Goals for and against

1. Defend set-pieces better. Way better.
2. Tighten the defensive midfield.
3. Put somebody in charge of coordinating the backline.

If Leicester and Sheffield can hold opponents to a goal a game and hang around the top 6 all season, why the fuck can't we?

Edit: Also, there seems to be a lack of consequences – and thus no incentive to do better – for on-field failure. These guys get their £15,000 per 'kin day come what may... this may be why.

Shipping goals, à la our previous manager, and being unable to score, results in the position we found ourselves in.

Sort the defence out first and then look at the attack.

Scoring more options:

1. Play Richarlison on the right with Kean or someone else up front. Guarantees you goals from midfield.
2. Convert more of our chances from set pieces, the likes of Mina and Keane have missed too many.
3. Find a central midfielder to score some more, for me Gomes does not bring enough to the team currently, his goals, assists, tackles, interceptions numbers are poor.
4. Iwobi and Bernard should both be scoring a few more per season if they want to stay in the team.

Concede less:
1. Clearer systems on set pieces defensively. Obviously a disaster last year under Silva.
2. Have a proper defensive midfielder with some athleticism. Gbamin may help with this.
3. Get a goalkeeper who lets in less (rather than more) goals than he should. Pickford's stats last year rank among the poorest in the league. He needs to do better. Or we need to do better.
4. Better game management. See Newcastle (h) this season.

That, imo, would be the an awful decision, imo.

That was Silva's idea, and it was successful in isolating our best and most dangerous player.

Richarlison since converting to a central striker with a partner has proven to get better and better with every game. That front 2, for the time being, is our best chance of being any way successful.

It's no coincidence that DCL has also started scoring regularly.

Now, will.we eventually revert back to a 4-3-3? I can only see that happening if we had 200million to spend on both another striker, and 2 midfielders. So not gonna happen.

4-4-2 I believe is here for the long run. With both Richarlison and DCL being 15-20 goal strikers.

We need another 15 from midfield, ideally the wide men (7-8 each), plus a sub striker (Kean??) Getting 5-10.

But can't honestly see the transfer market bringing much, austerity is the likely measure whenever football does restart (could be as late as November in all reality).

So Antony Gordon, Denis Adeniran and other young players can hopefully make the step up.

However given the austerity of transfer market that you mention I think if we are unable to bring in a goal scoring RM then we potentially already have one. He does great work there and guarantees goals as well as hard work and defensive cover.

The idea is based on the assumption that Kean can potentially offer more at ST than Walcott can at RM, which I believe to be true. Kean showed a few glimpses of what he could do in the Newcastle and Watford game and i'd hope there might be more to come. Whereas Walcott's talent will only diminish.

It's about balance and if Kean can manager a few less goals than Richarlison from ST but Richie manages alot more goals than Walcott at RM then it could profit the team. Like I said it's not my preference; i'd prefer to buy a goalscoring RM/RW. But if we're playing with what we have I think it's a possibility.

When you look at the goals that Richarlison has scored, they are mainly those where he makes a bit of space for himself, such as throw himself at a header etc.

I think it's worth exploring how he can stay on the flanks (either) if we want to accommodate Kean (whom I think will develop significantly).

Richarlison's game is modelled after Thierry Henry / CR7, where over time, he'll morph into going central, much like CR7 did.

The conversation reminds me how unbalanced our squad is - with mifielders and forwards who arent suited to play with each other.

Personally I think 433 is the easiest fix. It involves getting a right winger who stays high up the pitch in a mobile front 3. Malcom, Lozano etc. Then we need someone box to box to chip in with goals from midfield alongside the non scoring Gomes and Gbamin. Richarlison and DCL will continue to score in that system.

442 could work too. Ancelloti tends to use double 6 version which means Gbamin and Gomes generally holding. Then two playmakers rather than wingers, with the width coming from the full backs. In this formation you could use (being fanciful) Coutinho and James Rodriguez. We have Iwobi and Bernard - neither have enough end product. Both need to be upgraded in my view.

So either way we need two players to create / score more goals (unless, say, Davies and Gordon transform into world beaters). Because the options at the moment just aren't good enough to match the goals for / against we need to match our ambitions.

I am shocked our goal difference averages +3 over the last five seasons. So poor.

It is an indelible and indisputable fact that we need 20 more goals each season to be consistent top 6 challengers. That has to be step no1.

1. We need 5 to 10 extra goals from defenders, predominantly from set pieces. I am perennially disappointed on our lack of penetration from corners and free kicks around the box. Massive work needs to address this.

