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Zatara said:
I thought we'd been through this?

GK - We need the absolute best available. If not Butland then Rico or Leno....theres also alot more obtainable keepers out there who are 22/23 and top notch now and still improving...fits our profile for signings.

RB -- Holgate is going to follow a similar path to Stones and then Galoway at full back first. Perhaps he is a year away still but then how about Browning, Pennington or perhaps even Kenny? Thats 4 players who could deputise for coleman. This of course excludes Mattioni as well but im sure we'll know more in the summer and its more a question for @catcherintherye or @blueloon than me. Id hope Holgate gets some minutes at RB before the season end, same as Galloway last season-- then we can see.

LW -- Im confident on Yarmolenko as its clear Martinez wants him and also we have the money now. No idea if he will end up at LW of course but i doubt we will sign another RW or ACM so i'll put him as a LW and i guess he would rotate. I hope @bluestevon gets his wish this summer.

DM -- You've posted a lot about Barry being "unique" for his role and i suppose he is. Martinez also said before that when Barry goes we will need to change our playing style, but that was before the new owner came in. Were obviously not signing Busquets nor a mid 20s or late 20s superstar for the role,its going to have to be another player of 30+ or an u23 player.

Niguez is far fetched perhaps but never know till you try, Sergi Roberto probably similar bracket to him now after this season...but dont you think they can perform Barrys duties if they came in as CM players for a season and then learnt and were mentored by Barry? Otherwise Tielemans and Neves are exceptional talents who could be taught as well.

makes sense to get someone like that in now a season before Barry leaves and slowly bring them into the role. But also have them being effective in other positions for 12 months.

CM -- If we have the money and made those 3 signings we should then look at a playmaker. Not essential but gives an option in CM/LW/RW/ACM if needed, perfect for games like WBA.
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Good shouts but sadly neves,niguiz,Rico and Telemans would be near on impossible be looking at a heap of factoring going right just to land them
 
toffeeblue9 said:
There isn't really any objective way of proving you wrong here, but I couldn't possibly disagree more.

He is the only player we have capable of controlling play from deep alongside the fact that he is absolutely brilliant from a positional perspective. His one major weakness is pace, granted, but I don't think that means we'll be better off without him. Would Barca be better off without Busquets? Also not the quickest
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It's all about opinions really mate, but from my own perspective we seem to be playing two primarily holding midfielders every game, and if we don't then we look alarmingly fragile defensively, my own opinion would be we are playing two of them to do the job one should be able to do - if they are good enough, seen a lot of people mentioning that we can't drop Barkley deeper to play alongside one fo them as we'd be too soft in the centre, but looking around most 'top' teams and thats exactly what they tend to do, play one defensive mid alongside a more attacking one - sounds simplistic i know, but right now we are playing two defnesive mids and still don't really look very solid. Something isn't right their.

A lot said intially it was to compensate for how attacking our fb's are, also heard that as a major reason we can't play two out and out wigners as well, but right now and for a whilst now are we actually any more attacking with our fb's than a hell of a lot of other teams currently - certainly we are a lot less focused ont hat route than udner moyes for example
 
bluestevon said:
It's all about opinions really mate, but from my own perspective we seem to be playing two primarily holding midfielders every game, and if we don't then we look alarmingly fragile defensively, my own opinion would be we are playing two of them to do the job one should be able to do - if they are good enough, seen a lot of people mentioning that we can't drop Barkley deeper to play alongside one fo them as we'd be too soft in the centre, but looking around most 'top' teams and thats exactly what they tend to do, play one defensive mid alongside a more attacking one - sounds simplistic i know, but right now we are playing two defnesive mids and still don't really look very solid. Something isn't right their.

