you can make four signings. Who are they?

[Badger 2,405]

I don't disagree with what most people have written, but would only want new additions to be brought in if they were a significant upgrade on what we have rather than just extra numbers.

1. An alternative to Pukki has to be the top priority and might be where the largest amount of our Kitty goes.

2. We also need additional pace - I suspect that counter attack will be more important to us next year. The obvious place for this would be an alternative to Hernandez.

3. Obviously we need cover at right back - perhaps with the capability of playing elsewhere?

4. With regards to CDM, I think that TT can step up but feel that we might be a little lightweight in the centre of midfield so a player with power - similar to AT but perhaps a better touch and younger legs.

An additional goalkeeper as suggested by some would mean that I could not follow the premise of the thread which specified 4 only! The challenge to those who say we need an extra GK (in the spirit of the original question) is which of the 4 above do you feel that we could do without?

 

[Indy_Bones 441]

Like many posters, I think the 4 key signings are at RB, DM, WF and ST.

For RB I like the look of David Carmona who's currently at Cadiz

For DM I'd be interested to see if we can get Beni Baningime from Everton

For WF I'd suggest Antonio Marin from Dinamo Zagreb

And upfront I'd love to see Amine Gouiri of Lyon in a city shirt but wonder if he's already beyond our means, I also highly rate Josh Sargent at Werder Bremen as well.

That would be my first choices tbh.

[Bonzo 198]

A ball playing centre back who is a beast in the air Godfrey and Zimmerman are great on the deck but less adept in winning aerial battles that is why we need to keep Klose but we need one more aerially dominant defender (although this could be a defensive mid).

Defensive mid. We have conceded by players running through our middle. Someone who can play the ball under pressure Thompson is an option but we need at least one more because these guys get carded and injured. Realistically we need 4 genuine defensive midfielders. 

A right back who can cover for Emi. Fast good defensively good short passing and crossing. Possibly a winger and a right back.

Striker at least one. Big,fast, two footed, good in the air. Possibly someone who could play in Steipermann’s area.

I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that we may set up to play 3421 at times next season. Our main concessions are from the space around the defensive midfielders. 4231 is becoming less prevalent in the Prem with most Prem sides adept at breaking this down. Farke has shown that he is practical. He is willing to vary his tactics. Next season we go back to being a work in progress. It’s going to be a blast.

 

 

[ZLF 274]

On 12/05/2019 at 15:11, Indy_Bones said:

Like many posters, I think the 4 key signings are at RB, DM, WF and ST.

For RB I like the look of David Carmona who's currently at Cadiz

For DM I'd be interested to see if we can get Beni Baningime from Everton

For WF I'd suggest Antonio Marin from Dinamo Zagreb

And upfront I'd love to see Amine Gouiri of Lyon in a city shirt but wonder if he's already beyond our means, I also highly rate Josh Sargent at Werder Bremen as well.

That would be my first choices tbh.

I agree that the three main priorities are right back,  defensive midfielder and a striker - as well as replacing any leavers (not that I anticipate loads).    I do hanker for a little more power in the centre of the pitch,  esp with the lower league teams scoring nearly a quarter of goals from set pieces and it being a significant weakness - but that may just be me.

 

I think what we can offer players is a spotlight - effectively a stepping stone for emerging players that have a desire to play and develop and enable a move further up the pyramid of teams if they shine - repeating the Emi route, obtain some talent with a sell on value if they shine and we fail to avoid relegation.

 

[smooth 114]

I know I have said it before but I think saying we can only make four signings is wrong. We need signings that challenge the starting 11 and those to cover holes in the squad.

I think one of the most overlooked areas is in the striker position, if Rhodes does not come back we will need 2 strikers coming in. It is one of the most difficult positions to fill but if Pukki gets injured we need cover.

Starters/ competition for the starting 11-

As noted previously I have stated DM heads my list. No question we need to get a key player here.

An attacking midfielder to share the burden with Marco

A winger

Second striker

The positions that are cover but no less important are right back cover, a number 2 goalkeeper and third string striker, unless srbeny is seen as an option by Farke.

[ged in the onion bag 855]

On 08/05/2019 at 15:31, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

Strangely it isn’t the clangers, all keepers will make one or two a season and that’s normal. 

It is certain things I’ve seen consistently over the season, I don’t think he’s s hopeless keeper and if Norwich were remaining in the Championship I’d be perfectly happy for him to stay first choice. 

What I have seen is regular handling errors, spilling shots into danger areas rather than getting them clear. This often comes from the long, low shot, something that is Krul’s biggest weakness. When Krul first came through as a keeper his big strength was his agility and ability to get to shots quickly and explosively. He has some great showreel saves due to this, t is also why van Gaal brought him on as a penalty specialist. This ability to make big diving saves and cover a large area of his goal always compensated for his slightly iffy positioning - if he had both he’d have been a world class keeper. 

