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A Few Surprises and some lessons to be learned – What I want to see in pre-season

The previous pre-season was the most interesting in a long while. There we got first glimpses of the inverted fullback, the high line, pressing from the front, the lone 6 and our new exciting signings, especially Jesus, Zinchenko and Saliba. We saw several impressive performances and results against top European opposition.

This time around there is perhaps even more interest in what’s to come. Again we should have some fantastic signings to see, and we are up against some European powerhouses. But more importantly, how will we evolve from last season and take that next leap from challengers to actual winners?

Here’s what I want to see in pre-season:

A surprise from the right side

Jurrien Timber

Jurrien Timber, will he be our next inverted fullback?

It felt during the run in that teams had begun to figure out the inverted left back tactic, or that while we dealt with injury to Zinchenko and with Tierney out of favor we didn’t have an efficient playing style without the Ukranian wizard. I’m hoping to see something equally innovative from the right hand side. That side has for the most part been the more rigid side with White, Odegaard and Saka all playing in their natural positions and zones. While the left side has all the rotations and inversions. I’m intrigued to find out if Jurrien Timber can and will perform a similar role to Zinchenko from right back and give us an unpredictability we didn’t have last season. With Kiwior settled into the team and Tomiyasu fit again we have the options to be more conservative at left back to facilitate a more expressive right hand side. The talented Dutchman has all the attributes needed to excel in every part of our possession based football with his exceptional passing stats.

Less turn-overs in midfield

Thomas Partey

Thomas Partey, will he keep his place at the base?

Despite Odegaard being the player of the season he had a habit of giving away silly transition moments with some very loose passing on occasion. We had trouble dealing with those situations with our high line and offensively positioned fullbacks. Partey was no stranger to giving away a pass either, when trying something more risky. His medium passing percentage for a technical midfielder shows that. I want to see that we have learnt something about that but also if the rumours about Thomas leaving is true and if that’s a part of a bigger plan to be more reserved at the 6 position with Rice or Jorginho. Or if TP and MØ can level up on that front. I don’t want to see this in our game anymore though, so I don’t really care how we fix it as long as we fix it.

A balance with two attacking 8s

Martin Odegaard

Martin Odegaard, there’s still room for improvement

I don’t think we are buying Havertz for 65m to just be the 12th player. And with Xhaka going after 7 years in that position there is only one place up from grabs, and that’s at left 8. That means we are going to play two attacking players in midfield more often than we probably think. How are we gonna be balanced to make that work? Is it to play Rice with Zinchenko and just take advantage of Declan’s higher defensive power or will it mean a more defensive LB on some occasions? Or even Timber at RB inverting next to our 105m star? Damn, we have options I can tell you!

More runs from central midfield

Kai Havertz

Kai Havertz, interesting Xhaka replacement

What we get with two attacking midfielders a part from higher attacking quality (hopefully) is a chance to set up in a way that gives them room to be ambitious but also cover the transitions they expose the team to. Often when not investing all the way you can get a false sense of defensive security. I am sure people to this day see Xhaka as a box to box midfielder that helped Partey patrol the central area. But his defensive stats are mid at best and played almost entirely higher up the pitch. With Kai now seemingly in that position maybe others feel the need to actually patrol the central area. And what that does is it enables the likes of Havertz and Odegaard to make deep runs, something we lacked last season. Both Martin and Granit was very good at crashing the box but they rarely went past the striker and that is something the former Leverkusen wonderkid excels at.

What carriers give to the team

Declan Rice

Declan Rice, have we finally found our new Vieira?

We had a lot of qualities last season but what we lacked was players that excelled at carrying the ball. Our front-line was the ones that could do it and Partey could on occasion but other than that there wasn’t much. This season with the imminent signings of Rice and Timber, the re-introduction of Emile Smith-Rowe and the emergence of Reiss Nelson as a full-time first team player, we have four additional players that build their game on carrying the ball. Im interested to see what different scenarios that opens up. It could potentially make us even more dynamic going forward. I felt at times last season that although it was our calling card we exaggerated our possession game in some instances and lacked central penetration, especially effective when coming up against deeper blocks.

Cemented 1st choice backups per position

Leandro Trossard

Leo Trossard, will he be a winger, a midfielder or a false 9?

Although its a good thing to have players that can play in multiple positions, its not as great for chemistry. I want to see a pattern develop. What positions will Trossard, Vieira and ESR primarily play in? Who covers Saka when he needs to be given a rest? Who comes in for Saliba if he needs a break? What is the most common alternative to Zinchenko? None of those questions have an obvious answer and we have multiple options for those said players and positions.

Incremental developments

Starboys

Our star boys, how high can they reach?

Lastly I want to see even more growth from our three star boys Saka, Martinell and Saliba. One year older, one year wiser. Has Gabriel Jesus learnt the 9 position fully now? Can Odegaard up his assist tally a little? Has Ramsdale become calmer so he erases the silly mistakes from his game? But of course also see more maturity from our developmental players like ESR, Nelson, Vieira and Kiwior. The beauty of having the youngest squad in the league is that there’s growth to expect, not just hope for.

Pre-season will be exciting yet again, bring on Nürnberg!

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2 Responses to A Few Surprises and some lessons to be learned – What I want to see in pre-season

  1. Francis Redheart July 16, 2023 at 8:23 pm #

    ….. I don’t want to see this in our game anymore though, so I don’t really care how we fix it as long as we fix it.

    Statements like this means you want control over what you can’t control.

    . I don’t want to see this in your game anymore though, so I don’t really care how you fix it as long as you fix it.

  2. Thomas Andren Bahnson July 16, 2023 at 8:29 pm #

    Of course you can control not giving silly transitions away with your passing, theres a rule even in youth football that you shouldnt pass in a straight line from out to in, Odegaard does this far too often. And if only Partey thought about possession over attack more frequently he wouldnt lose the ball as often. You can absolutely control this aspect IMO

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