og1874

We've got a stone age Whirlpool that we inherited with our house when we bought it - dries anything, including duvets, in a max of 55 mins. Don't make em like they used to!

2 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Well, yeah. I actually don't think our strikers are the problem. Looking at our xG stats, we have scored 42 goals against an xG of 33. I'd say that means were pretty efficient when we do get a sniff of goal. 

an xG of 33... that is utterly abysmal

1 hour ago, Kuwabatake Sanjuro said:

Grim but a good example of the rabbit holes that covid denialism has sent people down. Almost seems that a big proportion of those who lost their mind on covid have gone down the route of being pro Russian too (along with a few other common routes)

You have to chuckle at the whole "the media is lying to us" schtick. Believe it or not, the vast majority of journalists don't actually publish what they believe to be lies. The might be wrong, sure. They might have gobbled up some agenda-fuelled nonsense from elsewhere, but they do tend to actually believe what they're writing.

The idea that the entire media, comprised of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people worldwide, get their heads together to pull off some conspiracy is utterly laughable.

Most conspiracy theories collapse when you ask the question "how many people do you think it would need to know the real story and then conspire to cover it up, without it falling to pieces instantly, for the global media/governments/etc to pull it off?", and then point out how utterly useless and inept the people regurgitating those conspiracy theories hold the media/government to actually be... Couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery, but can work with millions globally to successfully carry out a massive conspiracy without breaking a sweat.

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

It would be a punt if he was about £15-20m, but Roma are looking upwards of £60m+.  Not worth it, as we already have two strikers that would provide a similar output.

15-20m gets you 60-80% of a Chris Wood these days, if you're doing well

1 minute ago, HKP90 said:

All fair points. That's the thing about a good commanding DM though. He lets everyone else f**k off up the other end and hurt the opposition. When you have a good one, you only need one (cue kenneth). 

Yup, and it's honestly very difficult to get a genuine feel for the overall quality of our midfield without that guy in there. It could be a revelation, turning the likes of McGinn and Luiz into world beaters. (It probably wouldn't be quite that good, but honestly it's just so so hard to actually know until we have that guy - it certainly wouldn't make things worse, that's for sure) 

Just now, duke313 said:

Replace all 3 CMs with 3 DMs, might get a few 0-0s at least.

Haha if we had 3 decent DMs we wouldn't have this issue to begin with. I'd be interested to just how Nakamba, Chambers, and Luiz would far in the middle. I would imagine it would be absolutely turgid.

2 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I see where you are going, but I just don't see goals in that system. We'd control the ball, but our width would be from full backs which would mean our wide men would be deeper than conventional wingers, and would not have anyone to cross to. We would have to play through the middle every time, which means the opposition could just pack out the defensive midfield, and we'd have no options. 

When false nines are used in a front 3 it's because the wide men operate as inside forwards and make a beeline for the box every time the F9 gets the ball. They are effectively strikers in all but name , but coming from a wide position on a diagonal trajectory.  With wing backs, we'd have no-one anywhere near the box, unless they break through the centre, which would be easy to counter. A Burnley tactic would spank us every single time.  

In fairness we probably have the personnel to operate a front three with a false 9. We just don't play them at the moment. 

 

The problem with any system at the moment stems from the wafer thin CM. There's nothing we can really do except pile some more bodies into it and hope for the best, or continue with what we're doing and be played through as if we're not there.

Just now, HKP90 said:

Would a 5-3-2-0 not just be a defensive/squished 5-3-2? 

I'm happy with a strikerless system using a false 9 in a front 3, but I am not sure I understand how a 5-3-2-0 would work. Happy to be convinced. 

Well it'd mean not playing Ings or Watkins, and instead having Coutinho almost slipping into the most advanced role when attacking, or allowing for someone like JJ to slip in from deep into that role. It brings a level of uncertainty to the opposition defence, and makes the midfield unit more difficult to play through as there's an extra body. Then you've got the width provided by Cash and Digne, without sacrificing bodies to cover wide when they're pushed up - instead the 3 in midfield would be a diamond of 2-1 that would move up and down in unison - if JJ or SMG break forward, you could look at Buendia to be a body to slip back (he's NOT a CM, but it adds someone else to at least break up line of sight for a pass, or to harry someone breaking with the ball. It's not conventional, by any stretch, and I'm no football manager, but it might work if the banks work as units properly, and the switches are well drilled.

Just now, Tom13 said:

Is anyone else concerned though that he plays McGinn full 90 every single game and Sanson (who looks to be a technically superior player) has barely had a look in? It's very concerning to me.

100%. McGinn is far from our worst player, but aside from bringing in a DM, he's the first midfielder I'd like to see an upgrade on in the summer. Absolutely no sleight on John.

