Building a Team Around Vicente - Good Idea?

[SeagullEd]

This may have been spoken about, sorry if it has.

I am actually fairly skeptical about this whole 'building a team around Vicente' talk. Last season I felt that a lot of our poorer performances came from when Vicente was regularly playing and players tended to just rely on him. Regularly people would get the ball and rather than moving or looking up would just pass it to Vicente and stay static. I also noticed we lost a lot of width during this time.

Okay, inevitably building a team around him will involve changing the way we play slightly and bringing in new players, so the above effects may not be realized. Nonetheless, Vicente still has had potent injury problems and I am always skeptical of building a team around one player. In many ways we tried to do this around Forster and it didnt work (obviously Vicente is completely different class). Moreover, what if Vicente has a fantastic first half of the season and a premiership team takes a punt on him?

Looking forward to seeing what happens, but i dont wanna put all our eggs in one injury prone basket.

 

[keithbeaky]

He's about 5-10 seconds ahead of the rest of the team.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

That will come with better players. Dicker etc are not the answer to building a team round him frankly.

 

[albion534]

He makes passes he expects people to make, so in my opinion, a pre-season with these players should allow them to reach an understanding

It was a long season for some players with the fa cup and carling cup thrown in, so towards the end of the season, tired legs took over

 

[SeagullSongs]

I know he's had injury problems, but he's only 31 next month. Surely we could get another few years out of him?

If we can get him on a 2 or 3 year deal, I don't see why we can't 'build a team around him'.
Surely 'building a team around him' just involves getting better players that also play his way. And if they play his way, then they play Gus' way, so it's not necessarily building a team around him?

Edit: My last point is basically what MK said.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

He's about 5-10 seconds ahead of the rest of the league.

Edited for improved accuracy! Although, I could hve changed the word to country and still been pretty much right.

 

[SeagullEd]

What does "building a team around Vicente" mean?

With or without that concept in mind, Gus would still be targeting the same players.

I really think you are worrying yourself about nothing.

Well no, that's not true. I guess the philosophy goes that Vicente is our stand out player so we need players who are there to get the most out of him: cover up for what he's not good at and enhance his strengths. These are not unilaterally the same players we might otherwise go for or why would Poyet explicitly say this.

Please dont take this as a standard Albion moan, pissing on anything that seems vaguely exciting. Just a thought, not a criticism.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Gus is not just building a team - he is building a style, a way of playing that will become ingrained in the club and here long after he has gone (hopefully). Vicente fits into that as the player who can make the difference. The quality needed to win games in the Championship.

If Vicente signs I bet as much work will be done on making use of the space that Vicente creates as getting the ball to him.

I should relax.

 

[TonyBloomsPokerFace]

I think the problem was that last season a number of our players did become reliant on him, but I think his ability is on such a different level that some of our other players aren't able to match his his movement and anticipation. This for me is exactly why we should try and build a team around him, if we can get about 3 or 4 more players even close to his ability we will be a much better unit. Its plain to see to everyone that he is far and away the best player at the club, and it can surely only be positive bringing in better players to compliment him, even if we were to lose him in January, because we'd still have those quality signings at the club.

 

[Nathan]

Just spent my lunch time watching videos of the great man on youtube. He actually brings out the best in some of our players. His vision and movement of the ball is far better than anything our own players have experienced before, and bringing in better players will help the team work to a faster and better pace of football. I think the players also like playing with him, bucks and ash seem to have done well with him on the pitch, and cms just needs a partner up front and all will be sorted. Well almost.

 

[mona]

Excellent home performances ; some decidedly uncertain away performances. imho

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

If Vicente signs I bet as much work will be done on making use of the space that Vicente creates

Agree. In fact I can see CMS running around in all that space right now.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'm not entirely sure what it exactly means to build a team around a specific player. But, what I do know is that Vicente in his pomp is a joyous player to watch and I want him back.

 

[peterward]

What does "building a team around Vicente" mean?

It means Gus has already ditched last seasons "building the team around CMS"

 

[rjbseagull]

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the prospect of Vicente coming back, but it appears to me that people are completely neglecting his injury record.

Everyone seems to be simply assuming that merely because he will be spending pre-season with us and we have the new doctor who appears to have aided his recovery last season that he won't have similar problems to he has had in the past. Remember that he spent many seasons at Valencia, having had first class management and medical care, yet spent a lot of his time injured.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Remember that he spent many seasons at Valencia, having had first class management and medical care, yet spent a lot of his time injured.

Not according to the great man himself he didnt.

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the prospect of Vicente coming back, but it appears to me that people are completely neglecting his injury record.

Everyone seems to be simply assuming that merely because he will be spending pre-season with us and we have the new doctor who appears to have aided his recovery last season that he won't have similar problems to he has had in the past. Remember that he spent many seasons at Valencia, having had first class management and medical care, yet spent a lot of his time injured.

Were those injuries physical or mental ?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Were those injuries physical or mental ?

Mental injuries? He never came across as being brain damaged to me.

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

Mental injuries? He never came across as being brain damaged to me.

Mental - "of the mind".

 

[Lush]

Isn't the idea that JFC 'shadows' him and learns from him? So we're not building a team round Vicente but will always play with a player in that role.