If Van Hecke is as good as his stats I can’t see him coming to Spurs . Just as I can see Vuskovic heading to Bayern while another of their deadbeats heads to Spurs and we keep Palhinha.
Both Senesi and Van Hecke will be great for Zerbi's tiki taka style, but some context is also important. Van Hecke is in the 41th percentile for aerial duels, Senesi in the 9th which is absolutely terrible. Romero is in 84th and Ven is in 24th. Unless these guys learns how to defend aerials better we'll get absolutely murdered on set-pieces after Romero is out.
Another interesting fact is how Dunk's passing stats were better than Van Hecke and Senesi, also consistent over several seasons. He also outshined both in most other categories, except carries (though he was good at carries). Brighton's best finish in the PL is 6th so all I'm saying is that maybe what style of defenders we've got isn't the be all end all.
We need forwards more than we do defenders. We also desperately need a creative midfielder unless Bergvall and Gray somehow magically age into Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man over preseason.
Unfortunately Dunk is about 53.I was touting him about 6 or 7 years ago and thought he would have won more England caps,but it seems good old-fashioned solid CBs are no longer fashionable.The same with Tarkowski.
The only other option was relegation though really...I was preparing for relegation at one point, the 'hard reset', it might have killed the parasite but also it might have killed the host so I had mixed feelings on it.
Still think the club gets sold at some juncture, the people running the show aren't football people and I think some iteration of their 'leadership' eventually get bored/frustrated/twitchy?
The people that run the club aren’t good at anything ..it is simply the quasi religious status of the cash cow that is football that allows incompetence to thrive .
They're a good start I think, Senesi replaces the (lacking?) 'experience and leadership' of Romero, and I thought Robertson was replacing similar with Davies but now it seems Davies will also hang around - no issue here with Davies in this scenario, as he's a good egg and I guess cheap to feed, I'd rather get rid of the arsery of the 'energy vampire' contingent of Romero, Bissouma and Vicario than Davies, who's a 'continuity' element for the defence.
Van Hecke spells the end of the 'Game of Thrones extra' Dragusin. One of the biggest malfunctioning lumps Spurs have ever signed, this is adding true depth where there was just the illusion of depth.
Because we have so many high earning wastes of flesh on the books, if wages can be settled I wouldn't be averse to also taking free agents like Vlahović and Wilson as they're serious upgrades on a lumpen Richarlison through the middle and a quite insanely ineffective Muani on the right.
Even with the four seemingly tied up deals of Robertson, Van Hecke, Senesi and Savinho we still need a long list of further reinforcements so it's going to need to be a canny window (I'm not sure the club is capable of canny):
- another goalkeeper.
- as close to a 'full package' midfielder as you can get.
- another deep lying mid if Palhinha isn't signed.
- either a second winger after Savinho or a play maker depending on what's out there (if none can be secured Moore should be in the squad).
- a forward with pedigree, two if Solanke also leaves, and I quite like the idea of Lankshear being third choice this season.
So free deals are handy if the player's have any quality. Swap deals rarely work out, but I guess they might be entertained. It's still a lot of work despite the encouraging start to the window.
To me, if we are getting Senesi and Van Hecke, then we have to be selling 3 of Danso, VdV, Dragusin,Romero and Vuskovic, and using that money to buy a couple who can score us a few.
We’re already not short of centre backs and we’re buying 2 more.
Also Van Hecke and Senesi aren’t the quickest either.
If we go by stats alone Van Hecke is a far superior CB to VDV, and they have a similar profile where the only key difference is VDV's pace. I wonder if that means Zerbi wants to play VDV at left back or even selling him. Senesi will obviously replace Romero, the difference being Romero wins more duels and Senesi rarely gets sent off.
Agreed. I think we can assume Romero and Dragusin will be saying adios and… whatever Romanian for goodbye is.
As useful a player as Van Hecke is, I’m slightly concerned that we might be sacrificing Vuskovic as a result of pursuing him, a player who seemingly has a much higher ceiling. And with Senesi’s age, we might be looking to replace him in a couple of years anyway.
