Yves Bissouma

[Pez1974]

43 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

If we don't bring in another midfielder we won't be finishing inside the top 10.

Simples.

Don't agree. The 6th to 15th positions are all very interchangeable. If we hadn't decided to have 2 days off when we played Watford, we're 9th (I mean, pick any out of about 8 games this season where we just threw points away).

I think we need another CM if we want to be a team challenging the Sky 6, depending on whether Ings and Watkins find their scoring boots again over the summer. 

[villa89]

safe enough we won't be signing this lad now with Kamara on board.

[Peter Griffin]

If we are genuinely trying to get into top half and European places we need to have a rock solid pair of DMs imo. Kamara looks like one and Bissouma would be the other. We need to be able to play them together and rotate depending on the opposition. Relying on just one and having our existing players as a backup is too risky. We could then look to offload Luiz and Nakamba if we wanted

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

26 minutes ago, Pez1974 said:

Don't agree. The 6th to 15th positions are all very interchangeable. If we hadn't decided to have 2 days off when we played Watford, we're 9th (I mean, pick any out of about 8 games this season where we just threw points away).

I think we need another CM if we want to be a team challenging the Sky 6, depending on whether Ings and Watkins find their scoring boots again over the summer. 

Also, If you look at the fact that we dropped 19 points from winning positions ( Many of our own doing ) those fine margins add up.

It's a combination of many things though, poor finishing, individual error, defensive mistakes etc 

We are potentially a very capable side with some tweaks.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

7 minutes ago, villa89 said:

safe enough we won't be signing this lad now with Kamara on board.

I feel like this is going to be another one of those circular arguments with point Vs counterpoint and posters repeating the same thing over again.

[Peter Griffin]

2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I feel like this is going to be another one of those circular arguments with point Vs counterpoint and posters repeating the same thing over again.

Its going to be a very long summer waiting till Aug 6th 

[david-avfc]

How would Bissouma fit into the side? From what we’ve seen from Gerrard he likes to have 1 deep midfielder with the other 2 midfielders slightly more advanced and pushing a little wider to cover the full backs, not really seen many examples of a “double pivot” being used. Can Bissouma play in a slightly more advanced position? I’d be interested in someone view who’s watched him more closely than I have, I’ve always thought of him as a defensive specialist 

[DaveAV1]

We need to move on from this massively out of date mentality of an 11 man squad. All of the top teams could field two decent teams. It’s not just about covering injuries and drops in form. Some match day starting lineups are more suited to playing against some opponents  than others.

Players can also get jaded. A reasonably recent example being the fact that MON never won a game in March. The game and use of squads has moved on even more since then. If we don’t play the big boy game we’ll never get to compete successfully with the big boys. Klopp and Pepe have huge and talented squads and yet they shout louder than anyone else about fixture congestion and player burn out. 
 

I know people will say but we’re not in Europe, but waiting until we are isn’t proper preparation. Also using domestic cups to give players game time is fair enough but it would be nice to field a team that still has a chance of winning those games. People always level the criticism at the rich clubs that they devalue the cups and don’t care about them. But it’s nearly always one of those that win the cups. I’m still waiting to see us lift the FA Cup, have been all my life and I’m no spring chicken anymore. 

[VillaChris]

4 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

We’ve needed a defensive midfielder since we got promoted, probably two actually. This idea that we’re done and it’s sorted now we’ve signed Kamara is laughable. He needs to be paired with somebody else in there that is more experienced and knows the league. 

Even if he is the superstar people say he is and he magically fixes all of our midfield issues, he might still get injured and then we’re back to square one. 

Bissouma or not, we need another defensive minded midfielder. 

Yeah seems a bit odd people are thinking we're done with CMs.

Sanson and Luiz leave and we actually don't have that many at the club who could play 8 role as it will just be McGinn playing every single minute of every single game which comes with all its pros and cons.

Unless we're going to drop Buendia into 8 role which would be interesting, perhaps worth a go in pre season.

As said if Kamara gets injured early on we'd have to go back to Nakamba so suddenly our team drops back to mid table standard for sure.

[sne]

Just now, david-avfc said:

How would Bissouma fit into the side? From what we’ve seen from Gerrard he likes to have 1 deep midfielder with the other 2 midfielders slightly more advanced and pushing a little wider to cover the full backs, not really seen many examples of a “double pivot” being used. Can Bissouma play in a slightly more advanced position? I’d be interested in someone view who’s watched him more closely than I have, I’ve always thought of him as a defensive specialist 

He's not really a sitting player so should work no problem in that role.

