Transfer Rumours Arrivals / Departures lounges, Summer 2023.

Narcis Pelach, ex-Huddersfield coach signing is confirmed

 

Jack Stacey signs - out of nowhere

 

Hey he was on my list of free agents from a week or so ago! You're welcome Stuart.

 

http://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/gflo-3ec9v--9oo8-rox821

New signing

 

Right back? Where does that leave Bali?

 

Max on his way out

 

Possibly left back

 

In terms of squad composition, Stacey formally covers for Byram's departure in making sure we have 2 RBs in the squad. It does seem more than likely Aarons leaves though.

Mumba played pretty extensively on the left for Plymouth, and any Plymouth fan I've seen discuss Mumba says he's definitely a LWB not a LB, his attacking is excellent but defensively there's a lot of work to do. Wouldn't surprise me if he ends up playing further forward on the left.



Stacey can play RB or RWB, and both McCallum and Giannoulis are more suited to LWB than LB, I can't help but think a back 3 with wing backs makes sense, but I don't think that's the way we're going.

Gunn
Omobamidele Duffy Gibson
Stacey Nunez Sara McLean Mumba
Barnes Sargent

I quite like that setup in terms of having Nunez/McLean able to fill in behind very attacking wing backs, both have experience doing that on those sides of the pitch.

If we're going to have very attacking full backs, a rock solid DM who can drop in and form a back 3 in possession would be an important addition for me.

 

No one has mentioned it yet but if Mumba is more of a LWB than a LB, and that doesn’t fit the system that we will play, then perhaps he will be sold, there’s no guarantee he comes into the squad just because he had a good loan. Might make sense to sell while his value is up.

 

I've wondered the same. Maybe he steps up to the Championship, nails down a first team berth and doesn't look back, but a season where he struggles with the defensive side of the game, or is second/third choice and gets limited minutes isn't going to do much for his development/sale price. And if we do win promotion, it's even less likely he gets Premier League minutes. He'd fall into the Idah trap of probably being a decent player, but without the body of work to prove it.

If Wagner wants a defensively-sound LB as his first choice next season, it could make sense to sell Mumba for £6-7m now, rather than hold out hope he develops into a £20m player if we're not providing the first time environment to facilitate that.

 

Don't see Mumba leaving, as Wagner has already said that Bali is in his plans for next season. Wagner's tactics don't prioritise the defensive skills of the FBs as their role is more like WBs progressing the ball up the pitch. The defensive strength comes from the DM or more defensive CM dropping into a back three alongside the CBs.

Mumba, like Stacey, Giannoulis and McCallum will look to add intensity, drive and penetration to the attack when we have the ball and drop back to a defensive role when we don't, much like Aarons, Giannoulis and McCallum have been doing this season. The key player in this will be the specialist DM we have yet to recruit, as he will balance the attacking roles the FBs are filling.

 

That's only true, surely, in possession? When out of possession, Wagner has repeatedly said he favours a back four over a back three. Plymouth, in contrast, routinely played with a back three (3:4:2:1).
Stacey is a clone of Tommy Smith (now Boro's RB), who was a crucial cog at RB in Wagner's Huddersfield team. We've surely learned that, when it comes to FBs, you prioritise attacking verve over defensive soundness at your peril.

 

I don't agree. I think Bali could be special and we should take the risk of keeping him, and, if necessary, changing the role he plays if we think he isn't strong enough defensively. His loan spell at Plymouth was phenomenal. Yes, of course, it was League One, not the Championship, but IMO there's little reason to doubt that he can step up if used in the right way. If he were a Plymouth player, it's almost certain that he'd be in their starting line-up next season in the Championship, and at the moment there's no certainty that we'll be any better than Plymouth next season, so why can't he start for us? I remember his debut (against Leicester?) and at once it seemed obvious that here was a player with huge potential, a much more impressive debut than that of Rowe or Springett or Kamara or any of these young players we are told may be the future and should keep and develop. Not to mention the ever-promising Idah who has still failed to deliver that promise but is apparently worth a five-year contract. Again IMO, but I think Bali achieved far more last season with Plymouth (Young Player of the Season) than Idah has with us (a hat-trick at Preston), and yet we seem desperate to hang on to Idah.

Why couldn't we play with wing-backs? Is there some God-given law that we have to play 4-3-3? Surely last season was evidence that squeezing the players in to fit the system is much less effective than making the system fit the players?

Finally, I don't think we'd get 6-7m for Bali, more like 2 or 3, and to me that sounds wasteful of a great opportunity.

 

I suspect the main reason we haven’t played with wingbacks so often is that too many of our centre backs have been crocked to allow for three on the pitch…

 

I hope you're right because the prospect of another season of playing players out of their natural position doesn't fill me with confidence.

 

IMO a better indication was the way we were playing before the injuries to McLean, Hanley and Gibson. When McLean dropped into the back line, the FBs moved forward to help progress the ball out of defence. When the ball was lost they dropped back into defence. Sometimes, though, Aarons moved into the middle alongside Sara to strengthen the midfield and help break up counterattacks. It was Stacey who emphasized the "intense playing style" as what attracted him to us. When Aarons does move on, how Stacey and Mumba fit into that role will be critical to our chances next season.

 

Interesting article on Onel's revival as a player:

https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/23554...onel-hernandez-2022-23-championship-campaign/

Let's hope his improvement continues and he can achieve even more next season.

Edit: For those who don't want to subscribe to the Pinkun, most of the articles are available free in the EDP.

 

I don't think we're particularly disagreeing? I'd like us to use Mumba and play to his strengths, I think that's how we get the most out of him and maximise his value, but if we're not going to do that and we're going to shoehorn him in or bench him, then we should consider selling him if we receive a decent offer, because we'll stall his progress.

I can definitely see the "system before players" and the "players before system" arguments, I just hope we can build the squad this summer such that the entire squad fits Wagner-ball come the end of the transfer window - "system AND players". We don't have a lot of funds, we can't waste it on players that don't fit the system.

I think a 3-5-2 system could work for us, given we currently have 4 attacking full/wing backs, some CBs who could do with an extra man around them to cover for inexperience/errors/lack of pace, no dedicated DM, and poor wide midfield/winger options.

 

Reasonable squad summary, assumes Duffy in and Omobamidele and Aaron's leave. Can quibble with some of the positions assigned, but I think that was more for the graphic than anything else.

Hopefully we complete sales early enough to let us spend, because that squad needs real work to be top 6.

 

DH Canary wrote:

I don't think we're particularly disagreeing? I'd like us to use Mumba and play to his strengths, I think that's how we get the most out of him and maximise his value, but if we're not going to do that and we're going to shoehorn him in or bench him, then we should consider selling him if we receive a decent offer, because we'll stall his progress.

Yes, we're not really disagreeing. If we are going to use Mumba in a way that doesn't suit his skills so that he inevitably fails at what he is being asked to do and becomes yet another player deemed 'not good enough' by disgruntled fans, or simply leave him on the bench, then I agree with you that we're better off selling him and Mumba himself will be better off for us doing so.

I think the number of players who regressed last season, many of whom had been part of a squad that won the league easily two seasons earlier, demonstrates that almost any player can fail if he is part of a team that is set up poorly. I don't think it is simply that a lot of these players were two years older, or had been irreparably scarred by two PL car-crash seasons. For me, Pukki is the perfect example of this. He became a shadow of the player he had been for us because the team was set up in a way that negated every ability that he had and required abilities that he could never have. As you also said in your post, the players and the system must match each other. Seems obvious, but the incompetence of the last two seasons makes one wonder if it was obvious to the people making key decisions for the team we sent out on the pitch.