Summer 2022 Transfer Thread

[eamonn]

And yet Gerrard said we didn't lose cos of who wasn't playing.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Bloody hell, it's one game. And corners will still be the preserve of that idiot MacPhee, of that I'm certain.

I appreciate it's one game, hence the 'If Saturday and pre-season are anything to go by..' but the concern remains. I also very much doubt MacPhee was the one to decide the switch from zonal to man marking on corners. I wonder if one of our subbed players was given the job to man mark Kieffer Moore at corners and no instruction was given to the oncoming player? Whatever happened it was a mess.

I think a big part of th eproblem with corners on sat is that Mings and Chambers are the 2 best options in the squad for defending them and we left both on the bench.

Not sure about Mings, Paul, for all his strengths he's normally standing on the edge of the six yard box in the middle marking nobody at corners. Maybe he'd have marshalled the defence better though as nobody was picking up Moore.

[Drummond]

Bloody hell, it's one game. And corners will still be the preserve of that idiot MacPhee, of that I'm certain.

I appreciate it's one game, hence the 'If Saturday and pre-season are anything to go by..' but the concern remains. I also very much doubt MacPhee was the one to decide the switch from zonal to man marking on corners. I wonder if one of our subbed players was given the job to man mark Kieffer Moore at corners and no instruction was given to the oncoming player? Whatever happened it was a mess.

I think a big part of th eproblem with corners on sat is that Mings and Chambers are the 2 best options in the squad for defending them and we left both on the bench.

Not sure about Mings, Paul, for all his strengths he's normally standing on the edge of the six yard box in the middle marking nobody at corners. Maybe he'd have marshalled the defence better though as nobody was picking up Moore.

And he's then the one throwing himself at the second ball, blocking shots etc.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

True but I'd prefer there was no second ball to block. Now you've just reminded me of their first goal and the comedy defending.

[pauliewalnuts]

True but I'd prefer there was no second ball to block. Now you've just reminded me of their first goal and the comedy defending.

I thought the second one was much worse.

I actually laughed. That's all you can really do when presented with brainlessness like that.

[LukeJames]

The 2nd should never ever happen at this level.

[Beard82]

How do you get Ramsey, SJM, Phil and EMi2 in the same team and have a decent balance - I can't see it, but that's what he s trying to do.

SJM and Ramsey might work if we had proper wide players (Kamara holding) and not rely on full-backs for width. They both have an eye for goal and arriving late around a focal point striker could work - however no place for Phil or Emi2.

I think Emi2 could play wide - that were he played for Norwich.  Phil can’t - which basically limits us.

I think given what we have and the fact we will basically always play McGinn and Phil are best bet is going to be a diamond with 2 up front - maybe Davis and Ings or try Bailey.  And maybe a new CF

I’m not saying that’s our best line u0 but that’s how we could get the best out of Phil and accommodate SJM

Otherwise I would be tempted to play a Dean Smith line up with Bailey and Emi2 as the wide man and no Phil

[Ads]

If Ings is to play, it ought to be with another strike partner and it ought to be Archer. If Ollie plays, he needs Coutinho and Emi in the side to feed the diagonal or channel ball.

Realistically I'd jettison Ings and buy the 2022 Benteke. If we had somebody in the box who could turn a percentage ball into something or make it stick with their back to goal, we'd improve no end.

[eamonn]

Who's the 2020s Bentekay though ?

[Concrete Tom]

Would anyone take Ampadu from Chelsea? Seemingly surplus to requirements and always looks solid for Wales.

[Brazilian Villain]

Would anyone take Ampadu from Chelsea? Seemingly surplus to requirements and always looks solid for Wales.

Looked good but haven't seen how he's developed over the last couple of seasons but a definite no if we're planning to use Black Lace for his song.

[eamonn]

Isn't he a centre-back? We already have five of them.

[tomd2103]

Isn't he a centre-back? We already have five of them.

Been playing centre half for Wales recently, but is a defensive midfielder.  We've just got Kamara in and have Nakamba and Iroegbunam as cover in that position. 

[tomd2103]

It's a mess of two different manager's styles at the moment and it needs to be addressed.

In Gerrard's set up we need a striker and very mobile central midfielders who can cover the fullbacks. Neither Ramsey or McGinn are that type of player - I'm trying to think of an example of who that would actually be? Staunton? Bremner?

Deans 4231 lacked a brilliant CDM (Kamara could be that) then Doug sat alongside him would have been ok. This would have allowed the front four to function (Emi2, Bailey, Watkins, Bert).

But we are now a proper mishmash and also trying to accommodate an underperforming Phil and Ings...

Neither formation has an obvious place for our new captain or Ramsey.

Mish-mash is a succinct summary at the moment. No-one, including seemingly Gerrard, has a clear idea of our best first 11 or our identity at the moment. We’ve been pretty shapeless and disjointed for most of this year.

It feels like Gerrard needs to stumble on something that works as you don’t feel he has the nous to work it out for himself at the moment. It needs to happen for him quickly or I fear we are going to be at the arse end of the table again by September.

Agree with this really.  Whichever way we set up our attacking formation, we have players who don't really fit in to that style.  If we play with two up front with Coutinho in behind, it doesn't really suit Ings and Watkins as they haven't really got the quality needed when they drift into wider areas.

That means you would then probably have to look at one of them playing up front with Coutinho behind them, but then we probably haven't got the wide players needed to play week-in, week-out in the Premier League.  Bailey, Buendia, Traore and Coutinho have quality, but aren't going to offer the work rate up and down the pitch that a team in our position needs. 

The midfield shape hasn't really worked for sometime and it's questionable whether McGinn and Ramsey are best utilised dropping into deeper positions.

[richtheholtender]

While we're sat on our thumbs, spending a net spend of about £20 million across the last 3 windows, forest are having £42 million bids rejected.