What do you think needs to happen this summer following this under performing season? IMO: I still think Tim will be here come the start of next season even with all the speculation surrounding Van Gaal an co. This means there will be without a doubt players offloaded. I also believe Lloris will be off to Paris in the summer meaning we'll need two new keepers, as well as left back and potentially a striker and centre back (if Kaboul doesn't get offered a new deal). We've been linked with Ben Davies who I think would be a great signing. In regards to keepers, Sherwood will most likely try to bring through young Jordan Archer and then go for a young English keeper for the no.1 spot, maybe Jack Butland, Fraser Forster? Players such as Capoue and Chadli will be off without a doubt and potentially players such as Holtby, Sigurdsson and Lamela. I personally feel Lennon and Dawson should be on that list as they are mid-table standard at best, not a team chasing the top four. But I know they'll still be here come next season seeing as Sherwood seems to love playing them. Who would you buy and sell?
More than anything, it's the coaching set-up that needs to change: Sherwood, Freund and Ferdinand can all go, and take the medical team with them (considering how Rose was out for three months with a stubbed toe this season)
Selling 5 and bringing in 5 is only going to result in more upheaval and then we will have to hear how they need time to gel etc. For me, we should sign 2-3 max and get in a decent manager.
Yes, constantly churning the squad is no way to bring some much needed continuity. However, we must also do something to convince players, such a Lloris that we are to be taken seriously, and that we are ambitious. Hiring somebody such as Van Gaal, or Ancelotti as manager is a statement of intent, as much as anything. Yes, the sooner Sherwood and co. are out of there, the sooner we might start to show some progress, and more importantly, give the players back some, clearly lost, confidence. In themselves and the club.
What needs to happen in the summer: 1) Get a new top class manager and coaching team and back them - stop pissing around with Sherwood who's a car crash waiting to happen 2) Club digs their heels in and says no to want-away players - they can bloody well honour their contracts 3) Show some conviction in the transfer market and buy 2, maybe 3 top class 'proven' editions to the squad 4) Give the club captaincy to a leader, someone other than Dawson who's become a liability 5) Get the stadium plans finalised and a temp home decided and get moving That'll do me.
Just one thing, have the right manager in charge and allow him to manage the club his way and then if he's the right man, the rest falls into place. Obviously that relies on Levy making sure we have the right manager so I'll forgive you for having doubts but we're due a good manager who can motivate the squad and make them believe. Once that happens then you realise how simple football is.
TO stop another round of a "comedy of errors " Levy steps down to be replaced by someone who doesn't make sporting calamities . Fat Chance as his ego will collapse in midget man syndrome .
I agree. I've always been a fan of Dawson, as I've said many times. But He's not a starter for me anymore. We cannot afford to lose Lloris IMO. Some of his performances this season have been outstanding and despite conceding 4+ goals in many games, he's never been at fault for the drubbings. He should be given the captaincy next year, IMO, as a reward for his efforts and the example he sets in every game. He's obviously the french captain for a reason. - This gesture could go a long way towards keeping him at the club.
Our normal usual business practise has kicked in. Lioris is going nowhere except for a silly world record is Sherwoods latest outburst no doubt with Levy in the background getting excited for another pot of gold . Put yourself in Lioris shoes , even with our last hope Dick Van Dyke as manager , if your top of your game would you want to stay?
I can't see Sherwood being given another season even if we don't get Van Gaal. AVB was sacked for losing badly to the teams above us and Sherwood's done the exact same. There's always going to be question marks over players in the summer but looking at our squad as it is, including loan players coming back then we have: Lloris, Friedel, Gomes, Archer. Walker, Naughton, Dawson, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Chirches, Fryers, Rose, Benny. Lennon, Townsend, Chadli, Lamela, Sandro, Capoue, Bentaleb, Dembele, Paulinho, Eriksen, Sigurdsson, Holtby, Carroll. Ade, Soldado, Kane. Ignoring quality and just looking at numbers I'd say we're 1 short in defence and 2/3 heavy in midfield. It all depends how the new manager wants us to play and how highly he rates the players. In my opinion we should be looking to let go of Friedel, Gomes, Naughton, Benny, Dembele, Sigurdsson and Ade. With those going I think to then add a backup 'keeper, right back, left back, backup centre back and a striker. Players might want to leave but Levy has dug his heels in before so I think it's difficult to speculate on who will go out of the players we want to keep. The numbers of signings might start to rack up if we replace each one that goes and out of the new signings I've listed only the new striker may need to go straight into the starting 11 so I don't see it as too upsetting to our squad. This is just what I'd do, our new manager may well feel he doesn't need such a big squad, especially if we miss out on the Europa League. Even then the manager may prefer to replace most of the outgoings by promoting youth players.
