West Ham (H) - Sun 24th Sep 2023 (2:00pm)

[etho]

I reckon Bajcetic will be starting plenty of games soon. I reckon Klopp thinks he can beat most teams with the 'multi-functional' midfielders we now have, especially when they and the system integrate more. Dom, Mac Allister, Gravenberch or even Jones can and have already nominally functioned as a 6 as we will just play teams off the park and that will negate any defensive weakness. And when we need more steel at the base hopefully Endo once up to speed and then eventually Bajcetic can sit there and do that job

[CapeRed]

3 hours ago, Evelyn Tentions said:

If it was our medical team, he'd be out until Christmas

Only Christmas??

[Reckoner]

14 hours ago, magicrat said:

No one is shedding tears about this but we did invest quite heavily in efforts to sign the fella which I think suggests Klopp particularly wanted him on board . Personally I don't like it when we seriously go after a player and get jibbed at the last minute; especially when it's those dodgy fuckers Chelsea .  

Yeah, it stings at the time. But after all the ‘getting one over on those cunts’ and piss taking dies down I have a different view. Rose tinted probably but I like to think we only went after Lavia in desperation due to all the criticism being aimed at the club, and the frankly ridiculous fee was down to awful negotiation skills by that fat private detective fella. 

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

2 hours ago, etho said:

I reckon Bajcetic will be starting plenty of games soon. I reckon Klopp thinks he can beat most teams with the 'multi-functional' midfielders we now have, especially when they and the system integrate more. Dom, Mac Allister, Gravenberch or even Jones can and have already nominally functioned as a 6 as we will just play teams off the park and that will negate any defensive weakness. And when we need more steel at the base hopefully Endo once up to speed and then eventually Bajcetic can sit there and do that job

Im a little confused as to how we're going to get gravenberch and Baj PL games, especially as Grav left bayaern because he wasnt playing. If Bajcetic comes back strong and earns his no 6 spot, Macallister and Gravenberch will prbably be battling for a starting spot.

[magicrat]

1 hour ago, Reckoner said:

Yeah, it stings at the time. But after all the ‘getting one over on those cunts’ and piss taking dies down I have a different view. Rose tinted probably but I like to think we only went after Lavia in desperation due to all the criticism being aimed at the club, and the frankly ridiculous fee was down to awful negotiation skills by that fat private detective fella. 

It certainly looks like handled it poorly by trying to nickel and dime Soton . Probably should have been done and dusted before Chelsea stuck their noses in the trough

[etho]

1 hour ago, Rick Sanchez C-137 said:

Im a little confused as to how we're going to get gravenberch and Baj PL games, especially as Grav left bayaern because he wasnt playing. If Bajcetic comes back strong and earns his no 6 spot, Macallister and Gravenberch will prbably be battling for a starting spot.

 

It's a nice problem to have 

[joe_fishfish]

Bajcetic has played centre back for most of his time in the U18s and U21s, then played defensive mid and centre mid for the first team, and has played the right back / centre mid hybrid role for us this season.

 

He'll probably end up replacing Mo next season.

[Razoray]

4 hours ago, aws said:

I reckon Bajetic will have more experience than Lavia by the end of the season.

Well he has already played in Europe 

[Razoray]

2 hours ago, Rick Sanchez C-137 said:

Im a little confused as to how we're going to get gravenberch and Baj PL games, especially as Grav left bayaern because he wasnt playing. If Bajcetic comes back strong and earns his no 6 spot, Macallister and Gravenberch will prbably be battling for a starting spot.

We can potentially play 63 games this season. While it would be difficult to imagine a repeat of 2022, for example, if we get to the League Cup semi final, FA Cup quarters and reach the Europa final, (having avoided the round before the round of 16), then we will have played 58 games. Between the 7 midfielders (not counting Thiago) that is on average 25 starts each in the three midfield positions.

 

You could also include the minutes off the bench, and on early season evidence, those look as if they could be considerable. Also, Elliott, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch have had minutes in the forward positions already, while Bajcetic has started a game at right- back. 

 

If the players are in good enough form, there will be enough time for them to play. 

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

6 hours ago, Razoray said:

We can potentially play 63 games this season. While it would be difficult to imagine a repeat of 2022, for example, if we get to the League Cup semi final, FA Cup quarters and reach the Europa final, (having avoided the round before the round of 16), then we will have played 58 games. Between the 7 midfielders (not counting Thiago) that is on average 25 starts each in the three midfield positions.

 

You could also include the minutes off the bench, and on early season evidence, those look as if they could be considerable. Also, Elliott, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch have had minutes in the forward positions already, while Bajcetic has started a game at right- back. 

 

If the players are in good enough form, there will be enough time for them to play. 

 

Yea, I doubt the games will end up being so evenly distributed. Dom will start all league games he's fit for IMO. I think it's Grav, Mac and Baj fighting for the other two. Ideally we settle with a reasonably consistent midfield too. And I don't think Grevenberch came her to play in just the cups.

 

It's a good problem to have as a team, just not for the players that don't play as much.