Winter 2025 Transfer Window - hopes, speculation, rumours etc.

[brontebilly]

I do like the look of that Silva we've been linked with but that's on 2 or 3 games so no idea if he's any good. As much as I love Konsa I think we should be targeting a genuine leader on the right side centre back role. We need a commanding option that organises and stands up when we need to batten it down. Forest had that as their key attribute in scouting to find Milenkovic, no coincidence their defence has improved immensely with a voice and leader in there.

Everton  also have it in tarkowski. Its a vital ingredient for any back four

Tarkowski is a very average player, Konsa is levels above him. Get Konsa back next to Mings for a few games and his form will return.

[OCD]

Funny if we signed another Brazilian who has Wesley on his shirt. Looks good going forward and wouldn't be shy of the physical stuff defensively. At 21, he looks mature but also plenty of time to grow.

[rooboy316]

Ah, sorry, that was it. Roo, not Woo!! And thanks Dave, no idea how you found it that quickly!

Not Percy but I think that post is the sort that is hard to respond to, not because it's impossible to argue, but rather because it has nothing to it.

*snipped to avoid a huge quotathon*

I don't know why Percy didn't reply and I probably shouldn't have bothered myself but it's a post that could've been a lot shorter:

"I disagree with you and I don't care if you have stats because I'm going to ignore them and just go with what I can see".

To use a phrase you seem to use quite often on others, you’ve missed the point on most of the arguments I’ve raised, as well as my overall thesis, which literally started with ‘I don’t have a horse in this race either way’. So no, I’m not ignoring the stats to suit an opinion, I don’t even care strongly about either opinion. My intention was simply to highlight that a single, albeit important stat, doesn’t paint the entire picture and isn’t enough to shut down all attempts at debate. I’m not bothering to respond to each individual point you’ve raised as it’ll be tedious for everyone else reading. Pleased to see the irony in your use of the adjective ‘sanctimonious’ as part of your response, mind.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

There was a decent Euro Leagues podcast yesterday on the BBC football daily feed outlining players to look out for in 2025, I’ve found the link on the webpage. Some are less well known -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cn4x29l8vlyo

[paul_e]

To use a phrase you seem to use quite often on others, you’ve missed the point on most of the arguments I’ve raised, as well as my overall thesis, which literally started with ‘I don’t have a horse in this race either way’. So no, I’m not ignoring the stats to suit an opinion, I don’t even care strongly about either opinion. My intention was simply to highlight that a single, albeit important stat, doesn’t paint the entire picture and isn’t enough to shut down all attempts at debate. I’m not bothering to respond to each individual point you’ve raised as it’ll be tedious for everyone else reading. Pleased to see the irony in your use of the adjective ‘sanctimonious’ as part of your response, mind.

This is going to be a longer reply than I want and I'm going to ignore your pettiness...

I agree that no single stat captures everything and more broadly even with a complete set of stats you're never going to fully capture everything that matters. However when Percy, correctly, states that our best defence is Digne, Torres, Carlos, Konsa and provides stats that back that up the debate needs to be something more than "no, don't like those stats". It's not that I agree or disagree with their sentiment but if your aim is to be able to actually debate then you need to offer a counter-point, neither you or most of the people arguing with him have done that, so it's not that he's trying to shut down debate, it's that you're all failing in trying to join one.

As I said, I don't think that is a particularly good defence because, for me, Carlos doesn't work as a pairing with Torres (or anyone else) but it's been more effective than many of the alternatives because Konsa, for a time, worked well as a 3rd centre back and countered against wingers who want to drift inside and shoot.

If we want to use stats to look at why we're stuggling it's better to actually use them though, rather than just dismissing ones we don't like. On that basis:

Under Emery we defend passively, our stats for blocks (passes and shots), interceptions and tackles are all towards the bottom of the league but, for his first 12-18months, that was largely made up for by catching teams offside far more often than anyone else in the league (nearly 4 times a match). In addition last season we controlled possession well, averaging just under 54% and with very few defensive errors (5th least in the league).

This year our possession is far less controlled and down to 50%, our offside trap is far less effective, down to roughly 2 a game, and we're now 2nd (behind a woeful southampton) in defensive errors.

