22 Nov 2024 00:10:30
Hi Eds,
Fabrice Hawkins, who is very reliable, especially regarding French football, reports that we’re seriously interested in Rayan Cherki. There’s also been a lot of news in Germany linking us to Marmoush. Additionally, there are reports suggesting we’re interested in Kerkez, though it’s unclear if that would be for January or the summer.
Do you know if there’s any update on Zubimendi? Are we likely to go back in for him in January, or have we shifted our focus to other targets?
What are your thoughts on the above?
{Ed001's Note - as far as I am aware we have moved on from Zubimendi.
Cherki, Marmoush and Kerkez are all players we have looked at and scouted. They are all high statistically but style of play is important and I think that would rule Kerkez out. He is very much like Robbo of old, when Slot is playing the left-back almost as a third centre-back, to allow Trent more freedom. In essence, we are playing an old school back four where only one full-back gets forward at a time as we do not play a proper holding mid to drop in to the backline instead.}
22 Nov 2024 05:14:14
Don't know anything about Chekri Ed. Would he be a successor to Salah?
{Ed001's Note - he is more like a Mahrez-type from what I have seen and the stats suggest it too. He could never replace Salah, as such. Very nice to watch, but I am not convinced he is good enough for us.}
22 Nov 2024 05:49:47
Honestly, Cherki worries me. Admittedly, the lad has it all in his locker. Can do everything but has a terrible end product (never seen him player but is stat is shocking) I mean is that not what concerns a lot of us on Ben Doak? Cherki will hamper Doak for me, who's already bringing more to the table for both club and country recently.
22 Nov 2024 06:44:30
V noticeable that is an old fashioned type back 4 we play now, also trent inverts v little as well. Still think kerkez could work for us and play more restrained, good size to him as well for when he tucking in. I also think there will be a 'bounce back' in robbo, he won't like being wrote off. He does need to play less tho, u could see the benefit when he played last game after tsmikas played previous 2,he was much sharper.
{Ed001's Note - Kerkez is horrible defensively mate. Very weak in the challenge when I have watched him.}
22 Nov 2024 06:53:03
I'm curious Ed, with Lyon's troubles right now, is there anyone you would consider picking up from them?
{Ed001's Note - if Lacazette was younger, it would be him, other than that, I am not convinced by any of them, but I have not watched enough of them to really judge their players.}
22 Nov 2024 07:10:58
Has it surprised u the slot has set up ed1? By that I mean the back 4 the way it plays with v little inverting of the full back. Also before he came in it was said he played with a geniune no.9,by that I took it it would be a player who played shoulder all the time but a lot of the time the 9 is dropping deep, more r less firmino role. I think we could see diaz more and more as season goes on in that role as he probably suited better to it than nunez r jota.
{Ed001's Note - yes, but I have liked that he is willing to tweak his system to suit the players and the league. His flexibility is what has taken us to the top of the table.}
22 Nov 2024 07:33:05
Cherki, according to Lyon fans, is one of the most talented attacking players in the world but is very inconsistent and has poor work rate off the ball and defensively, two footed player with incredible technique and can carry and dribble with the best of them. Not entirely sure how he would fit our style of play as slot has shown he doesn’t tolerate having passengers in the team.
As for the Lyon squad, Lyon fans say fofana is the one to watch, he’s their lamine yamal.
22 Nov 2024 08:59:41
Also worth noting though that those same fans have said that Cherki has been far more consistent and professional on and off the field since he missed out on a big move to Dortmund or Atletico, turned down one or two mid table Prem sides and signed a new deal to protect his value. Maybe he could knuckle down at an elite side?
22 Nov 2024 09:17:26
I don't know much about the guy but that description could be United fans describing Anthony which is a worry.
22 Nov 2024 11:16:43
Shipley, Antony is very very very one-footed, unlike Cherki, and though he's become a meme and is definitely easy to laugh at United kind of left him out to dry tactically when Ten Hag didn't offer him a consistently underlapping fullback and supporting midfielder to give him support on that wing, and it just meant that he was having to isolate against full backs who just had to force him to go the way where he couldn't do them any damage whatsoever.
22 Nov 2024 11:31:51
It was more about the plenty of skill but no workrate. (but if you are paying £90M for a player you shouldn't need 2 additional specific players in order for them to beat a man)
22 Nov 2024 11:41:48
I can't believe I'm about to defend the funniest player from the funniest team in the league, but to be fair Shipley every winger benefits from having support on his side to do the most damage that he can do, Mo thrived having Trent keeping wide and Hendo overlapping/ underlapping on that side, and now having Dom working with him on that side of the field is a big part of the way we play too. Antony is very predictable in one on one situations without help, which makes life easier for defenders, but he's not a useless attacking player either, Ten Haag just threw him on the field without making the most of him despite having coached him for years.
22 Nov 2024 15:29:57
Does remind me of Mahrez in style. Seems like an odd link given our forward options. Would be an opportunistic signing if anything, given Lyon's recent issues.
22 Nov 2024 15:58:28
As Ed said, its now a buy/ sell business as well as a team to maintain.
Kerkez is young enough to adapt, he looks pretty ferocious.
22 Nov 2024 16:49:09
Plus Trent may be going off to win the golden ball.
22 Nov 2024 21:13:15
@PB, I agree with you about Anthony being a one trick pony who’s relatively easy to nullify as an attacking threat, at least given the way Seven seemed to play him but. Have to rake issue with the description of him being the funniest player at United. Surely that honour should go to the legendary Harry?
23 Nov 2024 09:48:42
No one is going to have the end product to replace Salah.
Further, given no one saw Salah coming, I think the majority of us should not use that as a metric. Even if a player does show end product at another club, there is no guarantees.
Anyways, in terms of skills and playing style, DjiminTraote on steroids would be the kind of LB we’re looking for perhaps? lol
Agree Kerkez isn’t quite the profile we’re needing but I do like him.
23 Nov 2024 12:33:36
Didn’t Salah only score goals because of Bobby though.
24 Nov 2024 10:45:35
Faith, whereas no one probably could see Salah performing to the standards and heights he has, he had demonstrated more than enough that he had end product in a challenging league, in the two seasons before he joined us, he’d got double figures in both campaigns as well as racking up lots of assists. Cherki shows no evidence of end product in a fairly weak league, if we’re signing a winger, I’d rather we went for Bryan Mbuemo, consistently scored at a high level and a high work rate, feels like a player who could actually kick on and score lots of goals in a better team.