Erling Haaland

[LAM09 6,890]

  On 08/06/2021 at 22:43, Jas said:

If we don't get Haaland, it's not the end of the world. Haaland or not, I expect this team to do better next season and based on the trajectory and points gained under Tuchel, I'd say we're more than capable of achieving it. We don't have to throw money at every problem, not when we have a squad that can improve and be worked further.

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If we don't sign Haaland, who's going to hit 20+ goals? 

You could say, Werner will take a number of changes he missed last season, but we're so toothless in the final third as a team. 

[DDA 9,772]

  On 08/06/2021 at 09:36, Mana said:

You don't but Dortmund are in a very strong position with this player. Unless we are paying stupid amounts of money for him like £150m and give Haaland a huge wage bill, it's not going to happen.

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Well judging by the reports which obviously can't always be trusted... it seems this may be the marquee signing Roman is desperate to make since the rumoured interest in Neymar. Even though Kai Havertz was a big signing.. obtaining Haaland would be on another level. 

[Jase 43,479]

  On 08/06/2021 at 23:59, LAM09 said:

If we don't sign Haaland, who's going to hit 20+ goals? 

You could say, Werner will take a number of changes he missed last season, but we're so toothless in the final third as a team. 

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City just won the league without a 20-goal striker and their top scorer was Gundogan with 13 goals. They also had only two players with 10 more goals and ended up scoring 25 more goals than us overall.

If our attackers chip in with additional 5-10 goals at the very least, if the midfielders and wingbacks can chip around 5 goals, then it's not impossible to challenge for the title at least. 

Even if we get Haaland, we can't expect him to be the only one to score the goals. Others also need to increase their output. And have said this long before, not sure how realistic is it as well to expect a 21-year-old to come to the Premier League and immediately lead a team to a title win/challenge, freak-of-nature or not.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Tomo 21,741]

  On 08/06/2021 at 22:49, Mana said:

I still think this current squad will fight for 4th place until around the final day next season.

We lack that ruthlessness in front of goal and that is critical. Champions of Europe we are yes, but if we are thinking about challenging the league - you're having a laugh because there will be at least three handful of games that we will bang our heads against the wall because Werner or Mount scuffs it or Ziyech goes missing or Pulisic gets injured etc.

Unless these players majorly improve especially Mount, Ziyech, Havertz and Werner, I can't see us challenging next season.

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Or what *if* one of them have a Drogba 06/07 esque improvement? I mean it's pretty strange you wouldn't factor in potential second season improvement, especially with Havertz.

What many are missing is we don't actually need one of them to turn into a 20 goal season striker we need all of them to improve by 5 goals in average which i think is quite easily doable. 

[LAM09 6,890]

  On 09/06/2021 at 07:41, Jas said:

City just won the league without a 20-goal striker and their top scorer was Gundogan with 13 goals. They also had only two players with 10 more goals and ended up scoring 25 more goals than us overall.

If our attackers chip in with additional 5-10 goals at the very least, if the midfielders and wingbacks can chip around 5 goals, then it's not impossible to challenge for the title at least. 

Even if we get Haaland, we can't expect him to be the only one to score the goals. Others also need to increase their output. And have said this long before, not sure how realistic is it as well to expect a 21-year-old to come to the Premier League and immediately lead a team to a title win/challenge, freak-of-nature or not.

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That's why I mentioned our team being toothless upfront. I can't imagine there being a drastic improvement from any of our wingers in terms of numbers and we don't exactly have a goal getting from midfield aside from Mount.

I agree with the fact that Haaland can only take some of the burden, but we can't (IMO) continue with just what we have in attack and expect a massive turnaround in numbers.

[Jase 43,479]

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:27, LAM09 said:

That's why I mentioned our team being toothless upfront. I can't imagine there being a drastic improvement from any of our wingers in terms of numbers and we don't exactly have a goal getting from midfield aside from Mount.

I agree with the fact that Haaland can only take some of the burden, but we can't (IMO) continue with just what we have in attack and expect a massive turnaround in numbers.

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What Tomo said really...

  On 09/06/2021 at 12:49, Tomo said:

Or what *if* one of them have a Drogba 06/07 esque improvement? I mean it's pretty strange you wouldn't factor in potential second season improvement, especially with Havertz.

What many are missing is we don't actually need one of them to turn into a 20 goal season striker we need all of them to improve by 5 goals in average which i think is quite easily doable. 