I see 2 ways forward (assuming cutting out those individual errors is essential either way), we either need to become far more aggressive in our defending (which means using Mings more and getting another player like him for the right side CB) or we need to fix our alignment for offsides and get back to catching teams out far better.

Part of the problem with the offside trap and our organisation is that we've been changing our team around a lot more than we did when things were going well, whilst rotation is good for fitness and keeping players happy it does make it harder to fix systemic issues like this so being more aggressive is probably the simpler 'fix'.

[ChicagoLion]

That's a very good analysis paul e.

[Tuscans]

Fenerbahçe have asked about Diego Carlos.
@ertansuzgun

[ozzjim]

That's a very good analysis paul e.

It is, although I do think you can get the offside working well again provided the combinations work, but it needs an organiser to force it through, and the individuals to really believe in it. For a period last season we did, but we seem caught between 2 stalls now. Without doubt though, Luiz going has harmed us in possession, he was so calm taking the ball from the back 4. The double pivot with him and Kamara just worked. For me we need to give Barkley a run there to try and recapture that control that allows us to push up a bit. It also moves Tielemans to 10, which is his best position by miles

[ozzjim]

Fenerbahçe have asked about Diego Carlos.
@ertansuzgun

Hope the forwards in Turkey are ready for a bear hug.

[ChicagoLion]

That's a very good analysis paul e.

It is, although I do think you can get the offside working well again provided the combinations work, but it needs an organiser to force it through, and the individuals to really believe in it. For a period last season we did, but we seem caught between 2 stalls now. Without doubt though, Luiz going has harmed us in possession, he was so calm taking the ball from the back 4. The double pivot with him and Kamara just worked. For me we need to give Barkley a run there to try and recapture that control that allows us to push up a bit. It also moves Tielemans to 10, which is his best position by miles

I just don't think Barkley has the legs to play there for any sustained amount of time, he is also pretty poor defensively so It would create more problems than it solves.

[Dave]

Fenerbahçe have asked about Diego Carlos.
@ertansuzgun

Hope the forwards in Turkey are ready for a bear hug.

Him and Söyüncü will probably be the most limbs-all-over-the-place centre-back pairing ever.

[paul_e]

That's a very good analysis paul e.

It is, although I do think you can get the offside working well again provided the combinations work, but it needs an organiser to force it through, and the individuals to really believe in it. For a period last season we did, but we seem caught between 2 stalls now. Without doubt though, Luiz going has harmed us in possession, he was so calm taking the ball from the back 4. The double pivot with him and Kamara just worked. For me we need to give Barkley a run there to try and recapture that control that allows us to push up a bit. It also moves Tielemans to 10, which is his best position by miles

I just don't think Barkley has the legs to play there for any sustained amount of time, he is also pretty poor defensively so It would create more problems than it solves.

I agree, I think Barkley has done really well for us this season but how we're using him is probably the best to allow that. I think we need to persist with Kamara and Onana as our main pair for now.

[Demitri_C]

I do like the look of that Silva we've been linked with but that's on 2 or 3 games so no idea if he's any good. As much as I love Konsa I think we should be targeting a genuine leader on the right side centre back role. We need a commanding option that organises and stands up when we need to batten it down. Forest had that as their key attribute in scouting to find Milenkovic, no coincidence their defence has improved immensely with a voice and leader in there.

Everton  also have it in tarkowski. Its a vital ingredient for any back four

Tarkowski is a very average player, Konsa is levels above him. Get Konsa back next to Mings for a few games and his form will return.

The point was about his leadership not about how good a defender he was 🙂

[PaulWinch again]

Fenerbahçe have asked about Diego Carlos.
@ertansuzgun

Hope the forwards in Turkey are ready for a bear hug.

I can’t see anyway we’re selling a centre half now Pau is out.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Fenerbahçe have asked about Diego Carlos.
@ertansuzgun

Hope the forwards in Turkey are ready for a bear hug.

I can’t see anyway we’re selling a centre half now Pau is out.

Not sure about that. It was widely reported we tried to move him on in the summer, so if it means we get one or more defenders Emery feels fit his system better then I could see it happening. Especially if it meant getting a player that can also play right back to compete with Konsa and Cash.