[DanTheSmethwickMan]

I know, I never said what he did was right. Just making the point that I'd feel pretty annoyed if I was him too with the garbage we had and he wasn't even making the bench

By Garbage I presume you mean Gardener, McMannaman, Brunt , Morrison etc. All of whom created more and racked up more goals and assists than Sessegnon. 

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I see the Marshall from Cardiff saga getting even more confusing with the font of all knowledge Howells now saying the offer and valuation being miles apart!! Two days ago he was saying, a price was all but agreed.

That however is not the confusing bit.  With a press release yesterday saying Fossy IS on course to be back by October and Marshall being banned for the first three games of the season anyway, would we really by a player just to provide cover for three games? I don't think so, do we need three number 1 keepers? probably not.

So what is going on

IMO Marshall will be No.1 until Foster is fully fit, and then will be his main challenge for the GK slot, with Myhill probably leaving on loan 

It's Gardner not Gardener...and are they wingers? Creative and take players on? Excite the fans when they get the ball.... Mcmanaman hardly played so for you to count him is stupid

Never said they were wingers, just that they are more creative than Sessegnon. As I said Sessegnon played constantly in the first half of the season and created nothing 

Fair enough, I obviously saw it different from you. Where I was sitting, in the first half of the season under Irvine, Sessegnon looked like creating something every time we went forward and looked about the only player to do so.

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Sessegnon plays best as a second striker, essentially an attacking midfielder playing just off the forward, without any defensive duties.

Personally I'm a big fan of Sessegnon because he's tricky, carries the ball with pace and moves you up the pitch. While I'd agree that he's far from the finished article, he is the best dribbler in the squad and when you have players who carry a threat in one on one situations, that's when space opens up elsewhere. It also wins you your share of free kicks and corners which tends to be where we were most threatening last year.

Pulis appears to prefer 2 out and out strikers though, which does tend to make Sess' best role redundant. Arguably he's capable of playing on the wing too, but we can only speculate if it's his lack of defensive nounce or that he's a pretty poor professional (so I've been told) that is behind him being left out.

110 percent agree

[BC Baggie]

I know, I never said what he did was right. Just making the point that I'd feel pretty annoyed if I was him too with the garbage we had and he wasn't even making the bench

By Garbage I presume you mean Gardener, McMannaman, Brunt , Morrison etc. All of whom created more and racked up more goals and assists than Sessegnon. 

---

I see the Marshall from Cardiff saga getting even more confusing with the font of all knowledge Howells now saying the offer and valuation being miles apart!! Two days ago he was saying, a price was all but agreed.

That however is not the confusing bit.  With a press release yesterday saying Fossy IS on course to be back by October and Marshall being banned for the first three games of the season anyway, would we really by a player just to provide cover for three games? I don't think so, do we need three number 1 keepers? probably not.

So what is going on

IMO Marshall will be No.1 until Foster is fully fit, and then will be his main challenge for the GK slot, with Myhill probably leaving on loan 

It's Gardner not Gardener...and are they wingers? Creative and take players on? Excite the fans when they get the ball.... Mcmanaman hardly played so for you to count him is stupid

Never said they were wingers, just that they are more creative than Sessegnon. As I said Sessegnon played constantly in the first half of the season and created nothing 

Fair enough, I obviously saw it different from you. Where I was sitting, in the first half of the season under Irvine, Sessegnon looked like creating something every time we went forward and looked about the only player to do so.

Fair play, we'll agree to disagree, good to have the debate  

[BaggyBomber]

Sessegnon plays best as a second striker, essentially an attacking midfielder playing just off the forward, without any defensive duties.

Personally I'm a big fan of Sessegnon because he's tricky, carries the ball with pace and moves you up the pitch. While I'd agree that he's far from the finished article, he is the best dribbler in the squad and when you have players who carry a threat in one on one situations, that's when space opens up elsewhere. It also wins you your share of free kicks and corners, which tends to be where we were most threatening last year.

Pulis appears to prefer 2 out and out strikers though, which does tend to make Sess' best role redundant. Arguably he's capable of playing on the wing too, but we can only speculate if it's his lack of defensive nounce or that he's a pretty poor professional (so I've been told) that is behind him being left out.

Well, Slick, by the time you'd finished putting in all the caveats you just about agree with my opinion, that Sessegnon is pretty but ineffective or pretty ineffective.  I think TP probably sees him that way, too.

