Tooling up: The summer 2024 transfer thread

[Worthy4England]

Indeed, which is why (like I said) we need balance in both formation and personnel. Last two seasons we’ve moved the dial from “good defence but attack not good enough” to “(intermittently) good attack but defence not good enough”. Does a back four fix that? Might depend who’s in it.

Any formation will depend on who's in it, what their "content" from the manager is, for a particular game, etc. which in part is why I'm not too fussed about formation, whilst agreeing we might need to do more tinkering to get to an acceptable 4. As I've also suggested elsewhere, Evatt would have to be not just bought in, to the notion, he'd have to be leading from the front on it. There's no point (if we did) us all agreeing that we'd be better off with a 4, if Evatt doesn't want to play that way.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Quite. His to-do list is considerable. If he doesn’t fancy it, off he pops.

Which is not to say “rip it up and start again” or that he’s a hopeless cause. But there’s a big job on.

[GhostoftheBok]

Yep. Pep might well have made a change. Upsetting for the subbed lad(s) but it’s a team game.

The not-so-secret secret with Pep is he doesn't do it alone. People like Dunn have a huge influence on how City set up game to game and what they target.

Does Evatt have those people around him? We can see the training ground work in player improvement, so he clearly has good coaches. Where were his technical staff on Saturday when it clearly wasn't working? I didn't see anyone in his ear.

[Worthy4England]

Yep. Pep might well have made a change. Upsetting for the subbed lad(s) but it’s a team game.

The not-so-secret secret with Pep is he doesn't do it alone. People like Dunn have a huge influence on how City set up game to game and what they target.

Does Evatt have those people around him? We can see the training ground work in player improvement, so he clearly has good coaches. Where were his technical staff on Saturday when it clearly wasn't working? I didn't see anyone in his ear.

Doesn't Pep statistically make the lowest volume of substitutions in the PL?

[Prufrock]

I think it's really difficult to have formational flexibility when your default is 352. Basically everything else (Dougie's wonky diamond aside, anyone?) anything else needs wingers. You'll get the odd player like Randy who can be as effective in both (Collins too). But even that's a big change in game.

433 and 343 are much easier to switch between (and for reasons I've wanged on about enough) suit the underlying plan better. That's what I'd like, please, Ian.

[GhostoftheBok]

Quite. His to-do list is considerable. If he doesn’t fancy it, off he pops.

Which is not to say “rip it up and start again” or that he’s a hopeless cause. But there’s a big job on.

Huge and not one he can do alone.

Some things can't be made sense of from the outside. A lot of transfers didn't work out as envisaged. Was that due to actual mistakes, or were there factors Evatt/Markham couldn't be expected to see? Did their risk analysis fail on certain players?

We must have known Dan and Carlos came with injury risks. Were we unlucky, or did we get calls on their workloads wrong? Is that a recruitment, medical, or coaching issue? How do we improve?

What happened with Ramsay? No, seriously. What the feck happened with Ramsay?

There are loads of questions relevant to this thread that need to be dealt with and not all answers will end up incriminating the manager.

It also doesn't necessarily mean anyone needs sacking. You can learn and improve.

[GhostoftheBok]

Doesn't Pep statistically make the lowest volume of substitutions in the PL?

Pep surrounds himself with brilliant people who tend to get things right the first time.

He also happens to have some of the best players in the world, who can fix things on their own when it's not working.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Yep. Pep might well have made a change. Upsetting for the subbed lad(s) but it’s a team game.

The not-so-secret secret with Pep is he doesn't do it alone. People like Dunn have a huge influence on how City set up game to game and what they target.

Does Evatt have those people around him? We can see the training ground work in player improvement, so he clearly has good coaches. Where were his technical staff on Saturday when it clearly wasn't working? I didn't see anyone in his ear.

Doesn't Pep statistically make the lowest volume of substitutions in the PL?

