Rebuilding job

[The_weatherman]

I am very pessimistic right now about our chances for next season. If we look at our squad I think it's rather poor and even the first team seems to be a chaos.

First XI:
Reina ; Johnson - Carra - Agger - Insua ; Mascherano - Lucas ; Gerrard - Kuyt - Maxi ; Torres

Of the first team, Carra is getting older, Insua is not fully reliable nor is Lucas and Gerrard, Torres and Mascher might leave.

Squad members:
Benayoun, Skrtel, Degen, Cavalieri, Riera, Aquilani, Sotirios, Ngog, Kelly, Pacheco, El Zhar, Babel

Benayoun and Riera might leave so that leaves us with Skrtel, Sotirios Aquilani and Babel as the only senior backup.

Incoming:
Shelvey

He won't be a regular first teamer yet.

Doesn't look good to me to be honest, I think we have to keep hold of Mascher, Gerrard and Torres for next season, at least the latter two.

[PTP]

vital vital vital that we keep reina johnson agger carra mascher gerrard maxi torres - 8 key first teamers, use them for league as a priority and get some luck with injuries and suspensions and we have chance.

--------------------------reina---------------------

johnson-----------agger-----------carra----------------?????

Maxi---------------mascher--------gerrard-------------?????

--------------------torres-----------?????


If we could get them to start the majority of league games we should have good chance.

We then have the likes of the below battling it off the first team being used in rotatation and playing in cups and europa to try and find some form/fitness/confidence to push on

a back up keeper
kelly
skrtel
kyriakos
insua
lucas
aquilani
shelvey
kuyt
pacheco
ngog
jovanovic


Thats 20 named players - We are short on a left back, left winger and striker.

We have babel riera benayoun el zhar and anyone else not mentioned as potentially saleable assests. for arguements sake we keep babel. -

the key thing then is somehow from somewhere we get the right players in to fill the left back and striking role left. And we somehow keep hold of gerrard/torres/mascher.

I'd settle for that right now.

[The_weatherman]

vital vital vital that we keep reina johnson agger carra mascher gerrard maxi torres - 8 key first teamers, use them for league as a priority and get some luck with injuries and suspensions and we have chance.

--------------------------reina---------------------

johnson-----------agger-----------carra----------------?????

Maxi---------------mascher--------gerrard-------------??????

--------------------torres-----------Kuyt


If we could get them to start the majority of league games we should have good chance.

We then have the likes of the below battling it off the first team being used in rotatation and playing in cups and europa to try and find some form/fitness/confidence to push on

a back up keeper
kelly
skrtel
kyriakos
insua
lucas
aquilani
shelvey
kuyt
pacheco
ngog
jovanovic


Thats 20 named players - We are short on a left back, left winger and striker.

We have babel riera benayoun as potentially saleable assests. for arguements sake we keep babel. -

the key thing then is somehow from somewhere we get the right players in to fill the left back and striking role left. And we somehow keep hold of gerrard/torres/mascher.

I'd settle for that right now.

IF we get Jovanovic he might solve the striker role along with Kuyt and Babel who might be utilized as a striker more. But then we still have to pluck a proper left back and a decent left mid out of our arses. And that still leaves a very fragile bench IMO. I think we have to look at the option of selling Mascher to generate some transfer funds and leave Lucas to the defensive midfield role. That bench isn't a patch on Tottenham's for example.

[PTP]

it is a worry - as you say, maybe between kuyt/babel/jovanovic and ngog a year on coming through and a bit of luck pacheco steps and torres has a bit of an injury free run - the striking role might not be too bad - babel gives us a back option at left mid. Meaning the left mid and left back are priorities. - We still need to find £20m from somewhere (hopefully we get some money form selling yossi, el zhar, riera - even if it raised only £10m towards new players would help)

I am also hoping which might actually happen that maybe there is a pot of money say £10m available but that the owners due to their battered relationship with rafa may well have thought "**** you benitez we aren't giving you anything"

we need some luck with injuries - mainly johnson agger gerrard and torres who have all suffered and all have a major impact on our attacking play. - We also have to manage the squad properly as underlined - we might not have as strong a squad as spurs/city - but we still have enough good players, and if they are used as a priority in the league, then who knows.

[Exiled_red]

We just might be able to get a left winger and left back for what we get from the sales of Riera and Benayoun (possibly Babel as well), of course that assuems that the funds raised from these sales can be invested in the playing squad...

But even that still leaves us with a squad lacking strength in depth particilarly in the attacking areas of the pitch. And that's assuming all the other first team players stay. To be honest I can't see all of Mascherano, Gerrard and Torres being here come the end of the summer

[Kenneth]

Impossible to say at the moment without knowing who will leave, and even who the new manager will want to bring in, maybe from their old club. If it' Hodgson it could mean the return of super Danny Murphy but it could mean selling Torres and replacing him with Bobby Zamora

[ukfootballfan101]

The obvious areas for change are left back and left midfield.

The more interesting question that the new manager will need to answer is who plays up front. We have:-

Torres
Jovanovic
Babel
Kuyt
Ngog
Pachaeo
Nemeth
Dalla Valle

Torres has reportedly told team mates he will stay, so the new manager needs to decide:-

1. Does he want to keep kuyt, if so where will he play?
2. Same goes for Babel
3. What does he think of Pachaeo, Nemeth and Dalla Valle, are any of them ready to step up to the first team squad?
4. Does he want Ngog even though he's not "home grown"?

If they rate any of the young players, and with Jovanovic coming in I think it might be worth spending whatever limited funds we have on a flair midfieder for the left and left back...

[Kenneth]

The obvious areas for change are left back and left midfield.

The more interesting question that the new manager will need to answer is who plays up front. We have:-

Torres
Jovanovic
Babel
Kuyt
Ngog
Pachaeo
Nemeth
Dalla Valle

Torres has reportedly told team mates he will stay, so the new manager needs to decide:-

1. Does he want to keep kuyt, if so where will he play?
2. Same goes for Babel
3. What does he think of Pachaeo, Nemeth and Dalla Valle, are any of them ready to step up to the first team squad?
4. Does he want Ngog even though he's not "home grown"?

If they rate any of the young players, and with Jovanovic coming in I think it might be worth spending whatever limited funds we have on a flair midfieder for the left and left back...

If Jovanovic is actually ace, we probably don't need to focus on a striker. If he's not ace, we should scupper the deal and look for another striker.

[elrichio86]

The obvious areas for change are left back and left midfield.

How many years have we been saying that for?

[Exiled_red]

To be honest I can't see the squad getting a major overhaul, I think we'll see the players who seemed to be on their way out anyway leave (Cav, Aurelio, Riera, Benayoun etc). We will probably make a couple of signings to replace them and that will be it unless one of the big name players leaves. I can't see expensive signings probably the minimum we can get away with.

[Kenneth]

How many years have we been saying that for?

Not many. It was RM only a couple of years ago, and a little last summer.

[PTP]

Not many. It was RM only a couple of years ago, and a little last summer.

hmm - i've wanted a left winger since paddy berger started to decline nearly 10 years ago - and he wasn't that great, just better than everyone else we've had since

[The_weatherman]

hmm - i've wanted a left winger since paddy berger started to decline nearly 10 years ago - and he wasn't that great, just better than everyone else we've had since

I remember Kewell being the last piece of the jigsaw

[The_weatherman]

IMO, our squad is so thin and poor we have to scrap that Europa league, just leave it for the reserves and rest our main players for the league. Besides, if we can't get rid of these owners we wont be eligible for Europe again due to debt

[ronanm]

Yesterday we were a team in decline with a manager, now we're just a team in decline. What a shambles!!