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The Great Drinkell

we are guaranteed to keep one player

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After the seasons ended and the vultures are swooping around our squad - if the club was to say that they had to listen to "ridiculous" offers but guarantee to keep one player - who would your vote go to and why.

 

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Pukki. Hardest to replace imo. He's absolutely clinical and goalscorers always come with premiums attached (ask Aston Villa - 42 million on Kodjia, McCor(Big)mack, and Hogan). 

Buendia would be the only one who would run Pukki close for me, but if it came down to it, then you have to take the goals.

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It's a testament to this current side that there are so many potential options here that are all worth keeping.

Pukki's goals have been invaluable and it's tough to replace that even at big money, especially with his great attitude and work rate.

Buendia a close second, what a steal he's also been.

But how do you write off Leitner, Aarons, Vrancic and even Big Zimm after this season????

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Don’t forget Godfrey, Lewis (great potential) or even Hernandez who looked great on Saturday. 

But Pukki for his goals, closely followed by Buendia for me as well. 

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Yeah Buendia for me too. There is some serious quality in Pukki, but some of the service he gets from Emi is so good you could put any half decent striker (which historically is all Pukki was until this season) up there and get goals...

Leitner would be my second choice. If it wasn't for his long lay off this season and kept up his earlier form, he'd probably be first. 

And as said by others, there are so many players in this squad I'd love to see here for many many years. What a time to be yellow!!

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Buendia for me too. 

The whole squad have been sensational though, wouldn’t want to part with any. A happy by product of our success though is my Football Index investment is doing great. 👍

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2 hours ago, Daz Sparks said:

A happy by product of our success though is my Football Index investment is doing great. 👍

I only own 200 Buendia and 100 Aaron's from NCFC but yeah, definitely doing me well too!

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Leitner. He's the one outfield player we have who is proven at the very highest level. 

Edited by westcoastcanary

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Leitner is a rare player, top level quality. The best player we have.

Any hot striker is invaluable and probably more important than ‘quality’, such a player can cover a multitude of sins, though only at that point in time. 

Passing centre backs that are calm in defence,  capable of fast, vertical passes into midfield (Godfrey, Klose) are key tactical elements in top level teams.

Farke and / or Webber are instrumental in setting the agenda, defining which players suit the methodology and implementing it.

So the single most irreplaceable player is:

Process

Parma

nb: For evidence look at Germany’s International record. 14 times in the final of the World Cup or European Championships. That is process. They can’t have always had incredible players can they?

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Good point, with very rare exception they always seem to have excellent technical players that work great within their chosen system.

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5 hours ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

For evidence look at Germany’s International record. 14 times in the final of the World Cup or European Championships. That is process. They can’t have always had incredible players can they?

Agreed, process is the sine qua non and can take you a remarkably long way, e.g. to the knockout stages of the World Cup or European Championships (as witness England in Russia). But I conjecture that to go the whole way you do need two or three "incredible" players. Germany did have such players, as did Spain, and last year France. In our case, if going the whole way is getting to and surviving in the EPL, we will need our own "incredibles" to lift us above those who also have process.

 

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A really good question, OP. It is really hard to pick out one player that we really couldn't do without when everybody who has stepped in to cover injury and suspension has slotted in so seamlessly. I can see the argument for Pukki being pivotal and we have not really been tested in how we would cope without him for a prolonged period. On the other hand, I do wonder whether other strikers within our means would have fared equally well this year with the 'ammunition' he has been supplied with. Others have mentioned Leitner and I agree that his pedigree, technique and creativity would be hard to replace. He certainly looked the dog's danglies in the first half of this season, but on the other hand he has been absent for an extended period and we have coped without him. He and Vrancic seem fairly interchangeable. It seems to me that our form this season really clicked into place when Buendia and Aarons were introduced to the side. Again, we have not really been tested without them since then and, to me, they seem integral to our way of play and to so many of the chances we create. Both have pace, tenacity, top ball control and an eye for a pass/cross. The thought of doing without either of those two fills me with dread. But then the same could be said for Stiepermann and for Lewis. The former offers something that others in the top half of the pitch don't seem to quite as well as him and Lewis's pace and attacking instincts, like Aarons, seems so pivotal to our threat on the counter.

It is hard to determine what exactly is the glue that binds it all together this season. So many players play their part and it is hard to envisage coping for an extended period without almost any one of them. As Parma has observed, it could well be the philosophy that Webber and Farke have created that is behind it all rather than one individual player. But, with the OP's gun to my head and having to make a decision it still comes down to one of Buendia or Aarons for me. I can't really put my finger on why but I think Buendia gets the nod. The lad is like Wes on steroids. He's here, he's there, he's every f'kin where, he gets stuck in, he's tenacious, he robs the opposition, he can spin on a sixpence, he can spot an opportunity from a mile away or from six inches away and play a slide rule pass through the eye of a needle. I want to watch this guy in an NCFC shirt for the next ten years and see him take us to the Champions League title ( and beyond!!).

It's a bleddy tough call, mind. So many quality players this season. Lord knows who will win POTS this time around.

Edited by Chip20
Because I'm a fat-fingered fool.

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A player who improves game on game and is key to our success but stays  quietly away from the  spotlight is Zimbo - He represents everything good about our club and is an absolute colossus! - We have some truly great candidates for POTS this year but Zimbo has to be right up there 

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