He doesn’t make changes for changes’ sake but that might also be because he rarely gets it so wrong that he has to take remedial action.

Ghost’s point is a good one. A good strong leader shouldn’t be surrounded by “yes men” but people who dare to question and who have ideas.

[Worthy4England]

Yep. Pep might well have made a change. Upsetting for the subbed lad(s) but it’s a team game.

The not-so-secret secret with Pep is he doesn't do it alone. People like Dunn have a huge influence on how City set up game to game and what they target.

Does Evatt have those people around him? We can see the training ground work in player improvement, so he clearly has good coaches. Where were his technical staff on Saturday when it clearly wasn't working? I didn't see anyone in his ear.

Doesn't Pep statistically make the lowest volume of substitutions in the PL?

He doesn’t make changes for changes’ sake but that might also be because he rarely gets it so wrong that he has to take remedial action.

Ghost’s point is a good one. A good strong leader shouldn’t be surrounded by “yes men” but people who dare to question and who have ideas.

Absolutely, on that last point. And it shouldn't be a dare, it should be encouraged (not in an anarchic sense)

[BWFC_Insane]

Worth saying that JDB is a player I really liked on a number of levels. He added loads when he first arrived and bar injuries I think would have continued to do so. He just was unlucky with injuries.

One of the good guys. And will be missed I think.

[Worthy4England]

Worth saying that JDB is a player I really liked on a number of levels. He added loads when he first arrived and bar injuries I think would have continued to do so. He just was unlucky with injuries.

One of the good guys. And will be missed I think.

Yeah - nice words from him on exit, too. Sorry to see him go, but realistically, I probably wouldn't have offered him the last extension...

[GhostoftheBok]

Agree with the warm words. I'd like to see him in the stands at an away game more than I'd like to see him on the pitch next season, though.

[GhostoftheBok]

Mansfield Town has signed Keanu Baccus.

Can't say I saw that coming. Impressive one for them.

[Worthy4England]

Mansfield Town has signed Keanu Baccus.

Can't say I saw that coming. Impressive one for them.

For some reason, I find this quite funny!

[HMX]

Mansfield Town has signed Keanu Baccus.

Can't say I saw that coming. Impressive one for them.

How the feck

[GhostoftheBok]

For some reason, I find this quite funny!

Absolutely. Certainly got a chuckle from me.

It also reflects the views of St Mirren fans, though. They've had him as not the same player since his injury.

It probably means it's a call we got right.

If he looks a worldy next season I'm sure we'll all have a moan.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Every expert who talks about us (managers, techy pundits, etc) praise Evatt's press. I'm not wasting time on that topic. If you think the whole of football is wrong then I'm hardly going to convince you otherwise.

My issue though is all well and good having an ace press, but if half the team is shagged out after 70 minutes/half a season, you're playing substantial amounts of time very much under par. How many times did the 2 up top switch elicit groans and effectively end any ambition of scoring until Jerome jumped on the bus? Might be fine if you have 4 firing forwards, but generally we've only ever had 2 at any time.

I'd rather we turned the press on and off, conserve some energy and keep the oppo wondering. Same with when we have the ball. Less one pace and mix it up. Bore them a bit with the Chuckle Brothers and then bam, hit them fast. Keep them guessing.

[GhostoftheBok]

On topic. The Sarpong-Wiredu chase may have started in earnest. Fleetwood are apparently expecting his release clause to be triggered "imminently", though what that means could vary.

If there's any cash then he has to be on the list, surely.

Solves two issues to a high level with one player and captains his club. Young, athletic, physical, massive and technical. A ball-winning mid and a centre half.

If we're not in the mix for him I'll be baffled.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

If we're not in the mix for him I'll be baffled.

Would that persuade you to move to Evatt out?

[GhostoftheBok]

Would that persuade you to move to Evatt out?

It'd make me wonder what our vision for the squad is.

This is unrelated to anything I wrote. My little boy asked me to add it in.