2. Walcott/Bernard/Iwobi either need to contribute ten goals per season or be replaced by someone who can.
Let’s not beat about the bush and have any misplaced sentiments, we need goals or just as good ten more assists that lead to additional goals scored.

I feel that instead of those three we need a more direct and goal threatening player similar to the attributes Richarlison brings, but on the other wing. Lozano? Malcom?

3. A Centre midfielder who can chip in 5-10 goals per season. Sigurdsson was brought in to achieve this, but as we have seen he is not a central midfielder. He is a no10 player who is redundant in our system, when he plays, he is lost and we suffer for his inclusion.

If we can sell Sigurdsson and bring in a more natural dynamic Central Midfielder it will benefit us no end. This signing and this position is the absolute key. The priority and the heartbeat of resurgence. Bruno Fernandes has transformed Man Utd, and this is the type of midfielder I am talking about. We need a player who can bring all the energy, desire and extra goals that Bruno Fernandez has brought to Man Utd.

Robert and Sam will hopefully keep giving us some pointers as to our best options for such a central midfielder.

I am hoping we can target the absolute very best, as this signing will be game changer for the whole club. It will give us the engine room we need to progress and get us back to where our club should be, properly challenging the top 6 for everything.

Needless to say my favourite Rabiot doesn't make the grade.

Those that do and that we might be in with a shout of signing are:

Central 'box to box' midfield:

-Cyprien (3 assists, 7 goals)
- Serdar (0 assists, 7 goals)
- Lees-Melou (6 assists, 5 goals)
- Sanson (5 assists, 5 goals)
- Pasalic (5 assists, 5 goals)
- Pellegrini (9 assists, 1 goal)
- Tufan (5 assists, 3 goals)
- Arnold (6 assists, 3 goals)
- Draxler (5 assists, 0 goals) but only played 11 matches

The stats are skewed by the relative strength or weakness of the league and number of games played - but the thing that leaps out is that there are only a few 10 goal + assist centre mids out there and they're generally out of our price bracket. However, there are productive players out there (successful in the system they operate in) who could push up up the league with their end product.

This may explain our rumoured interest in players like Tufan and Sanson who don't otherwise look that amazing. Pellegrini obviously has excellent stats and he's been strongly linked too.

Similar analysis of right wing shows, below messi etc, a goal + assist contribution of between 10 and 15 is really excellent - and there are gettable players in that category too. Buendia and Raphinha have been mentioned on this site - also Stengs, Orsolini, Berardi, Lukebakio and Ocampos.

Clearly there's more to it than stats (which is why I still like the idea of Rabiot & Malcom despite this analysis). But it is hopefully interesting to those who, like me, take their mind off things by wondering how any transfer kitty might usefully be spent.

On the right Buendia could be a great signing. He is 23 and ripe to make the next step up in his career. He will be ready to give his all to a bigger club like us. This is a talented young Argentine player already with Premier League experience we could catch on an upward curve. He won't be cheap but would be a shrewd investment.

We will have to move quickly though as there will be competition.

This is what worries me most about letting Kean go because even if he just scores about 5 or 6 as a supersub or stand in, that could make all the difference. It also just shows the quality and depth above us and how much we may need to invest (or somehow secure through youth development) to catch up.

Confidence is massive for a young team and there is a chance then that stats for each player can improve over a season or two. Carlo hasn't come to us for a jolly, I think he means business, and that means top 6.

I think with 2 or 3 of his first choice signings may be the likes of Gabriel, Pellegrini, Buendia, Lozano... things could change dramatically. Additionally, Holgate and Calvert-Lewin are still on an upward trajectory and will contribute more over the next 2 seasons as they improve further.

Also, I think Farhad Moshiri will seriously back the manager – and even more so if he is proving to forge a successful team over the next 12 months.

My problem is the MF and has been for years accentuated even more by letting Gueye go.

We need more beef and more goals in MF and the current incumbents are not strong enough or lethal enough in front of goal the exception being young Gordon who I have high hopes for.

So I would actively search out a goalscoring center mid and a toughtackling high energy defensive mid. It is obvious that Delph, Gomes and Tom Davies are not quite good enough and the jury is still out on Gbamin although with that muscle weakness I am not sure he will be up to the pace.

Lets just hope Arsene Wenger persuades FIFA to change the FFP rules.

Perhaps contributors to that debate can remind us of that rationale?