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Weston Mckennie


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3 hours ago, benjii said:

We don't need a clogger, we need a ball player to help sort out our home form.

A ball player wouldn't play that position to be honest in that two and JWP is the ball player out of the two. 

We need more goals from midfield, which really means Redmond, JWP and Armstrong need to score more, though Armstrong was doing that towards the end of the season. 

I seriously doubt we can afford someone who plays centre-mid, can tackle, intercept etc. at the level of Hojberg/JWP but then can create with clever passes more akin to a Silva or De Bruyne, players like that are very rare, in fact there is probably only one player like that in PL and that is De Bruyne. 

I suppose what McKennie potentially offers is someone who has lots of energy to get up and down the pitch, is much quicker than Romeu and JWP, is better in the air (which offers a set piece threat) and who is raw on the attacking side but might be able to add some goal threat with some runs into the box to provide an extra threat. 

If we want a playmaker/no.10 type, then I think they would have to take over from either Redmon or more probably Armstrong. 

The other thing is hopefully Djenepo can stay fit and improve on the good glimpses he has shown and add that little bit of extra creativity with his dribbling and pace. 

The people he had Leipzig, Keita was probably the more creative player and then Forsberg, but Keita cost Liverpool like £50 plus million and hasn't really worked out for them and Forsberg played in Armstrongs position. 

Edited by tajjuk
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11 hours ago, saint lard said:

I wouldn't be too bothered  if we gave this fella a swerve. 
Might be a great prospect in the future....but something doesn’t sit right with him in my opinion. 
If he joins,fair enough...I hope my nagging doubts will be proved wrong. 
 

I know what you mean, and he seems to have a very high opinion of himself and what wages he wants (or his agent wants). Fair enough, but we saw from Hoedt's example that brash self-belief isn't always a good thing. I think any wage offer would have to be conditional on some performance criteria. He says he wants to play in the premier league, but I can't help feeling that is because it pays so well and why the German deals have broken down.

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22 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

But surely the thinking would be to use what you own rather than someone on loan.

Exactly. The walker peters not playing for 5 months because he had to get used to how we play was a load of bo11ocks. Valery was preferred and given every chance but didn’t take it. So not quite obvious as our friend patronisingly claims above 

Edited by Turkish
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3 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Spurs seem to think he is heading there to play alongside PEH. They  seem quite excited by the prospect of Mckennie linking up with Hojbjerg in midfield. 

The way you have worded that suggests that the club have said it. But I'm guessing you mean some random Spurs fans on the internet?

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22 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

PEH:

Tournament Apps Mins Goals Assists Yel Red SpG PS% AerialsWon MotM Rating
Premier League 30(3) 2751 - 1 5 - 1.4 78.1 1.7 1 6.83

Mckennie:

Tournament Apps Mins Goals Assists Yel Red SpG PS% AerialsWon MotM Rating
Bundesliga 24(4) 2078 3 - 8 - 1.1 80.9 2.3 1 6.78

Mckennie's obvious standout strength is his heading ability, that's showing up in all these stats. Although he does have a slightly higher pass completion than PEH...but that wouldn't be hard! All his goals came from set pieces too, so it's again pointing at that standout strength. He seems to be able to hang in the air which is quite a unique quality. 

I think he'd add some genuine height and power to our CM area, more than PEH offered. With Mckennie if we get him and Salisu, we've automatically added power and strength down the spine.

These stats and the characteristics you posted before are interesting, but where are they coming from? How are they calculated?

Also, as a comparison, do you have both the stats and characteristics for Ntcham too? Have the stats and characteristics been worked out for Harrison Reed too?

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1 hour ago, SaintJackoInHurworth said:

These stats and the characteristics you posted before are interesting, but where are they coming from? How are they calculated?

 

...and which game was PEH worthy of MOTM?

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4 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

The way you have worded that suggests that the club have said it. But I'm guessing you mean some random Spurs fans on the internet?

Of course not, Daniel Levy contacted me directly on a zoom call with Mourinho. But I had already read it on Google News feed. Sounded like bollocks to me, how anyone could plan a.mdfield comprising Hojbjerg AND Mckennie is beyond me, but I suppose it suits Jose's boring, defensive MF set ups. 

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13 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

That "passes into final 3rd" stat is worrying. We thought Hojberg passed back too much, yet his passes forward are higher than this guy McKennie!

Could that simply be down to how McKennie has been told to play by his current manager/coach, rather than him being weaker in that aspect per se?

