Wingers

[FrankieADZ]

5 hours ago, HybridFox said:

Ryan Kent is a free this summer

as said already, rumours are hes heading to Fenerbahce

[Finnegan]

16 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Barnes has been linked with West Ham, so think he will be sold unless we stay up. Maybe he should go anyway, but he's been our top scorer despite all the criticism he receives. 

 

I dread to say it, but I think we might play wingbacks next season. Think about how many players we will need... If we play 352 then we'd have Kristiansen, Thomas, Justin and maybe Ricardo (I don't think we sell both him and Castagne). These wouldn't cut it in the Premier League but probably would in the Championship, Ricardo especially. 

 

Then you have money for midfielders which is the area we will be decimated in with Maddison and Tielemans going.

 

I'm not saying I like this way of setting up the team, but it would make a lot of sense. 

 

Otherwise loaning out Carlo Borges (PL2 player of the season) and Amad Diallo / Facundo Pellestri could be good options just to get us back up.

 

 

 

 

Wing backs is the smartest, best value for money way to rebuild our squad if we go down. 

 

JJ, Ricardo, Thomas and Kristiansen are all under long term contracts and probably aren't going anywhere. 

 

We should be able to keep Daka and Iheanacho who would absolutely shine playing together in a 352.

 

We probably have enough under contract in the midfield between Hamza, KDH, Ndidi and Braybrooke to only really maybe need 1 new CM to add a bit more creativity. 

 

It'd leave us needing CBs, which are much cheaper to buy than quality wingers. 

 

The biggest problem with this is that 352 is only really ever going to be consistently successful if you play a high pressing, more direct, more modern, "Kloppesque" style of football and abandon the obsession with possession football. Unfortunately, I do genuinely think the love of tiki-taka comes from Top. I do think it's how he wants us to play and I think he's been a driving force in us trending that way since the title win. Hence why we're apparently looking at more of the same in Russell. 

 

In which case it really won't suit. 

[StriderHiryu]

1 minute ago, Finnegan said:

 

The biggest problem with this is that 352 is only really ever going to be consistently successful if you play a high pressing, more direct, more modern, "Kloppesque" style of football and abandon the obsession with possession football. Unfortunately, I do genuinely think the love of tiki-taka comes from Top. I do think it's how he wants us to play and I think he's been a driving force in us trending that way since the title win. Hence why we're apparently looking at more of the same in Russell. 

 

In which case it really won't suit. 

I think Martin is going to Southampton, so potential bullet dodged there:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/may/24/southampton-to-appoint-russell-martin-with-ruben-selles-to-leave-club

 

With what you've put in your post, maybe it's not as bad as I first thought it would be? I think in the Championship you really need 2 players for every position because of the number of games you have to play, though the players don't have to be as good as Premier League quality. 

 

I think Faes and Souttar will be comfortably one of the best CB pairings in the Championship, maybe Ben Nelson will play a few games and I'd expect one more signing in that area. So I don't think that will be such an issue. Midfield on the other hand... Ndidi has regressed so much I don't think he'll be that good. With Maddison and Tielemans going we'd for sure need a creative midfielder in there. Alves and Braybrooke are coming back from long-term injuries so I don't think we will see them used for a bit, though I'd expect them to be eased in and hopefully they do the business. 

 

As you can see I've resigned myself to Championship football. If we somehow stay up, I think the challenge is actually much harder, and I'd have us as one of the favourites to go down next year because we are a struggling team that will have lost a lot of it's best players. Of course I hope we do stay up!

[Finnegan]

22 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

I think Martin is going to Southampton, so potential bullet dodged there:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/may/24/southampton-to-appoint-russell-martin-with-ruben-selles-to-leave-club

 

With what you've put in your post, maybe it's not as bad as I first thought it would be? I think in the Championship you really need 2 players for every position because of the number of games you have to play, though the players don't have to be as good as Premier League quality. 

 

I think Faes and Souttar will be comfortably one of the best CB pairings in the Championship, maybe Ben Nelson will play a few games and I'd expect one more signing in that area. So I don't think that will be such an issue. Midfield on the other hand... Ndidi has regressed so much I don't think he'll be that good. With Maddison and Tielemans going we'd for sure need a creative midfielder in there. Alves and Braybrooke are coming back from long-term injuries so I don't think we will see them used for a bit, though I'd expect them to be eased in and hopefully they do the business. 

 

As you can see I've resigned myself to Championship football. If we somehow stay up, I think the challenge is actually much harder, and I'd have us as one of the favourites to go down next year because we are a struggling team that will have lost a lot of it's best players. Of course I hope we do stay up!

 

There's been so many topics about this over the last few weeks that I've forgotten where I posted this but I don't think it's unrealistic that our team next year could be something like:

 

Iversen 

JJ, Souttar, Faes, Kristiansen 

KDH, Ndidi, Soumare*

Winger**, Iheanacho, Winger 

Daka

 

Or

 

Iversen

CB, Souttar, Faes

JJ, KDH, Ndidi, Soumare*, Kristiansen 

Daka, Iheanacho 

 

I dont really think it's beyond the realms of possibility that all of the above stay and it's the bones of a good team in the Championship without the need for massive spending, which is just as well.

 

* I have a strong suspicion that Soumare will be sold and I imagine it wouldn't cost a fortune to find a solid, Championship promotion quality box to box midfielder on either a loan or bought from another EFL club. But it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't have enough suitors and we keep either. 

 

** on that note, as a sneaky outside bet, if we're that desperate for cash I actually think Praet could (finally) do a job for us on the RW in the second tier as long as we have a more conventional option on the left. 

 

Either way I think we'll be well set in the Championship unless we have to seriously asset strip and end up losing Daka, Iheanacho, etc as well as Barnes and Madders. 

[sacreblueits442]

12 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

That my friend is a stonking shout. Rumoured to be leaving Chelsea this summer, we need to be all over him.

...but we won't be!!!

What happened to the club who were prepared to look at the unusual instead of doing the same as everybody else? If memory serves I believe we were looking at someone else when we saw Mahrez, and we were looking at someone else when we saw Deniche Hill, it seems football has a lot of stories like that, being in at the right place at the right time. This kid looks exciting, whether we go up or down he will fill the right-wing berth, there is so much talent out there and you do not have to pay a king's ransom to get it.

  If you can imagine a team of young players such as this, in the Championship under a respected manager from overseas, we would be struggling to get tickets for home games, because no one is going to give up their season tickets, because they will need to guarantee them for the following season.

[StanSP]

We probably need to get a manager in that plays with attacking wingers first . But that list from @moore_94 is that good we should be looking at seriously signing at least 3 of them.