Is this racist? I feel this is racist.
Chris Somalia was signed much later now..
Eric Bailly | BBC say signing is imminent
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Chris Somalia was signed much later now..
The mystery is how someone like Di Marzio has sources regarding who we are trying to sign when he's not even based here.
He doesn't know everything which is going on but he is spot on most things he mentions regarding our club. I will be very happy if we get Manolas, Ibra and Andre Gomes. Players which he said we're interested in.Luke Chad-wick?
The 'Dribbled past' stats are telling.
(For comparison's sake - Bailly played a little over 2000 minutes whilst Blind and Smalling played a little over 3000 minutes. It's still bloody impressive, though.)
Mali Donaghy
Eh? According to everything I can see from last season, he was a starting centre half for them in 90% of their games.
Judging by who scored.com he likes to commit fouls. This could be a problem IMO. And also he likes to dribble and it makes me wonder if he's actually a centre back material or no. It will be interesting to know what position is he going to play and also his height and aerial duel will improve us in defending set pieces.
The articles I've read mentioned his lack of discipline. However, one of them said something like he'd got loads of cards at the beginning of the season, then went uncarded for 13 games if I remember rightly. Discipline is always something a player can improve, especially when they're young. Plus a foul isn't always a bad thing. Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he's not as reckless as it might seem at the moment.
I think that had something to do with Musacchio's injury?
According to reports, PSG, Barca and City were in for him?
We need 5 or 6 central defenders with all the injuries we've been having in the last few years.
Racist remark.
Was he injured all season this moustaschio fella?
Had a broken ankle. So was out for almost half the season I think.
He broke is ankle in april 2015, Bailly has been bought after that. So there is a fair chance that he was a first choice.
Wasn't Bailly signed as a replacement to Gabriel ? That happened in Jan 2015 if I am not mistaken.
Yes he has the sense to get rid before having to scramble it by someone.
The 'Dribbled past' stats are telling.
(For comparison's sake - Bailly played a little over 2000 minutes whilst Blind and Smalling played a little over 3000 minutes. It's still bloody impressive, though.)
Very happy with this signing tbh (if it comes through that is). Bailly looks a solid tough tackling CB, who is quick and versatile enough to play anywhere across the backline. My few concerns with him is his lack of technical ability. It isn't dreadful by any means, but I feel that his passing range isn't of the required standard in order to accommodate Smalling along with him. Therefore, I feel we would still need a ball playing CB to compliment Smalling. So for me we would need someone who is better on the ball and is perhaps more experienced to lead the back line along with or without Smalling. Manolas seems a very solid bet to fill this category. He is similar to Bailly, in that he is very quick and strong, but he is also better on the ball and having played in the champions league for Roma and Olympiacos and in the World cup for Greece, he should have plenty of experience even at 24 (turning 25 later in the summer.)
P.S. liking this new trial where I can post even without ten likes on the main football forum.
P.S. liking this new trial where I can post even without ten likes on the main football forum.
You are right, he was first choice since last season.
Or we perhaps replace the injury prone ones with new ones, where Rojo would surely be the first name out. Saying that I feel that a fair few of the may be down to LVG's training regime, which piled on injuries this season.
Ah ha, seems he missed a good few games in second half of season our Eric... another injury prone defender or?
Yeah, Musacchio is a really good player too. Recently linked with spurs and Barca.
I enjoy seeing us make signings like this. I look at clubs like Porto, Juventus, Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and I find myself envious at the way they consistently sign young players who fly over the radar of the casual football fan but still end up becoming highly sought after a few years later. It's easy to reel off the usual suspects such as Varane, Stones, Laporte, but I think there's a tendency to create a snowball effect with these type of players where so many people continuously say they are great, that it becomes almost fact that they're the best prospects available. When in fact there's still plenty of room for improvement in all of them, especially Stones. To me it looks like Baily also has great potential but he's not as well known. When you consider Everton wanted £40m+ for Stones, and Laporte will more than likely cost a similar amount, I reckon we're getting a very good deal with this fella for €30m
Hope we continue this window buying players that fit the team in our playing style and spirit rather than big name players for the sake of it.
Smalling and Blind were mainstays this past season, 55 and 56 games played.
Problem is
Phil Jones- 36 games missed last season
Rojo- 29 games missed
and Shaw getting taken out by that bad tackle, which prompted Rojo to go from being a backup CB/LB to starting LB, increasing his injury risk.
Can't depend on Jones or Rojo.
West Ham have announced the departure of defender Joey O'Brien...
Jose will be all over this for sure. 2 defender in one night i feel like Wayne Bridges' missus
Jose will be all over this for sure. 2 defender in one night i feel like Wayne Bridges' missus
Really excited about this transfer. AFCON is a bugger although we have Fosu Mensah who will most likely slot into the defence when Bailly's out. Can see this being really successful e.g. Martial
His RB performance against Real Madrid really caught my eye so I think we might use him like Ivanovic then as he matures can become the heart of our defence.