Also, Hojbjerg has a relatively poor pass completion score (although not much lower than McKennie to be fair) so does that mean that most of those 'final 3rd passes' went astray...? Having a relatively high final 3rd passing ranking isn't much cop if said passes don't reach their intended destination (unless I'm mis-reading the stats, which is entirely plausible :)

Edited by trousers
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To make an obvious point stats only tell you what they've done and not what they will do.  Inevitably Ralph would give him different instructions, he would have different options, different players around him etc etc.  They're not a bad indicator when it comes to tackling etc but not too wise to base a judgement on stats alone.  Not that I know eff all about McKennie anyway.  

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35 minutes ago, trousers said:

Could that simply be down to how McKennie has been told to play by his current manager/coach, rather than him being weaker in that aspect per se?

Also, Hojbjerg has a relatively poor pass completion score (although not much lower than McKennie to be fair) so does that mean that most of those 'final 3rd passes' went astray...? Having a relatively high final 3rd passing ranking isn't much cop if said passes don't reach their intended destination (unless I'm mis-reading the stats, which is entirely plausible :)

David Wagner is a terribly defensive manager. Got Huddersfield promoted with a minus goal difference and Schalke's top scorer this season finished with seven goals. Schalke have won one game since December 15th, scoring 12 goals in their final 19 matches.

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Watching the Europa League final, 3 of the 5 goals came from free kicks crossed into the box. Despite having one of the best set piece takers in the league playing every minute, only Watford and Norwich scored fewer headed goals. We don't carry much of an aerial threat, McKennie would change that.

He might not be the most skillful player in the world, but a high energy pressing machine who is very dangerous from set pieces (and can help defend them) would be chased by clubs higher up the food chain if he was a better passer of the ball.

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1 hour ago, Cartman said:

Watching the Europa League final, 3 of the 5 goals came from free kicks crossed into the box. Despite having one of the best set piece takers in the league playing every minute, only Watford and Norwich scored fewer headed goals. We don't carry much of an aerial threat, McKennie would change that.

He might not be the most skillful player in the world, but a high energy pressing machine who is very dangerous from set pieces (and can help defend them) would be chased by clubs higher up the food chain if he was a better passer of the ball.

This is a really good point. We arent really stitched together to make the most of JWP. We might do better with some Heskey style player or a commading and tall midfielder. (Yosh was quite good from set pieces, but Bednarek and Stephes less so)

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51 minutes ago, SaintsLoyal said:

I dont see how we have any money to make this happen and indeed we need to sell urgently to help reduce mounting debt.

By remortgaging everything to MSD and getting £80 million?

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Decent write up on him

https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/an-analytical-look-at-weston-mckennie/

In summary very good out of possession and decent dribbling with ball. Passing is average and isn't particularly adventurous. 

He suits Ralph's pressing and relentless running style to a tee but in order to turnaround our awful home form I feel we need to play on front foot more and have a players capable of opening up compact defensive teams. Not sure he's the CM we need but I can see why Ralph would want him and develop his game. 

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18 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Yes.

Okay, so despite being here nearly 5 months by then he still wasn't used to our way of playing at the Norwich game first game of restart,  but by half time of the very next game he was fully up to speed with out way of playing and it was absolutely nothing to do with the performance of Yann Valery who he replaced in that game after 45 minutes and kept out of the team for the rest of the season. Got it.

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42 minutes ago, LeG said:

KWP spent 13 years learning how to play football a certain way, and then 5months learning RH's style. He arrived unfit and injured. Just like most of our signings do. You always give your own 'home grown' players more chances to impress (boost their confidence), over loan players. Valerys chances ran out and KWP was then ready to take his place. RH played it well. He won't ever throw players in unless they know their roll. He's meticulous and obsessive. You should know all this mate ;)

I think we are saying the same thing in different ways actually 😃

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2 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Feels like a potential bullet dodged, certainly be interesting to see how he gets on over the next few seasons.

Can see him being used to grow the brand in the US but not actually playing for Juve much...wouldn't be surprised to see him out on loan in a few years time.

It was always going to be a difficult deal to do (Covid / Wages / The Unsellables)

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I wonder if we'll see our interest in Mangala step up now?

Certainly a more agile and technical midfielder than Weston. Either were/are a good option imo.

But we're hamstrung until we shift who we need, I reckon any 3rd signing is prob going to happen in Oct.

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1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

I wonder if we'll see our interest in Mangala step up now?

Certainly a more agile and technical midfielder than Weston. Either were/are a good option imo.

But we're hamstrung until we shift who we need, I reckon any 3rd signing is prob going to happen in Oct.

Or Ntcham?

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