This is the squad of players I hope we will be keeping and adding to come the summer. Lloris, Archer. Dawson, Chirches, Vertonghen. Walker, Rose. Sandro, Capoue, Bentaleb, Carroll, Paulinho. Lennon, Townsend, Lamela, Eriksen, Holtby, Chadli. Soldado, Kane. Throw in a new centre back, a couple of fullbacks, another centre mid, a striker and fill out the very fringe positions with our talented youngsters and we're good to go. Lloris, Vertonghen and Paulinho could all be off though, and maybe someothers too which could mess up our plans. Still if we can keep that squad and replace any that get sold it's a good base to start with. Adding a bit of extra quality on top and a manager that knows his stuff and we'll be well positioned again.
I just assumed that was a typo and they meant "...been playing at right back". And to be fair he has looked much more comfortable there. Still the "def stay" bit looks, er, a bit strong. If we brought in a decent left back and Rose could then be our LB back-up I might go as far as "maybe stay". But that's pushing it.
I'd keep everyone bar the following: Go: Gomes, Assou-Ekotto, Naughton, Dawson, Kaboul, Livermore, Sigurdsson, Falque, Mason, Adebayor, Hall, Khumalo, Obika. Loan out a number of the youngsters and trim any of those that simply aren't going to make it, though I don't know enough about them to point out specific players. Bring in a back-up/competition keeper (Stockdale, Ruddy?) left-back (Cole, Coentrao?), two centre-halves (Lescott, Caulker?), a right-back (Richards?) and a striker (Bony, Gyan?). Leave the rest alone and let the new manager deal with what he's got, for now. It's a little more disruption than I'd like and some of it's not essential. I wouldn't really mind most of the players that I've listed as Out staying. We definitely need a new left-back and a new keeper, but the rest is optional, in my opinion.
I'd take Riether from Fulham for backup right back. Richards would be great but I think he may want more regular games so he doesn't risk getting frozen out again. I reckon we could get Caulker, Riether, Davies and Kiessling all for a decent price and then hopefully spend a bit more on a quality playmaker.
Hopefully this will be one of those summers where Levy takes the stance he did with Modric the first time round. We need to purchase 2-3 guaranteed first teamers. - a LB, a deep lying playmaker and a proper left winger, IMO. (possibly a striker too, depending on the Adeaboyr situation over wages) It's so hard to bed in any more players than that in one go. If we lose the likes of Lloris, Vertonghen etc, it means 5 new first teamers at least. We all know how signing too many players at once works out... Those "first team" signings should therefore demote others who haven't been good enough to "squad player" status. Then any others who are currently on the fringe of the squad should now be sold. - Sigurdsson for example. I hope there's more out's than in's, and a few of the youngsters can start to break through. We're far more likely to get the passion we want from young players who have grown up with the club awaiting their chance, than we will from signings who are constantly on the bench and lose all motivation. But at the same time, we have to have the balance between very good quality, and youth.
No disagreement there mate, although not sure that I would consider Cashley. Too much baggage and we hardly need another mercenary twat. And at 33 and likely in top $ wages we would be better off keeping Benny.
Sweet Jesus! If we don't get anyone new in, and that's the team that our new manager has to field, we are well and truly ****ed! No strike-force, a stiff and leaky defence, and a midfield that has no creativity (that anyone has seen, yet). Seriously, I think we'd struggle to stay up, with that side.
Tim has got about two points a game with pretty much that lot. Is the new manager going to be that much worse?
Well, he's hardly played LOLdado, and Townsend's been injured. Sandro's fallen out of favour, Carroll and Holtby have been on loan, and Lamela has been AWOL since the start of the season, so I don't know where you get the idea that numpty Sherwood has had a settled team!
We may be sorting out the sudden lack of goalkeepers we'll have in the summer: Alex McCarthy is set to leave Reading, and we were certainly keeping tabs on him last season before Reading put a silly money price tag on him.
It is patently obvious that neither our defence, nor our strike force are of the required standard to challenge for a top 4 spot. Our midfield, I would like to see what a manager who knows what he's doing can get out of them first. You have only to look at our results against the teams above us to see our true position. We have taken, I believe 5 points from 10 games against Arsenal, City, L'pool, Chelsea, and Everton. In the process, we have conceded 27 goals and scored 3 That about says it all!...
