OHL Match Thread

[teblin]

I know he get a lot of stick on here, but coady talking through and positivity with the young lads was really good yesterday.

 

Noticeably they didn’t have the same voices on the pitch in 2nd phase. Noticeably just coady but Ricky P too.

[Ric Flair]

If we honestly can't bring anyone in then its going to be interesting to see what we do. Daka presses well but his finishing is beyond words, I genuinely don't know what's happened to him.

 

Monga will be our best player within a year and we ought to build our team around him but pressing is not necessarily his strong point either, so deploying Ayew and Monga would weaken the high press but maybe Ayew is a better option up front than Daka? If it comes down to it then Monga and Daka.

 

Fatawu and Mavididi press well, as does El Khannouss (if he stays). Jake Evans and Alves are intense runners too so there's plenty that can fit in Cifuentes style, but central midfield is a head scratcher. 

[RyCleary]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

If we honestly can't bring anyone in then its going to be interesting to see what we do. Daka presses well but his finishing is beyond words, I genuinely don't know what's happened to him.

 

Monga will be our best player within a year and we ought to build our team around him but pressing is not necessarily his strong point either, so deploying Ayew and Monga would weaken the high press but maybe Ayew is a better option up front than Daka? If it comes down to it then Monga and Daka.

 

Fatawu and Mavididi press well, as does El Khannouss (if he stays). Jake Evans and Alves are intense runners too so there's plenty that can fit in Cifuentes style, but central midfield is a head scratcher. 

BEK as false 9, Monga, Mav & Fatawu behind with Alves/Evans rotating into any of those positions. No Daka, No Ayew, No Problem

[coolhandfox]

Just now, Ric Flair said:

If we honestly can't bring anyone in then its going to be interesting to see what we do. Daka presses well but his finishing is beyond words, I genuinely don't know what's happened to him.

 

Monga will be our best player within a year and we ought to build our team around him but pressing is not necessarily his strong point either, so deploying Ayew and Monga would weaken the high press but maybe Ayew is a better option up front than Daka? If it comes down to it then Monga and Daka.

 

Fatawu and Mavididi press well, as does El Khannouss (if he stays). Jake Evans and Alves are intense runners too so there's plenty that can fit in Cifuentes style, but central midfield is a head scratcher. 

Players who can't press under one manager, can change and press under another, pressing is all about organisation, fitness and desire.

 

Daka is has had he's confidence drain since he joined, he could still get 20 odd goals in the championship.

 

7 goals in a 1095 minutes last time, if you play every minute, that's 26 goals over a 46 game season.

 

 

[coolhandfox]

2 minutes ago, RyCleary said:

BEK as false 9, Monga, Mav & Fatawu behind with Alves/Evans rotating into any of those positions. No Daka, No Ayew, No Problem

A false 9 who doesn't score or assist, isn't the way to go for me.

[Trav Le Bleu]

5 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

If we honestly can't bring anyone in then its going to be interesting to see what we do. Daka presses well but his finishing is beyond words, I genuinely don't know what's happened to him.

 

 

It's weird isn't it? Obviously he was able to do this in the past at decent level. For me, it's the easiest part of the job... getting into position, creating space, holding off your man... that's the hard part.

[RyCleary]

6 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

A false 9 who doesn't score or assist, isn't the way to go for me.

He would do both those things in buckets in the championship - given how bad we were last year relative to the league, no one would be

[chuddy8]

I think we need to just throw monga, fatawu, mavdidi, evans, marcal, el khannouss and alves on the pitch at once and just say go for it lads.

[Oldblueyes]

"Page looks about ready, and Aluko is a beast. I’d put both Aluko and Monga straight in, Monga is already probably the best winger on the league….. he’s just insanely good. "

 

Monga needs to get his head up a bit more and pass it to somebody in a better position. He seems he wants to take all the oposition on and then do it all again sometimes.

Edited 13 July 2025 by Oldblueyes
Added remark quotes

[coolhandfox]

8 minutes ago, RyCleary said:

He would do both those things in buckets in the championship - given how bad we were last year relative to the league, no one would be

People said the same about Nacho last time, how did that work out.

