What is missing for us to become a force and really challenge for 4th spot?

They key word here is challenge, i'm not saying that if these positions are filled we will automatically get 4th.

What positions in our first team do we need to fill to really challenge for a 4th position?
Could Marveaux be good enough on the wing?
Is Guti good enough to start in a team that could push for the top 4 or is he good for squad depth?
Could Best become our poacher striker and get us 15 goals a season?
Can our CB partnership maintain their form and become a consistent force in the Prem?
How long could it take to get to that position?

IMO, our strength is our core positions except the striker position. If we can keep the Krul-Taylor-Colo and Tiote-Cabaye partnerships together, we will still be hard to beat. What we really need to do is improve our attacking force. We need players capable of demolishing the teams around us, especially on the wings. Tottenham have Bale, Krancjar and Lennon and the top four teams have awesome players capable of creating that moment of magic in their attacking play.

We definitely need a striker, but instead of restricting ourselves to a quick poacher striker, I rather we go for someone that has a bit of everything, and can develop their overall play to become a beast in the Prem. Look at all the players that we believe to be among the top scorers in the prem: Rooney, Aguero, Dzeko, Adebayor, Hernandez, Van Persie, Torres Drogba. They don't really have weaknesses but they have obvious strengths.

Another problem area is our full backs. Santon could be great for the right back spot (which is where I see his long-term position), but we need a left-back and then our first team defence would look great. Simpson would be good cover for RB. We would need better cover for CB and LB though.

We have the youngsters coming through that could break into the first 11 and/or squad members as well. We have a good foundation,we just need to build on it. I think it could take around 3 -4 years to get to that position depending on how the financial fair play rules affect the big clubs.

 

Basically we need top quality striking and full back options. Wouldn't want to start suggesting challenging for Champions League positions though, that deluded tag is swinging far to close above our heads.

 

umm we need to fill about a 200m deficit

 

Money...

 

Let's not get ahead of ourselves eh?

 

A squad of quality players not just half a team of quality players!

 

a owner with vision

 

I'm just being optimistic. I'm not saying we will get 4th in a year, just saying what positions would need filling if we were to challenge for the top 4. Of course we need money but i'm not saying name the players you want, just the positions.

 

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It's still impossible to say really. I can say that our striking and fullback options are the biggest glaring weak spots for real progress up the table but you can't suggest challenging the top 4 without knowing how much money you have available to spend on players good enough for that sort of position. If we have some Arabian bottomless pit take over the club then this discussion would make more sense because we'd know what sort of players we could look at.

 

"What is missing for us to become a force and really challenge for 4th spot?"

An owner that not only gives a **** about the club but one that has and is willing to splash 100's millions.

A world class manager.

A team of world class players.

That tends to be whats required to even challenge for a top four spot these days

 

the 3rd ameobi brother

 

New centre back, despite we're not conceding many goals our defence looks awful and they amount of chances that have been wasted against us is ridiculous.
Another DM for cover for Tiote
2 Left backs, move Santon to right back
One more winger
2 Quality strikers

 

If we'd kept Carroll and Enrique I think we'd be as good as Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are. Before this summer the top four had looked impossible to break into, but Arsenal have really fallen from grace and any one of those three clubs could take fourth.

Basically what we need right now is for Ashley to spend in January, a few teams to shoot themselves in the foot and one hell of a purple patch. Fingers crossed.

 

A Striker...

And an Oil-rich Arab

 

Strikers and a right back (left back too if Santon doesn't settle).

£20m for an out of favour Carlos Tevez, £100kpw wages minimum.
About same again for another top quality striker.
£10m each for good fullbacks, wages probably minumum £50kpw.

So what do we need? At least £60m with about the same again on wages, oh and players with a lot of faith in the ownership of the club to keep us going in the right direction.

Then we can CHALLENGE for 4th but possibly still finish outside of the Top 6.



tl;dr No

 

- Two quality full backs (or just one if Santon steps up)
- Quality CB cover
- Better quality CM cover
- Possibly new wingers, unless Marveaux can cut it (I think he can)
- A couple of new top quality strikers

That would probably do it.

 

A CB to start??? Which one out of Taylor and Colo would you replace? I think they have played great and with quality full backs next to them, their jobs would be made easier and they would look even classier than they look now!

 

we'd need Cheik M'Bengue - £5m, Vincent Sasso - £4m, Antonio Valencia - £12m and Loic Remy - £10m

 

rb
lb
cb to partner colo (but by the time we get that colo will probably be old so we'll need 2)
quality winger
2 quality strikers (unless ba proves me wrong)


if you lower it to challenging for 5th/6th we'd need about half that