Ipswich won't be paying £20m for him, and I can't see any PL clubs willing to pay what we want, so yeah, I'd be pretty confident he'll be here.
Firstly, yeah if we keep Fernandes, then I'll eat my words gladly. Thing is, I don't think he'll be here. So that leaves Downes and Charles. Same midfield we had last time. I'm not sure about Downes. Great on his day, but the fact he just decided he didn't want to play for ten games, and his apparently wanting to sign for Ipswich, shows the bloke clearly has commitment issues. Charles I'm excited to see. But I'm not going to get my hopes up too high, because being good for Sheff Wed, and being good for a top 2 side, is a whole different ask. We need to improve on Aribo and Smallbone. If we stick with these four, well, when Downes goes AWOL or gets food-poisoning again, we'll be f*cked. I'm sick and tired of us having no midfield. There have been times this season and last, that teams have absolutely waltzed through our midfield at will. We have to address this. The logic of our fans frustrates me. Concede goals = GK/defence bad. Fail to score = striker bad. The midfield is never accountable, but for me that's the where the problem of defence AND attack starts. I'd like to get two top quality mids in. High energy battlers who aren't afraid to pass forward or shoot. The rest of the team would all suddenly improve significantly.
Last time we were in the Championship most people seemed to agree Downes ran the show when he played and was one of the best midfielders in the division, if not THE best. From what I've read his problem was mainly with Juric but we'll see. Might he leave? Of course, there are very few players I'm sure will still be here next season, but he's nowhere near the Ramsdale/KWP/Dibling category of players who we can be 99.9% sure will leave. Hell, if the story from earlier this week about Bednarek having a £6m release clause is true I'd say he's far more likely to leave than Downes. It's not the same midfield as last time at all. Shea Charles only started 15 games last time we were in the Championship, which isn't too shocking because he was only 19 when we signed him. He's still only 21 but has developed and has just had a stand out season for a mid-table Championship team. Playing regularly for a team that's (hopefully) pushing for promotion should be a great next step for him. I don't really want Smallbone starting as much as he did last time but as 3rd or 4th choice he'll be okay. Clearly we'll have to replace players who leave but right now we have players good enough to start in midfield. I'm 99.9% sure we don't have a goalkeeper or right back good enough to start, probably don't have a player good enough to start wide left and right now it's likely we're looking at playing Ross Stewart up front, and we all know he's made of glass. Improvements in those positions are much more important. I also really doubt we're going to be in a position to attract midfielders much better than those we already have and I don't want us to spend money on more Championship players that we'll have to replace if we get promoted. I'd keep Downes and Charles, try to bring in someone better than Smallbone, ideally on loan, as a rotation option and spend the money elsewhere. Then, yes, if we go up I'd look to buy at least one new starter and let Smallbone go (his contract expires at the end of next season).
Definitely wouldn't say Downes ever runs the show. He's not that type of player. Great tackler, sure. But he doesn't exactly pull the strings. He's just another sideways type. Anyone claiming he's best in the division is obviously biased. But yeah if he is motivated, then I'm happy for him to be in the team. Think we can do better though, personally. Charles might well turn out to be better than Downes. He could also struggle in a promotion-chasing team. McCarthy is good enough for keeper. Bree is good enough for RB. Would I prefer upgrades? Sure, but it depends on the budget we have. I wouldn't be prioritising those positions at all. LW I agree we need someone. But we currently have Edozie, Sulemana, Fraser, Adarma, Archer plus some youngsters, who the new manager might want to work with first. I don't want Stewart as a starting striker. Archer is the preference for me at the moment. I think the right manager could get him scoring regularly. But no striker will be prolific until we buy a CM/AM who is able to create chances from midfield. Under all the managers since Ralph, we've massively struggled in this area.
Our issues with GK and CD have been here ever since Fonte left and Forster lost his mojo imo, we have conceded over 60 league goals for the last 7 seasons in a row and taken some right tonkings in that time even with Romeu, JWP and Stuey as our midfield. I really want to see a changing of the guard with the GK and central defence particularly.
In an ideal world, I would happily see the likes of McCarthy, Bazunu, Stephens and Bednarek moved on. They've had enough chances and they're not good enough for the PL. However, as we won't be in the PL next season, I'm not sure this summer is the right time (unfortunately). Signing an adequate replacement for Ramsdale this summer would be incredibly difficult: what PL-level GK wants to play in the Championship, earning Championship-level wages? As for the CBs, whilst we are currently very stocked, that won't be the case if we move on both Stephens and Bednarek without replacing either. I'm assuming here that ABK will go - so even if THB was to stay, we'd be looking only him, Wood and Edwards (plus the youth). Hence retaining one of Stephens or Bednarek (my strong preference would be Bednarek) for one more year would make sense. Or both of them if THB was to be sold for big money (but I personally don't think any PL side will offer what we would want). We can, hopefully, finally put the Stephens-Bednarek era behind us in 2026.
All fair points Brendy, I would like to see THB and Edwards as the starting CBs in a back 4 and maybe keep Bedders as a back up just for next season but if a decent offer comes in for him I would take the opportunity to cash in on him while we can.
You're going back to an era when we had one of the best teams in the country. Of course the defence was better. The whole team was better. We had Van Dijk, Tadic and Mane. Forster looked better in that team because he had less to do. His drop in form wasn't coincidencental. It was due to the worsening of the team. So obviously the defence looks sh*t now, seeing as they have an awful team in front of them. Bednarek won't be off to some League One team. Roma wanted him in Jan. 6th place in Serie A. One point off UCL qualification. I don't understand how he's not good enough for the Championship, but good enough for Serie A and the CL.
We have different opinions about Bedders, that's fine, I used to stick up for him a lot when he was partnered with Salisu. Now I see the facts that since he has been playing regularly we have never conceded less than 60 goals a season in the league and I think it's time to try someone new as a starting CB. The season that Fonte left, our midfield was Romeu, JWP and Steven Davis, Davis left a couple of years later and we signed Stuey and PEH (who left for Spuds after a couple of years) so the core of the midfield was pretty much the same from when we were finishing in the top 8 to nearly up to when we were relegated after Romeu left. The changes in the central defence came exactly at the time of the start our decline and so I think that that has been the biggest factor in why our goals against has been so poor and i'd just like to see some fresh blood tried there and we can do better.
I don't think it was Downes that didn’t want to play for 10 games. I'm sure he complained to Juric that he should play for a game he was dropped for and fell out with Juric because of it or something like that anyway.
Newcastle allegedly want Dibling in a £60m deal that will include Matt Targett coming back to Saints Sounds unlikely
LB being one of the few positions we're presumably well covered for, going into next season. Mind you, if he stays fit, he'd probably be our best LB
I think Manning will be a much better LB next season providing we don't play Russball style. Thought he did quite well in the Prem when called upon.
It's all speculation on part of the fans. I hate Juric something rotten, and would love Downes to be 'innocent', but I can't help but feel Downes must have done something to not get selected for so long. As much as a manager might be a twat, players should always put their teammates and fans first. Hopefully truth will out some day.
Agreed. Pretty low bar, but he has certainly been one of our better performing players this season. I still think Targett (when fit) would be an upgrade, but LB certainly not a position I'd be prioritising this summer.
