Who gets frozen out?

[GMI]

where is the pace without Lennon ?

Lamela ?

True. Townsend can shift abit though with the added bonus that he can cut in and shoot or provide assists such as in the Tiblisi game, albeit against very poor opposition. Well be interesting to see how the right side pans out. I do remember AVB praising Lennon quite a bit last season so maybe not 'frozen' but slightly 'chilled out'....like BAE

 

[dagraham]

I'm sure this has been debated before but does anyone think Ade could be utilised in the LWF role?

I know drifting out wide from a starting CF position is a world of difference to actually starting there but I thought it might be worth experimenting with. In a ideal world I would have shipped Ade out of the club if we could have got someone in of simliar quality but now he's staying we need to use him and he is very creative with good movement.

 

[GMI]

Re: Ade. He is here till at least January now. He has talent in abundance. Too good to be frozen out. However, AVB has got a challenge on his hands to see if he can get anything out of him. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing him on the left of a three as he does seem to spend a lot of his time in the left channel.

Edit: Beat me to it dagraham.

 

[chinaman]

The worry is Ade needs a run of something like half a dozen games to get into form, but would he get that run?

 

[crokey]

IMO Siggy will get similar game time to Carroll last season

 

[thp86]

Don't mean to nitpick mate but that's not really a 4-2-3-1, it's a 4-2-1-3 because you've got wing forwards. I'd actually prefer to play a 4-2-3-1 where there are 3 attacking mids of sort behind the striker who can create chances. I know you said not to start too many new players but I don't think we have a choice, plus the players we've bought are very experienced individuals.

I'd line up Lamela/Holtby/Eriksen behind Soldado. Eriksen and Lamela can cut in and Holtby has the energy to do a lot of leg work in the middle and help out the 2 centre mids if needs be. The most creative line up we can go for. Also, I'd have Paulinho in over Dembele in that sort of line-up.

I think I have just worded the positions incorrectly, I agree about three behind the striker. I'd be more than happy with your Lamela/Holtby/Eriksen combination.

 

[IMissTheWaddler]

where is the pace without Lennon ?

Lamela ?

When was the last time you saw lennon really attacking his fullback consistently over a game, rather than one or two bursts. Walker does far more on the overlap and shows much more danger going forward unfortunately. Just my opinion, don't flame.

 

[dooey123]

When we went on this spending spree and with all the talk about depth I couldn't help harking back to when we had similar competition for places. I think it may have under Martin Jol and it might have been the CM positions or the four strikers we had at the time (Keane, Defoe, Mido, Berbs?). There seemed to be some unrest with the benched players that they were too good to not be playing and weren't given enough chances and in the end it seemed like people were getting games out of Jol just being a nice fella and trying to keep people happy rather than based on performances.

I just hope AVB can handle it on a personal level and get a good working team/starting 11 while keeping the rest happy.

 

[dontcallme]

When was the last time you saw lennon really attacking his fullback consistently over a game, rather than one or two bursts. Walker does far more on the overlap and shows much more danger going forward unfortunately. Just my opinion, don't flame.

I can PM SS57 and ask him to give you some Lennon stats if you want.

He might not be running at defenders all the time but his chances created compared to those around him is very good.

Walker gets up and down the pitch all day long but if his cross never beats the first man then hes not really being effective.´ Same for Townsend except he shoots on sight too much which gets him focus on MOTD but once again isn~t really that effective.

As said in the OP we have an abundance of midfielders. However much AVB rotates some players are going to get virtually no playing time.

Gomes is one. Fryers is the defender but he is still very young so it´s OK.

In midfield I can´t see Sig getting much gametime. We have Eriksen, Lamela, Chadli, Lennon and Townsend all ahead of him in the peck order for the attacking midfield spots. In the midfield 3 we have Sandro, Dembele, Paulinho, Holtby and Capoue ahead of him.

Ade is a more unpredictable character. Get his head right and we an excellent striker, if not then Soldado and Defoe are ahead of him.

 

[FinnYid]

Gomes and Ade, Fryers on limited time too, Townsend will soon find himself on stands.

 

[annekcm]

Personally I think Lennon will be the biggest name to be the most frozen out. After all, the only reason why he wasn't sold in that window was because we failed to get Willian so we know AVB sees his days as being limited. I think he's a good option in the squad for if we need something different, but most of the time he won't fit the attributes needed I don't think. The forwards all need to be good technical players who come in side and can get involved with interplay. Think of Hazard, Willian, Hulk, Neymar, Coutinho, Aspas, Oscar, De Bruyne, Mata, Silva, Nasri. That is the style of player required for the position and Lamela, Chadli, Townsend, Eriksen will be more suited to those roles.

 

[Flashspur]

lots of games - long season so many will get a chance

 

[sim0n]

I think I have just worded the positions incorrectly, I agree about three behind the striker. I'd be more than happy with your Lamela/Holtby/Eriksen combination.

I must say, if erikson takes hold of the LW spot, then chadli could end up outside looking in...

 

[Monkey Bastard Hands]

I'm not so sure that we'll see players getting frozen out this season, yes we have a lot of top quality players but I reckon we're going to start to see our first team getting rotated quite a lot from now. Historically we've pretty much been restricted to the first choice first XI with the usual suspects on the bench, but the squad we have now allows us to rotate and keep players fresh. The likes of Chelsea, Man U and City have done this for years and I think we're going to start to see this happening with us too, especially as I get the impression that AVB is out to win every competition we're in (and rightly so).

 

[cranester]

Should of found a way of keeping Tom Carroll, for me Chadli was a signing for the sake of it..

 

[dontcallme]

Should of found a way of keeping Tom Carroll, for me Chadli was a signing for the sake of it..

Completely irrelevant to this thread but thanks for your input.

I blame Jenas.

 

[Kendall]

Should of found a way of keeping Tom Carroll, for me Chadli was a signing for the sake of it..

Really?

What makes you think that? He has a good record.

 

[ThorntonSpur]

Gomes.

it wouldn't surprise me if we win our opening three El games if he is given game time as a potential shop window or time for redemption. not sure how old he is but he even might be happy as a number 2 if he does not get any offers, but I doubt it.

 

[Philly]

The worry is Ade needs a run of something like half a dozen games to get into form, but would he get that run?

As well as this, I believe that one of the biggest contributors to Ade's poor start to last season was the lack of a pre-season and match practice, which led to him getting injured when he went into the 1st team too quickly.

I can only see this happening again this year.

 

[Philly]

Really?

What makes you think that? He has a good record.

Chadli seems to already have been made whipping boy, without really having had much of a chance to settle in. Thought he was ok against Palace, but poor against the scum, although he wasn't on his own in that respect.