While you can see the underlying thinking behind the defenders we’re lining up, there’s some fairly obvious nuances that are seemingly being missed.
You can’t (or at least you probably *shouldn’t*) play Senesi with VdV, because they’re both left footed, and yet they balance each other really well in terms of how they start attacks (Micky marauds forward, bringing the ball out himself, while Senesi can sit back and spray accurate long passes around).
By contrast, while Van Hecke is right-footed and therefore seemingly a more natural pair with VdV, he’s also a ball-carrier, which means a) you’d run the risk - unless they’re very disciplined - of being caught out with both CBs upfield, and b) you don’t have the option to break a high press with incisive passing.
Vuskovic is a right-footed passing CB, but can also play out from the back and work on the left as required. So he can pair with any of the others. And he has an *incredibly* high ceiling. Seeing him sold on seems like such a missed opportunity - on the fan-voted list of best players in Bundesliga this season, he ranked above Kane, despite playing for a much weaker club and despite Harry burying 36 goals in 31 Bundesliga games. Real, Bayern, Barca, Liverpool and United are all sniffing round him. We have something special there.
And Danso is Mr Reliable-and-won’t-complain-if-I’m-not-playing-every-week.
Personally, I think VdV, Senesi, Vuskovic and Danso covers all your bases. Van Hecke is more of a push, but De Zerbi knows him.
Good points Beadle,although my preference would be to use VDV as a LB primarily anyway and bring in Van Hecke to your choices at the end.That way we can offload Udogie who has regressed since his injury.Back to Italy along with Vicario.
Yes, this is my thought. Why do we need van Hecke if we have Vuskovic. I suspect we are looking to cash in again and trouser the difference. The problem is some of the prices being thrown around for Van Hecke. I suspect we’d be better holding on to Vuskovic
I agree with everything here. Just want to add Vuskovic consistently scores 8 or more goals over a season. You don't get that with Senesi or Van Hecke.
If Van Hecke is as good as his stats I can’t see him coming to Spurs . Just as I can see Vuskovic heading to Bayern while another of their deadbeats heads to Spurs and we keep Palhinha.
Both Senesi and Van Hecke will be great for Zerbi's tiki taka style, but some context is also important. Van Hecke is in the 41th percentile for aerial duels, Senesi in the 9th which is absolutely terrible. Romero is in 84th and Ven is in 24th. Unless these guys learns how to defend aerials better we'll get absolutely murdered on set-pieces after Romero is out.
Another interesting fact is how Dunk's passing stats were better than Van Hecke and Senesi, also consistent over several seasons. He also outshined both in most other categories, except carries (though he was good at carries). Brighton's best finish in the PL is 6th so all I'm saying is that maybe what style of defenders we've got isn't the be all end all.
We need forwards more than we do defenders. We also desperately need a creative midfielder unless Bergvall and Gray somehow magically age into Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man over preseason.
Unfortunately Dunk is about 53.I was touting him about 6 or 7 years ago and thought he would have won more England caps,but it seems good old-fashioned solid CBs are no longer fashionable.The same with Tarkowski.
“ Hiring RDZ has already provided huge financial dividends for the club “ . There is the problem right there.
The only other option was relegation though really...I was preparing for relegation at one point, the 'hard reset', it might have killed the parasite but also it might have killed the host so I had mixed feelings on it.
Still think the club gets sold at some juncture, the people running the show aren't football people and I think some iteration of their 'leadership' eventually get bored/frustrated/twitchy?
Is Uncle Joe still alive?
The people that run the club aren’t good at anything ..it is simply the quasi religious status of the cash cow that is football that allows incompetence to thrive .
They're a good start I think, Senesi replaces the (lacking?) 'experience and leadership' of Romero, and I thought Robertson was replacing similar with Davies but now it seems Davies will also hang around - no issue here with Davies in this scenario, as he's a good egg and I guess cheap to feed, I'd rather get rid of the arsery of the 'energy vampire' contingent of Romero, Bissouma and Vicario than Davies, who's a 'continuity' element for the defence.
Van Hecke spells the end of the 'Game of Thrones extra' Dragusin. One of the biggest malfunctioning lumps Spurs have ever signed, this is adding true depth where there was just the illusion of depth.
