Denis Zakaria / signed for Juventus

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VP89 said:
The reason our attack play is poor, I don't think is actually because of our attackers.

I actually think our issue is that we cant sustain attacks because as Rangnick rightly put, we get flipped over on transitions so easily.

You can see the press is triggered when oppositions pass to the full backs, but the full backs always drill a pass into midfield where our midfielders fail to regain possession on heavy touches or they read the game poorly. Zakaria would help a lot in the decision making and off the ball work. His pass rate is really impressive on top, which we desperately need in the middle with McFred and Bruno carelessly throwing the ball away.

We have the right players offensively, I think we just need to keep the game in the oppositions third to allow them to keep sustaining attacks. But if the 3 behind them are considerably leaky then it ends up being a wild west match. That's why Rangnick put 3 in the middle and then changed to a diamond vs Villa. I think he's right to recognize it as an area of where we need to improve to control and therefore attack.
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Kind of agree but the issues with the midfield are for me the lack of the extra player which gives you a further option. If was a rare sight but when Donny came on, the midfield was much more balanced. Bruno plays like a 10 rather than a 8, leaving whoever is in there exposed. Not sure they are that careless, just options are so limited when on the ball....
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
Little bit different scenario that one due to age.
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It's not really a different scenario. Bellingham had enough big match experience to start regularly for England. He was a cup winner if I'm not mistaken and had some Champions League experience.

Bellingham deserved to play in that Euro tournament, as did Jadon Sancho and others. But national managers make some odd decisions, I don't think that's a fair stick to beat Zakaria with.
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
I have only ever see him play the odd CL game here and there and a few games for the Swiss National team so I don't know much about him.

The fact Granit Xhaka kept him out of the Swiss team in the Euros worries me though. If that was down to fitness fair enough but if it wasn't then we need to look for better as Xhaka is bleeding rubbish.
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The same Xhaka who absolutely played France off the park at the Euros?
 
VP89 said:
It's not really a different scenario. Bellingham had enough big match experience to start regularly for England. He was a cup winner if I'm not mistaken and had some Champions League experience.

Bellingham deserved to play in that Euro tournament, as did Jadon Sancho and others. But national managers make some odd decisions, I don't think that's a fair stick to beat Zakaria with.
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How does Sancho get in front of Sterling,Saka or Grealish for England?
Have you seen him play this season?
 
I think we’ll sign him quickly once we let one or two go whether it’s on loan or permanent. Martial and Donny are surely among the favourites to go. It’s too big a squad and there is no space to register another player
 
VP89 said:
The reason our attack play is poor, I don't think is actually because of our attackers.

I actually think our issue is that we cant sustain attacks because as Rangnick rightly put, we get flipped over on transitions so easily.

You can see the press is triggered when oppositions pass to the full backs, but the full backs always drill a pass into midfield where our midfielders fail to regain possession on heavy touches or they read the game poorly. Zakaria would help a lot in the decision making and off the ball work. His pass rate is really impressive on top, which we desperately need in the middle with McFred and Bruno carelessly throwing the ball away.

We have the right players offensively, I think we just need to keep the game in the oppositions third to allow them to keep sustaining attacks. But if the 3 behind them are considerably leaky then it ends up being a wild west match. That's why Rangnick put 3 in the middle and then changed to a diamond vs Villa. I think he's right to recognize it as an area of where we need to improve to control and therefore attack.
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Good post - Pressing is still okay as it takes time to understand when should we trigger the press and it has to be a collective effort.

I am more worried about the build up where the midfield takes one touch passes between them and then go for the vertical balls. If that one touch is bit heavy, then we lose the possession.

For e.g. various goal attempts by the Villa team actually was triggered by our miss passes from the likes of Fred,McT , Shaw, Mason. Until we get someone good on the ball , I don't think we will get better on the build up.
 
Quarterly profit for the Glazers was 25 million so they would be left with 5 million profit but they won't buy him!
We're taken for a ride every time.
 
reddevilz007 said:
How do you know they wont improve us? You have a crystal ball?

Have you watched any of our matches this season? McFred has shown again and again, that we get hammered in the midfield more than 75% of the games this season, new system or not. Pogba has shown no consistency, and Matic can barely cover any ground.

another one who would rather continue with what we have until the end of the season. Maybe you still believe in your dreams that we are going to sign Neves, De Jong or Rice this January?
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Or maybe I don't see the point of buying a player that won't improve us, mainly due to the fact he very rarely controls a midfield for Gladbach.

He hasn't been at the top of his game for a while now, and buying an average player will not improve us at all.
In no metric at all is he better than Fred or even Matic.

Rice is a dead cert for Chelsea if West Ham don't make top 4, De Jong won't be leaving, Neves would cost a small fortune but actually would.improve us no end.
None of them are leaving in Jan, no top players will be, we won't be signing any one of significance as we have an interim manager. Why sign players for a short term manager?? Pointless.
 
