How do you see us lining up?

[jezz]

I think we should line the majority of them up against a wall.

With you first in the line please

 

[chinaman]

I think we should line the majority of them up against a wall.

And have Freund to take pot shots at them.

 

[stemark44]

if you take the team of sc darlings:

lloris
walker fazio vertonghen davies
capoue stambouli
lamela eriksen chadli
soldado
​

i'm not at all convinced it would beat the others:

vorm
dier kaboul chiriches rose
dembele bentaleb
lennon paulinho kane
adebayor
​

i think as long as lloris in goal, you could pick the other 10 out of a hat and it wouldn't make much difference to the quality of side we field.

​

Absolutely,Tim Sherwood said the very same thing last season and everyone went crazy.....its a fact.
I don't think you could seperate those two teams.
We don't have a single player that would command a £20m transfer fee and most of our players are linked with teams that we would consider are inferior to Spurs.......The Hulls,Stokes and QPR's of this world.
I still think we are a decent enough team to get 6th but thats our lot,we might be better off really going all out to win a domestic cup this year because we will need a lot of very lucky draws to win the Europa.

 

[stemark44]

And have Freund to take pot shots at them.

Good shout, lets be honest if it was Adebayor and Soldado taking the shots.................they would miss.

 

[Deleted member 22380]

------------Lloris-------------
Dier-Chiriches-Vertonghen-Rose
------Capoue-Stambouli-------
Lamela----Paulinho------Eriksen
-----------Adebayor-----------

Walker omitted due to injury.
I'm a bit concerned of making Fazio first choice due to his lack of pace. Also given he is left sided, I would rather player a left-right combo and than two left footed CBs.

 

[jezz]

Absolutely,Tim Sherwood said the very same thing last season and everyone went crazy.....its a fact.
I don't think you could seperate those two teams.
We don't have a single player that would command a £20m transfer fee and most of our players are linked with teams that we would consider are inferior to Spurs.......The Hulls,Stokes and QPR's of this world.
I still think we are a decent enough team to get 6th but thats our lot,we might be better off really going all out to win a domestic cup this year because we will need a lot of very lucky draws to win the Europa.

Tim Sherwood said the very same thing last season and got sacked

 

[stemark44]

Tim Sherwood said the very same thing last season and got sacked

Still doesn't make him wrong.

 

[jezz]

Still doesn't make him wrong.

Thank your lucky stars he's gone.
If you think those line ups are the same, then I give up.

 

[HW61]

I was

I


I like Bentaleb too, still young but showing some great stuff for his age, especially as a DM. I think this is understated to a degree. I expect more from Capoue though, please watch the Liverpool game and show me one pass from him that isn't sideways. Unfortunately he doesn't offer much. Dembele should be starting in front of him, and if Dembele isn't fit enough, we really should be looking at the chairman or manager for replacements, given our expectations.

I was at the game last Sunday. A tough one to use as a benchmark in assessing players to use over the course of a season. By the same token Eriksen wouldn't be good enough for our first team. Liverpool played a high pressure game similar to us (albeit using a diamond formation); they just did it better than us possibly because they're a year ahead of playing their system. We're 3 games in. Over the course of a season playing against teams of varied talents, I believe we would find that Capoue will be the cornerstone of our team (fitness permitting). He shelters the defense well, high pass completion (sideways and forward) and poch clearly feels he understands his "philosophy" which is critical for it to work.

Just my view mate.

 

[bubble07]

What we have now is a very competitive squad with only Lloris guaranteed to start when fit

Only problem is the squad isn't a top 4 squad.

But if competitive which it is nay mean players will not get complacent

 

[DHMadboy]

I dont understand why everyone keeps sticking with Vertongen he could be a very good CB but with his current attitude he shouldnt be playing, hopefully Poch can get him back to his best in the long term, but for now he needs to realise he can be dropped if hes not playing well. I also think Eriksson and Adebayor haven't been great so would give Paulinho another chance and Kane as Soldado is injured. Also not sure whether Dier is or isnt injured.

