Matt Ritchie is back in his hat

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Good to see him back.

 

It's a good return. He's been a good signing

 

He's a decent player one of the few that might make a bottom half premiership team in our squad

 

A good signing and he keeps grafting even when he's playing ****. We need that type of player for next season. Still... this current squad will get mauled next season without reinforcements.

 

I think we have a squad to add quality to now which we haven't ever had. We usually have a handful of quality players and a handful of absolute ****e

 

True. I think we have about six or seven who can cut it in the prem but we could do with some new faces in summer.

 

6 or 7?

I have 3

 

Shelvey Ritchie Gayle mitro lascelles Clarke and darlow should all be ok in a lower half prem side I think.

 

I would throw in Anita and Yedlin

 

Anita maybe and yes yedlin looks promising. His pace is frightening.

 

Agree Atsu's pretty handy too if we keep him. Its a long way from having a squad that is anywhere near good enough to be comfortably out of a relegation battle

 

Can we all worry about the team, the squad and the Premier League once we are actually in the Premier League. And can we all just enjoy the Championship whilst we are here.

Honest, it makes life a lot easier.

Yes let's discuss possible players but the impression I have of some is that they're failing to enjoy this season due to worrying about next season.

 

But you have to think of next season. Or we come back down again. It's all about planning.

 

No, we don't. Rafa has to think of next season but we don't.

In any event the major work will be in the summer transfer window, not now.

 

Yeah there are a few who can be part of a PL squad and he is one of them. The worry for me is the vast majority of those few are squad players not starters in the PL, even in the lower half. Massive job in the summer if we go up.

 

I think we'd need 100 million personally and we'll get about 40 to 50 if we're lucky, however Rafa will keep us up and that's what the aim will be and nobody should expect more

 

Correct.

I would add though that if you look at the likes of Burnley, Bournemouth, Watford, Boro, you will see teams of players where people would also question the "premier league quality" of the team. Add in that 2 other teams will come up with us and I'm not seeing as bleak a picture as some are suggesting. Bottom half certainly, bottom 5/6 probably but I don't see a certain relegation if we fail to spend big. Team spirit is more important.

 

The squad is better than most assume. Hayden is another I'd add to the list and Mbemba who was one of the few to emerge with any credit last season.

This is a stronger squad than we had in 2010, if not a stronger 11, but I have no doubt that we'll bring 3 or 4 quality first team players in if we go up. Raffa is not stupid. We can do better than just avoid relegation next season. Top half by no means impossible, look at how well Burnley & Bournemouth are doing with squads no stronger than ours is now. We have had **** managers in recent years, having Raffa will make a big difference.

On Ritchie - give me him any day over Ben Arfa or any of the other wide players we've had in recent years. He gives 100% in every game and has plenty of quality. We have badly lacked players like him in recent seasons.

 

That is the key difference though. We had this when we went up last time. Burnley, Boro, Bournemouth punch above their weight through a good solid core. They are very resilient. When they have players out they deal with it and grind. I'm not sure we do. I genuinely think we are missing both grit and quality. You need a mixture of both regardless of your aims.

We need a rugged centre back, who will organise us. A holding midfield who will battle for everything. A striker who will hold the ball and fight the centre backs. We need a spine basically. If you can add quality around that we'll probably do enough.