James McAtee

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We definitely need another midfielder or two, can’t be bringing Bash on to play there every week
 

Colombia Blade said:
I'm still not sure where Doyle would have fit into our current team. Realistically, we can either play with 3 in midfield with 2 forwards (which considering McBurnie's impact on Sunday I think is most likely), or 2 in midfield with 2 attacking midfielders behind a loan striker (similar to how we played on occasions last season)...

View attachment 169730 View attachment 169731

Here's how our flat 3 looked in the good Premier League season, very balanced:
View attachment 169732

And how McAtee, Doyle and Berge looked last season, again, fairly balanced:
View attachment 169734

Fairly similar, altho you could argue Doyle and Berge sat a little deeper, with McAtee and Ndiaye further forward supporting the striker.

Either way, as others have pointed out, Doyle is clearly a Norwood replacement in the middle, not a Fleck/Lundstram or McAtee/Berge replacement either side. But we already have an abundance of players who can play that central role (Doyle could be even better than any of them there to be fair). You can see where Norwood and Doyle play above, and here's where Hamer (last season), Souza (last season) and Davies (20/21 when he was last playing regularly) typically play:
View attachment 169736

So if we did get the dream deal of McAtee on loan and Doyle on a perm, and we're determined to play Doyle, then with 3 in the middle, Doyle takes Souza's place (would we be happy with this?) with McAtee and Hamer left and right (Hamer has regularly played the Lundstram/Berge RCM role as well as in the centre). However, we probably can't afford Doyle, so he would be a loan instead of McAtee and therefore no one on the left for balance (maybe Larouci could play there?!) meaning an extra player to loan/buy.

Two in midfield seems a little better, with Doyle next to Souza and Hamer further forward. But that still leaves us McAtee-less. We'd still need someone to play on the left (again, Larouci?!) - actually, in his last two seasons in the Championship with Boro and Preston, Archer typically found himself in the advanced left area similar to what McAtee occupied, so maybe that would be another option there?

I think we'll see 3 in midfield more often than 2, so in that case, if Doyle comes into the team on loan, Souza likely drops out of the starting 11 and we would need to buy/loan a Fleck/McAtee replacement which for me would obviously be Lewis O'Brien. But then if we can get McAtee on loan, we wouldn't need to spend extra on O'Brien (who Forest probably don't want to sell to us anyway) and we wouldn't need to relegate an expensive signing to the bench (who already has Norwood and Davies as backup).

For me, I'd be pushing the boat out to get McAtee or if not possible, I'd be looking for a McAtee-like left-sided player as the absolute priority. Unfortunately for Tommy, and as much as I agree with everyone that he'd be a great signing, I just don't think his position is a priority for us right now...
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Absolutely fantastic analysis.
 
Macfarlane21 said:
Looks like we are going to end up with egg on our face for holding out for McAtee and thinking Doyle would be the back up option. With the way Chelsea spend money, we'll end up not getting either
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Honestly, I'd be surprised if Doyle was the back up option for McAtee unless we have some strange agreement that we absolutely have to have a Man City loan. Doyle's position is nowhere near the same as McAtee's. The back up for McAtee should be someone to play on the left side, either advanced like McAtee or to balance the 3 in midfield. I can only think of O'Brien for the latter, I have no idea for someone more attack minded like McAtee unfortunately...
 
With the signings we've made in midfield I'd assumed we weren't ever seriously in for Doyle this summer anyway and I think that's a smart move. The arrivals of Souza and Hamer, both for less than what Doyle would have cost and on lower wages, is smart business.

Doyle did well for us last season, but wasn't a mainstay, and started less than half of our league fixtures. There's no guarantee that he's a premier league leave player and for the amount we'd have had to pay for him it would have been a huge gamble.
 
I mentioned this in my previous post, but I'll throw it out again for the lols...

Assuming we sign a competent LWB, could Larouci be our McAtee replacement?!?!
 
Champagneblade said:
Doesn’t matter if they tie it directly or not, the terms of Doyle going would have been part of the negotiation for the other lad, whether it is set as a swap or two separate deals.
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I’m sure you’ve been party to the negotiations then, I of course not so until you know for a fact this is just your opinion.
 
Bladeinleeds said:
I mean we haven’t have we

Pelistri ❌
Carney C ❌
Palmer ❌
Diallo ❌
Mcatee - ? / ❌

The issues is the clubs haven’t released them to us.

It’s not looking like we’re going to get anyone of sufficient quality to fill the gaps left by mcatee or Ndaiye.

It’s a massively worry atm.
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Yeah we seem to have identified a few.

I was hoping McAtee with Pellistri/ Balde would put us in a promising position.

Have to see what happens now but either no-one or lower quality would concern me as we're well short in these positions for me.
 
Sheffsteel said:
Doyle is a great all rounder ….you could build a team around him in the Championship….he’d be one of the best players in that division
but he’s not got top quality for the Premier League. hHe’s still young though, likely to improve so has massive potential.

McAtee is the opposite to Doyle.
No where near the level of consistency but every now and then produces top PL quality, like a poor man’s Phil Foden
who knows if he can do it in the PL…so would be a risk.
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All loans are a risk, just some more risky than others
 
Mattheus Nunes off to Man City according to breaking news on Sky, should mean McAtee on the move ?
Only thing is,is it part of the deal with Wolves,or will he stamp his feet and tell em he wants to come back to us ??
🤞🤞🤞🙏🙏🤝
 
I think we'll still get McAtee, even if Palmer joins Chelsea. He's just not good enough to be in Man City's squad right now - and that's no slight on him, City are world class. This new player from Wolves puts him further down the pecking order too.
Pep knows JM will get minutes with us in the top division, and we'll bring him on just like we did last year.
Fear not!
He says, with fingers and toes crossed!
 
