Well he's definitely too good for the Championship. From what I've seen he's definitely good enough, in fact I'd go as far as to say he could be involved with England in a few years if he can get regular game time in the Premier League.
If he got anything more than a 2 out of 10 it's a lie
Harsh, but also not too harsh!
I was agreeing with your rating, HP.
Think that's what you get from MGW. He had pretty much identical numbers to Zink from a defensive point of view last season (pressing, winning the ball high up the pitch etc.). I think Lingard will provide more of that once he's fitter but I'd say MGW is more comfortable deeper than Jesse is, could see him slotting into a 3-5-2 if we went that way.
Until we start to get a foothold in midfield I think having a fluid 2 of Lingard and Johnson up front with 2 midfielders makes sense.
Captn-but it isn’t quite so simple. Marinakis isn’t just writing a cheque from his personal account-it’s not a gift. Whilst we’ve all got used to more and more complex financial origami the money will be on the club ledger in one way or another. Clearly we have considerable slack this year related to hitting the sunny uplands of the prem but let’s face it football is littered with clubs that have overstretched themselves and ultimate pay the price particularly if they don’t back up their risk with progressive success on the pitch. That’s all-I just hope we have shit hot accountants making sure we cover all the scenarios and aren’t left in a year or two selling the family silver again.
I agree totally with you on the problems that unwise spending can bring, as evidenced by my concerns that despite parachute payments we could find ourselves in FFP Queer Street in a couple of years time. Our immediate and most pressing problem is to complete the assembling of a squad with the quality and "togetherness" to compete at this level - something not yet in evidence on saturday's showing.
If it works for us on the pitch and in the results, then £40m would be a bargain as it may well give us a 2nd season in the Prem, with fresh opportunity to build on the squad we assemble this season. My concern (and this is the last time I will type this - promise!!) is that at 22 years old, with little by way of Premiership track record, and only 1 season in the championship, MGW may not have the ability to make that difference on the pitch just yet. I think he has the potential, but realising that potential when opposition teams already are stuffed with experienced, high quality, proven players may take more time than we have. Time will tell.
I think we are probably agreeing Captn!. The main issue for me is that we have no idea how he will react and perform this season and if we are honest not much in the way of pointers given the pace, strength and power of premier teams to which hes had very little exposure. If we were paying 40M for an experienced performer (say for example a Kalvin Phillips to stiffen up our midfield) then fair enough but this lad is a gamble, a calculated one for sure, but a gamble none the less...
Don't see a front 3 with Brennan and JL. Theres no number 9 in that 3 and whilst we might like the fantasy we can play with "3 false nines" a la city, facts are we need a big strong bastard who knows how to lead a line just to get us up the pitch at this level i.e. we need to walk before we run.
He was great on the whole podcast, well worth a listen. Putting a few right that are doom and gloom including the host.
I'd hope so. Still not optimistic MGW will be coming.
He'd bring a different dynamic to MGW, but Freuler maybe?
Man City do...this season.