Inspired by the Aribo debate on the transfer thread, i'm interested to find out which players you think will make the step up and play an important role next season and which should we let go or loan out for experience?
KWP, THB, Bednarek, Downes, Smallbone, Aribo, Armstrong, Che, Fraser, Brooks. Possibly stephens. McCarthy as back up, if he re-signs on a much smaller contract. Bree will be ok back up. loan out: Mara, SAA, Dibling Sell: Bazunu, Sulemana edit: these are the players we should retain, not necessarily all PL quality. We need reinforcements in CDM, left wing and striker
Charles is an interesting one, I think a loan spell for first team experience might work for him much the same as it did for Smallbone.
KWP and Bednarek are the only ones who I can say with any confidence will be decent/good in the PL THB, Armstrong (now we only have one), Downes if he signs, Smallbone we obviously aren’t replacing and need them to be able to make the step up, and I think they should be OK for a team trying to finish 17th. Add in Adams and McCarthy here if they stay. Perraud and ABK I would add in from the loanees aswell Nobody else I think is good enough for the PL consistently at this time, they may have the odd good game of course. There are a few with potential who need loans as well. We obviously aren’t replacing everyone else but we really do need a very good window to have a chance at survival. I’ve mentioned it before but last time we went up we signed 10 players to add to an already talented team. These included players like Clyne, J-Rod, Steven Davis, Yoshida and Boruc. All of whom turned into at least solid PL players. We are going to need a similar window I think
He’s been so underused I forgot him. If he didn’t play in the championship he won’t play in the premier league. Loan him out.
Its so tough to call. Everyone that is writing Stephens off seems to have forgotten we loaned him out to Bournemouth and he was a regular starter and helped them stay up comfortably. The definites for me are KWP, Downes and probably THB. Other than that, its guess work from me.
In terms of those who we had last time in the PL: I'm very happy to give Armstrong another chance at PL level - just as long as it's never as the no.9. I'm a little concerned about Bednarek, but I would be fine with him as a third CB. I huge huge reservations over Bazunu, Bree, Stephens and Aribo. Ideally I'd like to see Edozie loaned out, but that depends on who we bring in. I wouldn't be giving new contracts to Che or McCarthy (except if McCarthy's was to be a one-year deal as second or third choice keeper). Kyle would obviously be fine. If he's still here...
Id pretty much agree across the board; whilst we had a long run of success in the Championship it was largely when we scored first, and when we were playing teams on the back foot, some of our players looked like world beaters. Equally, when the run came to an end and everyone worked out to press us from the off, these world beaters looked distinctly average at best. There is some talent that could develop on loan; Edozie, Charles, Dibling but with the exception of Macca, Baz, Bednarek, THB, Smallbone and Adams…. I think everyone else should expect question marks over whether they are good enough. As mentioned on the other thread, I hope we’ve learnt our lesson in terms of sentimentality vs necessity and long term growth. For example, THB is a good acquisition but to develop and survive in the EPL, he needs someone experienced with him and not just Bednarek. Similarly, Downes would be a good acquisition, but he would need someone experienced with him as he is still young.
If we start next season with Baz in goal it will be a long hard season and expect us to be relegated.
Well, luckily, we won't be, and he'll be lucky to play a part at all next season. We do need a goalkeeper, however, or we'll be starting Lumley in goal
We need a goalkeeper desperately. Along with a genuinely good box to box midfielder and a goalscorer. We could probably limp through if we get those positions right.
Yay the premier league: if SR invests really heavily and we get a decent keeper, good midfielder and goal scorer, we might just scrape through and survive
If you compare our team to any PL team outside of the promoted teams and do a comparison I think the only player from our side who gets in any other PL team is KWP. Far too early to know squads etc but we have a lot to do on paper What might also give us a chance is if there are loads of points deductions for other teams
It is entirely possible that team could be greater than the sum of its parts next season with a full pre-season working together for most of them. There is no doubt that we need a new first choice GK and a 10-15 goal a season finisher (we've missed one since Danny Ings) and definitely another DM assuming we can sign Downes. The players that I think we should try to sell to raise funds to recycle for new signings are Sulemana, Tall Paul and dependant on the fees, Charly and ABK. Alex and Che will probably leave and hopefully Lyanco and DCC too. There are a few young players that might benefit from a year out on loan although i'll let Russell decide on which ones he would like in his squad. The rest should all be given a chance to prove themselves and there's every chance that they will step up and play a role next season.
I've always said that you can go a long way with a great team spirit and work ethic plus a style of play and identity that everyone understands, since the days of Cloughie's Forest I guess. They had a real team with very few star names when they got promoted.
