Now That's What I Call Transfer Rumours! 7

[SUPERTOON]

An out and out number 6 will help with the lack of pace at back as well.

[Rich]

8 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

I see your point but I think you’ve overplayed your hand a tad 

 

Pope's at least as good in his position as those three are in theirs when looking at the rest of the league, like.

 

You're basically asking for an Allison or Ederson if you want a goalkeeper that does everything else Pope does to the same standard and is also top class in possession.

 

Allison was £67M in 2018. Ederson was £35M in 2017, but the second most expensive keeper ever at that point.

 

Eventually, aye, we'd all like one of the best two or three keepers in the world between the sticks, but the one we've got is right in the mix behind those two in league terms as far as his overall game goes.

 

I would also take a Bruno with more robust ankles/a bit more size and athleticism, as well, just while we're at it. 

[r0cafella]

5 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

An out and out number 6 will help with the lack of pace at back as well.

If we stick to this system I couldn’t agree more. Neither, Bruno, or big and little Joe are defensively inclined imo. 

[Keegans Export]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

 

Pope's at least as good in his position as those three are in theirs when looking at the rest of the league, like.

 

You're basically asking for an Allison or Ederson if you want a goalkeeper that does everything else Pope does to the same standard and is also top class in possession.

 

Allison was £67M in 2018. Ederson was £35M in 2017, but the second most expensive keeper ever at that point.

 

Eventually, aye, we'd all like one of the best two or three keepers in the world between the sticks, but the one we've got is right in the mix behind those two in league terms as far as his overall game goes.

 

I would also take a Bruno with more robust ankles/a bit more size and athleticism, as well, just while we're at it. 

An absolutely elite keeper seems like a "last piece of the jigsaw" kind of signing to me. Once the rest of the squad is pretty much where you want it then you drop £50m on the best all-round GK available. 

[Coffee_Johnny]

1 minute ago, Keegans Export said:

An absolutely elite keeper seems like a "last piece of the jigsaw" kind of signing to me. Once the rest of the squad is pretty much where you want it then you drop £50m on the best all-round GK available. 

Pope will be here at least another couple of seasons. There are 4-5 upgrades, if they can be found, and probably some age-related replacements before we look at ‘keepers. 

[Rich]

10 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

An out and out number 6 will help with the lack of pace at back as well.

 

Definitely. Better footballers than Botman and Burn would help with Pope's lack of ability on the ball, too.

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

 

Definitely. Better footballers than Botman and Burn would help with Pope's lack of ability on the ball, too.

 Not sure what’s happened to Botman, feel as though his passing has regressed over the season. 

[Guest]

I think the Pope we've seen since Liverpool is the Pope we were thought we were getting. A very good Premier League keeper with weaknesses using his feet, a little step up from Dubravka.

 

First half of the season was his Almiron where he was possessed and a cross between peak Cech and Schmeichel.

 

I do think we need a keeper to take the next step but happy with Pope for another season or two. 

[Smal]

Botman’s passing was very, very good yesterday fwiw.

[Rich]

Aye. Get the glaring weak links sorted first, then Pope definitely enters the discussion for an upgrade, along with almost everyone else in the team.

 

No player is perfect, which is the point I've been trying to make, but you can build a team to cover for each individual's deficiencies. Howe's already done that brilliantly but he's had a lot of individual deficiencies to cover. As he gets better players, the job gets much easier and everyone else is elevated as a result.

 

If Pope's deficiency is just his technical ability in possession, that is coverable, and we did a good job of doing it throughout the first half of the season. We barely used him as an outlet.

 

A bit of athleticism in at left-back and a top-class defensive-minded midfielder make a world of difference to our overall solidity, not to mention what they'll offer going forward when combined with an exciting right-winger.

[SUPERTOON]

All this discussion shows is how far we still have to improve and yet we are already 3rd in the league. That’s massively exciting ahead of the summer window.

[Rich]

8 minutes ago, Smal said:

Botman’s passing was very, very good yesterday fwiw.

