Taarabt. I know he hasn't had the best of seasons, ( Or two ) but I still think taking the captaincy away from him might just of well been the club's biggest ever mistake. He was our Samson, and cutting off his hair proved to be a fateful move.
Mate, we are just in the doldrums. It's not forever though it will be for a few seasons. Please not 15!!
If I was Harry I would do the following:
KEEP:
GK: Green, Murphy
DEF: Traore, Suk-Young, Samba, Hill, Onuoha,
MID: Diakite, Derry, Taarabt, Mackie, Granero, Jenas, Faurlin
ATT: Zamora, Bothroyd, Campbell
SELL/WILL RETUN TO PARENT CLUBS
GK: Cesar
DEF: Fabio, Ben Haim, Bosingwa, Ferdinand, Young
MID: Park, Wright-Phillips, Ephraim, Hoilett, Townsend, Mbia, Barton
ATT: Johnson, Cisse, Remy
At the moment I am unsure on Zamora. Surely he can do a job in the NPC, but i'm yet to be convinced. But its pretty obvious we are going to have a lack of decent strikers. Remy will most likely be off (hence he is in the sell bracket like Townsend, who will return to Spurs I am sure). Also Campbell is actually out of contract so may not want to re-sign.
Imo the players in the sell category do need to go (other than the three mentioned above) as they dont care enough and have put in pretty awful performances this season or will return to their parent clubs. In the case of Ben Haim and Ephraim I just dont think they should be in our plans.
That leaves us with room to bring in hungry, young players with a bit of experience here and there. That will imo create the right sort of squad.
KEEP:
GK: Green, Murphy
DEF: Traore, Suk-Young, Samba, Hill, Onuoha,
MID: Diakite, Derry, Taarabt, Mackie, Granero, Jenas, Faurlin
ATT: Zamora, Bothroyd, Campbell
SELL/WILL RETUN TO PARENT CLUBS
GK: Cesar
DEF: Fabio, Ben Haim, Bosingwa, Ferdinand, Young
MID: Park, Wright-Phillips, Ephraim, Hoilett, Townsend, Mbia, Barton
ATT: Johnson, Cisse, Remy
A topic came up at some point today about which of the players on the field you would be disappointed not to see next season. Obviously Townsend and Remy are not applicable, although both looked like we were starting to drag them down to our level today.
I'd be disappointed not to see Taarabt, Derry and Hill and that is it. Some other I'd be OK about, but not disappointed it they went.