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Transfers The Winter Transfer Thread - 25/26

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For a pass to make sense, it's not sufficient for it to be available is it?

It must also be offering the potential recipient a clear option in the form of a shot, a pass, a cross or whatever. Otherwise it's pointless at best, detrimental at worst.

What I mean will become more clear soon hopefully.

------​



There's a pass here, but what's the point? Palhinha is looking straight at VDV, and doesn't seem like he has any intention other than passing it straight back in case he gets it.

Bentancur knows too: See his left arm pointing at Romero's direction.



I don't think the pass to Bentancur, illustrated with red dotted arrow, is on.

The pass to Palhinha is on obviously; but again, what's the point? He's already pointing at VDV as an indication of his intentions in case he gets the ball.



The pass is on to both players here, but they're both being watched closely. And they're hardly the type that will receive the ball in a tight area, pull a sharp half turn to shake off the defender(s) before creating himself the opening to burst forward with the ball or make a forward pass .That's where the inadequate player profile becomes a serious hindrance.

To make matters worse, since spacing is so bad, as soon as one gets the ball the two Brentford players could double team him without worrying about the other guy. Recipe for disaster knowing the said player profile.

Even the commentator felt compelled to mention how ridiculously close they were standing.



I deliberately widened the screenshot to the fullest to make a few points here:

-Look at all that space. Illustrates the essentiality of having a good ball carrier / passer that can get his team out of these high press situations on a regular basis. We don't need 10 signings to sort this mess out: Even a progressive passer or two would do a world of difference.

-The pass to Bentancur that was there momentarily is no longer on. Brentford's #27 has anticipated it. Besides, what I said above regarding the rubbish spacing indicates that Bentancur would've most likely gotten blindsided by Brentford's #6 even if it was on.

-The pass to Palhinha is on, but #6 is also in a good spot to harrass him in case the former gets the ball. Would you fancy Palhinha in such a battle against any midfielder in the league where he had to be the creator instead of the disruptor? I wouldn't.



Pass the ball in these situations to a player with Palhinha's skillset, and watch it go back to the keeper in no time in the outlined fashion. That's what Porro eventually decided to do himself.

----------​
My takeaways:
  1. Watching these two play together for a good few months, I'm reasonably confident that they have little interest in actually getting the ball in those situations: They act more as decoys to drag the opposing midfielders further up the pitch, presumably to create opportunities for long balls to frontline players where they could be isolated with their individual defenders .​
  2. As hinted already, Frank is fully enabling this. That's part of his plan to bypass the midfield to presumably minimize the turnovers inside our own half. I jested that I wouldn't put it past Frank to turn Wharton of all people to a sideways-backwards specialist; but the more probable outcome would be for him to turn even the best deep playmaker to a passenger instead.​
  3. Like I said, this issue goes way deeper than these two midfielders .It's been there for quite some time. It also drove Ange to a point of desparation where he, to obtain that deep playmaking / ball carrying from somewhere, felt compelled to field kamikaze midfield trios featuring Maddison and Kulusevski as CMs in season two in particular.​
  4. If we don't bring in anybody that fits that description this January, the best bet would be to turn Simons into a CM somehow. No other player in the current squad even has an outside chance of being that guy; and this current situation where we're 12th despite setting unbreakable records in overachieving our xG is not sustainable.​

Nice one, appreciate the explanation.

I was seeing it the CBs never making that pass and just getting frustrated.

The way you describe it definitely sounds like it’s by design and Frank had to know what he was signing in Palinha. Hes never planned to play the “free floating” football he talks about in press conferences.

Given that there’s almost zero precedent for a coach choosing a direct, hoofball system then changing to a technical, pass through the thirds style, he’s probably never planning to change. More likely he’s just hoping our forwards will become better suited to working off scraps and second balls.
 
For a pass to make sense, it's not sufficient for it to be available is it?

It must also be offering the potential recipient a clear option in the form of a shot, a pass, a cross or whatever. Otherwise it's pointless at best, detrimental at worst.

What I mean will become more clear soon hopefully.

------​



There's a pass here, but what's the point? Palhinha is looking straight at VDV, and doesn't seem like he has any intention other than passing it straight back in case he gets it.

Bentancur knows too: See his left arm pointing at Romero's direction.



I don't think the pass to Bentancur, illustrated with red dotted arrow, is on.

The pass to Palhinha is on obviously; but again, what's the point? He's already pointing at VDV as an indication of his intentions in case he gets the ball.



The pass is on to both players here, but they're both being watched closely. And they're hardly the type that will receive the ball in a tight area, pull a sharp half turn to shake off the defender(s) before creating himself the opening to burst forward with the ball or make a forward pass .That's where the inadequate player profile becomes a serious hindrance.

To make matters worse, since spacing is so bad, as soon as one gets the ball the two Brentford players could double team him without worrying about the other guy. Recipe for disaster knowing the said player profile.

