Where does 7 into 3 up front leave Weimann?

[LondonBristolian]

One of the things that interests me about our transfer business is the fact we've bought two attackers in at a point when we've also got Wells having signed a new contract, Bell and Conway on a clear trajectory into regular football, Sykes not long signed and Weimann as our top scorer from last season.

Even taking into account the fact that some decisions are affected by financial constraints, Pearson doesn't seem to generally want to work with too large a squad and it seems unlikely that he specifically wants 7 attackers competing for 3 places and, whilst one attacker was obviously replacing Semenyo, it also seems unlikely that a second attacker was signed with the intention of squeezing out either of our any of the five attacking players already at the club.

What this makes me wonder is whether Weimann is primarily going to be used a midfielder/the direct competition for Scott once Conway is fit. That would give us 2 players for each position (save for the fact one of our four central defenders is currently playing as a midfielder). Is that what others expect or how else might Pearson manage the competition for places?

[ExiledAjax]

Hasn't Weimann been generally playing deeper this season already? Someone will correct me but I'm sure he's not been as advanced as he often was last year. 

So I think the answer is that yes he will be primarily used as a midfielder.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

1 minute ago, ExiledAjax said:

Hasn't Weimann been generally playing deeper this season already? Someone will correct me but I'm sure he's not been as advanced as he often was last year. 

So I think the answer is that yes he will be primarily used as a midfielder.

Yes have to agree there. But he can cover else where as needed. 

[mozo]

I've been pondering this too. Cornick and Sykes have the right covered. Mehmeti and Bell the left. Wells and Conway to spearhead.

Weimann has to player deeper which seems odd after last seasons goalscoring exploits.

Ultimately, he could find himself a utility back up player if we bring another midfielder in before next season.

Is next season the last of his contract?

 

[BUTOR]

2 minutes ago, mozo said:

I've been pondering this too. Cornick and Sykes have the right covered. Mehmeti and Bell the left. Wells and Conway to spearhead.

Weimann has to player deeper which seems odd after last seasons goalscoring exploits.

Ultimately, he could find himself a utility back up player if we bring another midfielder in before next season.

Is next season the last of his contract?

 

Which would be a shame. He was nearing legend status and 4? goals from getting his name on the all time top scorers list. But his future is looking increasingly limited here 

[Selred]

8 minutes ago, mozo said:

I've been pondering this too. Cornick and Sykes have the right covered. Mehmeti and Bell the left. Wells and Conway to spearhead.

Weimann has to player deeper which seems odd after last seasons goalscoring exploits.

Ultimately, he could find himself a utility back up player if we bring another midfielder in before next season.

Is next season the last of his contract?

 

I'd argue Weimann on his day is better than all of others.

Absolutely better than Sykes / Bell. Cornick and Mehmeti it's too early to judge.

He can also play 10 when Scott get's suspended.

[And Its Smith]

He’s had a pretty poor season so doesn’t deserve to come into the team. He can play in a number of positions so sure he will get a chance soon but has a bit to do on his most recent form to keep his place when he does 

[PooPants]

Pearson loves a forward player though. Check out how many he had at Leicester when they went up. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013–14_Leicester_City_F.C._season

Edited February 5, 2023 by Diddlydonkey

[Davefevs]

48 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

One of the things that interests me about our transfer business is the fact we've bought two attackers in at a point when we've also got Wells having signed a new contract, Bell and Conway on a clear trajectory into regular football, Sykes not long signed and Weimann as our top scorer from last season.

Even taking into account the fact that some decisions are affected by financial constraints, Pearson doesn't seem to generally want to work with too large a squad and it seems unlikely that he specifically wants 7 attackers competing for 3 places and, whilst one attacker was obviously replacing Semenyo, it also seems unlikely that a second attacker was signed with the intention of squeezing out either of our any of the five attacking players already at the club.

What this makes me wonder is whether Weimann is primarily going to be used a midfielder/the direct competition for Scott once Conway is fit. That would give us 2 players for each position (save for the fact one of our four central defenders is currently playing as a midfielder). Is that what others expect or how else might Pearson manage the competition for places?

28 minutes ago, mozo said:

I've been pondering this too. Cornick and Sykes have the right covered. Mehmeti and Bell the left. Wells and Conway to spearhead.

Weimann has to player deeper which seems odd after last seasons goalscoring exploits.

