The Midfield Conundrum

[pmcla26]

4 hours ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

Winks lacks the physical presence and athleticism to be our DM, yes he can control games but too often he will get bullied out of games. 
 

Our recruitment of central midfielders in the last 3/4 years has been woeful. We have accumulated a group that either can pass but not tackle, tackle but not pass or in the case of Skipp and Soumare do neither. 
 

Winks has become a better player not being in the team, yes he did well 2nd half of yesterday but for the majority of pre season he has been as crap as any. 
 

We desperately need to rip up our existing midfield and start again, so sell Winks and Soumare, buy or loan 2 physical and athletic midfielders and blood Louis Page. 

Depends on how our PSR situation looks next summer. 
 

We aren’t broke, it’s just whether we’re allowed to spend the money or not. 

[egg_fried_rice]

Missing Wilf already.

 

How bad are our financials? Has anyone done a best estimate analysis to work out roughly what we need to bring in and cut in order to start spending again?

 

CM is the priority position for me.

[dmayne7]

3 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Always wondered if Faes could play DCM, he's mobile, physical and decent on the ball.

People float this idea often but absolutely not, at least not as part of 2 in there. All those attributes would seem lessened if he were to play in position where he's more exposed to the game. He'd switch off way too often as well. If you're going to go down that route, might as well play Hamza as he's more athletic than Faes.

 

I actually don't think we need that type of defensive midfielder as we'll dominate the ball most games, so better off with a Winks type player.

[jv1]

13 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

 

 

Winks outlay for this season is north of £6m. Getting his wages and book value gone should be a priority. We could possibly get two players in and be better off, plus not have the issue of him leaving for free next summer.

 

I rate Winks at this level but not enough to keep him for the sake of it. Tarnished his rep last season, get him gone.

I agree with a fair bit you say ric but get rid of the only only of our cms that can actually play is bonkers - you can talk about book value etc and wages but you lose him and zero chance we go up and that costs us more - bin the other 2 chancers off that started yesterday- they are horrible - winks has consistently proved at this level he is one of the best players in the division- to get rid and trust that we would replace with anyone anywhere near as good seems mad to me when he is already there and instantly improved the team - at least 5 others who we need to get out - he ain’t one of them - I’m not buying that he tarnished anything either - last season was a disaster and he isn’t good enough for the prem fair enough but the fact he fell out with the worst manager we have ever had doesn’t tarnish anything for me - get 2 young loans in around him and we stand every chance this year 

[Claudio Fannieri]

4 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

Winks is outstanding in The Championship. He completely changed the game today. He should stay and start. I agree that the other two are not good enough. Soumare has all the attributes but his application is shockingly bad, Skipp is bang average in every aspect and is better suited to League 1 or 2. Time for Louis Page to stake a claim. 

Winks is outstanding when it suits, in the 2nd half of the season under Enzo when the chips were down Winks went missing as much as anyone, if we paying players the the thick end of 60k per week in the 2nd tier then they should dominate pretty much every game. In truth he is a flat track bully, who based on performances justifys a salary of no more than £30k per week max. 
 

Another Coady, Vesty, Faes etc their wages are based on past reputation rather than current performance. If we signed Winks for £6m + and gave him +£50k per week wages in the 2nd tier there would be absolute uproar on here. 
 

Get rid, reinvest and move on. 

[Happy Fox]

We cannot get rid of Winks in the championship he's one of the best midfielders, unless we are spending big on a replacement of equal calibre if not better, makes no sense to get rid, even if he leaves as a free agent next summer. 

[Shit_arse]

where's Michael Golding? surely he should ne knocking on the door at this level

[Bordersfox]

What sort of player is Page?  Is he box to box or more of a 10? 

[Dahnsouff]

4 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

Winks is outstanding when it suits, in the 2nd half of the season under Enzo when the chips were down Winks went missing as much as anyone, if we paying players the the thick end of 60k per week in the 2nd tier then they should dominate pretty much every game. In truth he is a flat track bully, who based on performances justifys a salary of no more than £30k per week max. 
 

Another Coady, Vesty, Faes etc their wages are based on past reputation rather than current performance. If we signed Winks for £6m + and gave him +£50k per week wages in the 2nd tier there would be absolute uproar on here. 
 

Get rid, reinvest and move on. 

This was the point I was making pre-match yesterday about Winks being like a bag of Revels, so we should stick with consistent lower quality in Soumare / Skipp.

 

Needless to say, I am no longer so convinced. 

[Grebfromgrebland]

8 minutes ago, Shit_arse said:

where's Michael Golding? surely he should ne knocking on the door at this level

There was no way Chelsea were going to allow a player that will be good enough for first team football come to us.

