- Dec 23, 2004
- 11,916
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I've read an awful lot (since it's all gone wrong, at least) on here and in the press about how last summer's transfer approach was "scattergun" leaving us with an average and unbalanced squad. I confess that I am one of the many people who couldn't believe what was happening when we were spending the Bale money and could only foresee good things for this season. Ok, I was somewhat wrong there but I'm still baffled by the aforementioned accusation as to me there was a very clear plan to our transfers.
We start with a small analysis of AVB's system and how he deployed it (with much success) at Porto.
As we know, it was a very clear 4-3-3 with the front six usually consisting of the following:
Fernando - DM. Protect the defence, win ball, pass simple. When attacking, drop in between the centre backs allowing the full backs to get forward.
Guarin - Box to box midfielder, defensively sound while offering attacking threat.
Moutinho - Playmaker. Take ball from less technically able players and make things happen, either through passing or by carrying the ball forward.
Hulk - Inverted wide forward. Drift inside as much as possible to support the striker and offer a goal threat.
Varela - Inverted winger. Stay wider but seek to offer more creativity than the battering ram on the other side.
Falcao - No.9. Make space for others with clever running. Loiter in and around the box. Score.
Now, consider the midfielders and forwards that we ended last season with:
Sandro
Huddlestone
Livermore
Parker
Dembélé
Holtby
Carroll
Lennon
Bale
Bentley
Sigurđsson
Falqué
Townsend
Adebayor
Dempsey
Kane
Out of that lot, the closest we could have got to the Porto system was probably:
So let's consider the transfers:
Out
Huddlestone - Good passer of the ball, but not overly creative or quick thinking. Reasonable sale for good money.
Livermore - Jack of all trades, master of none. Passable backup to either Sandro or Dembélé but certainly possible to improve upon. Reasonable loan/sale for good money.
Parker - Had seemingly lost the plot. Great bloke but needed to be improved upon. Reasonable sale for good money.
Bale - Ultimately unavoidable.
Bentley - Would anyone have kept him?!
Dempsey - Decent player who scored a fair few goals but doesn't really fit the system. Reasonable sale for good money.
Carroll/Falqué - Reasonable loans for first team football.
So what were we left needing?
Suddenly, we're in a position to field:
I think Baldini did an overall superb job. The only mystery is why AVB didn't practise the system that he preached now that he had been provided with the personnel.
Re: the defence. If AVB didn't fancy Caulker, why not replace him with Romania's captain while making a profit? Only 4 CB's you say? Capoue had played perfectly well there in the past. The only problem was LB, but how did we know that Jan was going to be such a gimp about being asked to play there? Rose had just had a pretty good season on loan at Sunderland and had earnt his chance just as Walker had done before him. I'm in the Naughton-supporter ranks and think he is more than adequate cover for Walker (who rarely gets injured or requires a rest anyway).
We start with a small analysis of AVB's system and how he deployed it (with much success) at Porto.
As we know, it was a very clear 4-3-3 with the front six usually consisting of the following:
------------Fernando------------
-----Guarin-------Moutinho-----
-----------------------------------
Hulk-----------------------Varela
--------------Falcao--------------
As we know though, modern football is concerned more with roles than positions, so a quick reminder of those is in order...-----Guarin-------Moutinho-----
-----------------------------------
Hulk-----------------------Varela
--------------Falcao--------------
Fernando - DM. Protect the defence, win ball, pass simple. When attacking, drop in between the centre backs allowing the full backs to get forward.
Guarin - Box to box midfielder, defensively sound while offering attacking threat.
Moutinho - Playmaker. Take ball from less technically able players and make things happen, either through passing or by carrying the ball forward.
Hulk - Inverted wide forward. Drift inside as much as possible to support the striker and offer a goal threat.
Varela - Inverted winger. Stay wider but seek to offer more creativity than the battering ram on the other side.
Falcao - No.9. Make space for others with clever running. Loiter in and around the box. Score.
