Starting XI + Subs

[TrickyTrevLeftPeg]

So we've seen the 30 squad players we have at the moment. If you had to choose your Line up and Squad for first game including those who aren't available (Souttar, Fatawu) with no purchases who would you go for.

 

There is actually a lot of players that would miss out.

 

GK Hermansen

 

DL Justin

CB Okoli

CB Nelson

RB Ricardo - Captain

 

CDM Winks (eww but he can dominate the a championship)

CM Ndidi

 

LW Monga

CAM El Khanousss 

RW Fatawu

 

FWD Ayew

 

Sub GK Stolarczyk 

Sub DF Luke Thomas

Sub DF Aluko 

Sub MF Choudhury 

Sub MF Page

Sub MF Mavididi

Sub MF McAteer

Sub MF Alves

Sub FWD Daka 

 

Therefore the following would miss out

 

Evans (he would seriously push Daka for that sub striker role)

Skipp

Marcal (loan him away)

Golding (loan him away)

Faes (sell)

Coady (sell)

Soumare (sell)

Coulibaly

Braybrooke (loan)

Kristiansen (sell)

Vestergaard (sell)

Joseph

Silko Thomas (Loan)

Souttar

 

If I could purchase any players obviously a striker and new CM

 

Really apart from a striker the squad is really in decent shape with the influx of the new youngsters to have a good go at promotion this year. The way forward for the club is youth and save ourselves a fortune in the transfer market

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 13 July 2025 by TrickyTrevLeftPeg

[Mark]

We can't go into the season starting Ayew up front if we do we've failed again

[PhillippaT]

2 minutes ago, Mark said:

We can't go into the season starting Ayew up front if we do we've failed again

[TamuffFox]

8 minutes ago, TrickyTrevLeftPeg said:

So we've seen the 30 squad players we have at the moment. If you had to choose your Line up and Squad for first game including those who aren't available (Souttar, Fatawu) with no purchases who would you go for.

 

There is actually a lot of players that would miss out.

 

GK Hermansen

 

DL Justin

CB Okoli

CB Nelson

RB Ricardo - Captain

 

CDM Winks (eww but he can dominate the a championship)

CM Ndidi

 

LW Monga

CAM El Khanousss 

RW Fatawu

 

FWD Ayew

 

Sub GK Stolarczyk 

Sub DF Luke Thomas

Sub DF Aluko 

Sub MF Choudhury 

Sub MF Page

Sub MF Mavididi

Sub MF McAteer

Sub MF Alves

Sub FWD Daka 

 

Therefore the following would miss out

 

Evans (he would seriously push Daka for that sub striker role)

Skipp

Marcal (loan him away)

Golding (loan him away)

Faes (sell)

Coady (sell)

Soumare (sell)

Coulibaly

Braybrooke (loan)

Kristiansen (sell)

Vestergaard (sell)

Joseph

Golding (loan)

Silko Thomas (Loan)

Souttar

 

If I could purchase any players obviously a striker and new CM

 

Really apart from a striker the squad is really in decent shape with the influx of the new youngsters to have a good go at promotion this year. The way forward for the club is youth and save ourselves a fortune in the transfer market

 

 

 

 

 

Shall we send the Golding twins on loan to the same club? 

[CornwallFox]

13 minutes ago, TrickyTrevLeftPeg said:

So we've seen the 30 squad players we have at the moment. If you had to choose your Line up and Squad for first game including those who aren't available (Souttar, Fatawu) with no purchases who would you go for.

 

There is actually a lot of players that would miss out.

 

GK Hermansen

 

DL Justin

CB Okoli

CB Nelson

RB Ricardo - Captain

 

CDM Winks (eww but he can dominate the a championship)

CM Ndidi

 

LW Monga

CAM El Khanousss 

RW Fatawu

 

FWD Ayew

 

Sub GK Stolarczyk 

Sub DF Luke Thomas

Sub DF Aluko 

Sub MF Choudhury 

Sub MF Page

Sub MF Mavididi

Sub MF McAteer

Sub MF Alves

Sub FWD Daka 

 

Therefore the following would miss out

 

Evans (he would seriously push Daka for that sub striker role)

Skipp

Marcal (loan him away)

Golding (loan him away)

Faes (sell)

Coady (sell)

Soumare (sell)

Coulibaly

Braybrooke (loan)

Kristiansen (sell)

Vestergaard (sell)

Joseph

Silko Thomas (Loan)

Souttar

 

If I could purchase any players obviously a striker and new CM

 

Really apart from a striker the squad is really in decent shape with the influx of the new youngsters to have a good go at promotion this year. The way forward for the club is youth and save ourselves a fortune in the transfer market

 

 

 

 

 

I would put Evans in for Daka now. He can't be worse, it isn't possible.

[TrickyTrevLeftPeg]

3 minutes ago, TamuffFox said:

Shall we send the Golding twins on loan to the same club? 

Wow you found a repeated name. Imagine what you could achieve if you applied that energy to something useful.