Because we have so many high earning wastes of flesh on the books, if wages can be settled I wouldn't be averse to also taking free agents like Vlahović and Wilson as they're serious upgrades on a lumpen Richarlison through the middle and a quite insanely ineffective Muani on the right.
Even with the four seemingly tied up deals of Robertson, Van Hecke, Senesi and Savinho we still need a long list of further reinforcements so it's going to need to be a canny window (I'm not sure the club is capable of canny):
- another goalkeeper.
- as close to a 'full package' midfielder as you can get.
- another deep lying mid if Palhinha isn't signed.
- either a second winger after Savinho or a play maker depending on what's out there (if none can be secured Moore should be in the squad).
- a forward with pedigree, two if Solanke also leaves, and I quite like the idea of Lankshear being third choice this season.
So free deals are handy if the player's have any quality. Swap deals rarely work out, but I guess they might be entertained. It's still a lot of work despite the encouraging start to the window.
To me, if we are getting Senesi and Van Hecke, then we have to be selling 3 of Danso, VdV, Dragusin,Romero and Vuskovic, and using that money to buy a couple who can score us a few.
We’re already not short of centre backs and we’re buying 2 more.
Also Van Hecke and Senesi aren’t the quickest either.
If we go by stats alone Van Hecke is a far superior CB to VDV, and they have a similar profile where the only key difference is VDV's pace. I wonder if that means Zerbi wants to play VDV at left back or even selling him. Senesi will obviously replace Romero, the difference being Romero wins more duels and Senesi rarely gets sent off.
Agreed. I think we can assume Romero and Dragusin will be saying adios and… whatever Romanian for goodbye is.
As useful a player as Van Hecke is, I’m slightly concerned that we might be sacrificing Vuskovic as a result of pursuing him, a player who seemingly has a much higher ceiling. And with Senesi’s age, we might be looking to replace him in a couple of years anyway.
While you can see the underlying thinking behind the defenders we’re lining up, there’s some fairly obvious nuances that are seemingly being missed.
You can’t (or at least you probably *shouldn’t*) play Senesi with VdV, because they’re both left footed, and yet they balance each other really well in terms of how they start attacks (Micky marauds forward, bringing the ball out himself, while Senesi can sit back and spray accurate long passes around).
By contrast, while Van Hecke is right-footed and therefore seemingly a more natural pair with VdV, he’s also a ball-carrier, which means a) you’d run the risk - unless they’re very disciplined - of being caught out with both CBs upfield, and b) you don’t have the option to break a high press with incisive passing.
Vuskovic is a right-footed passing CB, but can also play out from the back and work on the left as required. So he can pair with any of the others. And he has an *incredibly* high ceiling. Seeing him sold on seems like such a missed opportunity - on the fan-voted list of best players in Bundesliga this season, he ranked above Kane, despite playing for a much weaker club and despite Harry burying 36 goals in 31 Bundesliga games. Real, Bayern, Barca, Liverpool and United are all sniffing round him. We have something special there.
And Danso is Mr Reliable-and-won’t-complain-if-I’m-not-playing-every-week.
Personally, I think VdV, Senesi, Vuskovic and Danso covers all your bases. Van Hecke is more of a push, but De Zerbi knows him.
Good points Beadle,although my preference would be to use VDV as a LB primarily anyway and bring in Van Hecke to your choices at the end.That way we can offload Udogie who has regressed since his injury.Back to Italy along with Vicario.
Yes, this is my thought. Why do we need van Hecke if we have Vuskovic. I suspect we are looking to cash in again and trouser the difference. The problem is some of the prices being thrown around for Van Hecke. I suspect we’d be better holding on to Vuskovic
I agree with everything here. Just want to add Vuskovic consistently scores 8 or more goals over a season. You don't get that with Senesi or Van Hecke.
Vuskovic is going out on loan again, Dragusin will be chopped, Romero is off.
Danso needs to stick around for continuity I'd say.
VdV, Senesi, Van Hecke, Danso...and Davies as fifth choice!