Balti Pie said:
I think we'll still get McAtee, even if Palmer joins Chelsea. He's just not good enough to be in Man City's squad right now - and that's no slight on him, City are world class. This new player from Wolves puts him further down the pecking order too.
Pep knows JM will get minutes with us in the top division, and we'll bring him on just like we did last year.
Fear not!
He says, with fingers and toes crossed!
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This is my hope too. Also hope having seen glimpses of what our midfield could be with Souza & Hamer in there alongside him, as well as Traore and McBurnie to work with, he will see it as a good team for him to be starting in as we all of a sudden have some pretty neat technical players in the side.
 
I’m relatively happy if we don’t get anyone.

I know that almost sounds sacrilegious but hear me out.

I’m already of the view that a really good, physical defensive midfielder can extend Norwood’s career.

I also think Hamer scored 12 times and assisted 11 by being given more licence to get forward. He isn’t necessarily getting that if he’s having to be one of a deep lying two.

So for now we start with Norwood and Souza deeper and we have Hamer buzzing around. That for me is a very accomplished and complimentary midfield.

That is with two new signings, Slimane, who has 29 caps already for the team ranked #31 in World football and also Davies, who has twice as many PL appearances as our highest, Norwood, not yet factored in.

At that point you’re then bickering over who the 6th choice should be. I haven’t totally given up on someone already here, Coulibaly or Brooks emerging to fill that role.

Up front we have McBurnie and Archer as an obvious pairing. Traore looks like he should play a part in the matchday squad too.

So, we can function without an addition.

I agree we should look to maximise our capabilities and I would take McAtee; he’s a good player but I also like the XI we can put out especially if we get a left wing back to cover the injuries.

With Will being a bit too green right now, if anything you probably could do with an alternative option to McBurnie to play off Archer for whom Traore is an obvious alternative already.
 
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I think we're the best destination for McAtee right now - familiar environment, guaranteed to be in the first team, chance for Pep to see how he handles the step up to the next level, good coach in Hecky who's already helped to develop the player.
If he goes to another Prem club and has a bumpy start like he did with us last year, he'll be out of the team.
As others have said, not quite ready for Man City yet, so doesn't make sense for them to hold on to him.
 

Champagneblade said:
I’m relatively happy if we don’t get anyone.

I know that almost sounds sacrilegious but hear me out.

I’m already of the view that a really good, physical defensive midfielder can extend Norwood’s career.

I also think Hamer scored 12 times and assisted 11 by being given more licence to get forward. He isn’t necessarily getting that if he’s having to be one of a deep lying two.

So for now we start with Norwood and Souza deeper and we have Hamer buzzing around. That for me is a very accomplished and complimentary midfield.

That is with two new signings, Slimane, who has 29 caps already for the team ranked #31 in World football and also Davies, who has twice as many PL appearances as our highest, Norwood, not yet factored in.

At that point you’re then bickering over who the 6th choice should be.

Up front we have McBurnie and Archer as an obvious pairing. Traore looks like he should play a part in the matchday squad too.

So, we can function without an addition.

I agree we should look to maximise our capabilities but I like the XI we can put out especially if we get a left wing back so we have the bodies there.
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I'd completely forgotten about Slimane
 
GymClassHero said:
My guy feeling is that we will get Macca.

I'd be surprised if Palmer is allowed to leave on a perm.
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Pep already alluded to selling Palmer a few weeks ago.
If it helps them with FFP they will sell him.
Really hope we have a contingency plan for McAtee not coming, feels like we've had a lot of eggs in that basket.
 
Swannyblade said:
I think we're the best destination for McAtee right now - familiar environment, guaranteed to be in the first team, chance for Pep to see how he handles the step up to the next level, good coach in Hecky who's already helped to develop the player.
If he goes to another Prem club and has a bumpy start like he did with us last year, he'll be out of the team.
As others have said, not quite ready for Man City yet, so doesn't make sense for them to hold on to him.
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Agreed, and whilst I think McAtee has the potential to break through into the City squad in a year or two, I don't think Doyle has. I don't see him improving Wolves, although he would've improved us had we bought him.
I trust Hecky's judgement in bringing in Davies in his place though - I see him as a similar player but with top level experience.
 
Rocket Man said:
You'd expect Nicko (who has run Macca stories all summer) to jump in soon with something more substantional to take the Limelight of the FI tweet
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Swannyblade said:
I think we're the best destination for McAtee right now - familiar environment, guaranteed to be in the first team, chance for Pep to see how he handles the step up to the next level, good coach in Hecky who's already helped to develop the player.
If he goes to another Prem club and has a bumpy start like he did with us last year, he'll be out of the team.
As others have said, not quite ready for Man City yet, so doesn't make sense for them to hold on to him.
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Would be surprised, if even McAtee thought he'd be guaranteed a place. A big step up for him and unproven at this level. Think its unwise to expect too much from him. Although, I do feel he is capable of being an excellent player, but far from inevitable as some think.
 

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