The way Gerrard set up at Rangers had a teeny tiny Steven Davis sitting deep and the 2 more physical Kamara (Finnish) and Aribo in from of him. Or at least the granted very few times I watched them.

[VillaFaninLondon]

1 hour ago, villa89 said:

safe enough we won't be signing this lad now with Kamara on board.

Not sure how you come to that conclusion.

[Mazrim]

Bissouma is extra insurance policy for the defence, like a hybrid 6/8 who covers Kamara and takes the ball forward to link up with Ramsey / Luiz, Buendia and Coutinho. This is how I see it working.

In that respect Bissouma would be far more effective than McGinn as he's far more mobile, a better destroyer, faster  more energy / workrate and more versatile. So I can absolutely see why we'd want Bissouma.

[VillaFaninLondon]

Luiz is likely to go, I think we'll look to sell Sanson too. That means we will only have four CM/DMs going into the new season which is not enough, especially as Nakamba isn't great. 

 

Buy Bissouma and sell Luiz and Sanson and we're left with McGinn, Ramsey, Bissouma, Kamara and Nakamba which is fine. I'd like Luiz to stay but don't think he will.

[messi11]

1) Bissouma,
2) Kouadio Kone
3) Ibrahim Sangare

1 of the 3 please. Get rid of Luiz and Sanson. Another Midfielder is a must 

[VillaParkAvenue]

4 hours ago, Peter Griffin said:

Its going to be a very long summer waiting till Aug 6th 

And a long bloody season after that

[ZL-]

For those wondering if Kamara + Bissouma would be too defensive a midfield, when looking at the teams above us it is very common to have at least 2 players in the midfield who could be categorised as a 6 (even if they don't play that role in that game necessarily)

Off the top of my head there is

Liverpool - Fabinho and Henderson

Chelsea - Jorginho and Kante

Spurs -  Hojberg and Bentancur

Arsenal - Partey and Xhaka

Real - Casemiro and Kroos

I'm sure there players there people will argue our b2b and will no doubt play that role but all would still be very comfortable as the deepest midfielder. The modern game has so many attacking players with high fullbacks, two midfielders that are more 'solid' certainly won't make the team any less attack minded.

With Ramsey and McGinn I don't think either fit into that category so the need for a 2nd defensively minded midfielder is certainly needed especially if Luiz is to be moved on as expected.

 

[DCJonah]

3 hours ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

Luiz is likely to go, I think we'll look to sell Sanson too. That means we will only have four CM/DMs going into the new season which is not enough, especially as Nakamba isn't great. 

 

Buy Bissouma and sell Luiz and Sanson and we're left with McGinn, Ramsey, Bissouma, Kamara and Nakamba which is fine. I'd like Luiz to stay but don't think he will.

Yep. We absolutely have to sign another CM player this summer. 

[gwi1890]

4 hours ago, david-avfc said:

How would Bissouma fit into the side? From what we’ve seen from Gerrard he likes to have 1 deep midfielder with the other 2 midfielders slightly more advanced and pushing a little wider to cover the full backs, not really seen many examples of a “double pivot” being used. Can Bissouma play in a slightly more advanced position? I’d be interested in someone view who’s watched him more closely than I have, I’ve always thought of him as a defensive specialist 

I would imagine he could fill the role that Mcginn plays, or JJ allowing Cash or Dinge  to push even higher and really ping our opponents  back to their half,  also the fact that he can win the ball back higher up the pitch allowing us to sustain pressure.

[VillaParkAvenue]

49 minutes ago, ZL- said:

For those wondering if Kamara + Bissouma would be too defensive a midfield, when looking at the teams above us it is very common to have at least 2 players in the midfield who could be categorised as a 6 (even if they don't play that role in that game necessarily)

Off the top of my head there is

Liverpool - Fabinho and Henderson

Chelsea - Jorginho and Kante

Spurs -  Hojberg and Bentancur

Arsenal - Partey and Xhaka

Real - Casemiro and Kroos

I'm sure there players there people will argue our b2b and will no doubt play that role but all would still be very comfortable as the deepest midfielder. The modern game has so many attacking players with high fullbacks, two midfielders that are more 'solid' certainly won't make the team any less attack minded.

With Ramsey and McGinn I don't think either fit into that category so the need for a 2nd defensively minded midfielder is certainly needed especially if Luiz is to be moved on as expected.

 

Agreed. A midfield three with both of McGinn and Ramsey in it will be very attack minded, no matter how defensive the DM is.

[Gompedyret]

For what it's worth.