 

El Khannouss has scored 6 goals in the league in whole career of games 93 games (6689 minutes)

 

Hey it could work, but it would be a very risk thing to pin all you hopes on.

[Merchant_Banker]

4 minutes ago, Oldblueyes said:

"Page looks about ready, and Aluko is a beast. I’d put both Aluko and Monga straight in, Monga is already probably the best winger on the league….. he’s just insanely good. "

 

Monga needs to get his head up a bit more and pass it to somebody in a better position. He seems he wants to take all the oposition on and then do it all again sometimes.

I thought he was actually better at this in this game. He didn't try to beat his full back every time and sometimes played the easy pass. 

[CornwallFox]

31 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

If we honestly can't bring anyone in then its going to be interesting to see what we do. Daka presses well but his finishing is beyond words, I genuinely don't know what's happened to him.

 

Monga will be our best player within a year and we ought to build our team around him but pressing is not necessarily his strong point either, so deploying Ayew and Monga would weaken the high press but maybe Ayew is a better option up front than Daka? If it comes down to it then Monga and Daka.

 

Fatawu and Mavididi press well, as does El Khannouss (if he stays). Jake Evans and Alves are intense runners too so there's plenty that can fit in Cifuentes style, but central midfield is a head scratcher. 

Daka is genuinely the worst footballer I've seen in a city shirt in 35 years of supporting them. Like a competition winner. I'm constantly stunned some here still claim things like we just don't play to his strengths. His only strength is running fast but as soon as he goes near the ball it's like he's trying to ice skate in slick shoes.

[Chelmofox]

1 minute ago, coolhandfox said:

People said the same about Nacho last time, how did that work out.

 

El Khannouss has scored 6 goals in the league in whole career of games 93 games (6689 minutes)

 

Hey it could work, but it would be a very risk thing to pin all you hopes on.

BEK as a false 9 is madness imho. Play him where he shines and is a creative outlet.  

[RyCleary]

7 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

People said the same about Nacho last time, how did that work out.

 

El Khannouss has scored 6 goals in the league in whole career of games 93 games (6689 minutes)

 

Hey it could work, but it would be a very risk thing to pin all you hopes on.

Alternative is Daka who can't score or Ayew who can't press

[coolhandfox]

2 minutes ago, RyCleary said:

Alternative is Daka who can't score or Ayew who can't press

Daka finishing is inconsistent, but still scored 7 in 1095 minutes in the championship last time which is a 1 in 2 ratio.

 

100% we bring in a forward.

[GingerrrFox]

Embrace the Spanish style of play and kill teams with possession. We haven’t currently got a striker of starting quality so I’d go false 9 like previously mentioned.

 

Hermansen/Jakub

 

Ricky P

Okoli

Nelson

Thomas

 

Winks

Page

 

Fatawu

Alves

Monga

 

BEK

[Claudio Fannieri]

I really don’t see BEK staying a team in the prem or one of Europes top 5 leagues will take a punt on him, probably get him for £30m and I could see a West Ham type of club or even a Brighton/Brentford coming in for him. 
 

However we have some frighteningly good attacking options and I would like to see Mavididi and McAteer used as a central striker option in next couple of pre season games as I think either could do a decent job, pacy, can finish and would both set the tone in terms of high press. 
 

Daka is just way too inconsistent and his finishing is appalling, whilst Ayew lacks the mobility but does offer the ability to hold up play and win free kicks etc, but would need absolute screaming pace around him otherwise we run the risk of being very slow and laboured upfront. 
 

Personally I think there is a lot of work to be done to move out a few high earners who don’t necessarily fit the mould of how we will play this season, my only hope is that there are deals for some in the pipeline which are just waiting for the new man to be offically announced and then the deals ratified. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

14 minutes ago, RyCleary said:

Alternative is Daka who can't score or Ayew who can't press

Other alternative is try McAteer or Mavididi as the striker reckon both offer more than Daka, BEK and Ayew in terms of overall output from a strikers point of view. 

