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Going to make a somewhat bold ( and maybe even unpopular) prediction for the next window.We are going to move on from the whole false 9 thing(atleast against some teams) and are going to bring in a more traditional CF, someone who may not be as good on the ball as Jesus is,but someone who is better in the air,with better movement in the box,more clinical etc.Not necessarily a better player overall,but a completely different profile to Jesus.
We play a very conservative brand of football which gives us control,but at the same time we also don’t create too many chances.We also seem to rely a lot on crosses and setpieces for our goals.I think having a traditional 9 would make things easier for us, given the current way we play.
A big advantage of playing a false 9 is that it affords more space to other attackers and allows them to get into good positions to score, something that worked really well for us last season.Ode and Martinelli benefitted a lot from Jesus dropping wide/deep thus creating space and they managed to get into good positions and score 30 league goals between them.This season however neither player seem to get into the same kind of positions as last season ( atleast not as often) which takes away a lot of the purpose of the false 9.I have seen a lot of people say all of this is down to injury issues,which I don’t fully agree with.Obviosly Ode and Jesus having niggles hasn’t let them play at their absolute best,but more than that the change in tactics is the reason imo.
This isn’t me saying we should move on from Jesus.He is a top player and we could still play with a false 9 against a lot of teams( especially in the UCL,and against teams that afford us space in the league like Brighton).But it would be great to have a traditional 9 as an alternative option against teams like Brentford, if the game plan is to spam crosses into the box.Ideally Nketiah would step up and take that role but I think we should go for someone like Toney who would fit the profile I mentioned, if it is financially viable.There is also a case to be made for Havertz to play that role given his physical profile,but I think Arteta sees him as a left sided 8 in the long term.Moreover,I don’t think he is necessarily more clinical than Jesus with his finishing.
Even if you don’t agree with us needing a different profile of striker to Jesus,there is definitely a case to be made for upgrading on Nketiah.If Jesus was an always available striker like say Kane who is barely ever injured,then maybe Eddie would’ve sufficed as a backup.But given Jesus’s history with injuries,we should be looking at replacing Eddie with a better player, someone who is a different profile to Jesus.
I have been very impressed with Evan Ferguson and would be my ideal signing,given his profile and potential but Brighton would probably want half of North London in return so that isn’t exactly viable.
Toney would have just one year left come the end of the season and should be an option we should consider at the right price.He may not be a better player than Jesus,but his profile would most certainly be useful against teams like Brentford who we are going to come up against a lot in the league.
Osimhen 🤷
My man Osimhen is going to cost us a lot of money,which I don’t know if we can afford.
I watch a fair bit of Serie just to watch the likes of Kvaradona, Osimhen and Leao in action and while Osimhen is one of my favourite players,I don’t think we play a system that would maximize Osimhen’s abilities.More often than not we play against low blocks,meaning there is barely any space to run into and we don’t necessarily counter as fast a lot of other teams,which takes away a lot of Osimhen’s strength imo.
At the same time,I think he is really good in the air(kind of an underrated aspect of his game) and he has this tendency to drift out wide to the right which could lead to some exciting interplay with Saka/Jesus so there is that as well.
While I love Osimhen,I think if we are spending 100m+ on a player it should be on Evan Ferguson imo.He obviously isn’t on Osimhen’s level yet,but I think his profile/potential is exactly what I would want in a big signing.He has also shown his ability in the premier league as well,so there is that too.But this is just my preference;if we end up signing Osimhen,I wouldn’t be complaining lol.
I agree with everything you said I think both clubs are hard to deal with especially Napoli owner Der Laurentis but also Brighton inflate prices 🤷.my hopium is Napoli admin fiasco has made osimhen indifferent and willing to go but yeah I love powerful strikers especially in the pl
I said the exact same thing and was downvoted into oblivion with people saying I said Osimhen would flop. Realistically we cant afford him due to our transfer budget and FFP. Also most people who say get him dont watch him play in Serie A, I personally believe a Toney would be a better option with the added benefit of having PL experience. Osihmen would be an upgrade to Jesus but we dont need another player with that style of play we need a clinical finisher, 1 touch 1 goal type of player.
Osimhen’s finishing is somewhat overrated imo and its kind of understandable if you don’t watch Serie A and judge his finishing purely based on stats/highlights.
I don’t exactly know how to put this into words but Osimhen is the kind of player who would miss 2/3 chances in the first 80 minutes and then parry 2 back to back chances in the next ten minutes.His numbers look good over the course of a season and he is obviously a fantastic player,but I wouldn’t call him a clinical finisher( atleast not in the same level as say a Kane/peak RVP).I think he is a great player,with great physical and technical qualities, capable of some fantastic finishing but at the same time can be a bit erratic with his finishing as well.
For a team like Napoli who create a fair bit,he is wonderful to have but I don’t know if he would be worth the price we would have to pay, playing in our system.We don’t create as much from open play(read somewhere that we are something like 11th in the league for chances created from open play and I would imagine Napoli are a lot better at creating just from watching their games, although I haven’t checked the numbers),we don’t go Gung-ho on the counter and there is barely any space to run in behind given the low blocks we face every week.There are obviously other qualities to him that we could absolutely use like his strength,arial ability and movement in the box etc and I absolutely wouldn’t complain if we sign him,but at the end of the day,I just don’t think its worth the 120m or whatever we would have to pay Napoli.