The Squad planning thread

pbueno16 said:
I'd add Kovacic to the outs, but doubt we move that many in one summer. 5 or 6 at least would be a good start to give us places in the squad for the incomings.

I'd add a CB to the needs because we may still have one or both of Stones and Ake come the close of the window and Dias is looking like he's becoming injury prone himself and half the player he was during the treble season.
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Kovacic is on my list.
 
I think a theme of getting quality and using youth as backups if we need to, is better than giving those minutes to bit part players (Philips) who probably arent much better than youth anyways.

So it may be more leave than come in (making squad "seem" smaller), but we should really be more comfortable with youth backups than we usually are.

Obviously there is a bit of a heiarchy.

O Reilly, Bobb, and Echeverri are like youth but nailed on squad players. (O Reilly and Bobb moreso).

But there is talent in the academy we should give use for the tier below.
 
Pubteam Lomas said:
Think Pep's 'they need to be available to play every 3 days' comment puts that to bed to be honest!
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Although I agree I think there’s some players that are exceptions. KDB and Stones are in my opinion.

One thing I think is clear from this year is we could do with a few more squad players. Not loads, I get Peps argument that they all want a lot of minutes. It’s whether they can accept where they are and how that reflects pay.

KDB played injured and potentially shortened his career at the highest level because of it. Can fault that mentality.
 
Gonna go full tin foil hat.

It's obviously going to be very difficult to get rid of every single injury prone, ageing and poor quality player and replace them with the right quality to be able to compete for everything again. It will likely cost too much to do in one go.

Our first 11 going into next season without transfers is probably
Ederson
Rico Khusanov Dias Gvardiol
Rodri Nico
Savinho Foden Marmoush
Haaland

Looking at that the most obvious position to improve is right back. We absolutely need at least one proper right back who can defend and is solid on the ball. Ederson seems likely to go, I would rather keep him as there's no obvious keeper to go out and get that's better. I feel like we've finally solved the Rodri back up in Nico and he can play alongside too. But I think getting a top drawer centre mid next to Rodri would elevate this team the most and would be where I'd be most willing to splash the cash.

Other weaknesses in that line up for me are Dias's pace, Gvardiol's defending one on one and the lack of creative passing in the final 3rd that falls mostly on Foden in the 10 position. Far from saying these 3 shouldn't be in starting 11 as they obviously have other abilities but something to consider when bringing players in.

I think before deciding what we need to buy, decisions of what role all the new, young and on loan players can play is important. Are they good enough to contribute and take a squad space? I'm hoping pep will give a lot of these players a chance before the end of this season to find out

Hoping the squad will look something like below, where the choices between certain spots will be based on budget and registration restrictions:

New GK - Best we can get
Ortega
Carson/whoever
Aina/New RB - Like the look of him and would be homegrown I believe
Frimpong?/New RB - Not convinced defensively but would essentially be a free hit on the squad
Rico
Khusanov
Dias
Akanji
Reis
Huijsen/New CB/Ake - Be mad not to at least consider him with the 50m RC but likely we don't buy another cb
Gvardiol
New LB - someone to provide cover for Gvardiol
Rodri
Nico
Bruno G/New CM - Bruno seems like the safest guarantee there but who knows who our scouts might have found
Wharton/New CM/Kovacic - ideally would replace kovacic but would be fine as a backup for a season
O'Reilly
Savinho
Bobb
Foden
Doku
Marmoush
Haaland
Wirtz/Endrick/Delap/Mcatee/Echeverri - expensive and difficult to get Wirtz, Endrick apparently unhappy might be worth a cheeky bid (even if only to piss them off), Delap would be perfect backup to Haaland but don't think he'll be interested

If we go with Ake, Kovacic and Mcatee staying then those 5 additions would probably be around 250mil. Which is maybe not far off what we're likely to spend. Then maybe we if we make enough off sales we might be able to do one of the other deals.
 
bell_mcfc said:
Although I agree I think there’s some players that are exceptions. KDB and Stones are in my opinion.