I wonder if we would get anything for Soldadudo and Lame la, as a job lot. I'm assuming, we can find the latter.
Sell Khumalo?! Are you mad? The next Lucas Radebe? Trust me - next year's gonna be his year. I'm finding it very hard to think about who should be in/out because at the same time as thinking loads of our players simply aren't very good I am also aware of how low our expectations should be next year of a squad that's had another overhaul with 8-10 players out and 5-7 players in. Plus there's always the possibility that a new manager might actually start making some of them look half-decent again. I would err on the side of far fewer changes than most on this thread. Only get rid of the obvious ones (for me that's Gomes, Naughton, Siggurdsson, Falque, Mason, Obika, Livermore). Plus some I would let go if decent offers came in. But getting rid of 2 or 3 out of our 4 centre backs, for instance, seems hugely risky again to me. Dawson is not an awful player, Kaboul is not an awful player. Even Verts, sulky little tit that he is, is not an awful player. Our defence benefited from having 5 players on the pitch seemingly playing DM at the start of the season. Since having a manager that does not believe in DMs they've been horribly exposed. Not to mention they look like they've not really bothered training for the last couple of months. These are managerial issues - not player issues. We're definitely short of creativity in midfield, mind.
IMO, it's been a crap season, we've looked like crap for most of it, and yet if we could get enough scratch to get a Modric/Moutinho/Pirlo level deep lying player, I think we will be very good next year. Of course, we would also need to keep Eiriksen, and have either Ade or Soldado have one of their better years. That's a lot of ifs. The past has taught me the ifs won't pan out, and we won't get the deep lying player we need, but there's no reason we couldn't in theory. Dembele is an excellent player for a mid-table team, but moves the ball forward too slowly and cautiously for a top one. Paulinho is an excellent player for Brazil, but I can't figure out how he's a good fit for us. Sell them both and we should have enough to get the deep lying player we need. Pair him with Sandro in midfield, and give him ball Eiriksen, Lennon, Ade, Soldado and some combination of other players as targets, and we could score goals, play attractive football, and provide some protection for the defenders.
GOALKEEPERS Hugo Lloris - offer him highest deal at club in hope to keep. Brad Friedel - player/ coach role. Heurelho Gomes (out of contract at the end of the season) - bye. Jordan Archer - loan. DEFENDERS Jan Vertonghen - get his head straight and stay or just **** off. Younes Kaboul (out of contract at the end of the season) - performances this season hasn't helped him but still believe he's a superb defender when 100%, keep. Kyle Walker - keep. Michael Dawson - keep as 4th choice (cups only). Vlad Chiriches - keep. Danny Rose - bye. Kyle Naughton - bye. Ezekiel Fryers - keep (or loan if Ekotto brought back). Benoit Assou-Ekotto - keep. Ryan Fredericks - keep. MIDFIELDERS Sandro - keep. Moussa Dembele - keep. Christian Eriksen - offer 2nd highest deal at club. Paulinho - bye, if we can recoup money. Aaron Lennon - bye, never thought I'd say this but I think we need to try new players now. Actually keep if happy to be back up. Andros Townsend - keep. Erik Lamela - pffft... Who knows. Does he still want to be here after the way things have been handled? If we can get him to perform like his Roma days then 100% keep, though I'm worried about his mind-set. Nacer Chadli - keep, though play LW or CAM not ****ing CM/CDM. Gylfi Sigurdsson - bye if decent offer comes, great pro and deserves first team football which we can't offer. Etienne Capoue - keep, despite injuries I've still been impressed with his performances at CM when played, reminds me of a Yaya type player with his box-to-box ability though obviously no way near the goal threat. Nabil Bentaleb - loan. Lewis Holtby - keep until Jan then assess options. Tom Carroll - unfortunately say bye, fan of his but chances will always be limited. Iago Falque - bye. Jake Livemore - bye, great lad and local too but similar situation to Tom Carroll. Ryan Mason - bye, hasn't seemed to reach his potential, looked great as a kid but believe he's 23 now (or soon to be) and hasn't progressed. FORWARDS Emmanuel Adebayor (clause in his contract means his wages double this summer) - if true about the clause then we have to sell. Ade can't be the highest paid at the club, he doesn't deserve it and we can't afford it. Roberto Soldado - bye if we can find a buyer, looks a broken man and I just don't think he'll hit top form here unfortunately. Harry Kane - keep.
