Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Squad for 2018-19 season

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
    #1

    Squad for 2018-19 season

    I'm seeing a lot of comments about certain players not being good enough or should be sold etc. While no-one disagrees that we need to improve the squad I think that we need to keep a good balance of quality and quantity. I don't want this to turn into another who we should buy type thread so I'm focusing on the players that we currently have and trying to be realistic about the number of players we need to bring in but not naming names.

    As I see it

    Karius, New GK

    Clyne, TAA, Robertson, Gomez, New LB

    VVD, New CB, Lovren, Matip, Klavan

    Henderson, Milner, Ox, Keita, New CM, Lallana Wijnaldum

    Firmino, Salah, Mane, New Forward, Origi, Ings

    (Assuming Can chooses to leave)
    Sell: Sturridge, Markovic, Mignolet, Moreno, Bogdan
    Loan out: Ward, Solanke, Woodburn, Wilson

    Players in bold are players that I would consider first choice players i.e. those that I would be happy to play week in week out for significant periods of the season, the rest are back ups who I would be happy to play a few games or come on from the bench, but if they were playing every week we would probably have a problem.

    The new players:
    New forward - able to cover at least a couple of the front 3 positions and is at a level that means that he could be competing with the current front 3 for a place.
    New centre back - a partner for VVD signed as first choice and push Matip and Lovren down the pecking order.
    New midfielder - The midfield has been lacking at times Keita will improve things, but I feel we need another player in there as well as first team regular.
    New GK - ideally a new first choice GK, Karius has done well recently but I am not convinced he is the answer long term, but I think that the 3 above are more pressing
    New LB - backup for Robertson
    I would be going for the first 3 to be big signings for significant sums of money, probably around the £40-70m mark each.

    I think that gives us a good squad capable of dealing with some injuries and suspensions without significantly reducing quality or spending stupid amounts of money in the summer. I believe that it should also meet the homegrown quotas for CL.
    The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.
    Tags: None
    #2
    Stylistically, Wilson would be a decent deputy for Salah, so if he has a good pre-season, I'd be inclined to keep him here and see if he can make the step up.
    If we are all only happy when we are really winning in the end, when your race finishes, what life would that be?

    Comment

      #3
      Originally posted by RedReet View Post
      Stylistically, Wilson would be a decent deputy for Salah, so if he has a good pre-season, I'd be inclined to keep him here and see if he can make the step up.
      He's got a great record, and he now has international experience, I just don't see him getting enough game time, which I think he needs if he is to reach his potential.
      The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.

      Comment

        #4
        We need a genuinely decent forward who can make an impact from the bench or when Firmino / Salah / Mane are injured.
        As great as Ings and Solanke are - they don't exactly strike fear into the opposition.

        Comment

          #5
          Originally posted by Exiled_red View Post
          He's got a great record, and he now has international experience, I just don't see him getting enough game time, which I think he needs if he is to reach his potential.
          Aye, it's a fair point. Sitting on our bench or another season of U-23's football would be no use to him.

          If we do loan him out, I'd hope we forgo the loan fee to allow a recall option.
          If we are all only happy when we are really winning in the end, when your race finishes, what life would that be?

          Comment

            #6
            Originally posted by kubrickscube View Post
            We need a genuinely decent forward who can make an impact from the bench or when Firmino / Salah / Mane are injured.
            As great as Ings and Solanke are - they don't exactly strike fear into the opposition.
            As I say I would bring in someone who would be at or close to the level of Salah, Firmino and Mane, so that ideally they could be rotated and we play 3 of the 4. Then the backups after that would be Origi and Ings. I think Origi offers pace and if he could even just be at the level he was at 18months or so ago when he had that good patch for us he could be a good 5th choice striker who offers something from the bench is more threatening to defenders than what we have at the moment.
            The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.

            Comment

              #7
              Originally posted by RedReet View Post
              Aye, it's a fair point. Sitting on our bench or another season of U-23's football would be no use to him.

              If we do loan him out, I'd hope we forgo the loan fee to allow a recall option.
              Are you allowed to do recalls outside of the transfer/loan windows? I thought there was something that loans had to be between transfer windows, so you can only do them for half or a full season. But I could be wrong.