Even the commentator felt compelled to mention how ridiculously close they were standing.



I deliberately widened the screenshot to the fullest to make a few points here:

-Look at all that space. Illustrates the essentiality of having a good ball carrier / passer that can get his team out of these high press situations on a regular basis. We don't need 10 signings to sort this mess out: Even a progressive passer or two would do a world of difference.

-The pass to Bentancur that was there momentarily is no longer on. Brentford's #27 has anticipated it. Besides, what I said above regarding the rubbish spacing indicates that Bentancur would've most likely gotten blindsided by Brentford's #6 even if it was on.

-The pass to Palhinha is on, but #6 is also in a good spot to harrass him in case the former gets the ball. Would you fancy Palhinha in such a battle against any midfielder in the league where he had to be the creator instead of the disruptor? I wouldn't.



Pass the ball in these situations to a player with Palhinha's skillset, and watch it go back to the keeper in no time in the outlined fashion. That's what Porro eventually decided to do himself.

----------​
My takeaways:
  1. Watching these two play together for a good few months, I'm reasonably confident that they have little interest in actually getting the ball in those situations: They act more as decoys to drag the opposing midfielders further up the pitch, presumably to create opportunities for long balls to frontline players where they could be isolated with their individual defenders .​
  2. As hinted already, Frank is fully enabling this. That's part of his plan to bypass the midfield to presumably minimize the turnovers inside our own half. I jested that I wouldn't put it past Frank to turn Wharton of all people to a sideways-backwards specialist; but the more probable outcome would be for him to turn even the best deep playmaker to a passenger instead.​
  3. Like I said, this issue goes way deeper than these two midfielders .It's been there for quite some time. It also drove Ange to a point of desparation where he, to obtain that deep playmaking / ball carrying from somewhere, felt compelled to field kamikaze midfield trios featuring Maddison and Kulusevski as CMs in season two in particular.​
  4. If we don't bring in anybody that fits that description this January, the best bet would be to turn Simons into a CM somehow. No other player in the current squad even has an outside chance of being that guy; and this current situation where we're 12th despite setting unbreakable records in overachieving our xG is not sustainable.​
There was a moment yesterday where Palhinha was so close to whoever had the ball that they could have had a cwtch.

Was ridiculous.
 
Worryingly, wasn't Vinai Woolwich's CEO during said harbouring? 😬

"In September 2023, it was announced that [Vinai] would step down from his position as Woolwich's CEO in summer 2024"

Couldn't have been much after the stink started to surface.......

Edu resigned in Nov 24 too....

...............One has to wonder if either or both of them wanted no part of it
 
"In September 2023, it was announced that [Vinai] would step down from his position as Woolwich's CEO in summer 2024"

Couldn't have been much after the stink started to surface.......

Edu resigned in Nov 24 too....

...............One has to wonder if either or both of them wanted no part of it

McCOYS McCOYS


If anyone ought to be accused of harbouring Partey it ought to be Arteta (who publicly played the victim card for him) and the owners who probably backed Arteta with the alternative financial loss in mind.
 
The buyout clause is irrelevant. If he has a good loan and we want to keep him, we will keep him, he is not choosing Oxford over us regardless if they pay the fee or not

They can’t pay the fee anyway. They don’t have that kind of money for transfers and are planning to build a new stadium. If he does well though it sets a value for him in the summer. We’ve always sold cheap, if anyone wants him off a good half a season then they’ll have to pay that figure.
 
Ok so, excuse my ignorance but this exact situation does my nut.

Never played a high level and don’t understand football like a lot on here but is that not repetitive tentative decision making from the CBs? I see 3 easy passes that could have been played to the midfield 2 and all of them were ignored.

Thats more about about a lack of movement (coached and autonomous) and desire to be available, as it is about cb’s tentativeness with the ball.
 
McCOYS McCOYS


If anyone ought to be accused of harbouring Partey it ought to be Arteta (who publicly played the victim card for him) and the owners who probably backed Arteta with the alternative financial loss in mind.
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There's a fair chance our Gooner CEO was stepping down anyway, fancied a change, as they do.

Have you heard him criticise that club for their sheltering?

The silence is deafening.
 
You don't really get time to stand and decide what to do as you move the ball unless it is backwards or sideways. The players have to know where they are going to move it before it arrives. We are really bad at it. If we try to move with one touch more or often than not we give it away. That has to come off the training ground. God only knows what they do all week. Train long throws and corners I guess.
 
LW- Leao or Mitoma

LB - Raum or Robinson

I would also not extend palhinhas loan and I would sell Sarr and bring in 2 out of these 3 for midfield to elevate our in possession game:

Angelo Stiller
Ruben Neves
Billy gilmour

Would also replace Richarlison with Adam Hlozek.
 
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