DrEFC
Player Valuation: £40m
Don't know about cracking deal- all a bit sussJesus, Wolves have bought Fabio Silva from Porto... Cracking deal 35m euros
Don't know about cracking deal- all a bit sussJesus, Wolves have bought Fabio Silva from Porto... Cracking deal 35m euros
Pickford is better for the style England play than Pope is. It's why he gets picked.
Unless the style England are trying to play involves a keeper who can't make saves I'm not sure that's a valid point.
Well it is.
Pickford, for all his faults in an Everton shirt, has been pretty consistently good for England.
He also does have good distribution. It has been inconsistent for Everton but for England, it has to be said with better movement to aim at from the forwards, it has been better.
Southgate wants England to play out from the back and that involves the goalkeeper. Pope isn't 'bad' with his distribution, but he's not as good as Pickford.
On merit, Pope should get in atm. But why we seem to want to hate on our own player so much is beyond me.
We aren't selling Pickford this window regardless and he'll be our no.1 this season - however, in an ideal world we'll be able to bring some decent competition in which means if needs be he can be dropped should his form not improve.
If you're going all in on distribution to the point you have a shot stopper as abysmal as Pickford in Goal you may as well go all the way and stick an outfield player in net.
Southgate is an abysmal manager so it's no surprise he's ignoring the form English keepers like Henderson and Pope. Probably hasn't seen either of them play, actually that might be it he probably hasn't seen Pickford play for Everton either.
England as a team seems to often have had a "Just pick the names the performances will surely come.... Right?" approach for decades now.
I haven't watched the game. Didn't he save a penalty?
Anyway, it's the wrong thread for this.
I think Pope - last season - was a better gk than Pickford. Sure we probs agree on that.
I can see why Pickford is picked for England though.
I still also think there is a good goalkeeper in Pickford.
The only way there would be a good goalkeeper in Pickford is if he literally ate a good goalkeeper.
New keeper to keep this good window going please
The same Felix that ripped up La Liga last season?
He was injured for a fair bit, but yeh, first season in a better league than Portugal, wasn't amazing.
I think it's called Covid 19.Wake up to a standard Zat Nazi old people cull.
Beyond that, unless a top quality player is available on a loan/cheap then i hope Brands focuses on bringing in more Nkounkou / Branthwaite type deals...
Get in a super young right back and our new squad will start to emerge over the next 2 seasons
If we remove all over 23 players who will be out of contract by 2022
Heres how our squad would look in 2022 (with the usual caveats of them all staying + players like Kenny not extending etc);
20 Players:
GK: Pickford (28) / Virginia (22) / Tyrer (20)
RB:
RCB: Keane (29) / Mina (27) / Holgate (25)
LCB: Gibson (22) / Branthwaite (20)
LB: Digne (29) / Nkounkou (21)
DM: Allan (31) / Gbamin (26)
RM: Rodriguez (31)
CM: Doucoure (29) / Davies (24)
LM: Iwobi (26) / Gordon (21)
CF: Richarlison (25)
CF: Calvert-Lewin (25) / Kean (22)
In terms of 'squad building' were not far off there.
Numbers wise: 2×RB + 1×RM + 1×CF needed
We may be lucky enough to have players like Onyango/Dobbin (both currently 17) come up from the u23s as well.
After these 3 signings (Allan/Doucoure/James) i think we should go for an u21 right back like Emerson, Aarons or someone of that ilk and age.
Beyond that, unless a top quality player is available on a loan/cheap then i hope Brands focuses on bringing in more Nkounkou / Branthwaite type deals...
Get in a super young right back and our new squad will start to emerge over the next 2 seasons
Risk that some of these 17-20 year olds face is we get them in and then end up stalling their development by buying another mid twenties ready for the first team and has years ahead of them.
For me you don’t buy a 19 year old to also look to buy a 23 year old - we didn’t in the case of Nkounkou, but the rumours were there.
It’s always this case of needing two first team ready players in every position. If the main man is injured the other is ready.. then the 19 year old is blocked.
tbh i could just as easily argue against what I’ve just said as nothing is pure black and white and if the player is good enough etc etc.. but the likes of Nkounkou and Gibson need to be deliberately included in match day squads and given reasonable game time - very much as Davies was given.
I have more faith with Brands and Carlo to give youth a shot
Aarons is a cracking young player. I'm not sure how much Norwich would want for him as they've just got money in from selling Lewis. We should have gone for Aaron's as part of the Dowell deal.
Aarons is a cracking young player. I'm not sure how much Norwich would want for him as they've just got money in from selling Lewis. We should have gone for Aaron's as part of the Dowell deal.
Aarons would be good to have for the future. Said this 2 years ago. Got found out a bit in Prem compared to Championship much like Sessegnon did when he moved up but both played in ropey defences. Its a no risk signing for me.
Maybe some sort of nappy is required hereI know my panties will be moiss if I ever see Andre and James in the room together. What a couple of studs.
I've decided to just wear a kilt and carry my own personal "CAUTION: WET FLOOR" signMaybe some sort of nappy is required here
All signings below proven players like Messi, KDB etc. are a potential risky signing. You even said yourself he got found out in the PL.
Yes, as you aay you dont buy a 19 year old then a 23 year old to both stay in the squad competing with a 26-29 year old.
I would say that:
RB: Coleman
RM: James
DM: Allan (possibly Gbamin)
Those are the 2 or 3 positions where we could go for a 19 year old...or bring one through to develop.
Id ideally bring in Emerson even if it meant he was the only piece of business we did after the trio of signings.
the call needs to be made on JJK. I haven’t written him off and would be very interested to see what he learnt in Germany. I don’t necessarily hold him in as high regard as I did Holgate before he broke out last season, but by all accounts he was good that side..
Emerson sounds like a serious talent and would make moving on JJK palatable. Would be a shame to see a home grown lad you who accomplished great things in youth level to not see make it with us, but that’s the game I suppose. It wasn’t good for JJK that he had to move centrally yesterday, as he missed a chance to show himself in front of Carlo in a match situation.