At the moment I would line up with (not including injured players) -

Lloris
Naugton Dier Fazio Rose
Capoue Stambouli
Lamela Paulinho Chadli
Kane

once injured players are back -

Lloris
Walker Dier Fazio Rose
Capoue Stambouli
Lamela Paulinho Chadli
Soldado


COYS

 

[mil1lion]

I'm not so sure about Stambouli and Capoue together, I just don't see enough creativity in there. Both seem to have similar abilites but Stambouli appears to play with more urgency to get the ball moving. I find Capoue can be a bit languid at times.

I have this feeling that Chiriches could slot in at centre midfield. He's a much better passer than Capoue and a great tackler. His biggest problem is at times he's too casual on the ball and one mistake puts the opposition in on goal. In centre midfield he would have a bit of protection behind him. It's similar to what Mourihno did with Luiz. We don't see enough of him getting forward but he's very underated there. He scored a great goal at Fulham last season and we saw him press high up the pitch to set up Paulinho in the Europa League last week.

I can also see Kane covering on the left wing as an alternative to Chadli. They both have good work rate and they're strong in the air. I think that's a good alternative to a pacey winger on the other side. Adebayor/Soldado need an additional player to get into the box with them and give better options to cross too. Saints had that with Rodriguez coming in to join Lambert in the box.

I would also expect to see Paulinho push forward into that number 10 role, especially now we've sold Holtby and Sigurdsson. He's great at making those Poyet esque runs into the box but doesn't get as much opportunity for that from centre midfield. Last weeks Europa League game was a great example of the influence he can have there albeit against a weak opponent.

I think we could see variations of the following;

Lloris/Vorm
Walker/Naughton----Fazio/Kaboul----Vertonghen/Dier----Rose/Davies
Capoue/Stambouli/Bentaleb----Dembele/Chriches/Mason
Eriksen/Paulinho
Lamela/Townsend/Lennon-------------------------------Chadli/Kane
Adebayor/Soldado​

We have cover in all the different roles really. A big physical centre back alongside a more cultured centre back. Quick fullbacks who can get forward and Yedlin to arrive in January. A ball winner in centre midfield to break up play and get the ball back quickly alongside a more creative ballplaying midfielder who can come out with the ball. A creative number ten interchanging with the pacey tricky winger. A physical winger on the opposite wing to attack the box and join the centre forward.

Versatility will also play a key role and we'll see a number of players take up different positions. I'm sure we'll see Dier continue at right back while Walker continues his recovery. Kane will cover soldado while he's injured and we'll see the wingers switch sides at times. Lamela can slot in centrally and we could see Eriksen on the left as well. We have a number of options to choose from using a smaller squad which is what Poch is used too.

 

[TimNiceButDim]

When everyone's fit, I'd like to see:
Lloris
Walker Fazio Vertonghen Rose
Stambouli
Dembele Paulinho
Eriksen
Lamela Soldado

Adebayor has tested my last nerve, to the point that I'm actually looking forward to the African Cup of Nations. The only positive for him is that he holds the ball up. Well, every time I see him hold the ball up, he misses the runner, turns around, passes it backwards and jogs off. Ade's saved our bacon numerous times so I won't slate him but I just don't see him being able to form decent partnerships or link up play with anyone because he's constantly on a different wave length to everyone else.

Kaboul looks to have lost his pace, positioning, leadership and his mind.
Fazio & Vertonghen don't have a lot of pace but neither do Terry & Cahill, Mertesacker & Koscielny, Lovren & Skrtel, Kompany & DeMichelis yet they all seem to be able to form solid partnerships.

I've put Paulinho in because there is a part of me that still thinks (hopes) he can do something special in this league. At Corinthians he won everything. State Leagues, National Leagues, Copa Libertadores, Club World Cup and the Confed with Brazil. He was named in the National League team of the year TWICE for God's sake! He just simply can't be as shite as he's looked so far. He's also the one of the only people in our squad to have ever won anything.

Eriksen had an off day against Liverpool but anyone with any sense knows he oozes class.

