This is the problem. It's not quantity that matters, it's quality. We need someone of the calibre we need right now. Krafth is not good enough, Ashby is young and inexperienced, Trippier might be finished. If this is the case then it's Tino who IMO has not looked that great recently. He makes quite a lot of positional errors IMO and isn't really bagging the assists as much as trippier used to. Even if we do have these 4 at our disposal, currently I'm not impressed with any of them.
A high quantity of players doesn't mean high quality guys. I am not currently confident in trippier, krafth or ashby. Tino I'm not sure about.
I literally pointed out that I'm unsure now about trippier. A trippier has a proven track record in the past of being great, Tino does not.
So, just to keep my notes up to date, according to this forum, we now only need: A new goalie (to be ahead of Pope and get rid of Dubz). A new right back (as we can't trust the existing 5). A new left back (as we can't trust the existing 5 - maybe Hall, but not 100%). A new RCB (to be ahead of Schar) A new LCB (as Botman is injured) A new DM (So we can change tactics) a new RCM (to replace Longstaff) A new CM (if Bruno gets sold) A new RW or 2 (so we can sell Miggy / Murphy) A new forward (so we can sell Wilson) Then we are nearly ready to compete with the big boys. Sorted.
Priorities - 1) A proper RW. Isak, Gordon and Barnes are suited to the LW, but they're not that great as RW. We need someone suited to the RW. We could go for jarrod bowen if we're willing to fork out the cash. Murphy and Almiron aren't good enough. 2) A new back up CF - Wilson out. Mateta, solanke, morris in? 3) Another CM. Bruno, Tonali and Joelinton are good enough. But after this we have Longstaff, Willock and Anderson. A horrendous step down in quality. We could do with bolstering our central midfield. Cash in on longstaff and buy a decent CM. Longstaff as our 4th choice CM is ****e considering we play 3 CM's. If we play 4-3-3 we need at least one good 4th option. Longstaff is just not good enough. Whenever we play Longstaff, Miley, Anderson it feels like we have a massive defensive gap in our midfield. 4) A back up LB. Targett is ****e, Burn is not a LB. Dummett is Dummett. I don't mind Hall.
It's stuff like this that makes you look silly. Bowen just signed a new contract and has no interest in leaving West Ham. Olise is likely to leave Palace and is a way better player with a much higher potential level. The CF I agree with but I'd go for a youngster. Not sure Solanke will be happy with being 2nd choice. Yeah some of the players aren't great, but how much do you think we'll get for Longstaff? We're hardly going to sign some South American flair player for the £1.34p we get for him. Willock isn't ****, we missed him massively this year, he's had 2 huge injuries and needs support to come back from them not grief whilst trying to get back into the swing of things. Miley and Anderson have potential......They're no world beaters but youngsters need game time to develop and signing more players with strangle that growth. Targett is a decent player, just been injured and then displaced - he's far from ****e.
If we get Marmadashvili, Tosin and Kelly we are off to the races. A new CF & RW or even someone who can cover both positions and you'd have a great squad. GK - Pope, Marmadashvili* RB - Trippier, Tino RCB - Tosin*, Schar LCB - Botman, Burn LB - Kelly*, Hall RCM - Tonali, Anderson CM - Bruno, Longstaff LCM - Joelinton, Wilock RW - New*, Miggy LW - Gordon, Barnes CF - Isak, New* Res: Gillespie, Krafth, Ashby, Lascelles, A.Murphy, Target, Miley, J.Murphy, Minteh, Wilson
I wasn't too serious about bowen so don't try and make it out as if I was saying we should specifically sign him, I was just throwing out ideas. Any good right winger is fine for me. And I think we need a quality back up CF, as Isak does get injured sometimes. Willock cannot be relied upon. When he's played this season he wasn't very good. I still think it would be a good idea to sign a better 4th choice mate. If we get a major injury to one of our best 3 CM's then it's another season of Longstaff or Anderson. Anderson is not in the least bit impressive, Longstaff is bang average, Willock was good, but I cannot just hope he returns to the form he was in in 2022/23. He can be kept as back up but not relied upon to be a step up from longstaff.
I agree witth this, although Longstaff as a back up for bruno is scary. Such a massive difference in quality. I agree with you with everything besides CM. Longstaff, Willock and Anderson is not a good set of back up players.
