Solitude20

Who says Howe likes only PL players?

Take him off, now.

Best assist in the world.

According to this study, the mean time for players to return after undergoing an ACL surgery is 10.4 months. Since he did his surgery at the end of March, then returning in February would be expected. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32379980/

Yeah Gordon should always play as a LW.

LOL Murphy.

Isak should’ve passed to Barnes.

Longstaff is so weak it is frustrating.

Could he play in RW?

Good one, Joe.

Okay I love Willock.

Their fancy tactic of going all out from the beginning has really paid off

He hasn’t played football in 10 months, I would be surprised if he gets any minutes unless we are comfortably winning.

Howe likes to play the Burn/Kelly type as a LB in order to give Bruno more freedom in moving forward without leaving our CBs completely exposed. When we have the ball, we play 3-4-3 and then a holding/defensive midfielder won’t be necessary given we have 3 CBs at the back. If Hall plays as a LB we can no longer do that, and then one of our midfielders will have to stay back to support against counterattacks. This explains why Howe always had to play Burn as a LB whenever given the chance, he just wants to give Bruno more freedom roaming around. Now that Hall clearly has something to offer as a LB in attacking positions, he might have to restructure the midfield in a way to have some cover for the 2 CBs at the back. I still believe he would play Kelly or Burn as LB for the majority of the season, and Hall might come in the last 30 mins when needed.

So we solved our RW problem then?

Longstaff makes my blood boil.

WTF Murphy.

For the issue of our defenders being out of contract by next summer, why not solve this problem next summer then? This would allow us to manage our tight financial situation better and spread out the depreciation over a longer window. Even Guehi would be cheaper next summer. The mean time to return after an ACL injury is 10 months. This means Botman should be back by January. You are right to assume the worse case scenario and not count him for the entire season, then Schar and Burn/Kelly would be enough as the main CBs, and if we need backup, we have Burn/Kelly, Krafth, and perhaps a cheap and young CB as a fifth backup. Just curious though, do you think Murphy and Almiron are enough to get the job done as our main RW? A 40m RW would be the cheapest option out there, and I don’t see us spending that much on top of the 65m+ we intend to spend on Guehi.

Marc Guehi would be an amazing signing, but if we are splashing a 65m+ on a single player, then I’d rather we spent that money on a RW. If we can sign both, then obviously that would excellent. But I am afraid we will only be getting one of them this window. I remember all the discussions we had last season when some matches weren’t going so great, it was clear back then how RW was the area that needed reinforcements the most. Let’s look at the depths of our defense vs RW: LB: Hall Tino Kelly Burn Targett Trippier CB first half of the season: Burn Kelly Schar Krafth CB for the second half of the season: above list + Botman Jamaal RB: Trippier Tino Krafth Murphy RW: Almiron Murphy I am 100% sure our management will make the best decision for the club. But since we are on these forums to discuss and analyze, I just don’t see how the priority should be getting another CB on a record fee when RW was our weakest link last season. If we manage to sign both Guehi and a decent RW, then this post would be pointless, but I am afraid spending 65m+ means we are done with this window. Schar and Burn/Kelly would be an excellent CB combo for the first half of the season, and Krafth could be a decent emergency backup. If we really need a fifth CB for the first half of the season, why not get a cheap and a young player like what we did with Osula? Getting Guehi now means we are benching two of Burn, Schar, or Kelly. Once Botman joins, we would be benching all of them. While that’s a nice problem to have, underutilizing such great players while being restricted on PSR may not be the best thing to do, especially since our current RW setup isn’t enough to get top 4 again.

Palace sold Olise for 60m, and he had 3 years left in his contract when it happened. Now they want more for Guehi? A defender with 2 years left on his contract? Yeah I don’t think they want to sell.

If Gordon could strike a ball like Barnes, he would be a world-class winger. Finishing is the only part of his game that needs some improvement. I don’t mean it’s bad, but he would be on another level as a winger if he could score more goals.

Yeah it will be Barnes as LW and Murphy on RW, Gordon is coming in at the 69th minute.

So once Botman recovers, how are we going to play him, Schar, Burn, Kelly, and Thiaw as CBs with a game per week? That’s five of them. Isn’t that too much? I don’t know but it feels like getting Barnes for a LW all over again when we could have invested that money in other positions. Burn and Kelly shouldn’t play as LBs in my humble opinion, Tino should play there if Trippier is still with us next season, and Hall should be our second option. Burn and Kelly could be our 3rd/ 4th options. I think we should prioritize our budget for a RW and a forward.

He is doing a 3-6-1 only for Foden not to be benched. Playing him seems more important than winning the trophy.

And he happens to be a RW, what a coincidence.