TRon Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 6 hours ago, AyeDubbleYoo said: I’m not sure if that because of any particular player though, or because of the system. If you commit to closing people down and pressing high up, surely there’ll always be the potential to be bypassed? Unless you don’t press with everyone, which just makes it less likely your press will work. As you can tell I’m not a manager, but I don’t think it’s a simple balance to strike. Even in a high press you need players who naturally will spot the gaps and try to cover those in the event of a break, and that comes to defensive minded players more naturally. I don't think Bruno is quite that, although he does his best. Also he is quite slow so if he's caught upfield he's not getting back so the point about pace is valid. What you don't want is a DM who isn't a good footballer though. We've definitely benefited from having Bruno's ability on the ball from deep so it's about getting the right balance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 3 hours ago, LFEE said: Still no decent links other than KP? Raphinha has been mentioned a few times in the last couple of days but nothing convincing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAK Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Raphinia, yes please but I thought he was doing ok for Barca (stand to be corrected) unsure why they would sell. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Andreas Christensen mentioned on Sky Sports via Sport too: Newcastle join Saudi clubs in Raphinha hunt Newcastle have joined Saudi Pro League clubs in the race to sign Raphinha with Barcelona prepared to sell the winger, according to Sport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt1892 Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 1 hour ago, STM said: None of them were problems last season. You could put a more traditional DM in there, but that's not a change of system, that's a change of personnel. A change of philosophy, formations, tactics would be suicidal. I wonder if Man City or Liverpool want Klopp/Guardiola to tear up the blue print because they lose a few games? Clubs have figured us out now, they know that if they can either man mark Bruno or press him hard that they can shut down a lot of what we do in possession, so the logical thing to do is to change things up, either with the formation or the tactics. A switch of the triangle midfield to go with a traditional midfield two would not only counter the issues highlighted by LFEE, but would benefit Isak by having a link up player so he doesn’t have to drop deep for the ball as much, which I think would help create him more opportunities. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest reefatoon Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 2 hours ago, Deuce said: Seems like many are taking it as a given that signing Philips means we’ll start deploying a traditional defensive midfielder, when there’s no indication that Howe wants to do that. I do think Phillips would also do well in the Longstaff role fwiw. Yep agree, he’ll be looking for players to fit the system, not a player to completely change the system. Agree with you too, he would work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Teams didn't have it that figured out before the injury crisis. We had a mini wobble for a few games after Villa and then we were one of the most in-form teams until December iirc. Any type of football requires the necessary energy at this level, regardless of tactics. Rafa nailed it with the short blanket expression. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest reefatoon Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 2 hours ago, STM said: None of them were problems last season. You could put a more traditional DM in there, but that's not a change of system, that's a change of personnel. A change of philosophy, formations, tactics would be suicidal. I wonder if Man City or Liverpool want Klopp/Guardiola to tear up the blue print because they lose a few games? I don’t think some people are realising how brutal a season it has been. We have had the extra cup games and these are not just a walk in the park games against lesser opposition, we have played Milan, PSG and Dortmund all twice, Man City, Man U and Chelsea. That is an unbelievable amount of crazy hard fixtures to fit in. Throw in on top of that our injury list, which has been unprecedented this year, leaving our squad on its bare bones through the most gruelling half seasons we have ever had. Meaning we have had to wrap our available players in cotton wool, not train properly for weeks to try and protect them through it all. Then there is Tonali we lost on top of that, which has not helped matters. We are now back to a game a week, players can start working and training like they used to, we have players coming back from injury too. This is all going to totally transform our season and we will be back to the team we were. These factors all need to be taking into account before just thinking a DM will come in and things will be different. Hopefully we can keep the injuries to a minimum now and watch us get back to where we were. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 3 minutes ago, reefatoon said: I don’t think some people are realising how brutal a season it has been. We have had the extra cup games and these are not just a walk in the park games against lesser opposition, we have played Milan, PSG and Dortmund all twice, Man City, Man U and Chelsea. That is an unbelievable amount of crazy hard fixtures to fit in. Throw in on top of that our injury list, which has been unprecedented this year, leaving our squad on its bare bones through the most gruelling half seasons we have ever had. Meaning we have had to wrap our available players in cotton wool, not train properly for weeks to try and protect them through it all. Then there is Tonali we lost on top of that, which has not helped matters. We are now back to a game a week, players can start working and training like they used to, we have players coming back from injury too. This is all going to totally transform our season and we will be back to the team we were. These factors all need to be taking into account before just thinking a DM will come in and things will be different. Hopefully we can keep the injuries to a minimum now and watch us get back to where we were. Great Post. