Before the window opened we had no strikers so buying Jesus and getting Nketiah to sign a new deal was the bare minimum and we still need a winger and a top quality CM.
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Have to have a bit more pragmatism than this though.
Sure you can have top targets and if you donāt get them then fine you donāt just get anyone in but you need an alternative.
Itās an interesting point you make with Pepe but the difference is you at least upgrade on him as a usable alternative.
Narrowing the options and already sending messages of certain players not getting games is just lowering our numbers.
Iāve said it before and I appreciate that I only ever do this transfer stuff in Football Manager, but I would have bought a target-man-style forward. Nothing special just someone tall and physical whoāll come on and give us something different when weāre chasing a goal. That Mitrovic guy would do, I was impressed with his shithouseary.
However, Iām trying not to give in to shiny new toy syndrome and remind myself that weāve already got a far better squad than last season, not perfect though, not yet.
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Look I 100% want us signing players and now I would like at least two. But I can see why we potentially donāt sign anyone.
Our squad is definitely a big improvement on what we had last year and looking at other clubs opening games, they have not vastly improved on last year. I want us challenging for the title but if we have a limited budget, cannot get who we want and have top 4 as the aim, then I can see how we accept what we have until the next window and then try again.
Well itās partly an upgrade because we have added 3 starting numbers to it.
We were on a very small squad because of not wanting to use players like Pepe.
Now I get that and we have moved him on. Same situation with AMN, but you have to fill the spaces.
You also have the added factor of Europe and its a significant difference to our fixtures.
Also have a 5 sub rule to exploit and take advantage of.
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Not arguing that. I can see however with all the dross we had to let go on a free that were signed a lot of the time as last minute fillers, that the club is reticent to do the same again and also doesnāt have the budget to do this and sign the players we actually want moving forward.
Signing a loan player as a stop gap is also difficult for the calibre we are wanting
Well for example if we sign nobody iād even keep that tosser AMN.
Can be useful across the 50 odd games iām sure, if Mikel pulled his head out his ass and used him. We donāt need to let all the squad fillers go if we canāt afford to replace them.
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The problem (doesnāt have to be a problem) is our system. The back 5 is solid and Bar Robert Holding and Turner , we can rotate without much(if any) drop off in quality. Tierney is a different style of player to Zinny though, granted.
Our midfield balance is all over the place if you take Partey out. If we still played a double pivot, Tielemans would be a quality signing as any of the following pairings have balance : Partey and Tielemans, Xhaka and Tielemans, Zinchenko and Tielemans, The Belgian brothers.
The issue is that we do not play a double pivot and dropping Xhaka deep again may not work. Also Zinchenko is critical to giving Partey and Xhaka licence to express themselves.
Long story short, Tielemans doesnāt solve our problem; Danilo or a similar deeper player might help us out as we can cover the number 8 position from within.
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This is exactly what I would do to be honest. He can play as a number 6 or possibly even as an inverted full back.
We can easily survive at 8 between ESR, Vieira, Lokonga and obviously Xhaka. Itās exactly as you say, the 6 is the problem because we only have Elneny as backup.
a) heās solid but not spectacular so there is a drop off
b) heās currently fucked
Soon time to play the I told you so-card. We all knew this was gonna happen.
Xhaka and Tielemans would be a candidate for least athletic midfield in the Premier League. Would be a disaster
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Possibly Edu/Arteta feel exactly the same way and that is why we havenāt signed him
Fabinho (in 2022) and Thiago would give them a run. I actually agree: Xhaka and Tielemans could be a disaster for that reason.
Yeah Pepe did play fuck all minutes last season, but Saka didnāt miss a league game and we had no European football to contend with.
I think the squad is too thin as it stands at CM and the wide positions but hopefully Leper is right.
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A few people got at him for posting about football on a football forum. Crazy
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Preparing himself for deadline day. Dusting off the yellow tie.
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Kem Izzet on a free anyone?