Doucouré

[Macca77]

Will be a good signing

[markB]

calling it now if we sign both of them we will be playing a 4132 deep at home and 4141 away and not signing a right sided winger this summer fullbacks attack at home and defend away

https://www.buildlineup.com/shared/5f3ecd134e5ac404cc46f122

[GLewis]

If he does stick with 442 then I fear it'll end very badly. It doesn't give us anywhere near enough control of the game and limits creativity. If we get a winger in then it'll set up for the 4-3-3 perfectly.

I think as a shape, lots of teams morph into 442 when defending.

At the moment it’s either the Richarlison and DCL who are the most reliable players for energetic/ fast closing down so that suits us.

If we have a CM who can push up to do this (eg Doucoure) then it’s easier to shift Richarlison out to the left.

With the ball, the best performances have been when Bernard has drifted in from the left to form a sort of 2-1 CM shape.

I’m sure that they weren’t singular instructions so I’d guess that they were the games when the midfield pairing managed the most control of the game.

If we’re able to get control more often with better CMs then this would happen more often.

[Robioto]

I think "good singing" sums this up nicely.

[Bluedylan]

Wasn't what I wanted but reading the Watford forums have reassured me a bit that he could be good for us.

The general consensus is that while he's not the greatest passer of a ball, he's by far their most high energy player, and recovers A LOT of balls in the middle. At his best he's viewed as a Top 6 midfielder, who could easily fit into one of their teams.

What I've read about Allan is that he's a monster tackler, with the ability to dribble and create also, so Allan and Doucoure together could be a very high energy, powerful midfield for us.

Hope so anyway.

[mikey_blue]

Not the most imaginative, but we do need a known quantity to go into our midfield. Can't really afford a player who needs time to adapt. I'd of liked to go for Sangaré or even a push for Soumaré but Doucouré is a safer bet I suppose.


https://statsbomb.com/2018/07/just-how-good-is-watfords-abdoulaye-doucoure/

Article is from 2018. So it’s just after his best season at Watford. Decent read if you can be arsed. My main concern is his positional awareness. We’re really going to need someone with discipline sat next to him to help the defence and keep shape when we don’t have possession.

[brap2]

If he does stick with 442 then I fear it'll end very badly. It doesn't give us anywhere near enough control of the game and limits creativity. If we get a winger in then it'll set up for the 4-3-3 perfectly.

Think Ancelotti wants some big proven grocks to play his big proven mid 00's grock football.

[Paddockoldie]

Don't really fancy him in a 2 but think a 3 of him Allan and Gomes would be pretty solid. Not massively creative but could work in a similar way to Liverpool's midfield.

I think being released from defensive duties might allow Gomes to show his creativity more. I think he's got it but he needed to try and be a defensive style player... with Sig as a wing man? Decent signing if we Allan too

[Bluedylan]

Think Ancelotti wants some big proven grocks to play his big proven mid 00's grock football.

Not a fan of Carlo? Not thinking it's gonna work out?

[YankeeBlue214]

I'm good with this signing if Allan is the other one. If it's just Doucoure then I'm not so sure (unless there's some other really good CM we've been looking at and may sign).

[brap2]

Not a fan of Carlo? Not thinking it's gonna work out?

Wouldn't say I'm not a fan, I mean he's Carlo Ancelotti he gets automatic buy in based on that from me. It won't last forever but he gets that at least. If you're going to throw money at a steady pair of hands and hope he can steer you into a cup or a good league finish there's probably few better you could choose.

Re: work out...I'm not sure at this point what it working out looks like.

I guess I did hope we'd see more of a project forming, more of a modern club with smart signings and all that. It doesn't look like anyone at the club is interested in doing that despite the noises from Brands. It looks like they want to basically repeat the strategy of Koeman year one, bank on the weight of the manager and buy plug and play players for him with your fingers crossed.

Edit : also to be fair, I like Allan as a player and I think him and Doucoure will be a good midfield pair that will get us at least up to prem standard. We could be signing worse players definitely.

I just don't see the departure from previous mistakes that I was hoping to see. That's partly my issue though if I had expectations or hopes.

[Bluedylan]

Wouldn't say I'm not a fan, I mean he's Carlo Ancelotti he gets automatic buy in based on that from me. It won't last forever but he gets that at least. If you're going to throw money at a steady pair of hands and hope he can steer you into a cup or a good league finish there's probably few better you could choose.

Re: work out...I'm not sure at this point what it working out looks like.

I guess I did hope we'd see more of a project forming, more of a modern club with smart signings and all that. It doesn't look like anyone at the club is interested in doing that despite the noises from Brands. It looks like they want to basically repeat the strategy of Koeman year one, bank on the weight of the manager and buy plug and play players for him with your fingers crossed.

Agreed.

[Bluedylan]

Wouldn't say I'm not a fan, I mean he's Carlo Ancelotti he gets automatic buy in based on that from me. It won't last forever but he gets that at least. If you're going to throw money at a steady pair of hands and hope he can steer you into a cup or a good league finish there's probably few better you could choose.

Re: work out...I'm not sure at this point what it working out looks like.

I guess I did hope we'd see more of a project forming, more of a modern club with smart signings and all that. It doesn't look like anyone at the club is interested in doing that despite the noises from Brands. It looks like they want to basically repeat the strategy of Koeman year one, bank on the weight of the manager and buy plug and play players for him with your fingers crossed.

Edit : also to be fair, I like Allan as a player and I think him and Doucoure will be a good midfield pair that will get us at least up to prem standard. We could be signing worse players definitely.

I just don't see the departure from previous mistakes that I was hoping to see. That's partly my issue though if I had expectations or hopes.

As others have said, if we're going with powerful, ball winning midfielders, as we seem to be (which is fine, I guess), you'd hope that we had something more exciting in mind for the right wing, but then surely we don't have all that much money?

[brap2]

As others have said, if we're going with powerful, ball winning midfielders, as we seem to be (which is fine, I guess), you'd hope that we had something more exciting in mind for the right wing, but then surely we don't have all that much money?

Yeah you'd like to hope so and certainly any from like Bailey, Lamar, Ocampos, Brooks, or going further back Neres or Lozano would fit the exciting bill. Maybe not cheap / smart but exciting.

But nah I can't see us spending £100m this summer, and I can't see where the money comes from in terms of our outs.

[Undisputed_blue]

Not the most imaginative, but we do need a known quantity to go into our midfield. Can't really afford a player who needs time to adapt. I'd of liked to go for Sangaré or even a push for Soumaré but Doucouré is a safer bet I suppose.


https://statsbomb.com/2018/07/just-how-good-is-watfords-abdoulaye-doucoure/

Article is from 2018. So it’s just after his best season at Watford. Decent read if you can be arsed. My main concern is his positional awareness. We’re really going to need someone with discipline sat next to him to help the defence and keep shape when we don’t have possession.

From the above link: "There’s enough evidence to suggest that Doucoure is more or less an average PL player that has an inflated reputation that can be attributed to his goal scoring. "

Ok so Doucoure is a Sigurdsson replacement, a player whose strength is scoring goals but only scores half as much him. Personally, I wouldn't sign him due to lack of fit.