending spree Slimani will follow him out the door.

[Ric Flair]

Aleix Garcia has just been released by Man City, he was supposed to be the bollocls a few years ago. Not quite a Mendy like for like but he's a combative midfielder.

[jeffschlupp]

12 minutes ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

Surprised at the love for Mendy.  All in all, an incredibly average midfielder and the fact anyone even thought he could have been the replacement for Kante is laughable.

 

When it looked like we were trying to convince him to stay, my heart absolutely sank.

 

Good riddance and hopefully the last reminder of that dreadful post title winning spending spree Slimani will follow him out the door.

He was not signed to be the Kanté replacement, because he is not a box to box midfielder. The club wanted two midfielders that summer and they were after Silva, a box to box type player, even before Mendy got injured in August. Sporting screwed us over repeatedly and we didn't get it done.

 

He may be average but you are missing the point that it's very difficult to have anyone better than average be happy to sit on a Europa League side's bench all season. More than that, it's going to cost the club upwards of £15m to replace him on a transfer fee alone.

 

It would be stupid business in a COVID world to not try and convince a decent squad player to stay, given we are one month from the season starting and as it stands we are going to have to start Morgan alongside Söyüncü, and still have the same average wide options we had last season.

[RutlanderFox]

3 hours ago, Meat and 2 veg said:

3???

Yes 3. Chilwell, Choudhury and Barnes. Thomas is regarded as under-age and does not to be registered for European games

[wardyfox86]

1 hour ago, jeffschlupp said:

He was not signed to be the Kanté replacement, because he is not a box to box midfielder. The club wanted two midfielders that summer and they were after Silva, a box to box type player, even before Mendy got injured in August. Sporting screwed us over repeatedly and we didn't get it done.

 

He may be average but you are missing the point that it's very difficult to have anyone better than average be happy to sit on a Europa League side's bench all season. More than that, it's going to cost the club upwards of £15m to replace him on a transfer fee alone.

 

It would be stupid business in a COVID world to not try and convince a decent squad player to stay, given we are one month from the season starting and as it stands we are going to have to start Morgan alongside Söyüncü, and still have the same average wide options we had last season.

We have players in the U23s that are capable of sitting on the bench and coming on for the odd 20 minute cameo, but never used to effectively change a game. This is all Mendy did.

Edited 12 August 2020 by wardyfox86

[The_77]

48 minutes ago, jeffschlupp said:

He was not signed to be the Kanté replacement, because he is not a box to box midfielder. The club wanted two midfielders that summer and they were after Silva, a box to box type player, even before Mendy got injured in August. Sporting screwed us over repeatedly and we didn't get it done.

 

He may be average but you are missing the point that it's very difficult to have anyone better than average be happy to sit on a Europa League side's bench all season. More than that, it's going to cost the club upwards of £15m to replace him on a transfer fee alone.

 

It would be stupid business in a COVID world to not try and convince a decent squad player to stay, given we are one month from the season starting and as it stands we are going to have to start Morgan alongside Söyüncü, and still have the same average wide options we had last season.

Is it stupid business? With his injuries, the club could very well get stuck paying a contract that gives little return.

 

If we're looking for a player to match what we've gotten from Mendy, 15M would be pretty pricey.

[frany104]

55 minutes ago, jeffschlupp said:

He was not signed to be the Kanté replacement, because he is not a box to box midfielder. The club wanted two midfielders that summer and they were after Silva, a box to box type player, even before Mendy got injured in August. Sporting screwed us over repeatedly and we didn't get it done.

 

He may be average but you are missing the point that it's very difficult to have anyone better than average be happy to sit on a Europa League side's bench all season. More than that, it's going to cost the club upwards of £15m to replace him on a transfer fee alone.

 

It would be stupid business in a COVID world to not try and convince a decent squad player to stay, given we are one month from the season starting and as it stands we are going to have to start Morgan alongside Söyüncü, and still have the same average wide options we had last season.

I disagree. Get rid of the wages and let a youngster sit in the bench and backup our midfielders. We don’t need to replace somebody who has averaged about 5 appearances a year. We need a winger!

[jeffschlupp]

3 minutes ago, The_77 said:

Is it stupid business? With his injuries, the club could very well get stuck paying a contract that gives little return.

 

If we're looking for a player to match what we've gotten from Mendy, 15M would be pretty pricey.

His injuries are a myth. He had an ankle injury which required two rounds of surgery to fix, since then he has not suffered any ankle injuries (that was even before he was loaned back to Nice 2.5 years ago).