[Salopbaggie]

So this is how exciting and full of ambition the transfer boards have become???

Our total immersion in this transfer window has us debating the skills of our current players and not who we may or may not sign I guess we have to fill in the gaps between our multitude of interest in replacing our squad members somehow.

[aries22]

So is there an approved list of these position numbers?  Is it an FA coaching gobbledegook publication?  If it's FA approved, I wonder what are the chances of having this number printed in brackets next to the player number for the old folks like me and providing us with a conversion table along with a big explanation on what the bracketted numbered position player is supposed to be doing?  I suspect it might all be made up by people who've never kicked a ball trying to look clever.  What did you call it, Aries?

I called it a midfielder, Baggy. Bobby Hope wore number 10 for Albion, and he was an attacking midfielder, but Denis Law wore number 10 for Manchester United, and Neil Young wore number 10 for Manchester City, and they were both forwards. Same as Pele, Maradona and Messi, who also all wore/wear number 10.

[May68]

aries I couldn't get statto.com to work. Are you sure that is the correct address?

And I really don't know why some are making such a fuss over the No.10 thing. It's just the name (or one of the names) for that position. It does't mean a player in that position has to wear a No.10 on the shirt, nor does it mean a player wearing a 10 necessarily plays that position (i.e. Big Vic who is a centre-forward if ever there was one). It's called No.10 because it evolved from the second striker position in a 442, who would normally wear a 10.

[drewks]

I think it's been called 'The Number 10' position since decimalisation

[Slick_Footwork]

Well, Slick, by the time you'd finished putting in all the caveats you just about agree with my opinion, that Sessegnon is pretty but ineffective or pretty ineffective.  I think TP probably sees him that way, too.

Wouldn't exactly say that. I think on his day, Sess is a match winner.

What I would say is that for his talent, he should probably have more end product in terms of goals.

He's obviously unfancied under TP but we can only speculate if that's because TP doesn't like second strikers, doesn't think Sess is good enough, or quite possibly, doesn't rate the guy's professionalism.

My gut feeling is that TP doesn't really use a second striker which would appear to rule the kid from Anderlecht out. Was gutted to miss out on Jose Jurado who went to Watford too, who would've been ideal to replace Sess.

[aries22]

aries I couldn't get statto.com to work. Are you sure that is the correct address?

Sorry, May68, statto.com did work at one time, but I haven't used it for quite a while, and it looks as if it's been taken down now, which is a real shame, because it had results and league tables going back to the year dot. I can't really recommend a good alternative. There's soccerstats.com but that only goes back to 2012-13. If I come across a good one, I'll give you a shout.

[wba_1996]

Irvine played with a number 10, Sessegnon is the best number 10 at this club. Pulis doesn't, hence why Sess doesn't play and why we won't be signing any number 10's whilst Pulis is manager.

That is the point I was making and people are arguing for the sake of arguing.

As for missing out on Sako, we left him on the backburner in the hope of signing a better winger - if we fail to get in Phillips or whoever else Pulis rates as better than Sako then we will look very silly come the end of the window.

You state your opinions as unarguable facts and seem irritated when others don't concur.  I've given my opinion on Sessegnon.  That's one of the reasons for the existence of this type of website, I believe.

Also, in this particular instance I'm not sure what the number 10 point is that you are attempting to make.  Is not Anichebe no 10 and Sessegnon no 29?  Are you saying no 10 is a particular known standard playing position?  If so, what?

Whatever, it won't change my opinion on Sessegnon.  "All that glisters is not gold" as The Bard said.  He must have seen Sessegnon play.

It's pretty much common knowledge in modern football that where referring to the "number 10" position it is describing the central attacking midfielder/advanced playmaker/second striker/trequartista/whatever you want to call it.



If you want to be pedantic, not every "number 10" wears the shirt number "10" - this can be explained by a host of reasons, for example when an advanced playmaker is signed there is someone else already at the club who is registered to wear number 10 on their back.

If you want further information this wiki article is pretty much spot-on from what I can see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playmaker

Aries - no, there isn't a central attacking midfield role in a rigid 442 (which is what Pulis plays), Fletcher and Yacob are both used as central midfielders and neither plays in an advanced position. There could be a role for a number 10 if we played a 442 where there is a designated role for both a central defensive and central attacking midfielder, this would be what is termed as a "diamond formation".