A lot said intially it was to compensate for how attacking our fb's are, also heard that as a major reason we can't play two out and out wigners as well, but right now and for a whilst now are we actually any more attacking with our fb's than a hell of a lot of other teams currently - certainly we are a lot less focused ont hat route than udner moyes for example
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Yep, we have tried to play without two DMs a few times this season and looked worryingly poor defensively as a result

Basically, when McCarthy got injured against Bournemouth, we played with one holding midfielder (Barry) and two slightly more advanced centre mids (Barkley and Cleverley) until Besic came on in the 2nd half against Spurs in January. I don't think it's any real coincidence that our worst run of form of the entire season was basically that exact period. We seem to need the 2 DMs to give us the right balance defensively.

McCarthy's role changes sometimes when he's given licence to get forward, but essentially we have 3 defensive midfielders vying for two positions. I quite like all three of those players in different ways, but Barry is the only one who can lay claim to being vaguely creative of those three. Besic carries the ball beautifully, but his passing is largely without much penetration - it's not a criticism, he just doesn't have a huge repertoire in the way of forward passing. McCarthy has even less, although is capable of pulling the odd one out now and again. He and Besic would appear to be the two we're pinning our hopes on in the future and they're both full of energy and give us dynamism in midfield, but I don't see where the creativity is coming from with those two.

At the moment, it's still a case of Barry alongside one of those two IMO

I tend to agree about the formation conceptually, but the evidence when we've tried that switch hasn't been enough to warrant it being a valid option just yet
 
bluestevon said:
Agree but rather see us throw a silly sum at Stoke for Butland, people are saying theyd never sell him but absolutely no way he will be there in 3 years so yeah they will sell if the bid is high enough
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If we're throwing silly sums around for a goalie why not try Southampton and see if we can prise Fraser Forster away.
 

I'd be very happy with:
  • Leno
  • Yarmolenko
  • Tielemans
  • Ashley Williams
  • Nyom
Would cost a boatload but we'd probably be title contenders.

I'd have a squad like this:

Leno/Joel

Coleman/Nyom --- Williams/Jags --- Funes Mori/Browning --- Baines/Oviedo

Besic/McCarthy --- Tielemans/Barry

Deulofeu/Lennon --- Barkley/Tielemans --- Yarmolenko/Mirallas

Lukaku/Niasse
 
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MoutsGoat said:
Ashley Williams?

lollollollollollollollollollollollollollol
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Why not? He was the standout player when we played them at home and apparently he's been thriving as of late. He's an absolute grock and is very experienced, plus we'll need to replace Stones if he goes (Which I'm 99% certain he will).
 
MoutsGoat said:
Dont understand why people wanna spunk a load on Butland personally, the lads very decent, but not worth the English premium.

Few other names we should consider :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predrag_Rajković
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubén_Blanco_Veiga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Scuffet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerónimo_Rulli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timo_Horn
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You can give me the Horn any day, fantastic keeper too. Filth.

Now we have some dough, wouldn't mind looking at bringing Mattia Perin in. I believe RM is a big fan, tried to sign him previously? If we look keen...who knows.

If Rom goes, look at Breel Embolo. If Stones goes, look at Niklas Sule.

Calhanoglu to take up the left mid position. Or Yarms. Whichever, not precious.
 
Neiziro said:
Why not? He was the standout player when we played them at home and apparently he's been thriving as of late. He's an absolute grock and is very experienced, plus we'll need to replace Stones if he goes (Which I'm 99% certain he will).
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The fellas decent, few years ago I would have been down, but hes 32 in August, im not against signing older players, just I consider 32 a little to old and im not even sure he would be cheap.

I certainly dont consider him a Stones replacement.
 
MoutsGoat said:
Dont understand why people wanna spunk a load on Butland personally, the lads very decent, but not worth the English premium.

Few other names we should consider :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predrag_Rajković
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubén_Blanco_Veiga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Scuffet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerónimo_Rulli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timo_Horn
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Will be honest mate, i've seen Butland and i rate him highly, not seen any of the others besides maybe once or twice at best - if that, and with our keepers i would just rather have that surety i had when we had Martyn and Southall and not take any risk no matter the cost
 

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