[Foxes96]

I know it’s not that simple but would be really intrigued to see McAteer up front. He’s quick, presses really well, decent finisher & positioning getting in the right places and is obviously huge so could offer a physical presence up top 
 

He’s also not particularly technical or great at beating his man so not a natural fit as a winger under Marti I wouldn’t have thought. 

[LcFc_Smiv]

4 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

Other alternative is try McAteer or Mavididi as the striker reckon both offer more than Daka, BEK and Ayew in terms of overall output from a strikers point of view. 

McAteer certainly gets in the right positions, he's one of the few who he makes a run to get across the front of the keeper or get in at the back post, it's just his technical ability that lets him down. However we saw he started in the Championship last time, I think if you have no one else he's a good option without pulling other players out of a position where they can thrive.

[Merchant_Banker]

3 minutes ago, Foxes96 said:

I know it’s not that simple but would be really intrigued to see McAteer up front. He’s quick, presses really well, decent finisher & positioning getting in the right places and is obviously huge so could offer a physical presence up top 
 

He’s also not particularly technical or great at beating his man so not a natural fit as a winger under Marti I wouldn’t have thought. 

It's funny how opinions differ, I was wondering if he could play as an 8. 

[cityfanlee23]

Early on last season the full back position was our weakest, fast forward 12 months and it's one of our strongest now. 
Hopefully we can get Kristiansen off the books otherwise we have him, Thomas and Aluko all fighting for the same position, and on the other side we have Ricardo, JJ and Coulibaly, I don't think it's possible to keep them all happy. 

I know he made a big error yesterday, but I'd be tempted to play Ricardo as an out and out CM which would save us needing to sign a midfielder, and would allow us to rotate Woyo/JJ on the right and keep them both relatively happy, if we play Ricado as an inverting RB, either Woyo or JJ will be starved of game time at pretty critical points in their career. 
I don't even know if that position would suit him, I think he can play it at this level but whether he would thrive for us there would be another conversation. Difficult puzzle for us at the moment. 
 

Edited 13 July 2025 by cityfanlee23

[Wolfox]

22 minutes ago, Foxes96 said:

I know it’s not that simple but would be really intrigued to see McAteer up front. He’s quick, presses really well, decent finisher & positioning getting in the right places and is obviously huge so could offer a physical presence up top 
 

He’s also not particularly technical or great at beating his man so not a natural fit as a winger under Marti I wouldn’t have thought. 

Funny that…. I was reading through the debate and thought exactly the same…. He knows how to finish and is a strong presence and will press very well…. I’d be intrigued to see if he could be converted 

[LcFc_Smiv]

12 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Early on last season the full back position was our weakest, fast forward 12 months and it's one of our strongest now. 
Hopefully we can get Kristiansen off the books otherwise we have him, Thomas and Aluko all fighting for the same position, and on the other side we have Ricardo, JJ and Coulibaly, I don't think it's possible to keep them all happy. 

I know he made a big error yesterday, but I'd be tempted to play Ricardo as an out and out CM which would save us needing to sign a midfielder, and would allow us to rotate Woyo/JJ on the right and keep them both relatively happy, if we play Ricado as an inverting RB, either Woyo or JJ will be starved of game time at pretty critical points in their career. 
I don't even know if that position would suit him, I think he can play it at this level but whether he would thrive for us there would be another conversation. Difficult puzzle for us at the moment. 
 

While it's strong in numbers I think we have to maintain a number of options in there particularly with the injury records of Ricky P and JJ. It also depends whether we are going with a back 4 or 5, Aluko seems to have the ability and size to operate in one of the more central positions particularly if we go with a 3 and Thomas did that role well towards the end of last season. As much as I wanted VK to work for us I think it's getting to the point we look to move him on, I don't think he's a bad player or a particular weak point, but he offers little in comparison to the others without any form of return.

 

Once the season gets going in this league and the games come thick and fast I think we will need that depth across the back, there seems to be a number of ways you can utilise the individuals in those positions so it will interesting to see how the manager makes the most of their qualities.

[RyCleary]

42 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

Other alternative is try McAteer or Mavididi as the striker reckon both offer more than Daka, BEK and Ayew in terms of overall output from a strikers point of view. 

Fair, agree both better ideas