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Confirmed Signing Abdoulaye Doucouré

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mightymoyes said:
On his best form he does, needs to produce it more though
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I think we may see better form from him with players around him that allow him to concentrate on his strong points.
With Allan or Doucore chasing down the opposition and protecting the defense & James pushing forward will allow him to sit in midfield and dictate the play/spray passes around.
 
Encoder said:
His stats aren't that amazing to be fair but what we need is someone who links the midfield and attack and busts forward when he can. I think with Allan behind him he could do just that. Much more pace in midfield now which is great.
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Thing is, with James in there that's a genuine world class playmaker in the final third. And he'll drop back, whether playing as a 10 or wide, or out into a free bit of space to get on the ball.

Doucoure's runs forward - he made more runs into the area than any midfielder in Europe's top 5 leagues last year - will add another outlet, so we don't have to worry about Doucoure having to 'create' as such.

I mean, if Gylfi stays, even he'll have that bit more space because he's not having to do two jobs (if he plays, which knowing our injury luck he'd probs have to).
 
Steve Wigan said:
I'm not sure Gomes gets into the best eleven.....
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Hmmm.

Depends what system we're playing.

Based on how we lined up v Blackpool, it definitely wasn't 4-4-2.

Gomes, at his best, gets into the XI. We still need that deep-lying playmaker type and he can be that, the key was getting players around him. That's even more crucial now as he continues to recover from the injury, which yes will still take a bit of time.

I think we'll probably play a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 hybrid type thing.

Allan and Doucoure flanking Gomes, with those guys basically tasked with doing the dirty work, but with the added bonus of Doucoure being able to get forward and add real threat to the attack.

James might play predominantly from the right, but with a freedom to go wherever he wants, with Richarlison on the other side.

That can be adapted to 4-4-2 easily enough too, and if so we'd still have players of quality on the bench.
 
BlueToff said:
Hmmm.

Depends what system we're playing.

Based on how we lined up v Blackpool, it definitely wasn't 4-4-2.

Gomes, at his best, gets into the XI. We still need that deep-lying playmaker type and he can be that, the key was getting players around him. That's even more crucial now as he continues to recover from the injury, which yes will still take a bit of time.

I think we'll probably play a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 hybrid type thing.

Allan and Doucoure flanking Gomes, with those guys basically tasked with doing the dirty work, but with the added bonus of Doucoure being able to get forward and add real threat to the attack.

James might play predominantly from the right, but with a freedom to go wherever he wants, with Richarlison on the other side.

That can be adapted to 4-4-2 easily enough too, and if so we'd still have players of quality on the bench.
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We can’t really play James off the right unless we bring in an energetic, attacking right back to bomb on and take advantage of the space he creates by drifting inside.
 

mikeh72 said:
We can’t really play James off the right unless we bring in an energetic, attacking right back to bomb on and take advantage of the space he creates by drifting inside.
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Well that might be the plan.

I can't see us playing a diamond as it's the same issue, unless we get a right back.
 
riddick said:
4-3-1-2?
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But that's really the same as a diamond. Rodriguez would play as the one obviously, but it'd require the two CMs either side to get wide.

So going forward, you'd still need a right-back who can do what Digne does on the other flank and get high up the pitch and keep the width so we're not lopsided/imbalanced.
 
BlueToff said:
But that's really the same as a diamond. Rodriguez would play as the one obviously, but it'd require the two CMs either side to get wide.

So going forward, you'd still need a right-back who can do what Digne does on the other flank and get high up the pitch and keep the width so we're not lopsided/imbalanced.
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Genuinely curious as to what you think a diamond looks like...(i kid obviously but its still not a 'diamond' per se)
 

riddick said:
Genuinely curious as to what you think a diamond looks like...(i kid obviously but its still not a 'diamond' per se)
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Well in my book there's not much difference between 4-3-1-2 and 4-1-2-1-2 (a traditional diamond shape).

You're still putting four central players into the midfield in a narrow shape. You need width, so that has to come from the full-backs. We have Digne who can obviously provide that energy but on the other side we have Coleman and Kenny. The latter may have the energy, but is lacking in other areas, while defensively Seamus is sound but going forward he's nowhere near the player he was.
 
BlueToff said:
Well in my book there's not much difference between 4-3-1-2 and 4-1-2-1-2 (a traditional diamond shape).

You're still putting four central players into the midfield in a narrow shape. You need width, so that has to come from the full-backs. We have Digne who can obviously provide that energy but on the other side we have Coleman and Kenny. The latter may have the energy, but is lacking in other areas, while defensively Seamus is sound but going forward he's nowhere near the player he was.
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Oh, it's extremely narrow. I just think that getting a RB on loan who may bomb on would suit the current lot of players pretty nicely.
 
riddick said:
Oh, it's extremely narrow. I just think that getting a RB on loan who may bomb on would suit the current lot of players pretty nicely.
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Totally agree. If Arias (covid dependant now like) is available on loan, or someone like Tete, then I'd be all for it.

Denzel Dumfries is still a player I think would really be good for us, as a long-term rb solution, but that would have to be to buy him if we were in for him.

Just without that player, i don't think a 4-3-1-2 can really work just yet
 

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