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[MoroccanBlue 5,322]

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:30, Jas said:

What Tomo said really...

 

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We are 16th in the league in chances converted. 

To assume, or to merely hope we can drastically improve that with who we currently have and not a recognisable ST in the side, is poor planning. 

[LAM09 6,890]

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:30, Jas said:

What Tomo said really...

 

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I think that's a drastic way to think considering our poor chance conversion rate late season. Werner & Havertz are the only two that I can see improving in that department.

[Jase 43,479]

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:32, MoroccanBlue said:

We are 16th in the league in chances converted. 

To assume, or to merely hope we can drastically improve that with who we currently have and not a recognisable ST in the side, is poor planning. 

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Where did you get that stat? Because from what I've seen is we're in 13th (not that it's great), just one place below Liverpool.

City won the league basically without a recognized ST and their conversion rate only puts #4 in the table. Is it wrong to believe that our attackers can add at least somewhere between 5-10 goals next season? 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,322]

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:44, Jas said:

Where did you get that stat? Because from what I've seen is we're in 13th (not that it's great), just one place below Liverpool.

City won the league basically without a recognized ST and their conversion rate only puts #4 in the table. Is it wrong to believe that our attackers can add at least somewhere between 5-10 goals next season? 

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Since Tuchel has been appointed we are 16th. 

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:44, Jas said:

Is it wrong to believe that our attackers can add at least somewhere between 5-10 goals next season? 

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Again, are you willing to take that risk considering the level of drastic improvement that is needed with the current squad? Add the fact we are losing both Giroud (potentially) and Tammy? 16th in the table is a lot different than 4th. And this isn't even considering the possibility of Kane moving to City. 

[R2D2 368]

Make it happen Roman!

[Superblue 6,372]

I don't think it's unrealistic to think that our current attackers can't improve their output next season. 

Werner, Havertz and Ziyech are now a year into the Premier League and Mount, Pulisic and Hudson Odoi are all still young and have a lot of potential for improvement.

Forgetting cup competitions and just concentrating on the league, I don't think it's unreasonable for Werner and Havertz to be targetting 10 - 15 goals each, and Mount, Pulisic and Ziyech to all be targetting 8 - 10 goals each next season. They should all be very capable of this, it's hardly like we're expecting them to suddenly go to 20-25 goals.

[Jase 43,479]

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:50, MoroccanBlue said:

Again, are you willing to take that risk considering the level of drastic improvement that is needed with the current squad? Add the fact we are losing both Giroud (potentially) and Tammy? 16th in the table is a lot different than 4th. And this isn't even considering the possibility of Kane moving to City. 

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How is it drastic to expect an improvement of at least 5-10 goals from each of our attackers? I don't really disagree that we need a striker but at the same time, even if we do get one, we still need the others to score more than they did if we want to win the league or at least challenge for it. 

[Jase 43,479]

  On 09/06/2021 at 13:57, R2D2 said:

Make it happen Roman!

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Over €400 million!? LOL

[Supermonkey 38]

If we switch between a back 4 and a back 3 we should improve drastically with the same players. Werner/Havertz/Mount/Pulisic can all play in a 4231/433. Ziyech can rotate in. We haven't seen us play with 4 attackers under tuchel (unless you count CHO as rwb and we are very well against Crystal Palace). 

Against the top 6 we can play with a 343. The bigger teams leave more spaces and we did create good chances against them. 

I think changing the formation against lower teams that sit deep and having a second season for young players that are getting more familiar with each other may help more than people realise. 

 

I'm excited to get Harland but not desperate 

[MoroccanBlue 5,322]

  On 09/06/2021 at 14:01, Supermonkey said:

If we switch between a back 4 and a back 3 we should improve drastically with the same players. Werner/Havertz/Mount/Pulisic can all play in a 4231/433. Ziyech can rotate in. We haven't seen us play with 4 attackers under tuchel (unless you count CHO as rwb and we are very well against Crystal Palace). 

Against the top 6 we can play with a 343. The bigger teams leave more spaces and we did create good chances against them. 

I think changing the formation against lower teams that sit deep and having a second season for young players that are getting more familiar with each other may help more than people realise. 

 

I'm excited to get Harland but not desperate 

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Formation hasn't been an issue. We are 1st in chances created since Tuchel has been appointed. Its converting them that's the issue, which is a collective one.