The Squad planning thread

[himalayan_blues]

I think we will be aggressive in buying and aggressive in loaning our first team and injury prone players.

 

[K-Bo]

good to hear that more or less noone is getting new deals right now, players need to earn it.

 

[BluestBlue]

Pep has refused to play the following midfielders in midfield:
Foden
Grealish
McAtee
Nunes
Zinchenko
Phillips
Palmer
I really don't understand what people see in O'Reilly that makes them think he's going to be an 8/10 next year. IMO Rico is more likely to play there bc Pep loves a conservative, possession oriented player, which is why I throw him into your list of players Viana needs to get rid of to protect Pep from Pep.
How wild is it that perrone was never given a chance bc he lacked physicality for the PL, but Rico is still here? HG makes a big difference

The names above have similarities. They lacked special abilities on the ball.

O Riley is physically capable and will get stronger and fill out his frame. He also has goals in him.

I don’t get p

Pep has refused to play the following midfielders in midfield:
Foden
Grealish
McAtee
Nunes
Zinchenko
Phillips
Palmer
I really don't understand what people see in O'Reilly that makes them think he's going to be an 8/10 next year. IMO Rico is more likely to play there bc Pep loves a conservative, possession oriented player, which is why I throw him into your list of players Viana needs to get rid of to protect Pep from Pep.
How wild is it that perrone was never given a chance bc he lacked physicality for the PL, but Rico is still here? HG makes a big difference

i think I can come up with reasons with each player you mentioned

Foden in Pep’s eyes can’t slow down. He wants him to be Pedri but he will never be Pedri as a midfielder

Pep himself said this about Grealish “️Pep Guardiola: “Doubts about playing Jack Grealish in midfield? NO! I KNOW HIS QUALITY! He even has attributes to play as a HOLDING MIDFIELDER! He has the ability to keep the ball, to break the lines, and the composure!” But did we ever see it ? No. Maybe because he holds on to the ball too much.

Pep never plays academy players in their preferred role. He views the midfield to be too complex. Only his favourite with extremely high football IQ like Gundo, Bernardo Kova can handle it. Plus McAtee is kinda closer to goal at the wings

Nunes is pretty simple. Yes he’s got PnP but he has no tech. No first touch. Simply not good enough to play in midfield. He gives away goals at FULLBACK imagine him getting double teamed under pressure. He’s poor in tight spaces.

Zinny was interesting. He’s got great qualities. But abit weak. But he’s not good off the ball and gets to carried away when dribbling or carrying the ball. Too attack minded for Pep.

lol Phillips was just hilarious. He didn’t have much confidence. He wasn’t fit enough to play that role. Not skilled enough to understand the nuances. Positioning himself correctly, when to move when to stay, he was slow. All he knew how to do was ping balls. He could shield the defence, break up play, and most importantly HE COULD NOT SET THE TEMPO the biggest Pep requirement.

Lastly the only real mistake was not playing Palmer there. But as you know he was an academy kid and he always plays them on the wings so they can have more space to dribble, make mistakes and gain confidence. He played him LW and he had some good games there. Remember skinning Azpiss ? But unfortunately KDB was there, Gundo, Bernardo were still in their peak. He is great technically. Struggled abit this season but his underlying are still insane. 15 goals 14 BCM, 8 assists but 25 BCC this is just one of those ones where the club handled this extremely bad and there’s not much we can do about it. If we signed Wirtz it would’ve been cool but we struck out there too.


I’ll tell you what I like about Riley. If you watched him in the academy he was sublime on the ball he could shoot really well and assist really well too. He was incredibly balanced no.10. In the first team he is way better at duel winning than someone like Kova, Bernardo, Gundo, Rico and he is faster stronger and more of a goal threat. With patience he can score 10 goals in the league. He’s got real quality. Perrone never played because Pep has said himself that Rico is his favourite lol

 

[mattcity5]

Looking at PL squad lists here, interesting in that homegrown players are asterisked.

2024/25 Updated Premier League squad lists

View the full squad of each Premier League club now the January transfer window has closed

www.premierleague.com

Players who are HG that I didn't realise:

Antoine Semenyo
João Pedro
Antonee Robinson
Crysencio Summerville

Some others who are HG who haven't been mentioned but could be ok as squad players...

Jacob Ramsey
Keane Lewis-Potter
Tariq Lamptey
Callum Hudson-Odoi

 

[WallyA]

Looking at PL squad lists here, interesting in that homegrown players are asterisked.

