IstillhateSteveBould

Bidwell’s better than Fox from what I’ve seen of him, so that’s a upgrade at LB. I would say Odubajo is better than Iorfa and Palmer (who may not even be here next season). So again, an upgrade. No idea on Borner. He’s a complete unknown. I still believe Hector should be number 1 priority if we have any sort of budget. Ok without knowing about Borner, it’s still hard to imagine we’ll be anything other than weaker defensively if we don’t get Hector back. Or someone of equal quality. Onomah is an interesting one. We certainly need some fresh legs in midfield and although he’s shown little on loan, the potential is there and it could be a rare opportunity to sign a young player with good pedigree, from a big club, with big potential resale value. Still think we would need another more defensive minded midfielder as well. And we absolutely need pace and energy in attacking/wide areas. Hoping Downing is just agent talk. I’d rather have Wallace back if we’re wanting a wily old pro.

To be fair, I think Bruce has tried to get him to play higher up the pitch since he’s been here.

This. Could never understand it. Hutch, Lee and Bannan was absolutely made to be a midfield 3. The striker situation was probably the main issue with it. Signing Hooper pretty much forced us into playing with 2 strikers.

Good post. Although I disagree with some things, I 100% agree we could get more from Bannan by playing him further forward. Particularly left side in a 3 man midfield. You nailed it here. I think people forget how good Bannan can be when he runs with the ball at his feet, when he’s full of confidence. Darts into little areas, can twist and turn, and pick passes out that nobody else in our side can see. Always feel maybe he lacks a bit of confidence in himself tbh, and that could be the reason he seems to prefer the easier, deeper role. Collecting the ball in plenty of space.

You could say that for every one of our forwards. Just in different ways.

Can see the logic in signing a player like him. Young, bags of ability, good pedigree, potential resale value. Definitely some troubling aspects to his game though. Didn’t seem to be naturally switched on to the game around him if that makes. As if it was a real effort to stay switched on, track runners, anticipate where to be or when to press. You can’t really get away with that in midfield. I think we would need to become a team that dominates the ball and plays the game in the oppositions half for him to be effective

Different type of player to be fair

And from our current crop, that’s the front 3 I’d like to see us play.

You’re right that everything goes through Bannan, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re getting the absolute most we could out of him. Personally I’d rather have our best playmaker more advanced. Hutchinson (or preferably a new signing with a bit more to his game) should be the one to take the ball from the defenders and get things moving.

To me he’s a David or Bernardo Silva type. Clever, good on the ball, tricky.. Can you imagine Pep using one of those how we use Bannan

Yes. But it’s not where to get the best out of him in my opinion. He would score and assist far more if he was stripped of that role and played higher up the pitch.

The main issue with Bannan is that when he plays centrally, he plays way too deep. We need him affecting the game higher up. 442 doesn’t really allow that unless he plays as he did in Carlos’s first season, as a narrow left sided midfielder. Even 4231 restricts him as he inevitably ends up as one of the 2 holding midfielders

Very talented. You get the ball to him in good areas often, and he would score for fun. He frustrates us yes. Sometimes looks uninterested. But you look at someone like Leon Clarke (who was similar in many ways) and look what Wilder did with careful man management and a system that suited him.

If Baines goes, Robinson could be back up for Digne at Everton. Probably means he won’t be going out on loan again.

Think we should leave spl players where they are.