[Albion] Do we have a £170m gap in our midfield?

[trueblue]

Didn’t really see an issue at all today. Obviously we’ll miss Caicedo at times - not against opposition of that calibre. They sat their 2 forwards on Dahoud but the midfield didn’t engage him much at all so he mostly had plenty of space when we were in possession. Didn’t need to wriggle free from tight spaces to break the press, so nothing in that display indicated how good he’ll be in that scenario. Does a nice line in disguised passes and looked very tidy overall.

I think our current central midfielders will find it tough to cope with opponents who hit us fast on the break. That’s where Caicedo’s telescopic legs came into play. If we can find a player who’s naturally as good at sensing danger, I think we can cover the other aspects of his loss with our other players.

As for Mac, top player but Joao Pedro will probably cause more problems.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Thoughts?

We won 4-1.
One player (or even two) doesn't make or break the team.
There is fantastic squad strength in depth.
The new arrivals will get better.
The sales are part of the club's model.
We've got a manager who knows what he's doing.
TB is a genius and won't be screwed over by anyone.
We won 4-1.

 

[dazzer6666]

Thoughts?

We won 4-1.
One player (or even two) doesn't make or break the team.
There is fantastic squad strength in depth.
The new arrivals will get better.
The sales are part of the club's model.
We've got a manager who knows what he's doing.
TB is a genius and won't be screwed over by anyone.
We won 4-1.

Fence ?

 

[stss30]

We were certainly rusty especially in the first half, but once this Caicedo transfer finally completes I've no doubt we'll reinvest - possibly in at least 2 replacements. Let's keep calm and support the lads, thought Milner and Dahoud were impressive.

 

[studio150]

The main problem is winning the ball back. Without Caicedo we are not winning the ball back as often in the opposition half, and are allowing the opposition to have more of the ball in our half.

Not too much of an issue against Luton but will put more pressure on our defenders when we play better teams.

No doubt the club have suitable players already earmarked and we should see several players coming in shortly.

 

[maltaseagull]

Don’t want to piss on everyone’s chips but that was a bang average performance from last season. Without doubt it looked like a team who haven’t played together but for me we seem to have a huge gap in midfield.

No zippy oh my god moments in the midfield. Counter attacks seemed slow. Little worried about better opposition ahead.

But 4-1 didn’t get out of first gear maybe I need to cheer the f*** up.

Views?

I think your last sentence is correct.

 

[Justice]

Reading this thread is funny it’s almost as if Luton had no right to try and play football.

 

[WATFORD zero]

As I remember this time last year, we had just sold Bissouma, and were desperately panicking about how we would cope with a young Argentinean who had only just debuted for his national team and was nowhere near a starter for them at the World Cup let alone a winner, and a 20 year old who had appeared 8 times the previous season, 2 of which were off the bench and only 3 of which he actually completed 90 mins.

12 months later we have a £170M 'hole' in the team ? Do behave

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Well then think ‘f*** off’ to an opinion may have been totally uncalled for eh?

I was f***ing off to your opinion about Kane.

Can't stand the bloke whoever he's playing for, he's a cheating wanker

 

[DavePage]

Dahoud is certainly getting the March treatment from De Zerbi, see the love in at the end? Didn’t work out too bad for Solly.
Thought we changed our style for him today, not quite ready for the quick triangles.
work in progress

 

[Gabbafella]

The subs made our play a lot more fluid and we played with more pace, but I think that's the way to go about things. Use players like Größ, Dahoud, Milner etc who are technically very good until the opposition tires and then hit them with the likes of Adingra, Enciso, Gilmour and Ferguson. It must be terrifying to see those players come on when you're knackered and still have 20mins left, that's when we killed the game.

 

[DavePage]

Our subs are players we could not a dreamed about for the first team, before

 

[Littlemo]

The subs made our play a lot more fluid and we played with more pace, but I think that's the way to go about things. Use players like Größ, Dahoud, Milner etc who are technically very good until the opposition tires and then hit them with the likes of Adingra, Enciso, Gilmour and Ferguson. It must be terrifying to see those players come on when you're knackered and still have 20mins left, that's when we killed the game.

I am not sure any of those players want to become super-subs and spend half the season on the bench. Got to try and give everyone games as starters and tbh, if our play is better with them, then they deserve to play.

 

[KZNSeagull]

All the subs, plus others, will all get lots of chances to start once the Europa League kicks in and we are playing twice a week, every week.

 

[um bongo molongo]

We need to replace Moisés’ physicality and dynamism somehow (which is why I think Kudus is important even if he plays a slightly different position). And I still think we need a RB (and get scared about Pervis getting injured). BUT on the flipside we have untold riches across the front line with Pedro, Adingra added and the youngsters Ferguson, Enciso and Goodnight another year older. After all those threads about needing a striker, it’s the one part of the squad I now don’t worry about.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Unsurprisingly, yes.

Ally Mac and caicedo were a borderline world class pairing, second only to rodhri and de bruyne in the prem.

Going off today and last weeks friendly we have a soft centre when we don't have the ball. We absolutely need someone capable of winning the ball to join.

 

[Fergus the Schnoodle]

We always look a better team with Gilmour on the pitch - end of last season, all through pre-season and when he came on today. He is an excellent game manager and technically as strong as anyone, I was very surprised that he didn’t start.

 

[American Seagle]

Oh My God, surely not that disastrous !

Mid table and not getting out of the Europa group stage ? TB OUT

(And I don't think anyone is suggesting another DM wouldn't be nice)

No it would be great as a result. The worry is the gnashing of teeth by a lot of the fan base that will be frustrated we won't finish top 6 again.

 

[HeaviestTed]

Is everyone mental? We won 4-1, they shouldn’t have had that 1 - citeh could could do 3-0 and it was boring as f***

Brighton today were wicked, f*** caicedo and f*** Ali Mac they have gone - I love them but they weren’t in Falmer today.

Jao Pedrinho, van hecke, wicked, adingra, wicked, super f***ing wicked

 

[fruitnveg]

Think Dahoud still looks a little off the pace, but he can't half pick a pass. Give him some time and he'll be great. Not a like for like replacement in the middle, but a great option to have to unlock a stubborn defence. Looks a lot more like Ali-Mac did when he played DM before the WC.