Yeah, was quite good as well, a few years back now, but you'd think he'd still be good in the Championship
Don't mind this at all, gives us a bit more depth. Welbeck, Pussetto and Deulofeu almost certainly off (and even if Geri stays he won't be available for a while), and Peñaranda seemingly out of Ivic's plans. Assuming no more outgoings (big if I know), that's JP, Sarr and Atsu as wingers, possibly Sema as well. Can play more centrally if need be too, and at a push as a wingback
Very decent signing at this level and hopefully it means that we will be changing the system as I am not a fan of the 3-5-2.
I'd prefer we signed players in the positions where we don't have anyone, than get in back up options for the one are we are well covered. Especially as we don't seem to use wingers.
I'd say Ngakia has been a great signing, to be fair, but yeah, it looks like we are trying to replace a weal Premier League team with a weak Championship side.
Why would he be on the bench?! If he comes there's a fair chance he'd be one of our better players already.
I think the plan was always 4-3-3, but given we had no players we didn't really have a choice to start the season. Assume the plan is to change back to Ivic's favoured 4-3-3 in which case we definitely need a winger.
All depends on what happens over the next couple of weeks, but he would be on the bench. Left winger, once Gray comes back our front 3 will be Pedro, Gray, Sarr He’s not replacing Pedro or Sarr unless they are sold. So I personally don’t see him starting.
Atsu really is the perfect Pussetto replacement. A small winger with **** all end product that we don't need.
3-5-2, 4-3-3-, 4-4-2, 4-5-1... None of it matters unless you have a "Back 5" that can hold the fort without everyone else except the lone striker having to constantly play deep in our half. This has been the issue for the last year plus. We have to use at least 6 players to not bleed goals, often 7 or 8. All these blokes track back and are facing our goal when 3/4 of the passes come in their general vicinity. They have receive and turn under pressure and as a result we're anemic in attack and/or need 45 yards of brilliance. The other problem we're had is that we'd had a significant drop-off whenever one of our glass starters breaks - which recently has been often. So having decent depth, that at least offers some sort of a threat is important. We only have to look at the Reading match to see what a bench full of generic pieces looks like. We need two solid FBs for each side, a strong holding mid (Hughes, Capoue*, Grimes*, Chalobah*) and then we'll see if we can make a bit of a run. * Yes, I know that these either appearing or coming good enough is wishful thinking)
I was thinking about the formation, and I believe he will have to play a three up front with Pedro and Sarr on the flanks to get the best out of them. Maybe this is why Atsu is being looked at, as we don't have too many choices for the wide positions. 3-5-2 didn't work against Reading, and I think it will be a case of flogging a dead horse if Ivic persists with it. We've had 4 games, scored only two goals, and have looked pretty blunt up front, even though we've been in total control of matches. We may have a couple of unhappy CB's as we've currently got 6 on the books. Only two will play in this system, but if you carefully rotate, it might be ok. So, with a 4-3-3, I can see us playing a team like this:- .......................Foster Ngakia - Troost-Ekong - Cathcart - Sema ................Hughes - Capoue ......................Garner Sarr..............Deulofeu.............Pedro To me, that looks awesome. You can switch it around easily too. LB Femenia or Janmaat, RB Femenia or a new guy if we sign one, CB's could be Kabs and Wilmot, MF could be Chalobah, Cleverley, Quina or Dele-Bashiru.....We don't have many genuine alternatives on the flanks, but Deulofeu can play either side of course and if the Atsu rumour is true he will be useful. The central striker alternative could be Percia, Deeney, Welbeck or even Murray. It makes a lot of sense to play a 4-3-3.....but only if Sarr stays with us. I cannot in all seriousness expect us to keep all these players, but in the light of no solid rumours, unless it all happens tomorrow, I think a lot of players will be still with us. What happens to Penaranda, Success, Navarro and Sinclair? Well, they don't really feature at all, and will only get anywhere near the bench if we have an injury crisis.
https://sportsworldghana.com/exclusive-watford-in-talks-with-newcastle-over-christian-atsu/ Permanent for 500k according to this report, rather than a loan.
From a financial side that seems decent business, however from a football side I still don't really know what the purpose of signing him is. Perfect Pozzo signing.
I think it speaks volumes as to the size of our club that we can convince players to go from being cover at a PL club to cover in the Championship.