              He's done well in the Championship, hopefully he could get a loan move to a PL club, to get PL experience, perhaps 6 months and an option to extend after we have reviewed in January.
              The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.

              Comment

                #8
                Originally posted by RedReet View Post
                Stylistically, Wilson would be a decent deputy for Salah, so if he has a good pre-season, I'd be inclined to keep him here and see if he can make the step up.
                The Wilson situation is odd, banged in goals for the U-23, going well on loan but never a sniff of our first team. For me it’s a no brainer to give him game time next season.

                A goal scoring wide forward........ we need a few of those

                Comment

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Exiled_red View Post
                  Are you allowed to do recalls outside of the transfer/loan windows? I thought there was something that loans had to be between transfer windows, so you can only do them for half or a full season. But I could be wrong.

                  He's done well in the Championship, hopefully he could get a loan move to a PL club, to get PL experience, perhaps 6 months and an option to extend after we have reviewed in January.
                  You could well be right, in which case a recall option would be pointless.

                  Originally posted by Irishnev View Post
                  The Wilson situation is odd, banged in goals for the U-23, going well on loan but never a sniff of our first team. For me it’s a no brainer to give him game time next season.

                  A goal scoring wide forward........ we need a few of those
                  Has he even made our bench?

                  I was surprised when he was given a new contract two summers ago as after such a promising start to his career, he seemed to fall down the pecking order behind the likes of Kent and Ojo. He's been brilliant since then though, scoring regularly for the u-23's, but like you say, can't seem to get a sniff.
                  If we are all only happy when we are really winning in the end, when your race finishes, what life would that be?

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Originally posted by RedReet View Post
                    You could well be right, in which case a recall option would be pointless.



                    Has he even made our bench?

                    I was surprised when he was given a new contract two summers ago as after such a promising start to his career, he seemed to fall down the pecking order behind the likes of Kent and Ojo. He's been brilliant since then though, scoring regularly for the u-23's, but like you say, can't seem to get a sniff.
                    He came on as sub in a cup game last season and was on the bench a handful of other times.
                    The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Aye, Plymouth in the cup was his only appearance. Not much for 4/5 years.
                      If we are all only happy when we are really winning in the end, when your race finishes, what life would that be?

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Exiled_red View Post

                        (Assuming Can chooses to leave)
                        Sell: Sturridge, Markovic, Mignolet, Moreno, Bogdan
                        Loan out: Ward, Solanke, Woodburn, Wilson

                        The new players:
                        New forward - able to cover at least a couple of the front 3 positions and is at a level that means that he could be competing with the current front 3 for a place.
                        New centre back - a partner for VVD signed as first choice and push Matip and Lovren down the pecking order.
                        New midfielder - The midfield has been lacking at times Keita will improve things, but I feel we need another player in there as well as first team regular.
                        New GK - ideally a new first choice GK, Karius has done well recently but I am not convinced he is the answer long term, but I think that the 3 above are more pressing
                        New LB - backup for Robertson
                        I would be going for the first 3 to be big signings for significant sums of money, probably around the £40-70m mark each.
                        I agree with your viewpoints.

                        IMO wholesale changes are both counterproductive and unrealistic.
                        We are not far of a VERY strong first 11 and not a lot more depth is required anymore.

                        Karius *** (with potential for more)
                        Trent*** (with potential for more)
                        VVD*****
                        New CB: Preferably with the same physical attributes as VVD
                        Robertson **** (with potential for more)
                        New Midfielder: Preferably yet another with great physical attributes
                        Keita***** I expect him to be a very big hit
                        Ox****
                        Mane****
                        Firmino*****
                        Salah*****

                        Bench (depending on what game: New keeper/Migs, Clyne, Gomez, Lovren, Matip, New LB, Hendo, Milner, Lallana, Ings, New attacker.

                        But TBH I would be very happy if we only signed a first choice defender and an attacker that would allow os to play without one of our regular front three, but keep the same level. But that is a HUGE ask given how Mane, Bobby and Salah have played. Even without further additions to the midfield I think we are very competitive.

                        First time since Rafa that I have had this feeling about a squad. No overhaul - juuuust that final piece of the jigsaw.

                        Comment

                        Previous template Next
                        Working...
                        X