Now, consider the midfielders and forwards that we ended last season with:
Sandro
Huddlestone
Livermore
Parker
Dembélé
Holtby
Carroll
Lennon
Bale
Bentley
Sigurđsson
Falqué
Townsend
Adebayor
Dempsey
Kane
Out of that lot, the closest we could have got to the Porto system was probably:
-------------Sandro-------------
----Dembélé-----Huddlestone--
-----------------------------------
Bale-----------------------Falqué
------------Adebayor--------------
Not bad, but hardly going to set the world alight (especially with uncertainty over Sandro's return and Bale's future). Not only that, but the backup is far from stellar (Parker in place of Sandro? Livermore for Dembélé? Dempsey for Adebayor?)----Dembélé-----Huddlestone--
-----------------------------------
Bale-----------------------Falqué
------------Adebayor--------------
So let's consider the transfers:
Out
Huddlestone - Good passer of the ball, but not overly creative or quick thinking. Reasonable sale for good money.
Livermore - Jack of all trades, master of none. Passable backup to either Sandro or Dembélé but certainly possible to improve upon. Reasonable loan/sale for good money.
Parker - Had seemingly lost the plot. Great bloke but needed to be improved upon. Reasonable sale for good money.
Bale - Ultimately unavoidable.
Bentley - Would anyone have kept him?!
Dempsey - Decent player who scored a fair few goals but doesn't really fit the system. Reasonable sale for good money.
Carroll/Falqué - Reasonable loans for first team football.
So what were we left needing?
- A quality box to box midfielder to rotate with Dembélé (who we knew would miss games through his hip injury).
- A quality DM to rotate with Sandro (who had an extremely serious injury).
- A quality playmaker with the ability to both pass and drive forward with the ball.
- Wide players to fulfil both the a) Hulk and b) Varela roles.
- An intelligent penalty box striker to replace/rotate with Adebayor who had had a stinker of a season.
- Paulinho - A nailed on Brazilian international starter. Best player at the Confederations Cup.
- Capoue - Those on here who watch Ligue 1 were extremely excited about this signing. Few doubted his quality before his injury.
- Eriksen - Pretty much the most highly rated young playmaker in Europe with another (Holtby) in reserve.
- This is where things alter slightly. Presumably due to the availability of players, the roles switched flanks and we bought in a) Chadli and b) Lamela. Some were underwhelmed with the Chadli signing but when you consider his physical attributes and positional abilities he fits that Hulk role very well. Lamela was one of the most highly rated young players in the world and had just top-scored in Serie A. Very skilful and creative, he fits that Varela role perfectly.
- Soldado. Knew where the goal was. Runs well. Scored goals. About the best we could have hoped for.
Suddenly, we're in a position to field:
------------Sandro------------
---Paulinho--------Eriksen----
--------------------------------
Lamela------------------Chadli
------------Soldado------------
or in the worst injury crisis:---Paulinho--------Eriksen----
--------------------------------
Lamela------------------Chadli
------------Soldado------------
------------Capoue------------
---Dembélé---------Holtby----
---------------------------------
Townsend------------Sigurđsson
------------Adebayor------------
I am surely not the only person that can see significant improvement there, not only in personnel but also in suitability for the system. Hardly "scattergun".---Dembélé---------Holtby----
---------------------------------
Townsend------------Sigurđsson
------------Adebayor------------
I think Baldini did an overall superb job. The only mystery is why AVB didn't practise the system that he preached now that he had been provided with the personnel.
Re: the defence. If AVB didn't fancy Caulker, why not replace him with Romania's captain while making a profit? Only 4 CB's you say? Capoue had played perfectly well there in the past. The only problem was LB, but how did we know that Jan was going to be such a gimp about being asked to play there? Rose had just had a pretty good season on loan at Sunderland and had earnt his chance just as Walker had done before him. I'm in the Naughton-supporter ranks and think he is more than adequate cover for Walker (who rarely gets injured or requires a rest anyway).
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