How many players do we actually need?

Lets have a look at the value of our current squad -

GK- Dubravka - Makes mistakes, but a good shot stopper. Would keep for now.

RB - Trippier - Good enough. Manq good enough cover.

CB - Lascelles, Schar, Fernandez, Clark - No real strong primary CB. Clark not good enough. Fernandez often injured. Schar is decent. Lascelles not good enough.

LB - Dummett, Lewis. Neither good enough.

RM - Murphy, Fraser. Both hard workers, but neither particularly dangerous. Neither can really deliver good crosses consistently.

CM - Shelvey, Willock, Hayden, Longstaff. - Shelvey could do for now, but the rest are not reliable to provide any real quality. Willocks only good in a side that lets him operate as a box to box mid, and he wont get that in a 4-4-2 side.

LM - ASM, ritchie + Fraser and almiron can play here if no other option. So basically without ASM LM is ****.

Attacking Midfield - Almiron, Joelinton. Both hard workers, but neither will assist or score many.

ST - Wilson, Wood, Gayle. (ASM here if no other option). - Gayle championship quality. Wilson injury prone - Will probably be good for around 10 goals a season. Wood - A 1/3 striker in the PL, so about 13/14 goals if we stays fit.

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What we need -

Must sign

LB - Our left side is atrocious defensively. All our LB's are championship quality or decent cover at best. ASM is also adding nothing to the defence, so we need a LB that can handle himself without much cover. We've been exploited down that side so many times this this season, and it contributed to us dropping points again vs Watford.

CB - Lascelles is a good man and captain figure, but he's not good enough quality wise. Hope he finds happiness in the championship. We need a strong CB in jan, and potentially a 2nd CB in summer.

Central Defensive mid - We have no real defensive/holding mid. Hayden is the closest thing we have and he's simply not good enough. We need an enforcer here.

Attacking midfielder - Joelinton is a good man and hard worker, but he can't score for ****, and he wont assist many goals. We need a creative mid desperately as only ASM is really doing anything in this area. We can't just hope ASM has a messi moment every game.

Maybe -

Another striker? - Not sure wood will be enough, but are we hoping Wilson comes back in feb and shines again?

RM? - Chris Wood is basically another Carroll. Strong in the air. We need good balls in the box to make use of him. No one in our side is particularly good at crossing.

 

22

 

50

 

why not
Chelsea have about that many out on loan

 

Disagree with LB - we're fine here no point wasting time and effort chasing this position for me

CB x2 are the most important, no good getting midfielders or strikers unless we are aiming for 3-2 wins every week. We are shipping over 2 goals a game and that needs to stop.

CM & DM an enforcer to help the defense and a box to box, goal getting, tackle making, ball playing playmaker like JWP off Soton - points win prizes and you need to be able to keep the ball out of the net and then get the ball out of the final third to the more attack minded players

CF next on the agenda - Wood and Gayle won't cut it in the run in and Wilson will be lucky to paly 20 games a year - need a powerhouse with a bit of pace ala Drogba

Classy Winger - ASM mkII but with work rate.

GK - As you say Dubz will suffice but I'd be after 2nd choice keepers for big teams like Arrizabalizzilega* at Chelsea, Henderson at Man U or Leno at Arsenal - a step up on what we have. Woodman as third choice for the next 2/3 years to see if he can cut it at the top level - probably needs a loan season in the EPL rather than the Championship

 

Central midfield is absolutely critical for me, as well as CB. We do genuinely need 4 players as a minimum, and sell Clark, Lascelles, Shelvey, Longstaff and Hendrick.

 

But our Left side is continuously exploited though. It's been the leak of so many goals with Ritchie, lewis or Dummett there.

Other teams are targeting it on purpose.

 

See I thought when Lewis played there we looked better I'd be quite happy sticking with Lewis for now unless someone of Trippier's quality can be brought in. Low need now with Dummet back up and playing again. We must not play Ritchie there again though so yes if it's purely to stop Ritchie playing then get one in

 

GK- Dubravka - Makes mistakes, but a good shot stopper. Would replace but keep as back up.
RB - Trippier - Good enough. Manq good enough cover short term.
CB - Lascelles, Schar, Fernandez, Clark - No real strong primary CB. Clark not good enough, needs to go ASAP. Fernandez is our best centre back by a mile but isn't getting any younger - injuries therefore will play a part. Schar is decent. Lascelles not good enough, needs to go ASAP (for multitude of reasons).
LB - Dummett, Lewis. Neither good enough. Possibly retain as options in the squad short term but only until we can get better back up.
RM - Murphy, Fraser. Murphy is a bag of **** end of story, needs to go ASAP. Fraser after initial burst under Howe still looks under par. Retain as squad player until we can get another in
CM - Shelvey, Willock, Hayden, Longstaff, Joelinton. - Shelvey is bag of ****, he's lazy and he sets a terrible example, needs to go ASAP (like Lascelles for a multitude of reasons). Hayden is a likeable lad, but he isn't a PL midfielder in anyway shape or form. Longstaff could be retained short term but he hasn't progressed. I like Willock, good option and showed against Norwich a football intelligence which could be useful. Joelinton a good solid squad member.
LM - ASM, Ritchie, Almiron. ASM is high quality and needs better players around him. Almiron is ok back up short term, but just hasn't progressed. Ritchie I will always respect for his efforts here, but legs have gone and time is up.
ST - Wilson, Wood, Gayle. - Gayle ****e, injury prone and lazy. Needs to go ASAP. Wilson injury prone - Will probably be good for around 10 goals a season and a very good pressing forward. Wood - Bought as a short term option, future decided when ours is (go down he stays, stay up he goes)

So short term we need:

GK, CB, CB, LB, DM, CM, RM, ST

Schar, Dummett, Lewis, Fernandez, Manquillo Fraser, Longstaff, Hayden, Almiron, Wood are all fine to stay as short term options. But over a season or two if we stay up they need to be replaced with better players.
Dubravka is fine to retain as back up as long as he wants to stay.
Joelinton, ASM, Wilson have medium term futures here.
Lascelles, Clark, Darlow, Shelvey, Ritchie, Murphy, Gayle I'd try to shift before the window closes if we get players in.

The above is ideal world scenario so I'd like us to get as close to that as possible this window. Even if manage half that business it will be a good window.

Short term I'd like to see us line up as a 25 man squad:
First XI: Henderson, Trippier, New LB, Carlos, New CB, New DM, New CM, Joelinton, New RM, ASM, Wilson
Sub XI: Dubravka, Manq, Lewis, Schar, Fernandez, Hayden, Longstaff, Willock, Fraser, Almiron, New ST
Spares: Dummett, Woodman, Wood

 

My priorities would be CB, DM, CM but I actually would say the two midfielders are most important.

 

Minimum

2 centre halves
2 centre midfield
1 striker

 

21 new players

Keep:
Trippier
Wilson
Joelinton
Lewis

 

Suarez and Costa are both free agents! Imagine the fear those two arseholes would strike into defences!

 

IMO a CB and CM are absolutely critical in this window. We also need to find some goals from somewhere. If the CM is able to chip in then we might be ok but have to carry more of a threat.

 

At the moment I’ll fall over if we sign another one.

 

"Lascelles is a good man and captain figure"

 

Is that something he's said today or last few weeks?

Urgh

 

OP lol.

 

I have nothing against Lascelles as a man. He looks like he takes himself and his craft seriously. He is the right man to be a leader, but just not the right footballer to make it work at this level.

I have no doubt he'll be in a championship winning side again at some point.

 

Like ours next season.