Houssem Aouar

[Guest ttfn]

Biggest concern for me would be how to pronounce his name.

 

Owar?

 

Ooar?

 

Warr?

Edited 18 May 2022 by ttfn

[sacreblueits442]

12 minutes ago, escape2victory said:

Why ? Some of our best performances this season have been using it. I actually like Maddison off the left or right. I find having him central in a 4-2-3-1, he is always in a congested area and is more easy for the defensive mid to mark him. Playing off the left or right, he can find more space, arrive late into the pockets. The 4-2-3-1 is too safe and structured, doesn’t allow for rotation of position. Maddison off the left, interchanging with KDH and the left back, I just think makes us more unpredictable, can rotate positions easier, provide overloads, and just that element of madness to our attacking play 

 

I have been really impressed with how Maddison has matured tactically this season as in previous years when asked to play off the left or right he has taken it very literally, and stayed wide, but he has really learnt how to find spaces and get into the right positions this season. 

....Maddison  has managed to pick up his game this season, but the problem we have with the 4-2-3-1 is we do not have the dynamic  RW to stretch the opposition!!!

That helps Barnes on the left to get into the back post and playing a highline will allow the CM to get forward late into the box as the defence is so preoccupied.

  We have witnessed turgid football at the moment with large portions of possession and failing to penetrate with 4-3-3. The last two games had teams who gave us space to play but we will not be playing them again.

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, Fosse93 said:

Feels more like a Maddison replacement than Youri, to me at least. Good player though!

For next summer ?? 
foreign purchases are not expected to hit the ground running …..so I doubt we buy him and sell madders in the same window 

[StriderHiryu]

29 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Aouar is very creative, he's not a in your face number 10/ACM but he's also not very combative when playing deep so we'd need to ensure that we got the set up right. He's essentially the perfect player for us to go back to 4-1-4-1 where Ndidi was tasked purely to destroy and break up play and there were x 2 8's pushing up and supporting the attack as much as possible. Aouar and Maddison would be very dangerous as a pair. You'd also want a high energy right winger there too so get Madueke in as well and I'd be very very excite.

Bang on. You would never see Aouar acting as a 6 in a 433 like Tielemans did, neither could he play as a double pivot. Only issue is in a 4141, where does KDH play? Because he's not a 6 either. 

 

So you would see us either play 4141 without KDH, or more likely the current 433 but with Aouar instead of Tielemans.

 

I've got to say I was a huge fan of that 4141. It struggled against the very top teams, notably Man City and Liverpool but some of our best ever football was under that system. It was a joy to watch on its day.

 

IMO Brendan might play something like in his Swansea City days. Ndidi as the 6, KDH as the 8, Aouar as the 10, Maddison as the winger who drifts inside (or flip these two's roles over).  IMO the right winger position is over prioritised by fans these days. Maddison plays there in most games these days and performs brilliantly. We almost certainly will sign someone else who can play there for depth and tactical adjustments, but it's not as high priority as it was. 

 

 

[kingfox]

44 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Aouar is very creative, he's not a in your face number 10/ACM but he's also not very combative when playing deep so we'd need to ensure that we got the set up right. He's essentially the perfect player for us to go back to 4-1-4-1 where Ndidi was tasked purely to destroy and break up play and there were x 2 8's pushing up and supporting the attack as much as possible. Aouar and Maddison would be very dangerous as a pair. You'd also want a high energy right winger there too so get Madueke in as well and I'd be very very excite.

 

3 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Bang on. You would never see Aouar acting as a 6 in a 433 like Tielemans did, neither could he play as a double pivot. Only issue is in a 4141, where does KDH play? Because he's not a 6 either. 

 

So you would see us either play 4141 without KDH, or more likely the current 433 but with Aouar instead of Tielemans.

 

I've got to say I was a huge fan of that 4141. It struggled against the very top teams, notably Man City and Liverpool but some of our best ever football was under that system. It was a joy to watch on its day.

 

IMO Brendan might play something like in his Swansea City days. Ndidi as the 6, KDH as the 8, Aouar as the 10, Maddison as the winger who drifts inside (or flip these two's roles over).  IMO the right winger position is over prioritised by fans these days. Maddison plays there in most games these days and performs brilliantly. We almost certainly will sign someone else who can play there for depth and tactical adjustments, but it's not as high priority as it was. 

 

 

Don’t you fear that a midfield like that would seriously get overrun though?

 

You’d be asking a lot of work from Ndidi, who statistically is one of the best DM’s in Europe regardless how we set up; however as we’ve seen numerous times this season, we’ve seen our midfield get overrun with the likes of Ndidi, Tielemans & Soumare all in it. 

Going by the possibility of potential line ups too, as Strider questioned, why the sudden urge to drop KDH from some people? Arguably our second best player this season, he should be one of the first names on the team sheet next season.

 

I don’t see Aouar as a replacement for Youri, first off he’s pretty much an ACM, doesn’t possess the defensive work that Youri gives us and isn’t really a midfield dictator like Youri.

 

You stick Aouar in a midfield with Ndidi & KDH or Ndidi & Maddison, I’d fear the potential of our midfield getting seriously overrun. 