Damn, we have some really good youngsters don't we? Martial, Rashford, Fosu Mensah, Bailly, Shaw. That could be our core for the next decade.
His RB performance against Real Madrid really caught my eye so I think we might use him like Ivanovic then as he matures can become the heart of our defence.
Damn, we have some really good youngsters don't we? Martial, Rashford, Fosu Mensah, Bailly, Shaw. That could be our core for the next decade.
Football has moved on from one dimensional defenders. Vidic and Terry are probably the last of the breed and the reason is not that top defenders have magically ceased to exist but that clubs now aim to defend through control and structure so that they are not fragile to the quality of one individual. Barcelona and Bayern have dominated world football in the recent past without a single "no nonsense big powerful" defender. And even if one argues that this might be relevant in the continent but not in England, one can take a look at City; a team that has spent close to a 100 millions on that profile of centre backs with returns worse than us.
Unless we want to copy Atlético Madrid's model and build a team around sitting deep, a defender of Bailly's profile (limited on the ball) is simply a very disappointing and backward step.
Doubt it, his positioning is poor and it will cost us, don't think Jose will tolerate that, he may be utilised in a counter attacking tactic as a RW for his pace and power, that is more natural to him anyway.
Absolutely, he's still very young, especially for a centre-back, so there's plenty of time for him to grow and making those mistakes is part of the process.
The other perspective on his disciplinary record (and I write this having never seen Bailly play) is that referees' approach to physicality and 50/50 decisions is a bit more robust in the Premier League than it is in La Liga, so it wouldn't be surprising if he were to 'get away' with a bit more.
No football philosophy or style is finished, if it is applied properly by a good manager any team can triumph, 442 with attacking wide players was meant to be outdated but then leicester did what they did. I thought Jose would target building from the back, Blind has done well, but he has been protected by the keep ball game we have been playing, it was shite to watch and resulted in boring games with few goals, this move is a positive move, in terms of attacking, it allows us to attack more and know you have a strong athletic defender to cover the gaps if an attack breaks down.
I want to say I'm trusting Jose on this one, but I remember saying the same thing for all of LvG's signings his first season 
Nonsense.... Pique and Puyol and Mascherano is more vidic then Blind despite being only 4 feet tall. Bayern have bough how many defenders last few years?
Its not that they have decided to not use them.
Footballs moved on?... next thing you'll say 442 dont work and i'll point to Liecester to prove both points wrong.
Morgan and Huth anybody?
Exactly... made the same point. This or a similar move allowes us to push on more. It offers more freedom.
It is not about a style being dead or outdated. Bringing up Leicester as an example is like claiming that the lottery is the best way to make money; of course it can happen but the fact that it is so rare should mean it shouldn't be relied on. The fact the majority of teams that win our league and European leagues do dominate possession and play higher up the pitch. If we are going to use other teams to copy, we might as well copy the 99% rather than the 1%.
The reason we were so dull to watch is not that we kept the ball, that is just ridiculous. Take your pick from Barcelona to Bayern to see how keeping the ball can in fact result in brilliant football. We were dull to watch because we weren't good enough in the final third. We were too slow and lacked creativity which you certainly can blame the manager for. The fact that we controlled possession was the one positive from that season, not a reason for the negatives. If Mourinho tried to kill that and turn us into a richer Leicester or Atlético instead of keeping the strong possession game and adding to it more threat up front, we might as well start looking forward to playing City at Old Trafford the way Stoke used to come play us.
People need to get lvg out of their systems, talking about signing superstar attackers to produce more exciting football is understandable after the shit we have had to endure, but although this is a defender it is a foundation to get that type of football, it is a more conventional defensive signing, a proper defender, not a ball playing cdm deployed as a cb, his third best position, purely because he was left footed to fit a rigid and stubborn system.
It happened to me aswell. Legit thought that there is no way we are going to have a first choice pairing of 2 right footed center Backs... i mean how absurd
LvG i hate you When will people stop bringing up Leicester as a valid comparison? Out of the winners of every league at home and in Europe, the vast majority were teams that enjoyed more possession and played on the front foot. Surely if we are going to look up examples of teams to build on, we should be looking at the 99% rather than 1% no?
The formation does not matter really, what matters is the the style and transitions of your game. the 442 is dead or still alive or whatever is really pointless when you look at how many different ways it can be applied. A 442 for example like ours in the '90s is very very difficult to make work in the modern game for example with the emphasis on midfield. A 442 that has the wide men tucked in and the back four pushed up of course has higher chances of working.
Piqué and Mascherano are not more Vidic than Blind, stop talking nonsense. That's not even the point. What I am saying is those teams work on pushing up and ensuring midfield dominance so that they do NOT have to defend. Of course this will backfire at times and once in a while they in fact do have to defend, in which cases they don't look that great. It is however an approach that is less reliant on individuals and if done correctly, ensures more pros than cons. Relying on one dimensional defenders to do the defending to free up the rest of the team most likely will lead to City last season unless you have Rio-Vida and let's face it, there is no Rio and Vida.
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