If worst came to worst...

[SlumDilla]

And AVB/Baldini/Levy for whatever reason could not get that elusive 20+ goal forward that we deserve and Ade/Dempsey left and with us being linked with every young ATT MID, would the idea of Dembele as a forward be okay with you? Understand, i am not for moving players out off familiar positions (especially when Sandro and Moose formed one of the best CM partnerships in modern day) but Moose is accustomed to playing as a SS and if i'm not mistaken played a fair amount of games in the eredivisie as a SS/CF. Let's play a hypothetical game where Moose was played as a forward.

Pros
- He's big, strong, great touch and control, decent shot (not a lethal finisher) and wins alot of duels (infact he led our team in duels).
- Hold up play is immense, takes alot to get the ball off of him without fouling (though towards the end of the season either due to injury or fatigue seemed to lose the ball easily QPR etc)
- Great close control would force defenders to commit in 1v1's and potentially could win alot more penalties for us (he's not known as diver and it takes alot to bring him down). Also might force teams to double up on him since his dribbling is such a threat.
- Interchanging with LF/RF would be seamless (Bale/Siggy/Lennon). We've seen him play on the right against liverpool though our midfield was weakened he really didn't look out of place there.
- Would help significantly with pressuring CB's and winning the ball back in advanced positions.

Cons
- Might take time for him to gel into that position
- We lose runs from deep.
- Naturally our midfield might lose some of its bite
- More injuries (being a CF would expose him to alot of bumps and tackles from eager CB's)

A potential formation i woud look lik

Sandro
Paulinho - TC/Holtby/Siggy
Bale -- Moose ---- Siggy/Lennon​

Drop your opinions folks.

 

[africanspurs]

Not sure we could class someone with good body balance as being big. but the ides is alright.

however why him and not bale as the first thought

 

[SlumDilla]

Not sure we could class someone with good body balance as being big. but the ides is alright.

however why him and not bale as the first thought

Have you seen the size of his legs

Bale is not that good at holding up the ball and his dribbling in tight spaces isn't as good as moose's. Plus moose has actually played in that position, albeit when he was younger in a weaker league.

 

[Gutter Boy]

I've always thought his shooting has been pretty terrible. It was the main reason Jol converted him from a wide forward to a CM.

 

[Sandman]

At Fulham he played the deep forward, problem was he would often drop to deep and was always looking for a pass rather than a chance to shoot or to get in the box. He is way too good in midfield to be used up top. If we sold Ade and only had Defoe left I would rather stick with Jermaine as much as possible.

 

[DHSF]

I dont think there would be any excuses NOT to buy a striker. Maybe I would be being unfair but if we didnt then serious questions would have to be asked.

BUT if we didnt then worst case scenario, whilst it may actually be counter productive I would put Bale up front. I would get in Nani to play on left and Lennon on right or bring in someone else to play on right who can score goals (I love Lennon though)

 

[NWND]

I don't think we will let either Ade, Defoe or Dempsey go without being confident we can bring in someone else in the forward positions.

I think its safe to assume that if/when Ade agrees to this Besiktas deal that a move for a forward incoming will be tied up pretty quickly afterwards, as the cash/wage availability will be freed up.

See also the way the Dembele deal went through so quickly after the Modric to Madrid move was announced last summer.

 

[Raziel]

No, really don't see the value, his shooting isn't great, has never shown the ability to score lots, converted players is one of those things that rarely works (easy to think of a couple of examples, because those are the few that did work).

Honestly, I would lose a ton of faith in Levy/AVB if we ended up with the same strike force for this season.

That said, my approach if we had no choice

- Midfield includes Sandro/Dembele/Paulinho/Lennon

If we were going to convert anyone to striker, the obvious answer is Bale

- Front two options -> Dempsey/Bale, Siggy/Bale, JD/Bale, Ade/Bale (not actually meaning we are playing 4-4-2, one of the front two would sit deeper, play wider, etc.)

 

[Rorschach]

I dont think there would be any excuses NOT to buy a striker. Maybe I would be being unfair but if we didnt then serious questions would have to be asked.

BUT if we didnt then worst case scenario, whilst it may actually be counter productive I would put Bale up front. I would get in Nani to play on left and Lennon on right or bring in someone else to play on right who can score goals (I love Lennon though)

Townsend maybe? I think it's maybe time to give him a go.

Edit: Just looking at that line up I'm thinking we would break the PL record for shots outside the box.

 

[AdamB]

He's a poor finisher - no way I would put him up there! If you wanted to turn one of our midfielders into a CF then I would go with Siggy:
- excellent shot on him
- great control and touch so could act as a link up man in not dis-similar was to how Berbs did (though he's weaker and smaller than Berbs)
- If Bale is playing as the second CF then his pace can counter Siggy's lack of pace

 

[jurgen lineker]

If we were to test-run Dembele anywhere, i'd like to see him given a go in the slightly deeper Carrick role. Seems to have all the attributes to do well in that position, although granted he'd need to work on his short passing game a bit more and learn to release the ball sooner a lot sooner than he currently does. But other than that, he is suited to the role imo; he is strong and quick, he has a good reading of the game and thus intercepts well, and he also has that effortless ability that Carrick had to almost shrug an opponent off the ball and win back possession.

 

[metalgear]

i think dembele would be an option to consider for his ability to hold up and dribble the ball. I can imagine him poised at the edge of the penalty box, asking for the ball. we'd will get more penalties for sure with him there instead of defoe/ade.

 

[SlumDilla]

He's a poor finisher - no way I would put him up there! If you wanted to turn one of our midfielders into a CF then I would go with Siggy:
- excellent shot on him
- great control and touch so could act as a link up man in not dis-similar was to how Berbs did (though he's weaker and smaller than Berbs)
- If Bale is playing as the second CF then his pace can counter Siggy's lack of pace

I thought about Siggy as an option but truth is
- he cannot play with his back to goal/hold off players as easily as Moose.
- Though his touch and control is good, dembele has an equally (maybe better) graceful presence on the ball and better close control.
- Getting the ball off of Siggy is easier than getting it off of Moose.
- He wouldn't require opposition to pay special attention to him, Dembele in the attacking third would do that.

And though Moose isn't a prolific scorer ( be it due to the nature of his position/ his responsibilities to the team/not getting in enough attacking positions) he can be an effective foil for Bale/Siggy/ LF/RF to interchange with and profit from the attention the opposition would be paying him.

 

[SlumDilla]

i think dembele would be an option to consider for his ability to hold up and dribble the ball. I can imagine him poised at the edge of the penalty box, asking for the ball. we'd will get more penalties for sure with him there instead of defoe/ade.

Definitely, the ease at which he glides past players can be devastating further up field.

 

[awesome dawson]

I don't think we need to be playing Dembele or any other players out of position. Possible exception being Bale who doesn't even seem to have a position these days.

Ade showed enough at the end of last season to suggest he has form left in him. Worst comes to the worst, he starts.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Listen, while I've rarely been as serene about the future of our club as I am now, if we end the window without a single new striker on our books, I will be a firm advocate of putting 53-year old Baldini in a kit and sending him out onto the field, with Freund brandishing a bullwhip and threatening to beat the hell out of him if he stops running even once during the ninety minutes.

 

[africanspurs]

Have you seen the size of his legs

Bale is not that good at holding up the ball and his dribbling in tight spaces isn't as good as moose's. Plus moose has actually played in that position, albeit when he was younger in a weaker league.

i am not sure why bale would be forced to play a hold up game? that would be taking his strength away from him. why not have him working the chanels? if we bought villa then i doubt we would have been asking him to do a lot of hold up play.

i think we have played bale there before too actuallY