One thing I think is clear from this year is we could do with a few more squad players. Not loads, I get Peps argument that they all want a lot of minutes. It’s whether they can accept where they are and how that reflects pay.

KDB played injured and potentially shortened his career at the highest level because of it. Can fault that mentality.
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I think this latest setback will be the straw....
I'm convinced Stones will be sold in the summer and I think KDB will now accept he's not gonna play the big games, so will have to accept a new deal that will be a significant pay cut.
 
The last two games have shown how utterly shite we have been in the transfer market in the last two years and how the quality in the squad has drained
We have too many players not capable of actually playing the good teams, squad players.
Rico
Mcatee
Nunes
Kovacic
Gundo

We need a squad where anyone can play. Players like Rico can only play at home against poor teams
Not good enough
 
Tb1981 said:
The last two games have shown how utterly shite we have been in the transfer market in the last two years and how the quality in the squad has drained
We have too many players not capable of actually playing the good teams, squad players.
Rico
Mcatee
Nunes
Kovacic
Gundo

We need a squad where anyone can play. Players like Rico can only play at home against poor teams
Not good enough
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Why does Lewis always cop so much stick?

He’s a really good player and just 20 years old. His form this season has been poor but he’s doing nothing most of the more senior players aren’t also doing.

Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish and de Bruyne have all failed to perform against top opposition (some have failed to perform against any opposition) this season yet none of them were mentioned.

That being said I agree with your overall point, players like Kovačić, Nunes and Gündoğan (in his current form) need upgrading.
 
kun said:
Why does Lewis always cop so much stick?

He’s a really good player and just 20 years old. His form this season has been poor but he’s doing nothing most of the more senior players aren’t also doing.

Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish and de Bruyne have all failed to perform against top opposition (some have failed to perform against any opposition) this season yet none of them were mentioned.

That being said I agree with your overall point, players like Kovačić, Nunes and Gündoğan (in his current form) need upgrading.
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I've mentioned Lewis a few times reference his ability. I really don't see him as a top notch starter for us at any point in a rebuilt team, and he's most certainly not a RB. He will however make a decent living out of the game. I see that as a limited squad role here, or as a more regular starter somewhere else. So yes, some of the flak is OTT. We have far bigger problems in the squad than him now doubt, some of whom you've mentioned.
 
Lewis is one of them players that just isn't quite our level. He's not a 1st choice right back and he's not a 1st choice midfielder. I'm not really sure what his best position is to be honest and he's been playing for us for several years now. If he wants to stay and be a squad player fair enough, but I just cant see him ever being good enough to fully break into and become a 1st choice player for us.

I do agree that we have other players that we need to move on before him though.
 
kun said:
Why does Lewis always cop so much stick?

He’s a really good player and just 20 years old. His form this season has been poor but he’s doing nothing most of the more senior players aren’t also doing.

Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish and de Bruyne have all failed to perform against top opposition (some have failed to perform against any opposition) this season yet none of them were mentioned.

That being said I agree with your overall point, players like Kovačić, Nunes and Gündoğan (in his current form) need upgrading.
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The two twats behind me at the ground spent all match shouting "fuck off Rico you cun t" after the ball went out for the corner that lead to the first goal. Non stop, bellowing abuse at a 20 year old who got surrounded by 3 player because none of the rest of the team showed for the ball or tried to help him.

Was honestly pathetic.
 
Bluemoon has risen said:
Lewis is one of them players that just isn't quite our level. He's not a 1st choice right back and he's not a 1st choice midfielder. I'm not really sure what his best position is to be honest and he's been playing for us for several years now. If he wants to stay and be a squad player fair enough, but I just cant see him ever being good enough to fully break into and become a 1st choice player for us.

I do agree that we have other players that we need to move on before him though.
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I think he could still make it further up the pitch . . .
 
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