When Lamela was tearing up Serie A he played on the right of a three man attack, usually next to Totti and Destro. 15 goals and 5 assists in 2012/13 says to me he's more of a striker/forward than a winger/attacking midfielder.

On anther note, I'd really like to get Yedlin in Jan so we can start to get him, Dier, Velkovic & Davies used to playing together as that is the future of our back line.

I can't put in to words how frustrating I find it that a year after spending over a £100m on players we still don't know where their best positions are or what our best 11 looks like.

 

[Coyboy]

Adebayor has tested my last nerve, to the point that I'm actually looking forward to the African Cup of Nations. The only positive for him is that he holds the ball up.

The other being that he has scored more goals in open play in one week in the EPL than Soldado ever has.

 

[Bobbins]

Might as well just copy my post from the team for Sunderland thread, frankly I barely even know who plays for Player Trading Exchange FC anymore.

Vindaloo

Nantown fuzzy-face Vertiginous Cwyffyd

Stroganoff Musakka

Linguini Tagine Zuchinni

Homogenous

 

[mill]

The other thing to consider is whether we'll always go with the 4-2-3-1.

Liverpool picked us apart with an extra man in midfield at the weekend so there may be occasions we have to sacrifice one of those creative players.

I think poch approaches every game with the same er approach, to go and dominate every game and force our style on them regardless of the opposition. He said something similar recently and guardiola said something along them lines, I'm not gonna find the quotes though

 

[TimNiceButDim]

The other being that he has scored more goals in open play in one week in the EPL than Soldado ever has.

Fair point but for me, 33 league goals in 3 seasons isn't very good. In total, Ade got 14 last year, Soldado got 11. Ade was praised, Soldado was slated. I think he's incapable of linking up with other players because no one else knows what the feck he's doing, where he's going and why he's doing it. If (and I know it's a big 'if') Soldado can get even half the form he had in La Liga, I believe he'd score more than Ade and would link up better. Hence, I'd rather give him a shot.

 

[Shadydan]

I dont understand why everyone keeps sticking with Vertongen he could be a very good CB but with his current attitude he shouldnt be playing, hopefully Poch can get him back to his best in the long term, but for now he needs to realise he can be dropped if hes not playing well. I also think Eriksson and Adebayor haven't been great so would give Paulinho another chance and Kane as Soldado is injured. Also not sure whether Dier is or isnt injured.

At the moment I would line up with (not including injured players) -

Lloris
Naugton Dier Fazio Rose
Capoue Stambouli
Lamela Paulinho Chadli
Kane

once injured players are back -

Lloris
Walker Dier Fazio Rose
Capoue Stambouli
Lamela Paulinho Chadli
Soldado


COYS

He's our best defender.

 

[Japhet]

I


I like Bentaleb too, still young but showing some great stuff for his age, especially as a DM. I think this is understated to a degree. I expect more from Capoue though, please watch the Liverpool game and show me one pass from him that isn't sideways. Unfortunately he doesn't offer much. Dembele should be starting in front of him, and if Dembele isn't fit enough, we really should be looking at the chairman or manager for replacements, given our expectations.

Bentaleb isn't aggressive enough and ducks out of tackles so I don't see him as a DM at all. As for Capoue in the Liverpool game I think there was a distinct lack of movement ahead of him and therefore he looked slow moving the ball. At some point I wouldn't mind seeing Vlad play in front of the back 4. He has the skill set - might be a good experiment.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I'm thinking that we might need to get both Ade and Soldado on the pitch at the same time to offer a bigger goal threat. We could probably get a diamond working quite well with the players we have:

Lloris

Walker – Fazio – Verts – Rose

Eriksen – Benji– Dembele

Lamela

Soldado – Ade
​

You could swap Benji for Capoue, Paulinho for Dembele, and Kane for Ade or Soldado


Or a 4-2-2-2 like what Pellegrini likes to use:

Lloris

Walker – Fazio – Verts – Rose

Benji – Capoue

Eriksen – Lamela

Soldado - Ade​