 

He sprained his knee ligaments in January which left him out for 5-6 weeks, a freak accident like Ricardo's, in the meantime we had to watch Choudhury perform terribly in his position.

1 minute ago, frany104 said:

I disagree. Get rid of the wages and let a youngster sit in the bench and backup our midfielders. We don’t need to replace somebody who has averaged about 5 appearances a year. We need a winger!

I agree we need a winger, but if Ndidi gets injured we have no holding midfielder if Mendy goes. Knight and Dewsbury-Hall are good players but they haven't even played at Championship level. Is AFCON still in January now? That will hugely damage us if we lose Ndidi for a month.

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, UHDrive said:

Injurys and managers aside Mendy was never good enough in the passing department just like Hamza, who needs a lot of work too if he is to be a fist team player.

...depends what you want from him!!!

As a DM just breaking up and recycling the ball makes him a satisfactory member of the team. With Wilf in that role his position now requires a creative and  astute passer which is not something he was signed for.

  His position has been usurped by Wilf, he can contribute as cover but I hope he does move on in order to progress his career as at present it has stagnated behind Wilf.

[Realist Guy In The Room]

2 hours ago, jeffschlupp said:

He was not signed to be the Kanté replacement, because he is not a box to box midfielder. The club wanted two midfielders that summer and they were after Silva, a box to box type player, even before Mendy got injured in August. Sporting screwed us over repeatedly and we didn't get it done.

 

He may be average but you are missing the point that it's very difficult to have anyone better than average be happy to sit on a Europa League side's bench all season. More than that, it's going to cost the club upwards of £15m to replace him on a transfer fee alone.

 

It would be stupid business in a COVID world to not try and convince a decent squad player to stay, given we are one month from the season starting and as it stands we are going to have to start Morgan alongside Söyüncü, and still have the same average wide options we had last season.

He’s not a decent squad player, he’s a lump of coal with legs.  Convincing him to stay would have been a complete waste of a squad place.  I get the whole covid thing but that doesn’t mean you try and build your ship with deadwood.

 

 

[jeffschlupp]

10 minutes ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

He’s not a decent squad player, he’s a lump of coal with legs.  Convincing him to stay would have been a complete waste of a squad place.  I get the whole covid thing but that doesn’t mean you try and build your ship with deadwood.

 

 

So who are you playing in holding midfield when Ndidi gets injured or needs a rest?

[honeybradger]

11 minutes ago, jeffschlupp said:

So who are you playing in holding midfield when Ndidi gets injured or needs a rest?

Choudhury, he's a perfectly good backup who was used as a scapegoat for our initial dip in form, which has proven to be wrong as we continued struggling defensively and offensively when ndidi returned. If choudhury had filled in when the rest of the starting 11 were performing well we would have seen a drop in quality but we wouldnt have started losing like we did, choudhury was just unfortunate to come in at a time when most of our starting 11 were out of form.

Edited 12 August 2020 by honeybradger

[Ric Flair]

11 minutes ago, jeffschlupp said:

So who are you playing in holding midfield when Ndidi gets injured or needs a rest?

Would have to go to a midfield 3 of Choudhury, Tielemans and Praet to cope with Ndidi being out

[SecretPro]

26 minutes ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

He’s not a decent squad player, he’s a lump of coal with legs.  Convincing him to stay would have been a complete waste of a squad place.  I get the whole covid thing but that doesn’t mean you try and build your ship with deadwood.

 

 

Racist 

[jeffschlupp]

13 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Choudhury, he's a perfectly good backup who was used as a scapegoat for our initial dip in form, which has proven to be wrong as we continued struggling defensively and offensively when ndidi returned. If choudhury had filled in when the rest of the starting 11 were performing well we would have seen a drop in quality but we wouldnt have started losing like we did, choudhury was just unfortunate to come in at a time when most of our starting 11 were out of form.

Disagree with this entirely. I distinctly remember he was appalling at Stoke in pre-season, which was one of the reasons why Rodgers rushed Ndidi back from AFCON.

 

He is too positionally rash, and we saw at Wolves among other games where he would press forward, get spun, and leave a gaping hole in midfield. At which point you have a CB like Cags who is rather erratic himself, who will push up to fill the gap, leaving huge space in behind. Good teams will punish us on the counter-attack.

