No way this is a good group of players that have a bond and it would risk a disaster to throw everything away and start again. There's more sense in trimming the edges and bringing in a few bits of quality here and there.
Each to their own. Those 17 are not good enough. The five mentioned will remain in Eddie's plans for the reason you state. The other 12 will need to be sold. We won't be able to jettison them all - or at least it won't be easy. Unless we do then we have a problem for incoming. The club won't just have a 5 or 6 players sat not part of the 25. Loans will probably have to heavily used and subsidised by ourselves to get round it. Its going to be a tricky summer and the fans need to cut the owners/manager some slack. Unpicking previous owners/managers work is a big task.
This squad has proved to be far superior to what people though and it's actually the 8th most expensive side in the league. I'm not keen to keep many of the players you've listed, but it's not required in one single window because it would be a recipe for disaster. 4 maybe 5 out and in is about the right level of player osmosis each window.
The only problem is we have more we need to shift than we need to sign. Of that 17, prob 8-10 have played no part at all. So say we want to sign 5 players so we shift out Hayden, Clark, Hendrick, Ritchie, Fernandez. We will then have other players who can't be part of the 25 and have to be loaned out. Ideally we'd jettison 8-10 players and sign 5. But you're trying to push players out who aren't good enough for the PL so clubs aren't interested but are sat on PL wages, so the Championship clubs don't see the value. The club needs time and I think the supporters get this. At least I hope they do.
Merson gave me the impression there on sky that top half next season is going to be a tough ask. Top 12 it is then. Our expectations are far too high it appears. Far be it from me to question the experts.
They do play a part because the match is only 90 minutes long and they train all week. If they change too much you get divisions, bitching and problems
Nufc have been about 13th since the last promotion but every season people go on like the squads not fit for the pizza cup.
Steady on mate. We aren't Sunderland. Speaking of Sunderland, I'd just like to point out that they are nailed on for promotion this season. Iv never been as sure of anything in my life. Infact, I would even go as far to say: I'll eat my hat if they don't go up this season.
I agree with this, and you just take each position and rate what you have. GK: Dubs, Darlow, Gillespie. The latter two aren't good enough, Dubs should be backup. RB: Trippier, Krafth, Manq. Probably ok here with Krafth's improvement. Sell Manq if there's a willing bidder (the common theme will be trying to find these) LB: Targett, Dummett. Targett is good enough, not a priority and we may just keep this as is to prioritise other areas, see how it's going in Jan. £15m for Targett seems a good deal. CB: Burn, Schar, Lascelles, Fede. Clark is done, Fede looks done, the other three are backup options really so I still think we need two first choice CB's. DM: Bruno, Shelvey. We'll probably stick here, I don't think Shelvey will be sold. CM: Willock, Joelinton, Longstaff. Need a bit more in here for sure. LW: ASM. Clearly need an upgrade. RW: Fraser, Murphy, Almiron. I think all three are weak. I actually like Almiron the best, but terminal last third brain farts make him a trier, at best. Murphy's just bad, Fraser showed a few signs but regressed before getting injured (again, as usual). CF: Wilson, Wood, Gayle. Poorest area on the pitch. You either have Mr. Glass or a choice between two of the worst forwards I've ever seen at the club. Need to spend really considerably here on a first choice and get some kind of backup youngster from somewhere. So we need, just to progress, a new GK, to sort the LB issue, another CB, another CM, another wide player and a striker. Then we will still be in need of another CB and a young striker. Pope, Targett, Bremer, Paqueta, Doku, Nunes. Please.
Summer I honestly reckon a keeper on a free - see Onana from Ajax, Johnstone from WBA or Strakosha from Lazio. A central defender from Bremner, Carlos, Ginther (not sure if he has signed elsewhere yet) Botman (looking less likley) and Gvardiol. a Starting striker - Again possibly on a free with the likes of Belotti, Origi etc available. Paquetta would be mint as would a wide player but they would be bonuses for the summer.
To feel fully part of any squad you have to play games. You certainly at least need to be part of the 25. Clark, Hayden, Lewis and Hendrick aren't even available for selection. They are all big boys and know full well there will be changes come the summer. Players can sniff something big is around the corner, hence they're all breaking their back to remain part of it. There won't be many tears from fans, staff or players for those who depart. Nature of the beast.
The major noise on players at the moment is Strakosha from Lazio. Gvardiol from RB Leipzig, Paquetta from Lyon, Rodrygo from Real Madrid and Nunez from Benfica and there isn't a snowball's chance in hell we will get all of them.
I feel like the takeover / new owners can finally start to go with a plan which until premier league status was achieved was a bit up in the air. They didn't know if they were could go with plan A or plan B if nufc was relegated. For fans the takeover going through was relief and ecstasy at the same time, but only now had the fear of relegation ended and the real pleasure is about to come in spades. Those 5 would be brilliant and I think whatever they bring in will be a new experience for us to watch and that'll keep continuing for until it becomes normal. We deserve it for 60 years of hurt and the stress of the last few years since the takeover battle commenced. It's been exhausting.
No mate, you've just been a shroom and whiskey binge since a week past Friday but schools only broke up a week past Friday
I'm not being funny but West Ham are close to 4th and they aren't THAT much better than us...the teams after the top 3 are much of a muchness really. Aim high, go for 4th next season, doesn't mean we'll get it but **** this top 10 bollocks. I don't care if people think it's expecting to much to soon, let's ****ing go and **** the daft ****s who try to stop us.