[cityfanlee23]

This is very much a work in progress as I'm honestly lost as to how we maximise the game time of our youth players whilst not rocking the boat too much on players that we can keep for multiple years. 
Thoughts at the moment:
- Right back is a difficult balance, we can't keep 3 players that are all good enough for the Championship happy, Ricardo can play inverted as a CM, so i'd be tempted to play him there which allows us to rotate JJ/Coulibaly, not sold on this idea, but I don't think it's worth selling JJ/Woyo for the sake of Ricardo who is likely in his final season for us. 
- Players to go at ANY cost, whether that be a loan or a sale with subsidised wages by us: BDCR, Either Skipp or Ndidi, Ayew, Kristiansen, Mads (for PSR do not subsidise) Souttar, Soumare
- Junior Kroupi in on loan from Bournemouth. 
- If Ricardo can't play CM, we will need to loan out JJ or Coulibaly in order to accommodate him at RB and keep everyone happy. 
- I really don't know how we fit Mcateer into this squad unless Bilal leaves, at which point I would prioritise Monga in that position, possibly striker? 

I think given the situation we are in with PSR, I think I would accept NOT getting promotion this season in order to stabilise and give these young players a proper foundation to grow into. 


 

Edited 13 July 2025 by cityfanlee23

[Silebyfox_89]

10 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

This is very much a work in progress as I'm honestly lost as to how we maximise the game time of our youth players whilst not rocking the boat too much on players that we can keep for multiple years. 
Thoughts at the moment:
- Right back is a difficult balance, we can't keep 3 players that are all good enough for the Championship happy, Ricardo can play inverted as a CM, so i'd be tempted to play him there which allows us to rotate JJ/Coulibaly, not sold on this idea, but I don't think it's worth selling JJ/Woyo for the sake of Ricardo who is likely in his final season for us. 
- Players to go at ANY cost, whether that be a loan or a sale with subsidised wages by us: BDCR, Either Skipp or Ndidi, Ayew, Kristiansen, Mads (for PSR do not subsidise) Souttar, Soumare
- Junior Kroupi in on loan from Bournemouth. 
- If Ricardo can't play CM, we will need to loan out JJ or Coulibaly in order to accommodate him at RB and keep everyone happy. 
- I really don't know how we fit Mcateer into this squad unless Bilal leaves, at which point I would prioritise Monga in that position. 

I think given the situation we are in with PSR, I think I would accept NOT getting promotion this season in order to stabilise and give these young players a proper foundation to grow into. 


 

Goulding doesn't ready for Championship football to me. He needs a loan.

 

[Scotch]

I really think that we should be giving our young players the best possible chance to succeed. Which is why I don't understand everyone's eagerness to play Aluko at LB. 

He CAN play there but he isn't a LB. He should either be at RB or at least, a RCB in an Enzo style system where he spends most of his time at the RB position anyway. 

 

If we ARE going to insist on a RB backing up the LB position, it should be JJ. He has more experience there and truth be told, his best run of games for us is probably in that position. As a LB, pulling inside to the LCB area. 

[cityfanlee23]

5 minutes ago, Silebyfox_89 said:

Goulding doesn't ready for Championship football to me. He needs a loan.

 

You could be right on that one it was hard to tell from yesterday I thought his positioning was great but he was often crowded out. Let’s face is we are likely going to see Soumare here anyway, as much as I want Soumare to go I think in 3rd gear he can deliver in the championship, it’s more out of principle that I don’t want to see him here. 

[Richard]

Spend whatever we've got on a striker. 

 

Snap up any offers for Vestergaard, Faes, Coady, Kristiansen, Soumare, Ndidi, Reid, Ayew, Daka

 

Pad out the squad with youth players 

[Realist Guy In The Room]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

We can't go into the season starting Ayew up front if we do we've failed again

Oh yes we can

[dbtcity]

2 hours ago, TrickyTrevLeftPeg said:

So we've seen the 30 squad players we have at the moment. If you had to choose your Line up and Squad for first game including those who aren't available (Souttar, Fatawu) with no purchases who would you go for.

 

There is actually a lot of players that would miss out.

 

GK Hermansen

 

DL Justin

CB Okoli

CB Nelson

RB Ricardo - Captain

 

CDM Winks (eww but he can dominate the a championship)

CM Ndidi

 

LW Monga

CAM El Khanousss 

RW Fatawu

 

FWD Ayew

 

Sub GK Stolarczyk 

Sub DF Luke Thomas

Sub DF Aluko 

Sub MF Choudhury 

Sub MF Page

Sub MF Mavididi

Sub MF McAteer

Sub MF Alves

Sub FWD Daka 

 

Therefore the following would miss out

 

Evans (he would seriously push Daka for that sub striker role)

Skipp

Marcal (loan him away)

Golding (loan him away)

Faes (sell)

Coady (sell)

Soumare (sell)

Coulibaly

Braybrooke (loan)

Kristiansen (sell)

Vestergaard (sell)

Joseph

Silko Thomas (Loan)

Souttar

 

If I could purchase any players obviously a striker and new CM

 

Really apart from a striker the squad is really in decent shape with the influx of the new youngsters to have a good go at promotion this year. The way forward for the club is youth and save ourselves a fortune in the transfer market

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn’t be against trying Mavididi up top as having Mavididi Fatawu and Monga in a starting line up would be frightening…. But realistically Ayew probably would be the choice as things stand

[1972 Fox]

2 hours ago, TrickyTrevLeftPeg said:

Faes (sell)

Coady (sell)

Soumare (sell)

Kristiansen (sell)

Vestergaard (sell)

I keep seeing this on here . When will people start to realise that this is not going to happen in most cases? We are likely to be stuck with these duds until their contracts are done as there won't be any takers, due to the ridiculously high wages we have given them.

 

You can also add Skipp, Daka, BDCR, Ayew, