CONFIRMED James McAtee - MGW Replacement?

[Groucho Blade]

Maybe it's time to revisit the experiment of Berge at the base of midfield, but with more of a box to box licence than previous.
It hasn't worked historically, but we were playing in the PL then and he seems more confident now in his abilities.
It could kill a couple of birds with one stone were it to work.

A team of:

....................Wes
.......Anel.....Egan...Robinson
Bogle.....Berge...Doyle......Lowe
..........Ndiaye.......McAtee
...................Sharp

Bench: Davies, Baldock, Basham, RND, Norwood, Fleck, Osborn, Khadra, Brewster, Jebbison.

looks really strong on paper (even though injuries will prevent it from ever happening).

Just a thought on becoming a more mobile team with better ball carriers to get us through the lines.
People will no doubt react to the dropping of Norwood, but I do think he hampers us a bit at times.

I like this team. If we ever got the ball back, it’d be pretty dangerous going forward.

 

[Scarebus]

Maybe it's time to revisit the experiment of Berge at the base of midfield, but with more of a box to box licence than previous.
It hasn't worked historically, but we were playing in the PL then and he seems more confident now in his abilities.
It could kill a couple of birds with one stone were it to work.

A team of:

....................Wes
.......Anel.....Egan...Robinson
Bogle.....Berge...Doyle......Lowe
..........Ndiaye.......McAtee
...................Sharp

Bench: Davies, Baldock, Basham, RND, Norwood, Fleck, Osborn, Khadra, Brewster, Jebbison.

looks really strong on paper (even though injuries will prevent it from ever happening).

Just a thought on becoming a more mobile team with better ball carriers to get us through the lines.
People will no doubt react to the dropping of Norwood, but I do think he hampers us a bit at times.

Why are we throwing Khadra onto the bench already. I get McAtee is highly rated, but he comes with a decent season of proper football behind him.

 

[jono_t2000]

Why are we throwing Khadra onto the bench already. I get McAtee is highly rated, but he comes with a decent season of proper football behind him.

Khadra also needs to play X amount of games if we wanna have the possibility of signing him on a perm.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

McAtee - 6 career appearances in all competitions - straight into our lineup because we lost the other night.

Reactionary?

Agree in part but …

Is there anyone else in our squad that would realistically have made an appearance for citeh in the last 2 years?

 

[jono_t2000]

Agree in part but …

Is there anyone else in our squad that would realistically have made an appearance for citeh in the last 2 years?

Maybe polishing their boots. Just to make an appearance for city first team a couple of times is a statement in itself.

 

[gaffablade]

I just wonder how on earth we'll fit Ndiaye, Khadra and McAtee into the starting 11, assuming that is the plan! I can only guess that we're gonna go just one striker up top, either Billy, Brewster, McBurnie or Jebbo, and something has to give there, probably Jebbo going out on loan unless he does well over the next few weeks.

As said before between Billy, Brewster and McB I don’t see lots of goal but do see lots of injuries.

We need to start attacking from midfield and going through the middle.

Play with one striker and the licks of Ndiaye, Doyle, Khadra and McAtee running at the defence

 

[mattbianco1]

Genuine question. If PL clubs are wanting him then why is he signing here?

Don't the PL clubs want to buy him and Man City only want to loan him?

 

[Bramhall Lane blade]

McAtee - 6 career appearances in all competitions - straight into our lineup because we lost the other night.

Reactionary?

6 apps for Man Citeh ,that's crap that is.

 

[wizadry]

Everyone getting excited don’t realise there’s been a mix up with the spelling of the name, it’s 51 year old Jason Mcateer we’re getting in typical Blades style.

 

[Mouth of the South]

Everyone getting excited don’t realise there’s been a mix up with the spelling of the name, it’s 51 year old Jason Mcateer we’re getting in typical Blades style.

He'd still get in Utd's midfield after certain players' showing on Monday!

 

[CaptainMorgans]

I like this team. If we ever got the ball back, it’d be pretty dangerous going forward.

Who wins the ball back for us in the middle of the park now? We're regularly overrun in there with Norwood & Fleck.
At least we'd have some mobility and ball carrying ability.
Doyle looks like he has a great passing range too, so that would hopefully cover that side of Norwoods game.

Why are we throwing Khadra onto the bench already. I get McAtee is highly rated, but he comes with a decent season of proper football behind him.

Khadra's only played 20-30 games at professional level. They're both young & inexperienced. It's a competitive area of the park.

 

[blade67]

Agree in part but …

Is there anyone else in our squad that would realistically have made an appearance for citeh in the last 2 years?