Just to add, I think Arsenal are highlighting the importance of a big squad at the moment. From a glance I'd say they have Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott, Koscielny and Gibbs out. Not great but that's 5 players, we've had more defenders injured at a time than that! What's resulted though is Cazorla playing out of position, no real width and most of the players that are regulars look knackered as they've played virtually every game this season. We've done the same in the past with Lennon, Bale and Walker getting run into the ground and not having sufficient back up. Have a look at the amount of league games City players have played. Silva's missed 9 league games, Aguero 14, Kompany 10 games. These are 3 of their 4 best players who have each missed a big chunk of the season yet they rumble on towards the title, rarely showing that they're missing those players. Where would Chelsea be if Hazard, Ivanovic and Terry had missed a similar number of games? Or Liverpool if Suarez had got injured? We don't have the resources to put together a squad of City's quality but like City last year, we have underachieving team but with the right manager, we've got the base for a squad with excellent depth.
Funny how the commentators keep banging on about Arsenal's injuries, but ours seem to have flown under the radar, despite having no available centre-halves at points.
Significant long-term injuries. Playing sh*te. And yet for this season ... Wonder if this season will turn out to be a higher-grade version of 2008-9.
We need to change as few players as possible and have a manager who can get the best out of the ones we have. I doubt that is Sherwood.
No more than a couple of players added and subtracted, anyway. This year's lesson in the PL is what a difference a manager can make. The two most valuable people in the league were Rodgers and Martinez IMO, as good as Suarez has been. Part of this is mystique, no doubt. When a manager gets a team doing well, they start to believe intensely that he's doing the right things. If we could find someone the players we have truly believe in, anything is possible. Not that that's very likely, considering our record of picking managers.
I'd pretty much go along with this. Basically we all (and we might be able to include the coaching staff here) have no real idea who is in our best 11-14 or what positions half our midfielders should play. New manager's looking like a probability. I was open to giving Sherwood a go but he really seems to have done himself zero favours with pretty much every single game. He seems to have sapped the players' confidence, got no idea what formation/personel work best and just seems a bit silly in interviews. I know he's not had long but basically for a rookie manager to be given the job his dress-rehearsal would have to blow everyone away and frankly it hasn't come close to that. TBH I would like to see what a manager with very strong ideas and ability to communicate them could do with this squad pretty much exactly as it is (maybe with a new left back/stand-in right back - Naughton is just not good enough full stop). The left side of midfield is also a bit of a problem area but again I don't see it as outside the realms of possibility that a new manager could somehow instigate a system where Eriksen/Townsend/Chadli can do a job. I know Eriksen there has problems but who knows what a new coach can make happen? Perhaps he could even teach Eriksen how to track runners and close space. This is, after all, the easiest thing that you could ask a player to learn. Maybe a new coach could even make me think that Chadli could be a useful cog in the overall machine. (As this season has progressed I have lowered my expectations quite dramatically). All this talk of new keepers, new CBs, getting rid of Ade (the only player whose shown any glimpse of a spark this season) is just more disruption, more confusion. Of course the new boss will have changes forced upon him by players wanting to leave and maybe he'll have a couple of targets in mind but since no-one at Spurs seems to have an accurate, justifiable assesment of the playing staff then I can't see how a new manager coming in can. I have a fairly low estimation of this current squad but even I think that the new guy needs to assume next to nothing about a good number of them. Paulinho might prove to be a great signing, he might be totally dispensible - the tragedy of this season is that, along with most of our new signings, we still have no idea how good he could be with a clear role in a settled team who knew what they were doing.
