The Squad planning thread

Delphinho said:
Would like to see a similar setup to how we played in the Chelsea game. I think it would allow us to get the best out of both Gvardiol and Cambiaso, who seems to be coming in the summer. Chevalier, Cambiaso, Baleba and Baena coming in (another CM and CB would be a bonus, but not necessity). We`d be looking at an starting 11 something like this (only showing strongest lineup, not depth):

View attachment 147941
Cambiaso inverting from RB to midfield, Gvardiol attacking LB/LW, Marmoush coming inside from LW as a secondary striker, similar to his role for Frankfurt. Foden/Baena in a free 10 role, Cambiaso adding more creativity in midfield to compensate for no KDB, and Baleba for duel winning, physicality, ground coverage and recovery pace
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Im a big fan of the 244 (diamond) that Pep used to get Gvardiol wide and Marmoush centre.

I think Doku would thrive to have that flexibility, Savio likes to be wide.

The 10 at the tip of a diamond has freedom as well.

Dont understand why he doesnt do it again, Im thinking he fears the defensive gaps, which is fair.
 
Reijnders/Ederson - Kovacic
Wharton/Varela - Gundo
Cambiaso/Frimpong - Walker
Huijsen/Diomande - Stones
Wirtz/Baena - KDB
Costa/Chevalier - Ederson
Echeverri/McAtee - Bernado
Bobb/McAtee - Grealish
? - Carson

Costa/Chevalier - Ortega - 3rd choice gk

Cambiaso/Frimpong - Lewis - Akanji - Gvardiol - Ake - Dias - Huijsen/Diomande - Khusanov - Reis

Rodri - Nico - O’Reilly - Wharton/Varela

Reijnders/Ederson - Foden - Wirtz/Baena - Nunes?

Bobb - Doku - Savio - McAtee - Echeverri

Haaland - Marmoush
 
bell_mcfc said:
Reijnders/Ederson - Kovacic
Wharton/Varela - Gundo
Cambiaso/Frimpong - Walker
Huijsen/Diomande - Stones
Wirtz/Baena - KDB
Costa/Chevalier - Ederson
Echeverri/McAtee - Bernado
Bobb/McAtee - Grealish
? - Carson

Costa/Chevalier - Ortega - 3rd choice gk

Cambiaso/Frimpong - Lewis - Akanji - Gvardiol - Ake - Dias - Huijsen/Diomande - Khusanov - Reis

Rodri - Nico - O’Reilly - Wharton/Varela

Reijnders/Ederson - Foden - Wirtz/Baena - Nunes?

Bobb - Doku - Savio - McAtee - Echeverri

Haaland - Marmoush
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Unless I’ve miscounted you have at least 2 too many players for the free list.
 
bell_mcfc said:
Reijnders/Ederson - Kovacic
Wharton/Varela - Gundo
Cambiaso/Frimpong - Walker
Huijsen/Diomande - Stones
Wirtz/Baena - KDB
Costa/Chevalier - Ederson
Echeverri/McAtee - Bernado
Bobb/McAtee - Grealish
? - Carson

Costa/Chevalier - Ortega - 3rd choice gk

Cambiaso/Frimpong - Lewis - Akanji - Gvardiol - Ake - Dias - Huijsen/Diomande - Khusanov - Reis

Rodri - Nico - O’Reilly - Wharton/Varela

Reijnders/Ederson - Foden - Wirtz/Baena - Nunes?

Bobb - Doku - Savio - McAtee - Echeverri

Haaland - Marmoush
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Seems sensible, providing it all happens.

Call me mad but Raúl Jiménez is out of contract in the summer I believe and honestly I don't think he would be a bad shout to back up Haaland.
 
blueparrot said:
Unless I’ve miscounted you have at least 2 too many players for the free list.
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Potentially I’m just going with what we have and who to replace with. Reports we will have a larger squad than the usual smallest yet biggest in the league.

To be honest can’t see McAtee and Nunes both staying if we recruit heavily
 
city!! said:
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.
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I think Gvardiol's poor 1 v 1 defending is overstated. He is a pretty good defender who gets beat sometimes.

His biggest weakness is a penchant for making poor passes on defense that puts us under pressure.

He gives that same bad pass almost every other game.

Otherwise, he is a fantastic LB. Defending, positioning, speed, tackling and aerial battles ate all very good.
 
bell_mcfc said:
Potentially I’m just going with what we have and who to replace with. Reports we will have a larger squad than the usual smallest yet biggest in the league.

To be honest can’t see McAtee and Nunes both staying if we recruit heavily
Click to expand...
Well we are starting with 4 players too many, we can’t register Reis and Echeverri in the CL squad as it is, obviously doesn’t matter this season .It will next so they need to go before we even start replacing players.
Walker and Phillips will be 2 obviously, then probably KDB and Gundogan.Only then can we replace players one for one,
 
bell_mcfc said:
Reijnders/Ederson - Kovacic
Wharton/Varela - Gundo
Cambiaso/Frimpong - Walker
Huijsen/Diomande - Stones
Wirtz/Baena - KDB
Costa/Chevalier - Ederson
Echeverri/McAtee - Bernado
Bobb/McAtee - Grealish
? - Carson

Costa/Chevalier - Ortega - 3rd choice gk

Cambiaso/Frimpong - Lewis - Akanji - Gvardiol - Ake - Dias - Huijsen/Diomande - Khusanov - Reis

Rodri - Nico - O’Reilly - Wharton/Varela

Reijnders/Ederson - Foden - Wirtz/Baena - Nunes?

Bobb - Doku - Savio - McAtee - Echeverri

Haaland - Marmoush
Click to expand...


Nico O'Reilly - Kovacic
James Mcatee - Gundo
Ola Aina - Walker
Huijsen/Diomande - Stones
Wirtz - KDB
Trafford/Chevalier - Ederson
Kudus/Adrian Bernabe/ Carlos Alvarez - Bernardo
 
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