Ultimately, he could find himself a utility back up player if we bring another midfielder in before next season.

Is next season the last of his contract?

 

Looks like we’ve all been thinking about this!

Until these past few weeks, who saw Bell as the left forward…most of us saw him as right (or even central in a two)?

I guess we now have options?  Flexible forwards!

I don’t necessarily see Cornick as battling it out with Sykes either.  We’ve seen from his more recent time at Luton (and yesterday) he can play centrally.  And Sykes can play 10 / AM also.

Injuries, suspensions, form will likely mean they get chances.

Good problems!

 

[pl00peh91]

Hot take but I think Weimann peaked for us last year and I can see him being phased out in the next 6-12 months.

[Lanterne Rouge]

Andi will be 32 and Nahki 33 at the start of next season. I know they are both super-fit with amazing stamina levels but there will come a time when the body says `no more` so I can definitely see a drop back into midfield for Andi, not so sure about Nahki.

[pride of the west]

Hes ooc end of season isn't he? I see him leaving with Cornick being his replacement. 

[Northern Red]

1 minute ago, pride of the west said:

Hes ooc end of season isn't he? I see him leaving with Cornick being his replacement. 

End of next season.

[mozo]

22 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Andi will be 32 and Nahki 33 at the start of next season. I know they are both super-fit with amazing stamina levels but there will come a time when the body says `no more` so I can definitely see a drop back into midfield for Andi, not so sure about Nahki.

I think that's the answer...succession planning. A novel concept at City....

[pongo88]

2 hours ago, mozo said:

I've been pondering this too. Cornick and Sykes have the right covered. Mehmeti and Bell the left. Wells and Conway to spearhead.

Weimann has to player deeper which seems odd after last seasons goalscoring exploits.

Ultimately, he could find himself a utility back up player if we bring another midfielder in before next season.

Is next season the last of his contract?

 

Cornick and Sykes currently have the right  covered because Weimann has been injured. Would they be ahead of him if all 3 were fit? IMO Weimann is the best of the 3 

Edited February 5, 2023 by pongo88

[headhunter]

1 hour ago, mozo said:

I've been pondering this too. Cornick and Sykes have the right covered. Mehmeti and Bell the left. Wells and Conway to spearhead.

Weimann has to player deeper which seems odd after last seasons goalscoring exploits.

Ultimately, he could find himself a utility back up player if we bring another midfielder in before next season.

Is next season the last of his contract?

 

That's it for me - utility back up.

He's 32 in the summer [Aug] and when his contract runs out in 2024 [?] I think he's be let go.

Last season though outstanding was a one off in a career played at a higher level  than anyone else in the current squad.

When he signed his current contract in summer 21 at lower money he didn't know if he'd fully recover from the ACL and in his wildest go on to score 22 with 11 [?] assists. His last big pay day as a pro would have been last summer and I'm surprised his agent didn't try to engineer a move for him. We'd have seen his departure as a suicidal move for the club but we didn't know Conway would come on the way he has & Nahki show he was worth the £5.3M he cost.

We don't really need him now do we?

[Port Said Red]

Where does it leave Andi? Fresh and eager to get off the bench.

[GrahamC]

I’m not writing him off.

Pearson is self evidently a big fan, his work rate & professionalism are second to none & as yesterday showed he’s usually back from injury in double quick time.

Sykes might be on a good run at the moment but form can change, Bell has had a great few weeks but all young players have a dip in form at some point.

Weimann is a perfect player to have to come in, I won’t be at all surprised if he’s a regular in the side again before long.

[Davefevs]

Squad game!!!

We have a very thin squad…yesterday, the only fit players who didn’t make the 18 were:

• Andy King
• Omar Taylor-Clarke

There is a general obsession with trying to name a “best eleven”.  I get that, but the reality is - how often is the best eleven fit and in-form?

I know charts can be boring but…this season look at the injuries / illness / suspensions to our players this season:

We are always dealing with a couple or more injuries.  Your best eleven in August is rarely your best eleven in February, in most cases it barely makes it to September!!

Alex Scott is gonna do well to avoid a 2 game suspension, Naismith might be out…we need a squad…and players ready to come in and make the shirt theirs!  We are entering a busy period too.