 

Rodgers has rarely used him there when he has Ndidi or Mendy fit, and I believe he's trying to mould him into a box-to-box player like Henderson who can come into big games alongside Maddison or Tielemans, adding steel but still having forward running.

 

13 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Would have to go to a midfield 3 of Choudhury, Tielemans and Praet to cope with Ndidi being out

And this proves my point, you then go into games against weaker sides with Maddison either out of the team or out of position on the wing. 

 

It'll be interesting to see how they deal with Mendy leaving.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, jeffschlupp said:

Disagree with this entirely. I distinctly remember he was appalling at Stoke in pre-season, which was one of the reasons why Rodgers rushed Ndidi back from AFCON.

 

He is too positionally rash, and we saw at Wolves among other games where he would press forward, get spun, and leave a gaping hole in midfield. At which point you have a CB like Cags who is rather erratic himself, who will push up to fill the gap, leaving huge space in behind. Good teams will punish us on the counter-attack.

 

Rodgers has rarely used him there when he has Ndidi or Mendy fit, and I believe he's trying to mould him into a box-to-box player like Henderson who can come into big games alongside Maddison or Tielemans, adding steel but still having forward running.

 

And this proves my point, you then go into games against weaker sides with Maddison either out of the team or out of position on the wing. 

 

It'll be interesting to see how they deal with Mendy leaving.

Its not the end of the world to have to change systems if you lose one of your most important players. Do we need another DCM? In an ideal world yes, but if 4-3-2-1 as opposed to 4-1-4-1 is needed then so be it.

[UHDrive]

2 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...depends what you want from him!!!

As a DM just breaking up and recycling the ball makes him a satisfactory member of the team. With Wilf in that role his position now requires a creative and  astute passer which is not something he was signed for.

  His position has been usurped by Wilf, he can contribute as cover but I hope he does move on in order to progress his career as at present it has stagnated behind Wilf.

What do you want from him? Seriously? We are a top 5 club with lofty ambitions, and Choudhury isn't a top 5 first team player, however at the moment what he is is an adequate backup player. He is great at chasing balls down and tackling but he cannot pass to this level that should be required that we are at. It doesn't matter what role he plays, all roles at our level should be forward thinking and accurate (ish) with the ball and Choudhury isn't one of them.

[jeffschlupp]

7 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Its not the end of the world to have to change systems if you lose one of your most important players. Do we need another DCM? In an ideal world yes, but if 4-3-2-1 as opposed to 4-1-4-1 is needed then so be it.

But as a manager you want your 25 man squad to offer you the opportunity to not just change system, but swap personnel to fit your preferred system.

 

Say we get a top winger and both he and Barnes light it up on the flanks in the first dozen games. Ndidi then gets injured, so you have to completely change your approach and potentially bin off one of your wingers just because you're not convinced your cover DM is capable of playing without Praet to support him. 

 

It's not the end of the world I'll grant you, but when you're building a squad of players you want to have confidence in your options as individuals that they can play in most systems within reason. I would have much more confidence in Mendy in a 4-3-3 than Choudhury.

Edited 12 August 2020 by jeffschlupp

[honeybradger]

32 minutes ago, jeffschlupp said:

Disagree with this entirely. I distinctly remember he was appalling at Stoke in pre-season, which was one of the reasons why Rodgers rushed Ndidi back from AFCON.

 

He is too positionally rash, and we saw at Wolves among other games where he would press forward, get spun, and leave a gaping hole in midfield. At which point you have a CB like Cags who is rather erratic himself, who will push up to fill the gap, leaving huge space in behind. Good teams will punish us on the counter-attack.

 

Rodgers has rarely used him there when he has Ndidi or Mendy fit, and I believe he's trying to mould him into a box-to-box player like Henderson who can come into big games alongside Maddison or Tielemans, adding steel but still having forward running.

 

And this proves my point, you then go into games against weaker sides with Maddison either out of the team or out of position on the wing. 

 

It'll be interesting to see how they deal with Mendy leaving.

1 month before that stoke game choudhury played in an u21 game where he played DM and pocketed Auoar for 60 minutes, who outclassed most of man city's midfield last season and did the same to juventus's this season, then choudhury went on to injure one of the french players (his rashness is definitely a weak point in his game) and get sent off which resulted in england crashing out of the U21s. Putting it into context i think that choudhury's struggles in pre season were more a result of a lack of confidence due to the circumstances than his actual abilities as a DM, remember that soyuncu look unconfident and struggled to cope with league 1 players in pre season.