2024/25 Updated Premier League squad lists

View the full squad of each Premier League club now the January transfer window has closed

www.premierleague.com

Players who are HG that I didn't realise:

Antoine Semenyo
João Pedro
Antonee Robinson
Crysencio Summerville

Some others who are HG who haven't been mentioned but could be ok as squad players...

Jacob Ramsey
Keane Lewis-Potter
Tariq Lamptey
Callum Hudson-Odoi

Robinson makes so much sense.

But I also rate Ait Nouti that little bit higher due to age, and his style of wingback is more dribbler while Robinson is more crosser.

I would like both but perhaps not feasible.

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

Looking at it now with the season done:

Goalkeepers -
Lots of talk of Ederson moving on, and he didn't have a good season. Ortega isn't good enough to ever be our number 1 keeper, and we're being linked with a few keepers today. I'd say Ederson will go to Saudi and we'll buy either Garcia or Costa.

Full Backs -
Walker is away, Lewis isn't good enough, Gvardiol is good but is also as good in centre half, Nunes had a good season is a good squad player IMO but is being linked with an exit. O'Reilly, Ake and Akanji can play here too. We've no specialist full back in the squad at present.
Been heavily linked with Ait Nouri, Livramento and Cambiasso of late. Will sign 1 at least I'm sure.

Centre halves -
Dias, Gvardiol and Khusanov will stay I'm sure.
Reis could possibly go on loan as he hasn't seen much game time
Stones, Ake and Akanji have had plenty of injuries, Pep spoke a few months ago about no longer relying on players who can't play every 3 days. Think Stones will leave and possibly 1 other. I don't see us buying a centre back this summer.

No. 6s -
Rodri, Nico and Nico can play here and will all stay

No. 8s -
Silva, Kovacic, Gundogan. I think Kovacic is the most likely of the 3 to leave this summer but nothing would surprise me, we've been linked Reijnders and Morgan Gibbs White to play this position so can't keep them all if we sign both of those.

Wingers -
Savinho, Doku, Grealish, Bobb, Echeverri
Grealish to definitely leave. I think we need to improve in this area and a quick sale of Savinho wouldn't greatly surprise me this summer. A la the Ferran Torres sale, came out of nowhere after short time at the club.
Echeverri could go on loan possibly. We need our wingers to start contributing with proper numbers again. I could see us sign a winger also.

No. 10s -
Foden and McAtee - i'd expect McAtee to be sold. Don't think he's good enough for us.

Forwards -
Haaland and Marmoush - both stay. We won't sign anyone here.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Out: Stones, Akanji, Nunes, Kova, Gundo, McAtee, Grealish, KDB
In: Livamento, AitNouri, Reijnders, MGW, Cherki?



at a wild stab in the dark right now as rumours stand (expect at least 3 of these 5 in to pan out) ? 25 man squad all in. no one unregistered.

Fuck knows though tbh

 

[CΛL]

Out: Stones, Akanji, Nunes, Kova, Gundo, McAtee, Grealish, KDB
In: Livamento, AitNouri, Reijnders, MGW, Cherki?

View attachment 157983 View attachment 157984

at a wild stab in the dark right now as rumours stand (expect at least 3 of these 5 in to pan out) ? 25 man squad all in. no one unregistered.

Fuck knows though tbh

I genuinely reckon Gundogan is more likely to stay, in what is probably his last year as a player, then stay and do his coaching.

Bernardo I think is more likely to go, he’s been trying to move somewhere sunny for years.

Also reckon Akanji is more likely to stay than Ake, even if that leaves us with one left footed centre half and 5 right footed.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

I genuinely reckon Gundogan is more likely to stay, in what is probably his last year as a player, then stay and do his coaching.

Bernardo I think is more likely to go, he’s been trying to move somewhere sunny for years.

Also reckon Akanji is more likely to stay than Ake, even if that leaves us with one left footed centre half and 5 right footed.

Gundo is a weird one, could go either way for me. Can easy ship Reis or Echeverri for the reg. slot though (along with Akanji). Silva i think stays from his interviews.

 

[supercity88]

Out: Stones, Akanji, Nunes, Kova, Gundo, McAtee, Grealish, KDB
In: Livamento, AitNouri, Reijnders, MGW, Cherki?

View attachment 157983 View attachment 157984

at a wild stab in the dark right now as rumours stand (expect at least 3 of these 5 in to pan out) ? 25 man squad all in. no one unregistered.