Just now, HKP90 said:

That would be Chambers stepping out of the back 3 or tracking back with the opposition 10

Chambers stepping out of the back 3 would leave us, if hit on the break (which we are prone to), with 2 defenders, both narrow, and both prone to an error. We would be at very real risk of being dismantled

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

With the DM dropping to CB you wouldn't need 3 in midfield, 5221 or 5212 if playing with two strikers:

---------------------------Martinez-------------------------------

----------Konsa-------Chambers---------Mings---------

Cash-------------MC---------------MC----------------Digne

---------------Buendia------------Coutinho------------------

----------------------------Watkins--------------------------------

With the players we have at our disposal, we definitely need 3 in the middle or we'll just be played though as usual

1 minute ago, TRO said:

your comments are refreshing and apt.

I just try to avoid hyperbole and look at the facts at any given point in time. We have a squad of decent players individually, but it's frustratingly unbalanced and there's not really anything we can do about it until the transfer window opens. At that point we might get it right, we might not.

1 minute ago, HKP90 said:

Fair. Just thought I'd start a discussion. I've said it before, but it would mitigate the defensive issues we have in midfield. Might screw our attack up, but just throwing it out there

I think there might be benefit to it to be honest, but if we were to do it I'd honestly go for no striker

2 minutes ago, Pez1974 said:

On current form, I agree.

For a lot of last season he looked much better, and hit the bar/post, got VAR'd or something cost him quite a few goals. 
I think he's got a higher ceiling than he's showing right now - he needs serious coaching.

But the things you can't coach - pace, stamina, attitude - are all very good in my opinion.

My biggest concern with Ollie has always been his decision making - it's abysmal almost across the board. Wrong pass, wrong shot placement, shooting too hard, shooting too soft, taking up the wrong position. That can be coached, but it's probably the hardest thing to coach. He just does the wrong thing too frequently, and that's his biggest weakness. No good running around a lot if you're not running in the right places.

Just now, HKP90 said:

Why not, with a stepping up CB/DM in Chambers, you take some of the defensive work away from the midfield. Maybe drop either luiz or Mcginn, but either way play them further up. Play Cout and/or Buendia a little deeper in Midfield to accommodate the two up top, or alternatively either play one of Cout or Emi2 and have a hybrid midfielder in like Sanson, who is comfortable a bit deeper. 

 

I think you lose a lot from Coutinho if he's dropped deeper, and Buendia just isn't that player for me. 

1 minute ago, PaulC said:

I'm of the opinion Watkins can become a 20 goal a season man. 

I don't see it. For him to get 20 goals he'd need a minimum of 4-5 clear cut chances every game, and he neither has the positional awareness for that, nor do we play in a way that would allow for that to happen, sadly. 

8 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I mean, I know I'm going to get toasted for this, but if we do want our fullbacks to provide the width, could we not........go..............3 at the back?

Then we're looking at 5-3-1-1 most likely, which probably won't work with the personnel either. If we were to go 3 at the back, we might be better off not playing a forward at all and going 5-3-2-0 with hybrid 10s

21 minutes ago, TRO said:

One player, with the right qualities i.e Leadership ....could very easily have a knock on effect to the rest of the team....I have seen it in the past.

 

Totally agree with this. Sometimes you only need one player to pull everything together, and that player doesn't even necessarily need to be anything special - just someone who can do their job right and let those around them do theirs. Right now we have everyone worrying about everyone else making a balls of something meaning they'll have to cover. One guy who just does what he needs to do can change everything.

1 minute ago, PaulC said:

I think a lot of clubs would be interested in both. Watkins we'd make a profit on and Ings a loss. We need to sign the right type of players so these players can flourish. 

I'm still of the opinion that if we can offload both, we should

7 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Robbie Keane was over a decade too late   

The Bent one always irks me. Have the two most on form wingers in the league? Sign Heskey. Sign Darren Bent? Sell both the wingers.

Gaming in 2022 for me has consisted predominantly of trying to find 8-12 hour single player games that I can take a couple of weeks away from and not be completely lost when I have the time to jump back in. So far I've redone Gears 1-3 plus Judgment. I've swerved slightly to actually finish GTA V on the Series X, but then I'll probably head to the Tomb Raider trilogy from last gen. Now I know what my dad meant 25 years ago when he would say "I don't have the brainpower for these new games, they're too confusing"... this is my life now. I just can't do sprawling open worlds. I need linearity.

1 minute ago, sparrow1988 said:

 

Poppycock.

 

Scrabble calculator - https://thekatespanos.com/scrabble-score-calculator/

That's 17 points for TRO, 18 points for Tomaszk and 26 points for me. Can anyone get a better scrabble score using synonyms of 'nonsense' from the 19th century or earlier?

Best i can do is nincompoop for 18

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

I think they would have still had to pay him up so I imagine Brentford just took it over and just signing a 6 months deal gives inter some savings

 

Possibly, but surely Inter's insurance would've covered any pay-off to terminate the contract?

Just now, Zatman said:

That was his Inter contract, cant imagine Brentford paying all of that unless they agreed it with Inter in his payoff

I think his Inter contract was just torn up on the basis he wasn't allowed to play