 

[BCFC Rich]

This is a really interesting thread. For me it looks like 7 into 3/2 on paper but as many people have pointed out Weimann is really flexible and happy to take one for the team and play where he is needed - so I think he'll gets minutes in multiple positions. I think what NP has actually done is give himself flexibility to change and/or see out games. Preston shows the start of that, Weimann and Cornick both have crazy ammounts of Stamina and can't press relentlessly having them on at the end meant we could press and they would track back. In a different gaem (maybe a less physical one) he may want to use Mehmeti so we have skill and pace on the counter attack. On top of that we have a settled and relatively solid looking defense, and midfield.

Basically what I'm saying is ith various combinations we can keep the team structure, but change our style play just by switching up who is upfront. We can have two/three players on who hold up the ball well, who run in behind, who press, who are skillful on the ball, who have pace etc. Any of these are now options and also combinations of all of them. It allows us to keep the team shape and structure but still vary the playing style based on opposition weakness's or to make substitutions to change a game. 

[Loosey Boy]

Isn’t it exciting to have so many forward options……just like Nige had when he built that famous Leicester squad.

The acquisition of Cornick and Mehmeti were obviously ones we were looking to do in the summer and in getting them now, enables us to bed them in to the squad five months earlier……with some good recruitment in the summer, I’m excited to see what next season brings - could it be our year?

In the meantime, let’s maintain the momentum/progress we are seeing between now and the end of the season

[citywest30]

How I see it is that we have a very fluid front line.

 

Most, with the exception of Sykes and Mehmeti could spearhead a front 3. All could play on the right, maybe with the exception of Mehmeti tho always nice seeing a left footer play on the right and cut in. The same for the left with maybe the exception of Sykes. Weimann, Sykes, Cornick could all operate as a 10 I would have thought. And if we wanted to play 2 up, we could have multiple pairings. I would have said probably Mehmeti and Sykes are the only 2 who I don't see as 'out and out strikers'.

Love that we have so many options and others have said, succession planning for when Weimann and Wells need to play less.

Edited February 5, 2023 by citywest30

[REDOXO]

Weimann will just revert to running around aimlessly and pointing a lot. 

[mozo]

The obvious downside to the wealth of options is keeping players happy. Cornick and Mehmeti will only be happy to sit on the bench for so long. Weimann will expect to pull rank. Bell and Sykes are both scoring so won't want to be dropped. Et cetera

[Eddie Notgetinya]

Wiemann can play a lot of positions. I have to say January was a very impressive window. This squad is now competitive, on roughly equal pay, with good depth. I think Pearson has done a terrific job with trading. In the summer I’d expect to see the last of the high earners released (Kalas, Dasilva) and replaced and another CM added. Not a huge shopping list at all. We’d also need to replace any sales but I don’t see anyone leaving, Scott included.

[Red Skin]

If we are to play on the front foot with a high press and hit teams on the break, then we will need to use the full quota of sub's to keep the attack fresh.  All our attackers will get planty of minutes and feel involved. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Red Skin

[Davefevs]

29 minutes ago, Eddie Notgetinya said:

Wiemann can play a lot of positions. I have to say January was a very impressive window. This squad is now competitive, on roughly equal pay, with good depth. I think Pearson has done a terrific job with trading. In the summer I’d expect to see the last of the high earners released (Kalas, Dasilva) and replaced and another CM added. Not a huge shopping list at all. We’d also need to replace any sales but I don’t see anyone leaving, Scott included.

I think there’s a chance Kalas might stay…assuming he gets enough minutes to prove his fitness.  Feels a bit like Baker, Nige enthusing that he’s come back strong.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Davefevs

[OliOTIB]

Im sure the future consists of Bell, Conway and Mehmeti in a year or so, once Weimann and Wells  becomes a bit less mobile due to age. BCM has a nice ring to it

[mozo]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I think there’s a chance Kalas might stay…assuming he gets enough minutes to prove his fitness.  Feels a bit like Baker, Nige enthusing that he’s come back strong.

This is another one that I've been pondering. I think we need to be absolutely certain that Kalas is back fighting fit.

[OliOTIB]

1 minute ago, mozo said:

This is another one that I've been pondering. I think we need to be absolutely certain that Kalas is back fighting fit.

 

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I think there’s a chance Kalas might stay…assuming he gets enough minutes to prove his fitness.  Feels a bit like Baker, Nige enthusing that he’s come back strong.

Not for 27k a week there isnt