can’t argue with much of that… re bogle - he suits our style of play but attacking fullbacks like him can and do get exposed in the PL when you’re not dominating possession and bombing forward all game.
can’t argue with much of that either…think that upgrade for rothwell might need to be starter standard. I think a few of the lads you have on the bench might be moved on
it’s ok mate… they’ve been ‘quietly preparing for the premier league’ apparently. A subtle choice of words - could be quietly preparing new season ticket prices. Quietly preparing to sell the club. Etc
Yep, agree. Any new signings should be upgrades on what we already have and our current starters move to the bench or up their game.
Be interesting if this theory that we’re aiming for current PL players is true. I hope that doesn’t mean old unwanted squad players, given the young wanted first team players tend not to be available . Think we need a blend myself. Experience only takes you so far. It’s why clubs are so focussed on fitness numbers.
Imagine if Paraag reads yours and Eires posts, “we have the best team in the league”, “Farke isn’t fit to be a postman if he can’t get this team promoted”, “the Premier League is ****e”, “the owners are robbing bastards”, I’d hesitate to chuck millions at that too tbh Chuck in the 300 players we are supposed to sign in the summer and I’d be downright glum
We are a very young side. I don't mind one or two 'older' heads but they shouldn't be 33 or 34. Fabians Schar is available on a free but he's too old. If he'd been 30 or even 31 he would have been ideal at centre back.
I’d love to be even average in the PL but I don’t feel Farke is that good, we did have the best team, I don’t blame the board for not spending in January, we didn’t need to and the table now proves that. I never felt Radz was tight, I think he got a tough deal from many supporters forgetting he was the nucleus for all this recent success, undoing years of destruction from the previous three owners. I don’t believe Paraag is tight either, sensible and calculated maybe, there is plenty going round that he made it clear to Farke that Meslier needs dropping
Firpo is just thinking of his bank balance (no different to most other players). Even if it was just one season in the Premier League, he'd make far more money than he would at Real Betis. The Championship has generally masked his defensive frailties and allowed his attacking forays to be productive. In the PL we'll spend a lot more time defending. He ain't good enough. Time to let him go.
IMO we need: 1. Two goalkeepers Meslier needs to move on and hopefully we can get a decent fee for him. If we replace him with the likes of Pope/Johnstone or Ramsdale, then I think Darlow will want to leave. He's the new Wales goalkeeper and will want to keep his place and possibly play in next year's World Cup. 2. Two left backs - I am assuming that Firpo will leave on a free transfer and Byram is NOT cover at left back. Personally I think Byram will leave too this Summer. 3. Two center-halves Wober will leave so we need a right and left sided central defender unless you want Ampadu as back up to Struijk, which I don't think he'll want. 4. Three wingers (one of whom could be Solomon) as I expect Ramazani, Gnonto and Aaronson to leave 5. A top class No10 - unless we Farke decides to go with a 4-1-4-1 formation. 6. A top class creative midfielder. I would really like James McAtee. 7. A top class striker. maybe two strikers as I suspect the Farke will not consider Joseph good enough for the premiership. So that makes about 12-13 players.
Players of the calibre of Cameron Archer are around £15m and I personally don’t believe he is good enough. 12 x £15m = £180m which just isn’t happening. One decent Keeper alone is minimum £25m We are newly promoted, after the previous two seasons where all newly promoted have dropped straight back down its going to be hard attracting these players
It's sunny this morning but i can see some grey clouds so it might rain or cloud over but maybe it will stay nice.
This is pretty bang on. Might even be tempted to keep Wober due to Struijk injury issues and go for a RCB but not sure how I feel about Rodon/Struijk or Wober back two in the PL. And if we get a new LB not sure we need Firpo, Byram and Schmidt however all good back up options for PL so wouldn’t be against keeping them all.
Do you not think we need to build a squad though? Even though I agree with you I’m not sure it makes sense to let our best LB go, I think to have him as back up to injuries and for the cups will do us well. Even for 1-2 more seasons. Otherwise we have to buy 2 LBs and we’re gonna have churn and new faces as it is so think it’d be good to mostly keep what we have but then improve on what we have.
I cthink we can forget about getting rid of most if not all of current squad. Some are good enough for bottom half of pl, others fine for past twenty minutes of games. There's not a cats chance in hell were going to sign two or twelve top players. If we can get four and a couple of Tanaka types it's best we can hope for. Hopefully 27 or 28 points will be relegated next season with a bit of luck. It'd give us something realistic to aim for
Rather stay up with 38, but I get where you're coming from. Luton probably (unless Ipswich get a couple more wins) the kings of the promoted then relegated clubs over the last 2 seasons with 26 pts. To beat their tally would be just grand
Been fantastic this season and I can’t help but like him, however, I tend to agree with this sentiment.
And a “top class” forward is probably 3 times the price of a keeper when you consider Spurs payed £62 million for Solanke and scum paid £72 million for Hoyland (and look at their goal returns this year).
It's a toughie, but he's just not good enough for the PL. It was heart-in-mouth time every time an attack went down his side when we were in the PL.