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Transfers Summer Transfer thread - 2024

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How Dry should our Powder be?

  • Total voters
    58
Starks said:
Then that's on Ange.

If he signs off on bringing Eze in as a record transfer only to play him left wing and instructs him to cut inside where Udogie is, then he's a fucking idiot.

Eze is more than capable of going outside. Or occasionally switching it up to allow Udogie to overlap. Or coming central whilst Maddison drifts to the left.

The possibilities for drawing defenders away, creating space and panic in opponents is endless.
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Quite which is why I'm questioning these links.

Whether he instructs him to cut inside is neither here nor there - the point is what he is comfortable at doing and what he is good at doing.

People keep saying that he's capable of going round the outside, I don't doubt he is but what is he likely to do when he's facing up a player when he has the ball? What is in his instinctive nature when he's taking on a fall back, is he likely to go round the outside or is he more likely to cut infield which is what he's practically been doing his whole career?

Unless we see a complete change of Ange's system where all these players interchange then it could probably work but I'm going by what I saw for the majority of the season just gone and your scenario you think could happen doesn't sound like something we saw too much of last season.

Starks said:
I've seen him do it plenty of times Udinese. So he's capable. It's just a way of making us less predictable.

If we go into next season playing with predictability, Ange is fucked.

Which is why we won't. Which is why van de Ven at LB in some games will be a huge asset. Why Eze playing centrally in games will be an asset etc.
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The question isn't whether Udogie cannot overlap, we know he can...the question is what Ange's setup permits and we rarely saw him overlap the winger last season.

Starks said:
Yes.

Eze coming in may be predictable due to his tendencies to come on to his strongest foot. But he's alot harder to deal with than someone like Son due to how much better Eze is than Son at everything bar probably ball striking.

You can let Son go on the outside because he's not a very good close control, beat you with skill and pace winger. Even Werner is better than Son at that. And tbh, with the way most teams set up against us, you could probably let Son cut in too with how shot shy this system has him and the lack of creativity he shows when playing wide.



He fixes the key problem we have though which is technical deficiency.
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Hmm well I'll have to take your word for it, every time I've seen Eze play he cuts inside as he's had an overlap.

Anyway this debate is moot until we sign him and if we do we don't know what plan Ange has in place for him but I thought him being linked for that type of money is a bit of a concern for me.
 
Richard Arlison said:
Eze can dribble either direction put quality in with his left foot.

But again that’s getting too hung up on profile fits again. Sonny played some of his best football in our last couple games from the left wing again. For all we know Ange might want to play Eze as a false 9 or move Son back to CF…

I’m not fussed, I just know that Eze is really good and does things nobody else in our team does. Those things make us better
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Hmm I've rarely if ever seen this, he's incredibly one footed.

Any examples?
 
Tomo said:
I do take you point. It’s why I think it a huge error for England not to have a proper left back back up to Luke Shaw like Hall or someone rather than have to put Trippier there as it kills our width. Team balance is crucial.

Ange thankfully is vastly superior to Southgate but Eze to me would suggest the system will slightly need to be adapted with a more Man City style two number 10’s. Its feasible but I hope it is due to Ange wanting that rather than Eze just being an available option.
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Who’s potentially available will affect how we do business and it should.

Eze is the best attacking option we’ve been linked with so far. We don’t have another player like him in the squad.

Rather spend big money on a player like him than a striker from a lower league who has just as many questions as answers.

Buy quality players first and let Ange figure out they fit in. Quality >> Need.
 
Shadydan said:
Why are we spending those kind off funds on a player who will replace Maddison who is better in that position than him, doesn't make sense?

Unless you've given up on Maddison already which is crazy.
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Maddison is inconsistent and he’s the only creative player in our squad. We need more than one creative player, even two isn’t enough.

One of the problems with signing any of the players we’ve been linked with is - they’re not better than Son, Richarlison, Maddison, Porro, Bissouma etc… there’s two aspects to this, 1) they’re genuinely not good enough and 2) fans say abc are first choice but the major issue with this is our so called first choices weren’t good enough and/or consistent enough to better a 5th place finish (which will be a fight next season given we’ve also got European football).

The only way we improve in addition to Ange’s coaching is to a) bring in more quality within the squad and b) utilise the squad instead of relying on the same players who lack consistency. Outside of the defence and Vicario, we’ve no first name on the sheet players in midfield or attack… this needs to change in addition to having depth/competition for these places.
 
Shadydan said:
I'm convinced that fans want Eze because he costs a lot and it looks like we are showing ambition as opposed to him being the right profile fit because where does he play in an Ange team and why do we need him so bad?
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Ahh... Shadydan Shadydan , first post on return and already applying his excuse lube just in case we somehow miss out :roflmao: . Despite being his obvious first choice destination.


Anyway, that aside.......

giphy.webp
 
Pedders81 said:
Maddison is inconsistent and he’s the only creative player in our squad. We need more than one creative player, even two isn’t enough.

One of the problems with signing any of the players we’ve been linked with is - they’re not better than Son, Richarlison, Maddison, Porro, Bissouma etc… there’s two aspects to this, 1) they’re genuinely not good enough and 2) fans say abc are first choice but the major issue with this is our so called first choices weren’t good enough and/or consistent enough to better a 5th place finish (which will be a fight next season given we’ve also got European football).

The only way we improve in addition to Ange’s coaching is to a) bring in more quality within the squad and b) utilise the squad instead of relying on the same players who lack consistency. Outside of the defence and Vicario, we’ve no first name on the sheet players in midfield or attack… this needs to change in addition to having depth/competition for these places.
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I agree with all of this but I'm not convinced that Eze is the replacement or backup or alternative or whatever to Maddison when they're completely different players.
 