Fuck knows though tbh

Viana has a huge job on his hands. It's the homegrown requirement that concerns me. But we'll probably have an idea of how to deal with it, bring in who we need to and then make certain players aware they're unlikely to feature much. Pep doesn't want to do the difficult conversations or leave players out. So the board will handle that for him. Stones and Ake are both homegrown/association trained, but will have eyes on a world cup place and may well leave to try and feature more. Gundo has retired from internationals and isn't easy to shift - we've already given him an extra year so he'll stay realistically. Bernie may be one we can leverage if we want to, but I think Pep will expect a lot more from his go to guys next year and won't want them all to go. With their injury record Stones and Ake are two I think will leave, but Grealish is another who will want out if he isn't going to play much and that's yet another homegrown player off the books which causes us issues.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Viana has a huge job on his hands. It's the homegrown requirement that concerns me. But we'll probably have an idea of how to deal with it, bring in who we need to and then make certain players aware they're unlikely to feature much. Pep doesn't want to do the difficult conversations or leave players out. So the board will handle that for him. Stones and Ake are both homegrown/association trained, but will have eyes on a world cup place and may well leave to try and feature more. Gundo has retired from internationals and isn't easy to shift - we've already given him an extra year so he'll stay realistically. Bernie may be one we can leverage if we want to, but I think Pep will expect a lot more from his go to guys next year and won't want them all to go. With their injury record Stones and Ake are two I think will leave, but Grealish is another who will want out if he isn't going to play much and that's yet another homegrown player off the books which causes us issues.

If i could do Guehi for Stones/Ake I would. Maybe Branthwaite depending on the figures etc.

MGW i think is done. Livra would be a dream RB choice if it can be done. Carson can be replaced with any academy kid at a push losing nothing with him there tbh.

 

[supercity88]

I genuinely reckon Gundogan is more likely to stay, in what is probably his last year as a player, then stay and do his coaching.

Bernardo I think is more likely to go, he’s been trying to move somewhere sunny for years.

Also reckon Akanji is more likely to stay than Ake, even if that leaves us with one left footed centre half and 5 right footed.

I think Gundo and Bernie will stay too but as I said above, it's the homegrown requirement which is a concern.

I can see Reis being loaned and Bah coming in.

The players most likely to leave in my opinion are McAtee, Ake, Stones and Grealish but that's 4 homegrown/association trained players out.

 

[RayCTID]

If we can actually humble Garnacho he would be the better signing than el rat if we did decide to raid them. This isn't a wind up or trolling.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

If we can actually humble Garnacho he would be the better signing than el rat if we did decide to raid them. This isn't a wind up or trolling.

You could have fooled me.

 

[RayCTID]

You could have fooled me.

Not kidding. Their major gripe with lurch is arrogance.

 

[blueparrot]

I think Gundo and Bernie will stay too but as I said above, it's the homegrown requirement which is a concern.

I can see Reis being loaned and Bah coming in.

The players most likely to leave in my opinion are McAtee, Ake, Stones and Grealish but that's 4 homegrown/association trained players out.

It isn’t a concern at all the non homegrown list is the concern. Mcatee gets repleced by Bobb, plus O’Reilly will be part of the main squad as an U21. Grealish probably replaced by Gibbs White, Ake will probably stay, Stones replaced by maybe Livremento or we stick with just 3 on the association trained list.
Now getting the none homegrown down to 17 is the real tricky part.

 

[mancboy]

If we can actually humble Garnacho he would be the better signing than el rat if we did decide to raid them. This isn't a wind up or trolling.

Dont we already have 2 wingers with great skill and fuck all end product why do we need one that looks like simple jack as well

 

[supercity88]

It isn’t a concern at all the non homegrown list is the concern. Mcatee gets repleced by Bobb, plus O’Reilly will be part of the main squad as an U21. Grealish probably replaced by Gibbs White, Ake will probably stay, Stones replaced by maybe Livremento or we stick with just 3 on the association trained list.
Now getting the none homegrown down to 17 is the real tricky part.

Yes sorry mate, that's what I meant - with the most likely to leave when you consider injuries/performances we're struggling to fit in the foreign players we need to improve the squad. Ake and Stones are injury prone so Akanji would be the better player to keep from that perspective. But we possibly have to stick the boot in some of our foreign players despite them being better options for our squad overall.

 

[RayCTID]

Dont we already have 2 wingers with great skill and fuck all end product why do we need one that looks like simple jack as well

Could be another Cole Palmer situation. Same with the Arsenal kid if we are interested. The major issue with Lurch is arrogance.

 

[supercity88]

If we can actually humble Garnacho he would be the better signing than el rat if we did decide to raid them. This isn't a wind up or trolling.

He's not willing to pull up his sleeves and get a place in a shite side like the rags, but you think he'd be happy to come and warm our bench instead?