Getting the sneaky feeling Bayern will sign him up, thanks.

And I don't think we're considering Xhaka over him, although we surely did consider Xhaka at some point in the past
 
VP89 said:
Sterling came off an absolute torrid season with City that season. He wasnt superior to sancho at the time.
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A bad season in England is still a better form guide than a good one in Germany...I forgot Foden as well.
 
Bondi77 said:
A bad season in England is still a better form guide than a good one in Germany...I forgot Foden as well.
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Foden barely played too. You're just proving my point that international selections can be bizzare.
 
VP89 said:
Foden barely played too. You're just proving my point that international selections can be bizzare.
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I am not proving your point I am only saying that looking at Sancho now in a higher standard of football it is as clear as day that he is inferior to Sterling,Saka,Grealish and Foden as footballers so as far as I am concerned for international competition we should have our best players on show and Sancho has not shown me he is one of them.
 
Bondi77 said:
I am not proving your point I am only saying that looking at Sancho now in a higher standard of football it is as clear as day that he is inferior to Sterling,Saka,Grealish and Foden as footballers so as far as I am concerned for international competition we should have our best players on show and Sancho has not shown me he is one of them.
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Ok, let me put it shortly. I dont give a flying feck about Sancho vs others in the England set up, its a passing comment of how the International selections are bizarre.

Saying we should not get Zakaria because he was on the bench for Switzerland is like passing on Bellingham, Foden or Sancho for the same reasons.
 
I think it's a no brainer for us. Even if he's ultimately a backup cdm, right now it means we can play with 3 in midfield and not need to use Matic.
 
For that price it's a no brainer in my opinion. Matic is our only option there and, despite still being a classy player, he's basically geriatric at this point.

I saw little bits of Zakaria before the injury and he looked top class, a real all-round engine in midfield. Haven't watched bundesliga at all since but apparently he's not got back to that point but hell, for 1/20th of a Maguire or so, why not roll the dice.
 
VP89 said:
Ok, let me put it shortly. I dont give a flying feck about Sancho vs others in the England set up, its a passing comment of how the International selections are bizarre.

Saying we should not get Zakaria because he was on the bench for Switzerland is like passing on Bellingham, Foden or Sancho for the same reasons.
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Well I think if we could get a full refund on Sancho then we would do it in a split second and if a similar price is quoted on Bellingham then we hopefully will be wiser and pass on that one.
 
golden_blunder said:
Well unless you want to sign an alleged sex offender, I think most won’t touch bissouma until his case is decided
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Apart from Villa it would seem?

His case holds no water on any decisions, mainly due to being released under investigation, rather than actual bail.
 
I'm not saying he's the right answer but surely for that money it's a total no brainer
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
This didn't age well. Hahahaha
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He doesn't seem to go as bananas for the Swiss, and Remo Freuler isn't a bad player but Zakaria being 25 and not having won the job makes me worried he's just not quite good enough on the ball for our level and should be going to an Everton or Villa.
 
NoPace said:
He doesn't seem to go as bananas for the Swiss, and Remo Freuler isn't a bad player but Zakaria being 25 and not having won the job makes me worried he's just not quite good enough on the ball for our level and should be going to an Everton or Villa.
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Villa outplayed us… so not sure what you are trying to say here
 
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Champ said:
Apart from Villa it would seem?

His case holds no water on any decisions, mainly due to being released under investigation, rather than actual bail.
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No one is going to take that chance and pay 30m+ for something that may blow up in their face. It’s not a misdemeanour he’s been accused off. Haven’t you noticed that all ‘big’ links to United, Liverpool etc have died off?
 
golden_blunder said:
No one is going to take that chance and pay 30m+ for something that may blow up in their face. It’s not a misdemeanour he’s been accused off. Haven’t you noticed that all ‘big’ links to United, Liverpool etc have died off?
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Apart from Sky sports, MEN today, whereby its stated that Brighton know of interest from the big clubs?

He won't go in January because of the AFCON though.
 
Champ said:
Apart from Sky sports, MEN today, whereby its stated that Brighton know of interest from the big clubs?

He won't go in January because of the AFCON though.
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The MEN article is nothing, it just throws our name out there for no apparent reason other than that the fans want a new midfield

the sky sports article is not much better, it makes United, City, Liverpool etc but goes on to say that they are looking for players “off that profile”. No specific link to bissouma. I stand by my original stance, common sense says no one will (rightly in my opinion) go near him until the allegations are cleared up.
 
He’s not very good and he isn’t a natural DM. He’d be a bit-part player at City, Chelsea and Liverpool, but he’d be a guaranteed starter for us.

I understand that he’s a bargain and that he still represents improvement in that area for us, but by the summer I’d want us to buy yet another midfielder to replace Pogba & Matic (and maybe Donny if we ever let that boy leave).
 
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