The Squad planning thread

Gumzy97 said:
I don't want to be harsh as they are all city players but I think there's eleven quality players that's your starting eleven and then the rest in the squad are just filler. Whenever one starting player comes out of the eleven the level drops. When we used to have a small squad but at equal level there was no drop off when a sub was made.
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Said yesterday that the final couple of years of txiki fucked us long term and for succession planning? Dont get me wrong, he done a PHENOMENAL job but the quality in player is dropping and now with the market prices the way they are we either have to put our big boy pants on and buy real quality or this is the way it’s going to be going forward and we never get even close to the level we were.
 
richards30 said:
We have just lost their air of arrogance in the market?
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We’ve never had an arrogance in the market. We’ve always worked hard to pick up the right players. If the right players aren’t available then we keep our powder dry.

We’re still in a rebuild, we are going to lose 3 or 4 senior players this summer so our team next year will probably look nothing like our treble winning squad.

Our issue is that we didn’t rebuild immediately after the treble, yes we won the league but went back to the well with the same players the following season. The club knew there was a good chance Pep would leave last summer so we didn’t do much business summer 2024. As a result we have been scrambling to catch up ever since.

This time last season we were 13 points behind Liverpool. Now after 2 poor results we’re 6 off arsenal.
 
pavelsrnicek said:
We’ve never had an arrogance in the market. We’ve always worked hard to pick up the right players. If the right players aren’t available then we keep our powder dry.

We’re still in a rebuild, we are going to lose 3 or 4 senior players this summer so our team next year will probably look nothing like our treble winning squad.

Our issue is that we didn’t rebuild immediately after the treble, yes we won the league but went back to the well with the same players the following season. The club knew there was a good chance Pep would leave last summer so we didn’t do much business summer 2024. As a result we have been scrambling to catch up ever since.

This time last season we were 13 points behind Liverpool. Now after 2 poor results we’re 6 off arsenal.
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I have nothing against if that 4 players are Bernardo, Stones,Kovacic and Ake
 
richards30 said:
Said yesterday that the final couple of years of txiki fucked us long term and for succession planning? Dont get me wrong, he done a PHENOMENAL job but the quality in player is dropping and now with the market prices the way they are we either have to put our big boy pants on and buy real quality or this is the way it’s going to be going forward and we never get even close to the level we were.
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Looking at the whole squad

Goalkeeper - Donnarumma and Trafford

Defenders
Ait Nouri - has been in and out of the squad maybe he will come good
Akanji - on loan
Ake - injury prone looks to have lost a step
Dias - one of our best defenders
Gvardiol - best defensive partnership with Dias
Khusanov - hardly trusted
Rico - level below what we need
Nico Oreilly- first choice left back
Stones - injury prone
Nunes -consistently a 7/10 our best right back
Reis - on loan

So out of the defence the good players at high level and reliable would be

Donnarumma
Trafford
Dias
Gvardiol
Nunes
Dias
O'Reilly

Midfielders
Rodri - world class coming back into the team
Nico G - consistently good this season
Oscar bobb - going out on loan
Cherki - best creator
Doku - best winger
Echeverri - loan
Foden - starting midfielder but has become inconsistent these past couple of games
Grealish - loan
Kovacic - injury prone
Kalvin Phillips - shit
Reijnders- decent showing Milan form now
Savinho - poor
Bernardo Silva- love Bernardo but he looks to have lost a bit

Out of Midfielders
Rodri
Bernardo
Reinjders
Cherki
Foden
Nico G

Wingers
Its only Doku really , sav might come good but Doku is the only really high level winger we have

Forwards
Haaland and Marmoush

Haaland undoubtedly the best striker in the league, Marmoush is quality just doesn't get game time.

Your looking at being really picky 14/15 good players that don't have injury problems and can perform at the levels needed.
 
Need 2 more players after Semenyo.

Push for Guehi and Anderson, there are offers they would take this month, sure of it.

Stones can't stay fit, Ake has fitness issues, Kovacic is done - injury and gone in the summer and Bernardo's in his last 6 months.

Got to bring proven quality in too, we have enough young potential.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Need 2 more players after Semenyo.

Push for Guehi and Anderson, there are offers they would take this month, sure of it.

Stones can't stay fit, Ake has fitness issues, Kovacic is done - injury and gone in the summer and Bernardo's in his last 6 months.

Got to bring proven quality in too, we have enough young potential.
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Not sure money wise if we could buy all 3 of Guehi, Anderson and Semenyo in this transfer window.
We would also have to lose a few players or this to happen and we can see how hard that is as we still have Ortega and Philipps and we loaned out Akanji in a last minute deal.
 
Xhavenjoe said:
Not sure money wise if we could buy all 3 of Guehi, Anderson and Semenyo in this transfer window.
We would also have to lose a few players or this to happen and we can see how hard that is as we still have Ortega and Philipps and we loaned out Akanji in a last minute deal.
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Guehi 6 months left got to be a deal that works there.

Anderson expensive, I think I prefer Wharton, also expensive but I think there is a doable deal there with Forest.
 
I’m sure Viana had a centre back planned for the summer as well as bringing Reis back so we need to bring that forward asap if possible
 
MCFC1993 said:
Guehi 6 months left got to be a deal that works there.

