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Transfers January 2020 transfer thread

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It has it's up's and downs like most teams.

Berbatov, Bale, Modric, Dembele, Eriksen, Vert, Hugo... All pretty major building blocks to the pre-Poch era.
Yeah but when our whole recruitment model has essentially been built around selling players for big money and replacing them (as some teams such as Dortmund have done well) you have to admit we’ve executed it pretty poorly for the last 20 odd years.
 
I have seen a number of European clubs use the diamond system this season, and I don't think I have seen any wingers in the shuttling role, to be honest. If you could point me in the direction of some examples, that would be cool.
The original image Château NoHo Château NoHo posted literally has right wing/left wing called out as the 7 and 11. Most teams (and Spurs) use 8s there and a 10 behind the two forward players since dynamic fullbacks are in vogue, but I’m sure that someone has used a diamond or 4-1-3-2 with wingers next to an 8 in the last decade.
 
You might have a point but he did switch to 4231 which these players weren’t able to perform in either, so 433 in all likelihood would have been a dud too.
Battering Chelsea and Mourinhos United 3-0 are just two other games that spring to mind where we looked excellent in the diamond.

Chelsea is a good shout, but we were awful for most that United win. United should have been out of sight before we'd even scored our first. Point is, there weren't many; which leaves me to conclude that other teams flaws allowed it to click on those rare occasions.

Re: 4231... Depend when you are referring to..... Last season there was a sigh of relief more often than not when we played it. This season, he was even more hellbent on the diamond, but it seemed he'd already lost the players by the time he'd loosened his clinging grip on it.
 
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Can you name one big player we have sold since ENIC took over we have successfully replaced?
We have lost 4 or 5 outstanding players in that time, I suppose, and struggled and/or failed to replace any of them immediately. However, we have bought exceptionally well at times, especially, I feel, around the time we had a DoF model.
 
Poch abandoned any formation that required a DM.
It was called a diamond. Remember?
Probably why we never looked at a DM, or ever used one.
But why did he abandon any formation that required a DM? C'mon Sammy, it seems you are trying to twist things here to lay blame on Poch. Did he go diamond because we had no DM or did he go diamond and therefore didn't want a DM? Chicken and egg Sammy.
 
We have lost 4 or 5 outstanding players in that time, I suppose, and struggled and/or failed to replace any of them immediately. However, we have bought exceptionally well at times, especially, I feel, around the time we had a DoF model.
Almost all of our big sales and smart purchases have come under that model.

The moment we got rid off it saw us starting to be a lot more hit and miss in recruitment.

That we have the scouting out to an external company is very interesting. But as someone else said hopefully we are working on putting together our own department with a DOF in charge of it.

If we do that we can start climbing back up the ranks fairly well I think.
 
The thing that killed the diamond experiment was most likely our fitness regime.

We all know that Poch put an extreme focus on fitness and had very few rest days for the players all the way into the game day. So when it was time to play the players were already tired and sore.

Even the eternal engine known as Sissoko complained about the physical strain that the diamond put on the midfielders.

If Poch had eased up on the fitness regime we could probably have avoided some of the pitfalls we fell into towards the end.
I think he ruined Ndombele in pre-season.
 
Yeah but when our whole recruitment model has essentially been built around selling players for big money and replacing them (as some teams such as Dortmund have done well) you have to admit we’ve executed it pretty poorly for the last 20 odd years.

Absolutely not.

As a model, I'd say it is mildly different in that it was in fact based around signing talent before they blow up and selling them on before the bottom falls out of their value (some players forced our hand - Berba, Modric & Bale), but they were not pro-actively up for sale at the time.

.....Consider where we were in 2000 and where we are now (beyond the current dip) and the peaks of the last few years. How, over the long term, can you tell me with a straight face that it's not worked to a large degree????
 
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But why did he abandon any formation that required a DM? C'mon Sammy, it seems you are trying to twist things here to lay blame on Poch. Did he go diamond because we had no DM or did he go diamond and therefore didn't want a DM? Chicken and egg Sammy.

Bought: Ndombele, GLC, Sissoko,
Wanted: Grealish, De Jong,
Insisted: Winks as hybrid was DM enough.

When's the last time we were linked to a proper DM?

He went full-on stubbornly dedicated to the diamond when we got Lucas up to speed..... He spoke about wanting to play 2 strikers.
 
Wonder if our new mate mendes could help us nick the wolves fitness trainer.

If I remember correctly they have a ridiculously good injury record.
The guy we have now is an old running mate of Mourinhos. And Mou is not known for super strenuous fitness training. Seems like he does the heavy fitness stuff early in the week and puts more focus on drills and tactics as you head into the game, which I guess leads to the squad being fresher on game day.

But we could definitely go with a more modern fitness staff overall. The former one was headed by Poch's son.
 
Diawara, Bruno, Semedo in would be a dreamland window

Son
Lo Celso Dele Bruno
Diawara Winks
Sess Sanchez Toby Semedo
Gazza

That’s a strong team even with all the injuries.
 
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