LeParisien said:
Have people lost their minds about Gyokeres?

He’s 26 and had one good season in his whole career in a second tier league. in the season he turned 23, he managed 4 goals in loan spells at Swansea and Coventry. He had never had the season 22 year old Parrot just had in Holland.

I get that players develop at different rates but 70m for a player with one good season at 26? Incredible.

Delighted to see so many people watch Coventry and Sporting games. Or is he just the latest shiny object?
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He looks a great player

Good touch, strong and works hard, plus goals. Will add a lot to our build up and ability to progress the ball and make chances.
 
Shadydan said:
I agree with all of this but I'm not convinced that Eze is the replacement or backup or alternative or whatever to Maddison when they're completely different players.
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for me in the current set up I would play Eze instead of Maddison but in the bigger picture I see Eze as complimenting our squad, giving us a different skill set to what we currently possess. Look at City (I’m not on about their spending power)… they often play Rodri and 4 creative midfielders. There’s times where they’ve no natural pace/width in the team yet they’re absolutely lethal. I know a lot of this comes down to tactics and mentality but they’ve such a diverse squad in terms of skill sets that they can frequently adjust their approach depending on their opponent. Whereas with Spurs we’re currently very one dimensional. Not that it will happen, but we’ve a squad now that suits wing backs yet Ange doesn’t play this way. Given our lack of quality out wide, by adding Eze we could play something similar to City.

——————————— Vicario ———————————
——— Romero —— Dragusin —— Van de Ven ———
Porro —— Bissouma ——— Bentancur —— Udogie
—————— Maddison ——— Eze —————————
————————— New striker ——————————

or Maddison/Eze then a new striker and Son
 
Pedders81 said:
for me in the current set up I would play Eze instead of Maddison but in the bigger picture I see Eze as complimenting our squad, giving us a different skill set to what we currently possess. Look at City (I’m not on about their spending power)… they often play Rodri and 4 creative midfielders. There’s times where they’ve no natural pace/width in the team yet they’re absolutely lethal. I know a lot of this comes down to tactics and mentality but they’ve such a diverse squad in terms of skill sets that they can frequently adjust their approach depending on their opponent. Whereas with Spurs we’re currently very one dimensional. Not that it will happen, but we’ve a squad now that suits wing backs yet Ange doesn’t play this way. Given our lack of quality out wide, by adding Eze we could play something similar to City.

——————————— Vicario ———————————
——— Romero —— Dragusin —— Van de Ven ———
Porro —— Bissouma ——— Bentancur —— Udogie
—————— Maddison ——— Eze —————————
————————— New striker ——————————

or Maddison/Eze then a new striker and Son
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Honestly, I've been thinking for a while now that a great solution for us could be a back 3. We have three excellent centre backs, two of which (Romero and Van De Ven) like to charge up the pitch. Porro and Udogie are good full backs who could be astonishing wing backs if allowed to be. We don't have a pure holding midfielder in my eyes, but we do have a lot of players who could be part of a double six. I just think it could suit us down to the ground... We won't see it though.
 
dustybin said:
Eze has great balance to go by a man on either foot. More so than Olise who I don’t think I’ve ever seen go on the outside of a full back. He’s played wide left and right for QPR and Wycombe so not sure how Olise is a better fit profile wise if that’s what you think is missing.

Personally don’t think that’s how football works anyway. You do need certain qualities in a team and ball retention, 1 v 1 ability is something that we’re lacking maybe in the final third but we don’t have to be so anal about this player in this position has to do such and such. Good players will either find space, create it and take advantage of it. The idea that Eze, Maddison/Son, Udogie are all going to be tackling each is just not what will happen in reality. They’d get a feel of how they play and start adapting naturally.

Also coming infield is not the problem for Son and Kulu it’s their footwork and ball manipulation
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People keep saying that Eze can go by players on either foot yet every time I've watched him and going by all the compilations he cuts inside. :D

Anyway so the difference with Olise is that he's comfortable going both ways utilising the wide area of the pitch and attacking where the space is.

This goal for example, look where he takes the ball and where he takes his man on before cutting inside and shooting, guy created that opportunity for himself all by isolating the full back and gong round the outside and using his right foot.


View: https://youtu.be/tKp9HLdQ1vU?t=91

I'd say he's less predictable than Eze as well, his body orientation isn't so obvious on where he wants to go, I just think that Eze maybe harder to stop because of his strength/size but Olise is a bit more unpredictable in his wing play.

Football of course doesn't work like that but I'm just looking out for the best interests in the team and how to get the best out of Ange's system, we've literally seen the same system when Pep had City playing this style but he had 2 traditional wingers on the touch line who had so much joy isolating their full backs because they constantly attacked the space.
 
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dustybin said:
Eze has great balance to go by a man on either foot. More so than Olise who I don’t think I’ve ever seen go on the outside of a full back. He’s played wide left and right for QPR and Wycombe so not sure how Olise is a better fit profile wise if that’s what you think is missing.

Personally don’t think that’s how football works anyway. You do need certain qualities in a team and ball retention, 1 v 1 ability is something that we’re lacking maybe in the final third but we don’t have to be so anal about this player in this position has to do such and such. Good players will either find space, create it and take advantage of it. The idea that Eze, Maddison/Son, Udogie are all going to be tackling each is just not what will happen in reality. They’d get a feel of how they play and start adapting naturally.

Also coming infield is not the problem for Son and Kulu it’s their footwork and ball manipulation
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Exactly
 
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