Mannone, Catts, Giach, Johnson, Wickham (did i really just type that) Scocco. I would put Brown, just suspect on how long he can last. That's about it.
Mannone alonso vergini brown catts bridcutt johnson giacc colback borini wickham altidore scocco bards ustari
the current 11 in the last four games. Really have to put a lot of the season down to them. We were down and our despite our fantastic run in january. but these 11 have pulled us out of it, almost
Pretty much the same but id lose Bards and keep Larson and Fletcher (I think we have pushed him too much while not being fit, still feel he could be excellent for us when fully fit)
Isn't it more a case of where are the real weaknesses in the squad? We can't keep buying 10 - 14 players every season - it certainly feels like that's whats happened over the last couple of seasons. I'm done with being told we have no quality in the team. Results over the last 4 or 5 games suggest otherwise, as well as other fine away performances, and cup runs would suggest too. I'm not suggesting we've got a fantastic squad, but there's a significant core there on which Gus can build upon. I think we should be looking for no more than 4-5 players this summer, including 1 striker, a creative attacking midfielder and the rest bolstering defence. Then a top-up in January for mid-season weak points in the squad. We need to re-build over 2-3 seasons, not 2-3 months!
So if we can keep this list of players we will not require such a big rebuild job people are talking about. A few additions and we will be sorted.
Vito Ustari Brown Vergini Alonso Catts AJ FABIO IF PERMANENT Wickham Fletch (until Jan) Giacc (play the lad as well, thanks...) I'd personally have kept Celutska for what he'd cost, but clearly that ain't happening. Jozy, well there is a footballer in there, I'd hate us to hastily shift him on and him to come good elsewhere, maybe till Jan.
Would Vergini and Alonso be a good start? Are people happy with that pairing? They seem to be doing canny, and could get better.
Thats a poor argument to keeping him on. The alternative is another season of the same, and being told by everyone else, "its not like you didn't know what he's like". Yes, he's a team player, yes he's a handful, yes, he holds the ball up well. I just want a lad who can score goals and do those things as well. In other words, a striker.
The way I see it mate is unless he has a blinding World Cup, we are gonna be selling him at rock bottom right now. What about Wickham? He looked WORSE than Jozy and look at him now. We invested a lot in the lad and even if come January we still see nothing, we'd likely get the same money as we can in summer. If he has a great World Cup, and we get our money back, great, if not, it would be foolish to completely write it off and face a £5-6 million loss (inc salary)
Well, take away bards and there's only Colback renewing, everybody else is either in contract or can be signed cheap or can be taken on another long term loan. We'll have to keep JoS because nobody will have him on his present wages.
So we right off every player who doesn't come good in the first season? Two words: Olivier Giroud? Just a recent example of a player given time and coming good in a second season. Jozy is under contract now, might as well try and make a player out of him, he's still a young lad. The worst thing we could do imo is pour precious money down the drain taking a loss on him after the first season only for the next club to make money on him. We've done this many times and it's about time we put a stop to it. We've got top coaches and a top academy. Let's actually use them to develop the lad into a decent player and at least get our money back a couple of years down the line.
