When the 6 was playing well (first 10 games of the season), we looked unstoppable because we would not lose the ball under pressure and we'd move forward quickly, releasing Maddison to play his killer passes. The moment that Bissouma lost form, we either have trouble against sides that press us because we lose the ball and look vulnerable (like yesterday), or teams that can't press us just sit back and we have difficulties unlocking defenses, especially without Richarlison's box presence.
I don't know how good Onana's ball-carrying stats are, but to me he looks more like a physical monster that is insanely good at tackling than a progressive carrier. From what I've seen of Ederson this season he's quite all-rounded, kind of a jack of all trades, master of none player. We definitely need a good 6 though, because this system without it just leaves the CBs too exposed, and as good as VDV and Romero have been this season, sometimes they have an off day and games like yesterday happen.
I also think we need a striker, and a quality one at that. Son, as lethal as he is in front of goal, just doesn't have the physical presence and the movement of a striker, especially against a low block. Richy is good, but he can be improved on. From what I've seen of Gimenez in European Competitions these past 2 years (so not a big sample of games) he looks like a player that when on-form is unstoppable, but when he's off it he's more of a nuissance than a help. My dream has always been Vlahovic (which is hard to admit because I'm albanian and he's a serb) but he's an upgraded version of Richarlison, with killer free-kicks as well. He's quite one-footed, but his movement and pace are pretty good for a big lad. Pair him with Maddison and Johnson and we have quite a good support for him.
The rebuild has been under way since last year, and last year proved to be a good window for us considering the fact that we lost Kane. I'd say the biggest part of the rebuild is done, so now there just needs to be a bit of tweaking to make the attack more effective. In my opinion defence looks good (we just need a good LB rotation option), midfield will be tweaked for sure (PEH will leave, and Bissouma might be on his way out as well, with Bergvall and a 6 coming), but the attack cannot stay like it is. We have too many wingers, so Solomon and Gil are goners for sure, leaving us with Werner (if we do decide to take him), Johnson, Son and Kulusevski and Richarlison up top. If we want to compete for the League, then we need to upgrade on Richarlison and possibly on Werner as well (although I really like him). Vlahovic and Nico Williams for Richarlison and Werner would make the attack much more balanced and threatening. The final piece of business would be Olise for GLC, but that's extremely unrealistic at the moment, and GLC is quite good when he plays (which isn't that often).
To summarise, this is the ideal business for me in the summer:
+ Onana/Ederson
- Bissouma
+ Bergvall
- Hojbjerg
+ Nico Williams
- Gil
- Solomon
+ Vlahovic
- Richarlison
Werner and GLC for me are quite hard to judge, because I value them and I think that they bring something to the side.