[Product of 84]

Winks did two things better than Skipp that really helped us yesterday.

 

1. He played the ball accurately between the lines which gave the players around him confidence that he'd make the pass of they made the run.

 

2. He found the space to receive the ball in more dangerous areas of the pitch. 

 

If we are dominant in procession then Winks is the answer. Skipp isn't that physically imposing so will lose out to Soumare and isn't as good on the ball as Winks. He is better when we don't have the ball so much at making interceptions and then recieving the ball in the space afforded by more attacking teams. 

 

If you watched Skipp yesterday when we had procession he was often found on the right side with his back to goal in the middle of a square of Sheffield players. Hence 'going missing' as we were reluctant to play him the ball as he hasn't the skill set to keep possession. Winks has the ability to do this, receive the ball and move it on- sometimes by playing a defence splitting pass. 

 

Like most of our team Winks, Soumare, Skipp (in the right games) will be fine in this league and we should be up there but it's what happens if we are promoted. None of them are good enough in the Prem where we will go from dominating the ball to being dominated.

 

And that's the biggest problem our whole club has. Apart from Fatawu we don't really have a Premiership ready player. We have players that could do 'jobs' in the right set ups. 

[coolhandfox]

45 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

 

 

Winks outlay for this season is north of £6m. Getting his wages and book value gone should be a priority. We could possibly get two players in and be better off, plus not have the issue of him leaving for free next summer.

 

I rate Winks at this level but not enough to keep him for the sake of it. Tarnished his rep last season, get him gone.

You have just said use the money to pay for getting rid of Soumare, can't use it for both?

 

I don't see you getting two players fee and wages for 6m.

 

I think there are players I try and offload before Winks, which has show he can play at this level and we a decent manager and a better team around him could be a asset in the PL.

 

I'd be offloading, Thomas who been crap since 21/22, Soumare, VK, who have been crap their whole City carers, BCDR, Skipp, before Wink.

 

Likelihood BEK goes before the close of the window, and if we goes that leave us with, Skipp, Hamza and Soumare. 

[Jimmy]

2 hours ago, Bordersfox said:

What sort of player is Page?  Is he box to box or more of a 10? 

more of a 6/8 but obviously technically good enough that Marti has used him at 10 pre season

[Muzzy_no7]

Asmir Gigovic.

 

Iker Munoz.

 

Jan Schoeppner.

 

3 realistic options all suited to Marti-ball.

 

Will Rudkin know them? Naaaah

[Pliskin]

2 hours ago, Shit_arse said:

where's Michael Golding? surely he should ne knocking on the door at this level

He will never play for us. He will never play at this level, he is a million miles away from being a senior footballer. He will end up in league one, and then eventually probably non league. 

[FoxinNotts]

Not resolved.

What is Page's best position?

Anyone know where he prefers to play?

[Corky]

Awful options. Ten years ago Andy King who scored over 60 goals for the club was fourth choice. Now Soumare is first.

[FoxinNotts]

Soumare and Skipp should only be used in the League cup matches, going forward 

 

 

 

 

👀

[TrentFox]

Winks and Soumare for me. Ricardo as fullback stepping up once he’s fit allowing winks to push on. 

[STUHILL]

The absolute bare minimum in this window, is to get a Striker and CM in. 

 

We actually need 6 IN, 4 OUT, but we really are midtable at best, if we don't at very least sign a starting striker and CM to play alongside Winks. 

[LCFCCKEANO]

We need a CDM and an 8, and I think it is going under the radar just how desperate we are for both because of how equally desperate we are for a striker. 

[EnderbyFox]

Skipp & Soumare, almost 50 million quid spunked on these two cloggers, makes me yearn for the days of Richie Wellens 

[STUHILL]

watching them tonight, I found myself wondering if they would also struggle in League 1 as well. 
How did we end up with two of these donuts?! 

[Nods]

We have the same players we had last time, except Bilal for KDH, which in some respects (other than pure goalscoring), is an upgrade. 

 

Play Ricardo centrally in there with Winks when he's fit. 

 

Yeet Soumare and Oliver in to the nearest Skipp. 

[Old Fox]

16 minutes ago, LCFCCKEANO said:

We need a CDM and an 8, and I think it is going under the radar just how desperate we are for both because of how equally desperate we are for a striker. 

We need midfielders more than a striker imo - getting the ball to a striker and having the balance defensively and attack wise we have no options at all - send Soumare on loan, sell winks if he does not want to be here and take Skipp and put him in one - we need 2 midfielders at least !!