Squad upheaval should be avoided if possible but whoever arrives shouldn't feel under pressure to make the current squad a success primarily because the previous management (together with Dof) assembled an unbalanced squad. My own view is we have a basis of a good team if the right signings are made but that's just my view. Someone like Van Gaal may arrive and realise he has to make big changes to set the team up his way and that's the most important part. The manager does it his way, not Levy or Baldinis way but the vision cones from the manager so this appointment is crucial and after having two young managers it's time to return to the experienced head and trust him to make the right signings or move on players he doesn't rate.
To do list: * New manager * New coaching staff * New medical staff * Sign Kaboul to a new contract * Allow the contracts for Gomes and Friedel to expire * Get rid of the following: Naughton, Rose, Assou-Ekotto, Capoue, Khumalo, Obika * Consider bids for the following: Sigurdsson, Dembele, Adebayor (as his wages double at the end of the season) * Buy the following: a left back, a midfield playmaker, a striker, a backup goalkeeper * Sort out the situation with Lloris and Vertonghen, which may or may not require additional signings
***Sort of copying HBIC's post*** Say bye to Tim as a manager (would offer him his old role, if he rejects then bye permanently). Say hello to a new manager (hopefully LVG). Say bye to Rose, Gomes, Friedel, Khumalo. Possibly say bye to Paulinho, Dembele (despite me being a huge fan, I'm worried that he's just not right for the position we need him to play) and Ade (for the reason HBIC says if true!). Say hello to a new LB, back up keeper and striker. Sign Younes to a new deal. Offer a new deal to Sandro because I love him in a non-homosexual way. Sort out situation with Hugo and Jan and hopefully offer new deals to both to ensure their happiness and longevity with the club (harder than it sounds). Here's one that'll surprise a few of you - give Holtby a second chance. I know many will be like "WTF?" over this due to the fact I've never really rated the kid. However, having seen glimpses of Holtby on MOTD, he seems to be far too good for Fulham and has provided some very good goal scoring opportunities to team mates, this has led me to believe that maybe he's re-discovering his Schalke form now he's becoming more accustomed to the EPL. If he returns to the club and isn't sold, I wouldn't mind seeing Holtby play the deeper playmaker role, protected by Sandro with Eriksen sticking to the number 10 position. EDIT: Just a couple more: Approach the scouts of Porto and Southampton in order for us to be able to bring in foreign and home grown talent to be nurtured into future stars. Get a new medical/ physio team in. Our players are injured for far too long.
Whilst I agree with people saying we should avoid upheaval I do think it's being overplayed in the media as they use their hindsight to act like we obviously shouldn't have bought so many players in the summer. It's not ideal but Palace must've made double the signings we did, the difference having a manager who knows what he's doing in charge is the key. Chelsea made 6 signings and they've done just fine too. Aside from the manager our biggest problems have been losing our best player(the best player in the league) and not enough first team regulars available. I'm not complaining about the amount of injuries we've had compared to anyother side but who has been injured in our squad. When you consider Soldado, Rose, Townsend/Chadli, Eriksen, Bentaleb and Paulinho have all played a lot of games for us, having never done so before it highlights a problem. At Chelsea they've had Torres, Hazard, Oscar, Lampard, Ramires, Ivanavoic, Luiz, Terry, Cahill and Cech available practically all season. All of them have been at the club for a couple of seasons playing regularly and that gives you a good base to start bringing in new players, more as tinkering than anything else. The players we have that could do the same are Lloris, Walker, Kaboul, Dawson, Vertonghen, Sandro, Dembele, Lennon and Adebayor. Out of them only Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen and Dembele have been available with any real regularity. You just have to look at league appearances for comparison. Chelsea have had 6 players start over 25 games for them this season and all come from the group I mentioned before. We've had 3 that could say the same. The trouble with having to rely on players who've never played regularly for the club before is that they need to hit the ground running, whilst Chelsea have been able to bring them in slowly.