After the horrific injuries he’s had, he has lost a lot of this explosive agility. You can still see he can make a great close range, high reaction saves, but when stuff comes from distance and low his poor positioning and lack of pace to get down means that some stuff gets past him that really shouldn’t, or he is getting to it later. This means he often pushes it away rather than holds onto it. 

I think his ability on crosses isn’t great, although not awful. He also struggles at set pieces with claiming stuff above attacker and defenders, another symptom of his injury. 

I think he has improved a bit as the season has gone on, but regular small errors are still evident. 

I also think if you go through Norwich’s first team, player by player, he is the stand out one where you can say ‘this is a position that could be improved on, without spending £10m’. This is partly due to him being a little off the pace and partly because keepers tend to be cheaper than other positions. 

 

Bethnal, a well argued response to Woodman's question.   This is spot on.    Very surprised so many on here can't see this....    The Blackburn and first Stoke goals, and QPR fumble more recently are typical examples of what you're saying.    If we did sign 4, a keeper has to be the main priority.    By all means give Krul his chance but we will need a high quality keeper in reserve before the window closes.      We can find some way of covering the other positions, we have nothing if Krul can't handle it.

Being good in the dressing room and having experience is no doubt valuable....but it's on the pitch where we will need the quality.      

Edited May 15, 2019 by ged in the onion bag

[Redders Right Foot 22]

10 hours ago, smooth said:

I know I have said it before but I think saying we can only make four signings is wrong. We need signings that challenge the starting 11 and those to cover holes in the squad.

I think one of the most overlooked areas is in the striker position, if Rhodes does not come back we will need 2 strikers coming in. It is one of the most difficult positions to fill but if Pukki gets injured we need cover.

Starters/ competition for the starting 11-

As noted previously I have stated DM heads my list. No question we need to get a key player here.

An attacking midfielder to share the burden with Marco

A winger

Second striker

The positions that are cover but no less important are right back cover, a number 2 goalkeeper and third string striker, unless srbeny is seen as an option by Farke.

I think Idah will come in for the yearly "preseason blooding" of the youth players, and if he impresses will take one of those two forward spots. By all reports of how well hes done you'd be forgiven for thinking that he would of gone on loan this season. Unless the powers that be wanted him close to home to be around the first team players

[Foxy2600 301]

If FLDC don't go up..............Bradders. ATM, I got Derby at Wemberrrrrrley.  In the 2 weeks of comebacks - what could go wrong :-))

[Woodman 92]

15 hours ago, Redders Right Foot said:

I think Idah will come in for the yearly "preseason blooding" of the youth players, and if he impresses will take one of those two forward spots. By all reports of how well hes done you'd be forgiven for thinking that he would of gone on loan this season. Unless the powers that be wanted him close to home to be around the first team players

Idah's a strange one - we all seem to be really excited about him. Given he hasn't been in a first team squad - even in the cup games - is he even close to being in Farke's thoughts for next season? Is he as good as we all think? Obviously he's behind Pukki, Rhodes (for now). But is he better than Srbeny? Better than Morris? What are his strengths? I'd love him to be brilliant and be a sensation in the Prem, but something tells me he'll go out on loan - we lent out Jaiyesemi, Bloomfield, Spyrou, Abrahams (now released).

[king canary 7,605]

I'm not hugely surprised that Idah didn't go out on loan last season- easy to forget he only turned 18 in February and I can understand teams not wanting to send 17 year olds out to live on their own in a hotel for 6 months at some strange club.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

12 minutes ago, Woodman said:

Idah's a strange one - we all seem to be really excited about him. Given he hasn't been in a first team squad - even in the cup games - is he even close to being in Farke's thoughts for next season? Is he as good as we all think? Obviously he's behind Pukki, Rhodes (for now). But is he better than Srbeny? Better than Morris? What are his strengths? I'd love him to be brilliant and be a sensation in the Prem, but something tells me he'll go out on loan - we lent out Jaiyesemi, Bloomfield, Spyrou, Abrahams (now released).

Webber talked about how they wanted to loan Cantwell to an English club last season and no one would take him, even for free. This could be the situation with Idah. Jaiyesemi, Bloomfield and Abraham’s all had experience in the lower leagues the club could point to as evidence and give the prospective clubs something to evaluate against. Idah, like Cantwell, has only been involved in youth football and clubs may not have taken a risk on him. 

I said last summer that I didn’t expect Aarons to break into the first team as he’d never been involved in any match day squads, and was proven to be wrong, so I’m not going to say Idah won’t be involved with the first team next season. But right now, I expect him to go on loan, it will largely depend on whether the club can find a good enough team who will be prepared to play him. It’s a big gamble for someone to take this completely untested youngster, regardless of the reputation he is building. 

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

Harry Kane / Mo Salah / Raheem Sterling / Virgin van Dijk