[Vardinio'sCat]

His stats look like those of a no 10, so I guess we are looking at a 3 man midfield.

 

Hard to see Madders and this guy pressing hard enough to be sustainable as part of the first 11.

[-sodapop]

12 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Bang on. You would never see Aouar acting as a 6 in a 433 like Tielemans did, neither could he play as a double pivot. Only issue is in a 4141, where does KDH play? Because he's not a 6 either. 

 

So you would see us either play 4141 without KDH, or more likely the current 433 but with Aouar instead of Tielemans.

 

I've got to say I was a huge fan of that 4141. It struggled against the very top teams, notably Man City and Liverpool but some of our best ever football was under that system. It was a joy to watch on its day.

 

IMO Brendan might play something like in his Swansea City days. Ndidi as the 6, KDH as the 8, Aouar as the 10, Maddison as the winger who drifts inside (or flip these two's roles over).  IMO the right winger position is over prioritised by fans these days. Maddison plays there in most games these days and performs brilliantly. We almost certainly will sign someone else who can play there for depth and tactical adjustments, but it's not as high priority as it was. 

 

 

Think it's much more likely we ran Aouar on the left with Maddison centrally and CDK/Piroe on the right. A lot of our links have me coming back to a three AM formation but I'm not sure that Ndidi and KDH behind is secure enough for that - though I suppose it's no different to a front three with an am behind

[Finnegan]

49 minutes ago, ttfn said:

Biggest concern for me would be how to pronounce his name.

 

Owar?

 

Ooar?

 

Warr?

 

Hoo-sem Ow-wah, no? 

[Webbo]

If we sign his guy and he flops, will all the people saying hell yeah be blaming Brendan's useless recruitment of players? 

[chapero82]

Not a chance we get him  

[Kegworthfox]

38 minutes ago, Webbo said:

If we sign his guy and he flops, will all the people saying hell yeah be blaming Brendan's useless recruitment of players? 

Why change of coarse they will all managers on here

[Sharpe's Fox]

2 hours ago, AKCJ said:

Kasper

Ricardo Fofana Ndicka Justin

Ndidi

Madueke Aouar Maddison Barnes

Vardy

 

 

[Basildon Fox]

2 hours ago, StanSP said:

Technically they haven't lost out on UCL.

 

They finish 4th if they beat Everton and Spurs bottle it against Norwich...

Which would be an incredible Spursy thing to do. 😄

[Bert]

3 hours ago, StanSP said:

I know. They could still lose vs Norwich?

They’re bottlers. But even they can’t bottle this. 

[StanSP]

2 minutes ago, Bert said:

They’re bottlers. But even they can’t bottle this. 

We shall see! Would be funny if they do... 

[Foxes96]

It poses an interesting question with regards to the balance of the team. Part of me thinks that with Youri’s impending departure we actually have a good opportunity to reshape the balance of the team. 
 

If we were to go with a 4-2-3-1 formation someone more of the ilk of Sander Berge could be a better shout so any 2 of Ndidi / Berge / KDH and Soumaré could be the holding pair, with Maddison in his preferred 10 position. Berge also gives you that flexibility of playing as a 6/ 8 or even 10, and would also provided much needed height and physicality. Although that would likely need a priority RW signing to make up for a more workmanlike midfield, effectively replacing Youri’s goal contributions. 

Or the alternative if we do get Aouar who is more in the Tielemans mould but even less defensively solid, might mean Maddison would have to stay on the right in the 4-3-3 set up we’re currently using. Or he would have to rotate with KDH and Aouar either side of the holding midfielder (Wilf). But I would worry that midfield 3 would be too lightweight and easily overrun. Would also mean another CDM would be more of a priority to rotate with Ndidi, as we wouldn’t have an alternative otherwise. Witsel perhaps. 
 

So possibly: Berge + Madueke or Aouar + Witsel.

 

Will be interesting summer none the less to see what business we do and how it shapes how we set up next season.

[The Horse's Mouth]

Welcome Ward Prowse

[CosbehFox]

Since when did Sander Berge become an option? He's been a failure at Sheff Yoo. Never looked good enough for the PL and been very average at Champ level 

[Saxondale]

Yes, this’ll do.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, kingfox said:

 

Don’t you fear that a midfield like that would seriously get overrun though?

 

You’d be asking a lot of work from Ndidi, who statistically is one of the best DM’s in Europe regardless how we set up; however as we’ve seen numerous times this season, we’ve seen our midfield get overrun with the likes of Ndidi, Tielemans & Soumare all in it. 

Going by the possibility of potential line ups too, as Strider questioned, why the sudden urge to drop KDH from some people? Arguably our second best player this season, he should be one of the first names on the team sheet next season.

 

I don’t see Aouar as a replacement for Youri, first off he’s pretty much an ACM, doesn’t possess the defensive work that Youri gives us and isn’t really a midfield dictator like Youri.

 

You stick Aouar in a midfield with Ndidi & KDH or Ndidi & Maddison, I’d fear the potential of our midfield getting seriously overrun. 