My only concern is that Woodburn had made a couple of Champions League games for Liverpool before signing for us. This guy might be 10 times the player for all I know but 4 years later, Ben is at Preston

 

[bladesmanluke]

My only concern is that Woodburn had made a couple of Champions League games for Liverpool before signing for us. This guy might be 10 times the player for all I know but 4 years later, Ben is at Preston

It's a miracle to me he's even at Preston. Looked like he'd won a raffle at United

 

[Yogi]

One point about Doyle and McAtee is that even though pairing them in CM would raise the old lightweight / inexperienced concerns, they're already familiar with each other and will be invested in developing a partnership, with an eye on City and maybe England in the future, not just individual loanees, unfamiliar and playing for themselves a bit. So all the better for the team. The reward is worth the risk with this I think. Anything but Norwood and Fleck anyway

They’ll also know Brewster

 

[Striker]

Great to have these flair players as they entertain and change games, however it's crying out for a beast in our midfield. Wins tackles, headers, and carries the ball forward, a championship style Patrick Vierra. We certainly appear to lack "presence" all over the park.

If I was to be greedy Chong and Davies in, we go up.

 

[SufcBilly]

Great to have these flair players as they entertain and change games, however it's crying out for a beast in our midfield. Wins tackles, headers, and carries the ball forward, a championship style Patrick Vierra. We certainly appear to lack "presence" all over the park.

If I was to be greedy Chong and Davies in, we go up.

The 2 players you’ve just named are neither what you’ve described in the above paragraph

 

[Bladeinleeds]

My only concern is that Woodburn had made a couple of Champions League games for Liverpool before signing for us. This guy might be 10 times the player for all I know but 4 years later, Ben is at Preston

True - but we are also in the same division as Preston tbf

But it was clear wilder didn’t rate young players and didn’t really want to play them.

I know we sold ramsdale, DCL for financial reasons but he never made the case for them to stay with first team football etc. and we were all set to loan out brooks until it became clear his talent was undeniable.

Suspect hecky would have got more from woodburn whilst he was here too.

 

[Eddiecolquhounsleg]

Team for Saturday - Why not ?

Wes
New Signing (that hecky keeps going on about) - Anel - Lopata - Clark - Lowe
Doyle - McAtee
Khedra - Coulibaly - Arblaster
Osula

Fuck what we know about, youth and unknown is the future. They'll all be fantastic.

Will the ref let us get away with fielding 12 players?

 

[Tarqs]

Evening chaps. A Man City fan here

Pissoff Pitsmoor pillock....

Edit... id better just clarify this is a tongue in cheek response only blades will get.

 

[Torrix1889]

Maybe it's time to revisit the experiment of Berge at the base of midfield, but with more of a box to box licence than previous.
It hasn't worked historically, but we were playing in the PL then and he seems more confident now in his abilities.
It could kill a couple of birds with one stone were it to work.

A team of:

....................Wes
.......Anel.....Egan...Robinson
Bogle.....Berge...Doyle......Lowe
..........Ndiaye.......McAtee
...................Sharp

Bench: Davies, Baldock, Basham, RND, Norwood, Fleck, Osborn, Khadra, Brewster, Jebbison.

looks really strong on paper (even though injuries will prevent it from ever happening).

Just a thought on becoming a more mobile team with better ball carriers to get us through the lines.
People will no doubt react to the dropping of Norwood, but I do think he hampers us a bit at times.

A left hand side of Robinson and Lowe scares the shit out of me if I'm honest! Although I will give Lowe more time, just as I would Clark in his natural position. RND over Lowe at the moment though and Clark over JLT every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

A left hand side of Robinson and Lowe scares the shit out of me if I'm honest! Although I will give Lowe more time, just as I would Clark in his natural position. RND over Lowe at the moment though and Clark over JLT every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

What have you seen in Ciaran Clark that gives you such confidence?

 

[BushBlade]

Maybe it's time to revisit the experiment of Berge at the base of midfield, but with more of a box to box licence than previous.
It hasn't worked historically, but we were playing in the PL then and he seems more confident now in his abilities.
It could kill a couple of birds with one stone were it to work.

A team of:

....................Wes
.......Anel.....Egan...Robinson
Bogle.....Berge...Doyle......Lowe
..........Ndiaye.......McAtee
...................Sharp

Bench: Davies, Baldock, Basham, RND, Norwood, Fleck, Osborn, Khadra, Brewster, Jebbison.

looks really strong on paper (even though injuries will prevent it from ever happening).

Just a thought on becoming a more mobile team with better ball carriers to get us through the lines.
People will no doubt react to the dropping of Norwood, but I do think he hampers us a bit at times.

As far as I could tell, Berge dropped into Norwood’s position when he was subbed.

 

[BushBlade]

True - but we are also in the same division as Preston tbf

But it was clear wilder didn’t rate young players and didn’t really want to play them.