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy84 Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 We need to act like a big club this window. Whenever a top club has a glaring squad issue they tend to solve it, we need to be the same. FFP restrictions aside we can only do what we can do, but if there is an opportunity like Phillips we should be absolutely all over it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myleftboot Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Any ITK’s? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STM Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 (edited) I certainly concur that we need a more traditional option at DM. The amount of games where we needed a cool head to come into the middle late on and just protect the defence. We shouldn't tear our blueprint up but we really could do with that option. Carragher did a great piece on what a difference Endo has had on Liverpools midfield, we could do with something similar. Edited January 7 by STM Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakka Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 2 minutes ago, Myleftboot said: Any ITK’s? My ITK says no. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFEE Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 2 hours ago, STM said: None of them were problems last season. You could put a more traditional DM in there, but that's not a change of system, that's a change of personnel. A change of philosophy, formations, tactics would be suicidal. I wonder if Man City or Liverpool want Klopp/Guardiola to tear up the blue print because they lose a few games? That was last season playing one game a week with the front 6 being our best defenders. Analytics teams have had summer to pick holes and squad depth in tatters short term. Not saying we can’t play the same way half the season but it is wise to have a plan B other than just plan A with fresh subs for certain games as even Liverpool/Dortmund found out you can only do the crazy pressing for so long before players start fading when fixtures increase. Mind you we have 5 subs these days and bigger benches so maybe it will be. Think you could argue it both ways. Currently we are 433 but playing one as a DM to me would make it 4123 so the personnel does change the system. I think you are getting carried away. It’s a tweak for certain games not ripping up philosophies. Not a fan of KP and DM’s and have always argued that EH prefers midfielders that can do a bit of everything so we shall see what happens. Even with Tonali back next season I still worry about our lack of pace/athleticism in midfield regardless of system tweaks/changes. KP short or long term doesn’t solve that problem either so you’d think a positional tweak for certain games might be in EH’s short term thinking 🤷🏼♂️ Wouldn’t surprise me we find out Willlock misses most of the season. Tonali misses start of next season. Bruno/Joelinton/Longstaff all playing like they are carrying knocks going down regularly. Some interesting and tough decisions to be made this window. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheInfiniteOdyssey Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Think Phillips gets done this week and that’s all we’ll do this window. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myleftboot Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 6 minutes ago, hakka said: My ITK says no. Fair play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubaricho Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 2 minutes ago, LFEE said: Not a fan of KP and DM’s and have always argued that EH prefers midfielders that can do a bit of everything so we shall see what happens. Same and agreed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginola14 Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 missing the old embedded tweets this time of year hoping for a Phillips thread to pop up soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vexred Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/25275506/newcastle-transfer-news-sean-longstaff/ What would be an acceptable bid? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NWMag Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 20 minutes ago, vexred said: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/25275506/newcastle-transfer-news-sean-longstaff/ What would be an acceptable bid? Article is 100% speculation, baffles me how these papers get away with such made up headlines. In terms of an acceptable offer I’d take 25 million for him Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiemag Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 26 year old English midfielder, UCL experience .. 30 mill. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoSelecta Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 Shows how stretched we are at the minute that Gordon is first choice LW and second choice RW & CF. We absolutely must sign a centre forward this window - ideally someone who can play on the right hand side as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 9 hours ago, aussiemag said: 26 year old English midfielder, UCL experience .. 30 mill. You would be mad to pay £30m for Longstaff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sushimonster85 Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 9 hours ago, aussiemag said: 26 year old English midfielder, UCL experience .. 30 mill. If Longstaff had a bit more composure with his finishing he'd be a 50m+ player. Swear he seems to have 2 or 3 nailed on chances every game. Great at making that late run into the box, or hanging back for a chance on the edge of the area. Hardly ever converts them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallace Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 But if we qualify for Europe, would we then not have an issue with the number of homegrown players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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