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Victor Wanyama

Funny how people see things differently.

For me, he seems a good bit worse on the ball than Dier and significantly worse than Dembele. Hopefully there's more there than I've seen so far, but he appears to be more weighted towards defence than the rest of our midfield.

I agree, whilst his passes will generally find their target it is all very basic, usually back from where it came or a short sideways pass. A couple of times late on(before we scored) in the game yesterday he received the ball with his back to play and instead of turning and trying to progress us forward he sent it straight back. I didn't watch much of him at Southampton so maybe he's just playing safe while he settles in but so far I don't find him and Dier a very complimentary pairing.
 
I agree, he had space to move into as the game opened up, but wasn't comfortable to do so, passing back. But it is only his second game and I think he has the ability to turn and move forward with the ball. Poch will be on it...
 
Funny how people see things differently.

For me, he seems a good bit worse on the ball than Dier and significantly worse than Dembele. Hopefully there's more there than I've seen so far, but he appears to be more weighted towards defence than the rest of our midfield.

Well as you say Stop! Hammer time, i am not saying he is better or worse then Dier but from what i have seen over the last two games he is better on the ball then some suggested he was/is when we went in for him. And i am not suggesting that its a partnership ( him and Dier) which is the way in every game
 
Wanyama has so far done exactly what I hoped he would do... He has improved the squad by being a player good enough for the first 11 with negligeble impact!!

We suffered last year with squad players not being good enough but victor and Vincent have shown themselves to be very astute signings
 
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i don't expect Dier/Wanyama to remain first choice pairing but in the absence of Dembele it seems logical to line up with these two - our record without Dembele was poor last season which, imo, was down to missing his strength/defensive abilities more than it was his attacking abilities so i think it's sensible to bring in Wanyama as he provides those attributes more so than any other option
 
i don't expect Dier/Wanyama to remain first choice pairing but in the absence of Dembele it seems logical to line up with these two - our record without Dembele was poor last season which, imo, was down to missing his strength/defensive abilities more than it was his attacking abilities so i think it's sensible to bring in Wanyama as he provides those attributes more so than any other option
Agree. What Dembele offers is the ability to beat and/or draw players to him. Sometimes he is effectively pulling 2-3 players out of position and it opens up more space ahead of him for the other gringos. It will be Dembele + another IMO. I'd go with Dier myself as that worked a treat last season but Wanyama has done well so far too.
 
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i don't expect Dier/Wanyama to remain first choice pairing but in the absence of Dembele it seems logical to line up with these two - our record without Dembele was poor last season which, imo, was down to missing his strength/defensive abilities more than it was his attacking abilities so i think it's sensible to bring in Wanyama as he provides those attributes more so than any other option

I agree. I think that Poch is opting for a safety first option at the beginning of the season with the added bonus of bringing Wanyama up to speed. When Dembele is available, I expect the selection to change.
 
Agree. What Demble offers is the ability to beat and/or draw players to him. Sometimes he is effectively pulling 2-3 players out of position and it opens up more space ahead of him for the other gringos. It will be Dembele + another IMO. I'd go with Dier myself as that worked a treat last season but Wanyama has done well so far too.
I'd expect Dier over Wanyama (on admittedly few viewings of Wanyama). From what I've seen Dier's pretty similar defensively but fits our passing/ball retention a lot better.

That's no bad thing. Sometimes it's handy to have a no-nonsense "lock it up" type on the bench as long as you have enough passers around them.
 
Wanyama has so far down exactly what I howls he would do... He has improved the squad by being a player good enough for the first 11 with negligeble impact!!

We suffered last year with squad players not being good enough but victor and Vincent have shown themselves to be very astute signings
I think there's been a fairly significant drop in our play with the ball.

We've been pretty solid defensively but fairly uninspiring going forward.
 
I'd expect Dier over Wanyama (on admittedly few viewings of Wanyama). From what I've seen Dier's pretty similar defensively but fits our passing/ball retention a lot better.

That's no bad thing. Sometimes it's handy to have a no-nonsense "lock it up" type on the bench as long as you have enough passers around them.
Absolutely. A wall of Dembele, Dier and Wanyama is tailor made for closing out games, something that last season we were fairly poo poo at.
 
But that's because we're missing Dembele and we havent really got going yet - it's not because of Wanyama. Wanyama is a like from like for Dier IMO

This is what I have been thinking. I wouldn't be surprised to see them get swapped out to keep them fresh, similar to how Rose/Davies & Walker/Trippier were last season.

Ideally we would also have someone to swap out with Dembele, but a like for like for Dembele is pretty difficult to find. I did hear a Spurs Transfer YouTube clip (from June/July) saying we were looking at a player Dahoud (?) who played at one of the German clubs. No idea about him myself, but Greg Strobert thought he was a very good player and similar to Dembele. I have heard nothing more about the player since the Youtube clip.
 
Love the three midfield options of Dembele, Dier and Wanyama and I'm still a fan of Mason. However sometimes I would love a midfielder who can transition the ball quicker, turning defence into attack in lightning quick counters.

The likes of Alli, Kane, Janssen, Eriksen, Lamela would thrive if we could get the ball up top earlier in one on one situations with their defenders, much the same way Gerrard did for Sturridge, Suarez and co in that season Liverpool should have won the league.

But I think Poch has perhaps moved away from that having seen how soft our centre has appeared without Dembele or Dier.
 
going fowards ... eriksens's got to shoulder more of that responsibility than wanyama.
two DMs means that eriksen should be able to focus on attack....
 
I'd love a player to genuinely cover for Dembele

It's possibly a role for Onomoah in the future but clearly not now

I'd like to have seen any of Mason/Carroll or winks given a chance but Poch clearly disagrees

I've not seen a player anywhere that's like Demebele because of the way he plays so developing our own is not a bad option

And back on thread the idea of using Wanyama and Dier as interchangeable players like the full backs is no bad thing. It also means Dier is available for centre back cover
 
Funny how people see things differently.

For me, he seems a good bit worse on the ball than Dier and significantly worse than Dembele. Hopefully there's more there than I've seen so far, but he appears to be more weighted towards defence than the rest of our midfield.
I thought that overall he had a better game than Dier (and that's ignoring his goal). He is positionally excellent, uses the ball efficiently and also carries the ball well.
 
I thought that overall he had a better game than Dier (and that's ignoring his goal). He is positionally excellent, uses the ball efficiently and also carries the ball well.
I think that's the issue for me - he's efficient with his passing but not much else.

That's not to say he isn't better under a more settled team on better form - I readily admit to not having seen a lot of him. At the moment though, I think Dier fits a passing side in terms of what he does with the ball quite a lot more than Wanyama does.
 
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