I know we sold ramsdale, DCL for financial reasons but he never made the case for them to stay with first team football etc. and we were all set to loan out brooks until it became clear his talent was undeniable.

Suspect hecky would have got more from woodburn whilst he was here too.

There’s a reason Wilder didn’t like playing young players and I suspect we’ll see that reason over the forthcoming season.

 

[BLADES1988]

Evening chaps. A Man City fan here as James is probably our next best prospect since Foden.

We just sold Lavia a cm to Southampton for 13 million and McAtee is a much better prospect for us.

So, this boy has been hyped as the next big thing for about 7 years. Most city fans are fairly gutted James has left but getting 10 games for us this season obviously isn’t deemed enough.

As a player he gets you off your feet, his vision and silky smoothness on the ball is incredible while he’s a great poacher and finisher too.

At City his long term position will be as one of the roaming cm roles, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he plays further up. As pep says with Foden ‘he is a killer’, so if Mcatee gets a sniff at goal he’s lethal.

With all the interest it’s fairly obvious that Hecky had a clear vision for the player and has assured James he’ll be a big part of the team.

Anyway, enjoy Mcatee this season, maybe he can have another loan next year with you in the Premier league too.

Get shutters darrrrn ont post office

 

[Sheffsteel]

Norwood is very good at some things and very poor at others. So, he’ll always divide opinion. For me, he’s a “system player”. By that I mean he’s very good if used properly, if asked to do the things he’s good at and we’re not too dependent on him doing the things he’s not good at. Like Gannon, or Brittan or many others we’ve seen.
And he’s really a championship player. There’s usually a reason players play most of their career in a lower division than the PL. At championship level, in the right system, he’s a good player. I think he’d benefit from a bit more competition for his place, which hopefully he’ll get this season. I do get though that players can get a bit stale if they’re at one club too long, maybe it’s right that this is his last season with us. Whatever happens, we should remember that his signing kick started our promotion season and give him a break, it’s clear he cares.

Brilliant post....nails it.

When people say Norwood is still an excellent player or Norwood is our weakness. Both opinions have merit.

I tend to think Norwood excels when we're at home dominating matches, with us having loads of possession.
However in away matches against really good teams or quick/physical or athletic midfielders Norwood seems to regularly struggle and be non effective.
Also liked the reminder that he was one of the key factors behind our rise into the Premier League, so he will always have my respect and appreciation.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

There’s a reason Wilder didn’t like playing young players and I suspect we’ll see that reason over the forthcoming season.

I’m not arguing it didn’t work

But equally DCL and ramsdale have both played for England. Brooks became a full welsh international.

Would wilder have refused to play the likes or Maguire and Kyle Walker if he’d been here earlier?

Ndaiye was ignored when we were crying out for some creativity in the pl and you can’t argue with what he’s produced so far.

We’ve an experienced spine, so we can play some young players for me.

 

[Charlieblade]

Yeah the coaching staff were impressed all week/summer/season with Norwood's pointing...

Have a think before posting things like that (you're not the first or the last)! More likely scenario is that you've written him off which makes your opinion biased/skewed now.

You won't find all the Championship players slagging Norwood off, they'll all tell you he's quality.

Overall it's an odd and baseless claim to suggest they're not enjoying the pressure of football. Especially after that excellent performance in the playoffs at the end of the season. And battering Fulham to get in the playoffs, etc.

P.S. I believe Doyle is intended to replace Fleck. Most of Fleck's performances last season merited getting dropped, in fairness.

I think you have missed the point of my post.

Having two players approaching or past their sell by date, in a key position for driving the team, is clearly unacceptable. It does not matter that Norwood has contributed in the past, he’s just not cutting it anymore at this level.
Both players have been loyal and productive servants to the club, and I know many still hold them in high regard.
Our midfield was swept aside by Watford. When that happens, the manager needs to be more ruthless and not pick his favourites based on past glories.
The club will not get promoted if this decline is not addressed.

 

[JJBlade]

Flicking the ball over a defenders head and smashing a volley into the top corner ?????????

What is this childish nonsense?

We'll soon have that showboating bolox hammered out of him.

Who does he think he is coming here and entertaining people

He might wake people up when he gets the ball, hell they might even stand up and raise the volume slightly.

And when that happens SYP will stand around the pitch, batons drawn, and blocking another 5000 seats from being able to see.

The safety executive will then view this as a crowd disturbance and shut sections of the stadium down.

I'm really not sure about having a player with natural ability, the potential excitement makes me worry about what's in store for the club from the Sheffield junta sorry authorities

 

[Cheesebored]

6 apps for Man Citeh ,that's crap that is.

Not crap but unproven.

 

[gaffablade]

6 apps for Man Citeh ,that's crap that is.

if he was more regular why would they loan him out. Stupid post.