Matt1892

Barnes is less about taking someone on and more about doing a 1-2 with the forward player so he have the ball played in the space in front of him to run on to.

They don’t appear to be any different to the sort of goals he’s been scoring this season.

Is that purely down to his ACL or is that age as well? As he was 24 when he did his ACL for the second time and he is 31 now, it is surely to be expected that most players will lose a yard of pace when they are in their 30’s compared to early 20’s. Most players have to adapt their game as they get older even if they haven’t sustained an injury. As for why Juventus would sell him for £35 million; there is no saying they would but it would be a similar fee that they paid for him last summer and is a saleable asset. I don’t know a great deal about current Italian football but if the club feel he is worth the risk then I’m fully supportive of it.

I think as fans we are over cautious of ACL injuries due to the adaption Alan Shearer had to make to his game when he had his, which doesn’t appear to be the norm any more.

I will be surprised if Take Kubo isn’t on the list.

If City offered £85 million for Botman as their first offer then I’m surprised the club were not open to entering in to negotiations. He is good but he’s not irreplaceable.

We can probably get away with spending a lot this window but that will have a knock on in future windows, the issue for the club is that despite fans being told that the level of spending in recent windows is unsustainable some still expect it as the new normal. There is also a resistance from some in selling players who have been here for a number of years who hold value to free us up for FFP. You can’t have your cake and eat it every window. Something has to give. Im confident we will sign another quality player or two that will improve the first team, unless we unload one of ASM, Almiron or Wilson and then we will possibly sign another on top.

It is worth watching this and seeing how similar Leicesters tactics were in the early days of Brendan Rodger’s compared to what Howe uses with us now, then see how Barnes was used at the time. They were one of the best pressing sides in the league. Also interesting when you consider he had Ben Chilwell playing behind him and how he got forward.

It was always going to be difficult after the season they had in League 2 under Rob Edwards as they played really good football, the problem is when a team does that they end up losing most of the players which is what happened here, as well as the manager. Ian Burchnall wasn’t great but Ferguson was absolutely abysmal, the mistake was not getting rid of him as soon as the season finished.

Chalobah is a solid premier league defender.

I’ve read an article about him recently that said he wouldn’t move to a top club to be on the bench most weeks, instead he would rather go to a bottom half Premier League club to play every week before making the step up. It might have been a local article to him. We would probably be better off buying Alcaraz from Southampton who can play anywhere in midfield, on the right and up front.

They also say he’s an attacking midfielder who also plays on the left. No idea if he can play down the right or not.

He can still be moved to the middle if we have a number of injuries though, with Gordon, ASM, Elliott or even Isak being moved to the left. A few years down the line then maybe look to add that sort of depth but it isn’t a priority for us this season when a number of other positions have a serious lack of depth.

I don’t remember thinking we lacked a physical presence in midfield last season when Joelinton played on the left, as he often rotates positions throughout the game with Willock and drops back if needed. Another midfielder should be a few notches down our list of priorities.

Leicester usually play with one up too and their wingers cutting in, similar to us but with a different set up in midfield.

Diallo reminds me of a young Raheem Sterling.

It would be interesting to see how their midfield compares to ours when they have finished and Tonali is signed.

He’s playing well dropping deep to to lay the ball off and then going forward, he set Jacob Ramsey up as well with a good ball but Ramsey unselfishly played it across the box when he should have took the shot on. He found space for his goal and took it well but would likely have been offside I think if they had VAR, not Gordon but someone was interfering with play.

To save anyone reading… • We have spent the majority of our budget on Tonali. • Southampton want £30 million for Livramento, we have offered £21 million and will walk away if we can’t get an agreement this week. • Our most pressing need is a right centre back, we also want a left back and another centre midfielder. • No mention of wanting a right winger. • Looking throughout Europe for bargains or players we can take on loan with either an option or obligation to buy. • Interested in Kelvin Phillips on loan and we have tried for Gallagher on loan the last 2 windows. A nothing story.

Spurs are likely to be close to being done as well unless they sell Kane, they have spent a lump buying players that were on loan last season so no Improvement to the first team.

I thought his game evolved last year for him to become one of the stand out performers most weeks for us, he is getting in to some fantastic positions with the late runs in to the box and he now needs to find that composure with his finishing when making these runs at pace because his finishing is decent when he has time to compose himself. As fans we can be guilty of the other 89 minutes of a performance going out of the window and focusing on that one chance that was missed. Whilst he is clearly capable of scoring more due to the off the ball runs Howe has him making it is also worth remembering that he isn’t playing as a 10 for us and doesn’t take corners/free kicks so comparisons with midfielders that do in terms of goals and assists is unfair, he also has as much defensive responsibilities as Longstaff does when playing as a LCM. That isn’t to say we shouldn’t expect more from him when he does get in to those positions and i f he can do that then he could become one of the most dynamic midfielders in the league, the player Kieron Dyer should have become.

He would be a really good signing on a free transfer, although we would have to pay Arsenal compensation I believe. Similar to Willock with his movement and intelligence with the ball, they would know each other from their time at Arsenal being the same age. The downside is we should be aiming higher for the right wing, unless we are going to move on one of Almiron or Murphy to help with FFP.

Then you bring in someone like Tielemans or Lerma on a free if it is about squad depth, that or you spend more on someone who should improve the starting 11, like we have with Tonali over Longstaff. Spending big money on a player who isn’t going to improve the starting 11 would be daft unless it is part of some sort of succession planning, especially after we did it with Gordon.

I’m not convinced Thuram would improve our starting 11 once we sign Tonali.

I think it’s more likely that we sign someone unproven like Franca to play as an attacking midfielder that we can bring through rather than going big on a more experienced player, I wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t sign another midfielder. This is separate from a new right winger who will have that level of experience.