Firstly you need more than 11 players. I think KDH defensively is excellent and there's enough ball winning ability from him to help out against certain teams but against 14-15 teams in the PL I think a 4-1-4-1 with 2 of KDH, Maddison and Aouar would cause so many problems. 

 

That said I do see the temptation for a more robust central midfielder to replace Tielemans, someone like Sander Berge or Fofana at Lens but it seems we definitely want a creative midfielder as it's not just about the starting XI.

[Ric Flair]

37 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Since when did Sander Berge become an option? He's been a failure at Sheff Yoo. Never looked good enough for the PL and been very average at Champ level 

Not true at all. He started well at Sheff Utd but got a bad injury and they fell apart. He's had a very good season but will leave them this summer. His release clause won't be matched though at £35m but someone will pay £20m for him and likely get him.

[RumbleFox]

1 hour ago, Kegworthfox said:

Why change of coarse they will all managers on here

I’ve read that sentence 274 times and I still can’t work out what it means. 

[StriderHiryu]

2 hours ago, kingfox said:

 

Don’t you fear that a midfield like that would seriously get overrun though?

 

You’d be asking a lot of work from Ndidi, who statistically is one of the best DM’s in Europe regardless how we set up; however as we’ve seen numerous times this season, we’ve seen our midfield get overrun with the likes of Ndidi, Tielemans & Soumare all in it. 

 

You stick Aouar in a midfield with Ndidi & KDH or Ndidi & Maddison, I’d fear the potential of our midfield getting seriously overrun. 

Great point but we could always change our system based on the opposition we play. In that system we were so much more proactive and put so many teams to the sword who simply cannot cope. IMO only Man City, Liverpool and then maybe Chelsea and West Ham we’d have to change our style. 
 

These days we play a style that’s too controlled and side to side. In that purple patch in 2019 we dominated so many teams and it was beautiful. 
 

Controlled play sees us 18 points worse off than last season. Take the handbrake off and attack! 1-0 down to PSV we went for it and won. Against Roma we were measured and did **** all. 

[kingfox]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

Firstly you need more than 11 players. I think KDH defensively is excellent and there's enough ball winning ability from him to help out against certain teams but against 14-15 teams in the PL I think a 4-1-4-1 with 2 of KDH, Maddison and Aouar would cause so many problems. 

 

That said I do see the temptation for a more robust central midfielder to replace Tielemans, someone like Sander Berge or Fofana at Lens but it seems we definitely want a creative midfielder as it's not just about the starting XI.

KDH averages less tackles & interceptions than Tielemans & Aouar. Tielemans defensive work often gets undervalued.

 

You mentioning 4-1-4-1 with two 8’s pushing up, it works better when you have a midfielder of Youri’s skill set, because not only can you get a lot out of him from an attacking standpoint, you’d still get the reliability factor from him defensively, you wouldn’t get that from a KDH, Aouar or Maddison, the midfield would be left too open and would have the potential to get overrun. We’ve seen lesser teams in the league, especially in the first half of the season, had so much space in our midfield, our defence was just left exposed and we were conceding shots left, right & centre. 
 

You need a creative midfielder who gives you some security defensively.

 

With Sander Berge it would all depend what type of midfield role you’d want from him, he’s changed his role slightly at Sheff Utd to more of an attacking central midfielder, but as seen from earlier in his career, he can also play as a 6. 
 

Fofana at Lens is defensively non existent. 
 

The perfect replacement for Youri would be Florian Neuhaus of Gladbach, a slightly mixed season from him, but if we could get the 20/21 version of Florian Neuhaus, he’d be an excellent signing. 

[Ric Flair]

6 minutes ago, kingfox said:

KDH averages less tackles & interceptions than Tielemans & Aouar. Tielemans defensive work often gets undervalued.

 

You mentioning 4-1-4-1 with two 8’s pushing up, it works better when you have a midfielder of Youri’s skill set, because not only can you get a lot out of him from an attacking standpoint, you’d still get the reliability factor from him defensively, you wouldn’t get that from a KDH, Aouar or Maddison, the midfield would be left too open and would have the potential to get overrun. We’ve seen lesser teams in the league, especially in the first half of the season, had so much space in our midfield, our defence was just left exposed and we were conceding shots left, right & centre. 
 

You need a creative midfielder who gives you some security defensively.

 

With Sander Berge it would all depend what type of midfield role you’d want from him, he’s changed his role slightly at Sheff Utd to more of an attacking central midfielder, but as seen from earlier in his career, he can also play as a 6. 
 

Fofana at Lens is defensively non existent. 
 

The perfect replacement for Youri would be Florian Neuhaus of Gladbach, a slightly mixed season from him, but if we could get the 20/21 version of Florian Neuhaus, he’d be an excellent signing. 

KDH has been deployed much further forward as a player to lead the press, I've no doubt he is a capable ball winner as he did so very well at Luton last season. He's dropped back a bit in recent weeks and although I've not checked the stats, he's been involved in the midfield battle more and comes out well in such situations.

 

Neuhaus is a good shout, as is Koopmeiners but he's not long gone to Atalanta.