 

I do actually agree, he's always looking to move the ball forwards, plays it off either foot, and more often than not picks a good option.

 

It's more the time he takes to get the ball out of his feet and get his body into a position to play a progressive pass that he needs to keep working on. He's clunky in that regard, but will improve. He's also got fuck all to his left, which doesn't help.

 

Thought he struggled in almost every other respect, though, unfortunately, but I don't think Schär was much better. Tough day at the office, while both fullbacks defended pretty well.

 

Still, there's only one of the back four I'd be trying to replace with any urgency. Then you're into Pope territory with Schär and finding someone who has all of his good parts but can score a few set piece goals and run faster than 5mph.

[r0cafella]

5 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

All this discussion shows is how far we still have to improve and yet we are already 3rd in the league. That’s massively exciting ahead of the summer window.

Absolutely, I wrote the same in the match thread yesterday we have areas in our team as outlined by rich where we can make huge gains. 

[Matt1892]

While there are areas to upgrade it is a nice problem to have when we are sitting third in the league and we deserve to be there.

LB, CB, CM and an attacker and we are cementing our place as cracking the sky big six.

[Rich]

It's why CL is so critical, isn't it? It feasibly allows us to address all of the weak points with Botman/Bruno/Isak-esque signings in a single summer, and probably even more besides.

 

It's hard to see us dropping off at all with that sort of business, especially with the way Howe works and the mentality we have.

 

Comparing this to where we were just two summers ago when signing Willock and doing nowt else is an absolute madness.

[SiLvOR]

8 minutes ago, Rich said:

He's also got fuck all to his left, which doesn't help.

Read that quickly and was all "but isn't he left footed?"  

 

Fuck me. Anyway, yes, a new LB is the priority position for me followed very closely by RW.

[Dr Venkman]

26 minutes ago, Keegans Export said:

An absolutely elite keeper seems like a "last piece of the jigsaw" kind of signing to me. Once the rest of the squad is pretty much where you want it then you drop £50m on the best all-round GK available. 

Rich makes good points but yeah, that is what I’m asking for, but it doesn’t have to be NOW. If we want to win things regularly, that’s what we need. There might be an element of opportunism in how we acquire that keeper and we might get them earlier, you never know.

[Rich]

1 minute ago, Dr Venkman said:

Rich makes good points but yeah, that is what I’m asking for, but it doesn’t have to be NOW. If we want to win things regularly, that’s what we need. There might be an element of opportunism in how we acquire that keeper and we might get them earlier, you never know.

 

Mike Maignan if AC Milan don't qualify for the CL next season?

 

(That's the extent of my knowledge of non-PL keepers.)

[Dr Venkman]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

 

Mike Maignan if AC Milan don't qualify for the CL next season?

 

(That's the extent of my knowledge of non-PL keepers.)

It’s more extensive than mine.

[Smal]

16 minutes ago, Rich said:

Thought he struggled in almost every other respect, though, unfortunately, but I don't think Schär was much better. Tough day at the office, while both fullbacks defended pretty well.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two games where our CBs have looked most exposed this season have also been the two games that we’ve had no Sean Longstaff.

 

We can’t play that midfield 3. Just doesn’t work structurally in terms of defensive protection or playing out from the back.

[ExiledGeordie]

1 hour ago, r0cafella said:

If we stick to this system I couldn’t agree more. Neither, Bruno, or big and little Joe are defensively inclined imo. 

I watched Caicedo against Man U and the combination of his pace and covering ability would be ideal for us or a player of that ilk anyway. 

[r0cafella]

Just now, ExiledGeordie said:

I watched Caicedo against Man U and the combination of his pace and covering ability would be ideal for us or a player of that ilk anyway. 

Definitely but likely too expensive for us. 

[Ben]

18 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Definitely but likely too expensive for us. 

Our owners spend £400 million on old golfers 

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Ben said:

Our owners spend £400 million on old golfers 

Expensive with regards to FFP. 

[ExiledGeordie]

43 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Definitely but likely too expensive for us. 

Agreed