Savinho

[braineclipse]

In an open counter attacking space team so maybe if we are going to have bigger spaces he might well do better. Another thing he's good at is gaining space it's something we never really utilized under Ange. Johnson would often be in acres of space but the lack of the switch pass meant that by the time we got the ball to him he already had a defender on him and he's pretty useless in those situations.

In the open and on the counter he might well excel. I can't imagine working well against a settled defense in a 9 esque role, it doesn't suit his attributes at all.

I think we agree on what his weaknesses are, but perhaps disagree somewhat on how big they are.

I think the imbalances in our squad makes his weaknesses look worse than they actually are. Too many other players with the same weakness. It's fine having players that aren't as good at the things he isn't at good at. But when it's 3-4 of the players in the final third it becomes a real issue.

I also think he'll benefit from having a more overlapping full back behind him.

Give him players to combine with around him and I think he's fine. Leave him in one vs. one duels and he'll mostly struggle unless it's just a sprint. Not as wide, overlap outside him, 10/8 inside he can combine with as well as a striker (all now closer to him) and I think he'll do better.

I agree that a lone 9 doesn't seem like a good fit. In a striker pair perhaps could work.

 

[Daisuk]

Some people acting as if we've signed him already. I'm fully expecting it to go tits up. Someone else to come in and snatch him.

 

[thfcsteff]

Think Kudus could be very useful in the #10 position. But that would then require another winger.

I've been going on and on about needing another #10, not really considered the alternative of signing another really good winger to free up Kudus to play there before this link.

Anything of that nature is not ideal to me...however for Frank, it might be perfect?

 

[Silly McSilly Face]

You know what it is he reminds me of Theo Walcott and it would be hypocritical of me to have critiqued Walcott's game as much as I did to only the praise his clone 10 years later just because he plays for my team now.

I'm consistently critical but if you look at what I say I'm not even unfair, it's nothing personal it's I see loads of holes in his game and in terms of style he is specifically a kind of player is dislike.

I don't think he is actually very much like Walcott. Walcott impacted a game more but his end product probably let him down at that top level. Walcott would run at and terrorise defences but the output didnt quite match up to the threat he seemed to carry.

With Johnson I feel like he's almost the anti-Walcott. You think "he's barely been seen" in a match then suddenly he's in space in the box and BANG - he's scored.

If you gave Johnson's sense of timing and finishing ability to Walcott you'd have the perfect player for me.

One is too often a passenger in a game when he's not scoring and the other does a lot of huff and puff but not enough blowing the house down.

I've compared Johnson to a sh*t Thomas Muller as he shares similarity to Muller in you couldn't really pin point what position they play - are they a forward, are they a winger? They also drift through games and then suddenly appear in the moment to score the winner.

Why i say hes a sh*t Thomas Muller is Muller smashes in 20+ goals a season whereas i don't think Johnson has got his (nonetheless impressive) output to the levels where you can accept carrying him for the 80 minutes of a match where he's essentially doing bugger all

 

[thfcsteff]

The guy can play
Maybe last season was that adapting period
He is IMO smiles more effective than doku who they like but he is also more raw
What we would get (I don’t think this will happen ) is another flying winger
What he doesn’t bring is goals

He was on the right with City whereas it's safe to assume he'd be on the left for us?
I think Frank will flip between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3.
If in a 4-3-3 he plays Bergvall Pahlinha and Sarr with Savinho Solanke and Kudus it could be fun. Again, no elite passing per se, however with Porro pushing in and a great passer, well, who knows...

 

[Silly McSilly Face]

He was on the right with City whereas it's safe to assume he'd be on the left for us?
I think Frank will flip between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3.
If in a 4-3-3 he plays Bergvall Pahlinha and Sarr with Savinho Solanke and Kudus it could be fun. Again, no elite passing per se, however with Porro pushing in and a great passer, well, who knows...

Don't really think Frank needs an elite passer. He likes to play the direct percentage ball into pacey counters and have players that can drive onto that. Paulinha is actually quite good at that quick switch kind of ball into space. I agree we wouldnt have the vision and creativity for those tiki taka threads around the box but unsure that's Frank's preferred method of turning over the opposition anyway....

 

[mudshark]

His (goals - xG) stat last season was -3.8 (worst in the league). Even Richarlison was only -0.3. Maybe he's lucky at cards ...

 

[JerusalemMan]

I’m starting to get the impression you don’t rate Johnson very highly..

No little part of me wanting Johnson to continue doing well for us and to improve even more is to see whether people like this hold to their opinion or celebrate the change.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

He was on the right with City whereas it's safe to assume he'd be on the left for us?
I think Frank will flip between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3.
If in a 4-3-3 he plays Bergvall Pahlinha and Sarr with Savinho Solanke and Kudus it could be fun. Again, no elite passing per se, however with Porro pushing in and a great passer, well, who knows...

Not many goals in that attack
Will need that spare runner from midfield
I agree he may well play on the left but I wouldn’t shocked to see him play right and Kudus 10
Just don’t see us paying a fee they are happy with And I’m not sure his value and gone up as much as they would want