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El-Reacho

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Everything posted by El-Reacho

  1. El-Reacho
    Goes back to the DM role again. Playing Bailey at right wingback makes sense if we’ve either 3 centre backs or else 2 centre backs and a midfielder right in front of them.
  2. El-Reacho
    If his system is so reliant on what Nakamba brings then surely the first player he should’ve signed should’ve been someone as close to Nakamba as possible. Even just on loan. It wouldn’t have cost £50m to replace Nakamba.
  3. El-Reacho
    Sherwood had a plan and a system. It was crap and we got relegated but Tactics Tim had a plan and a system. Regardless of their prior experience they’re both Villa managers and as far as I’m concerned they’re starting to become remarkably similar.
  4. El-Reacho
    The comparisons aren’t stupid. They’re pretty stark. It’s exactly the same disconnect between what the manager wants his players to do and what they’re actually doing. When it’s clear that the players can’t or won’t respond to what’s being asked of them then they’re both found wanting. Add to that all the big talk, dogged self-belief, and a CEO who is utterly besotted with him then I reckon the parallels are pretty clear. You mightn’t agree but it doesn’t make it childish or stupid.
  5. El-Reacho
    If we stay up by the skin of our teeth then Gerrard isn’t good enough. We should’ve sacked Sherwood the summer after he kept us up but the writing was on the wall and it was clear he was a bluffer at that stage. Hopefully we’d not do the same again.
  6. El-Reacho
    Jeez if Gerrard took this team down he’d never work in football again. Purslow would likely be shown the door too, shareholding or not.
  7. El-Reacho
    This has Sherwood MK2 written all over it. All talk, soundbites, and very little else. I hope to god he can at least keep us up. We’ll see the stories of who he really wanted to sign in January but wasn’t allowed to leaking out this week I’m sure.
  8. El-Reacho
    Not sure what people expected of him on Sunday. He was up against a centre half who was about 3 feet taller than him and yet we pumped long balls at him expecting him to win aerial battles. When we played it into his feet there was no one anywhere near him to lay it off to. Ings didn't exactly show him how it was done when he came on either. The system is definitely not right for him, but it's clearly not right for quite a few players in the squad so surely the coaching team have to be pragmatic about it and work with what they have. I'll be gutted if Gerrard starts offloading the likes of Watkins/Cash/McGinn/Luiz etc. to other teams and they go on to be top performers again.
  9. El-Reacho
    It's only really one change away from how we're playing at the moment and makes a lot of sense. Luiz is playing as a hybrid DM/third CB for much of the time which is why I think he's become so ponderous on the ball. Maybe Chambers can play this role better. Would still drop Luiz for Sanson though - even if it's further up the pitch.
  10. El-Reacho
    If they’re saleable assets do we not need to ask why they’re not good enough for us? If McGinn goes to United, Cash to Atletico, Watkins to Arsenal etc. I think it’s fair to say they were good enough for us.
  11. El-Reacho
    Was pretty disheartening to see SG’s body language in stoppage time. Why was he not on the edge of his area? It was like we were 3-0 down. Players react to that sort of body language. Really hope this isn’t going in the Sherwood direction. Will be interesting if we start to hear ‘rumours’ that Digne/Chambers signings were Lange’s and not his if they don’t work out….
  12. El-Reacho
    There’s bound to be some logic in what we’re doing here hidden in the detail of the deal. Maybe it’s FFP related and will give us more room next summer or something. Between Purslow, Lange, and SG - they’re not going to sanction a deal that is not in the club’s best interests even if that means helping a future rival stay up (which it might not). They’ve demonstrated that repeatedly imho.
  13. El-Reacho
    Would’ve thought if they stay up they’ll be going after higher calibre players than Targett (with all due respect to him). There’s a big difference in quality between Targett and Trippier for example. I reckon they’re just trying to get him in as a stop gap to help keep them up and no more.
  14. El-Reacho
    Don’t know about Saudi Arabia but those Brazilian teams aren’t going to be paying him crazy wages. Might be sensible enough for 18months.
  15. El-Reacho
    Also gets the squad experienced and accustomed to Thursday night games with all the travelling and upheavel that goes with them.
  16. El-Reacho
    I think the Bissouma type signing in front of the defence will solve a lot of his problems. It will allow Ramsay/Sanson/Luiz to move into wider positions when we don’t have the ball which seems to be key to how he plays. When Countinho is up to speed he’ll come in for Watkins I reckon. Cash and Digne don’t need replacing. Definitely not a rebuild required. DM and maybe a CB similar to White at Arsenal.
  17. El-Reacho
    You’d imagine the Saudis in the north east will be all over it if Coutinho’s available.
  18. El-Reacho
    Pretty sure it's because every top division team in Europe is scouting the players the same data driven way so the top clubs are picking up the players with the best numbers when they're 17-18 and stock piling them. If there's a LB with the same numbers as Digne he'll have been sanpped up long ago. As good as our scouting department is we've probably only improved it to be as good as the other top teams in the PL. I think everyone is essentially looking at the same data and therefore the same players. Science takes any randomness or outliers out of the picture.
  19. El-Reacho
    Our recruitment since we were promoted has been good. We've gone and got the best players we could attract each window given our status at the time. The players in our squad that people are complaining about the most at the moment were signed before we'd played a PL game under these owners. The fact that they've all gone up in value but yet are now coming up short in terms of what we need at the moment shows how fast the club is progressing.
  20. El-Reacho
    LOL - we hope!!
  21. El-Reacho
    I think you're being harsh there. Targett was being linked with Leicester for big money during the summer. He'd be worth £15m no bother - young, English, plenty of games under his belt. If Trezeguet recovers to the same standard he was pre-injury we'd easily get £10m back for him. He's scored high profile goals for us in the league and cup - that alone would get us our £10m back these days. Bottom half of the PL standard players are worth £10-20m these days - Targett and Trezeguet are good enough for the bottom half of the table.
  22. El-Reacho
    In fairness the club has always done business professionally - the Xia/Wyness era was just a aberration (in more ways than one...). I remember the club being praised by other clubs when they signed or sold players under the Lerner regime in terms of their professionalism. Nobody really had a clue what was happening under O'Neill until it was done. Maybe Lambert was a bit more leaky to the press.
  23. El-Reacho
    I don't think Smith's era was anywhere near as bad as Sherwood's. When things went bad for Sherwood he dropped all the Paddy Riley players to try and prove a point and went all in with Lescott/Richards/Gestede who were clearly his own signings. Then the reports started to leak out about how he wanted Townsend and Adebayor and was overruled.... Smith never complained about recruitment under his tenure. He said he was given choices by Suso and then he had the final say for example with Wesley. He always backed all of the signings publicly. Maybe Guilbert is the only one who was close being thrown under the bus by him.
  24. El-Reacho
    Strangely enough Targett is one of those players too. I think if the club wanted to move him on we'd make a decent profit.
  25. El-Reacho
    Pressing isn’t an individual attribute. Ings can press all he wants but if it’s not done as a team it’s a waste of energy and teams can easily move the ball up the field. Under Smith this season the pressing wasn’t working for whatever reason. Gerrard has got a system working sort of but Ings hasn’t really played a major part of it yet. There’s no reason why Ings and Watkins can’t work together if Gerrard and his team coach them well enough so when they press it’s as a team and not individuals.
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