Anderson expensive, I think I prefer Wharton, also expensive but I think there is a doable deal there with Forest.
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Guehi yes. Now is the time. Wait till summer and all the vultures will be hovering overhead.

The problem is we may have to stump up the release clause for Semenyo in one lump sum, not leaving money for anyone else.

I think Anderson/ Wharton would be the greatest addition. Again, there will be several suitors.

I would try and raise some money in this window by selling Akanji and Grealish. I reckon we could cover the Semenyo money with this. It would then allow us to buy at least one of the guys you mentioned.
 
Semenyo looks done but despite the state of our absentee list I just don't see us going big in this window unfortunately.
 
The squad is starting to look very thin. If the injuries to Gvardiol, Dias and Gonzales are long-term, added to the existing injuries, we are going to be severely stretched. Obviously it isn’t practical to pick up a load of new players in this window but surely we have to look at midfield reinforcements as a bare minimum.
Can’t we also look to bring one of the centre backs back off loan - I’d go for Reis personally.
 
We have around 8 players who have proven good enough consistently, the rest should be under immense pressure from someone else. Even if we have a squad that's too big and costing us a lot, it's a necessary step before we cut and refine.

A major issue over the past couple of seasons has been the drop in standards. A bad performance would have had you benched for a month in previous campaigns. Now players are being praised just for working hard off the ball. That didn't need mentioning before it was such a basic requirement.

Who is putting the pressure on Nunes to perform consistently? What about the midfielders? If Cherki, Foden and Bernardo shit the bed who comes in?

We need 5 quality players to come in and drive the standards up so the quality doesn't drop when we make substitutions and so players know they'll be on the bench if they don't perform. You'll always have key players that make the team tick, but you need competition. It's why Arsenal only now look like they can win the title having lacked the strength in depth before.
 
Would all/any additions in Jan have to be HG signings? I am not sure we have any “foreign” slots available unless we sell someone?
 
Gumzy97 said:
Looking at the whole squad

Goalkeeper - Donnarumma and Trafford

Defenders
Ait Nouri - has been in and out of the squad maybe he will come good
Akanji - on loan
Ake - injury prone looks to have lost a step
Dias - one of our best defenders
Gvardiol - best defensive partnership with Dias
Khusanov - hardly trusted
Rico - level below what we need
Nico Oreilly- first choice left back
Stones - injury prone
Nunes -consistently a 7/10 our best right back
Reis - on loan

So out of the defence the good players at high level and reliable would be

Donnarumma
Trafford
Dias
Gvardiol
Nunes
Dias
O'Reilly

Midfielders
Rodri - world class coming back into the team
Nico G - consistently good this season
Oscar bobb - going out on loan
Cherki - best creator
Doku - best winger
Echeverri - loan
Foden - starting midfielder but has become inconsistent these past couple of games
Grealish - loan
Kovacic - injury prone
Kalvin Phillips - shit
Reijnders- decent showing Milan form now
Savinho - poor
Bernardo Silva- love Bernardo but he looks to have lost a bit

Out of Midfielders
Rodri
Bernardo
Reinjders
Cherki
Foden
Nico G

Wingers
Its only Doku really , sav might come good but Doku is the only really high level winger we have

Forwards
Haaland and Marmoush

Haaland undoubtedly the best striker in the league, Marmoush is quality just doesn't get game time.

Your looking at being really picky 14/15 good players that don't have injury problems and can perform at the levels needed.
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good post, except Marmoush is no more a striker than Foden, which is why Viktor Dadason should be bought, a big donkey at the moment, but he does not increase the size of the squad, or wages or foreign status, he does reduce the Haaland injury threat, he does let us play 4,4,2 and he changes where we play our football.
Semenyo direct hard working and classed as English, a high fee and wages, but in his prime.
Branthwraite out injured but we still should use the Grealish make weight plus cash on 30 games, why it is not Guehi, he is cheap and good will be expensive wage wise, but he does not improve on Dias or Gvardiol at anything, it is a backwards step.
Schlotterbeck would be great.
4 signings this January could change our season, out Ake, Bobb and Savinho which will cover a sizable chunk.
 
2 important windows ahead, right now we need a defender, centre mid and winger but the needs long term are even greater.

At the end of the summer:
GK - Trafford probably leaves in the summer.
RB - Need proper competition for Nunes.
CB - Stones and Ake leave. Leaving Dias, Josko, Khusanov and Reis.
CM - Bernardo and Kova probably go.
RW - Need one already.
RW - Bobb goes.
LW - Savinho goes.

7 new players. 3 that seem obvious right now:
CB - Guehi
CM - Anderson
RW - Semenyo

All homegrown and all starting in the PL already.
 
ancoats said:
If Pep were to leave right now, what would a new manager make of the squad ?

No fullbacks, one striker, 4 keepers and Stones Phillips
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It is the job of sporting director, that if Pep would leave tomorrow, the new manager would have the tools to do the job, the last thing we would want is to do a ferguson, when he made sure no utd manager could challenge his legacy. We just have to trust that our new leadership take this into consideration.
 
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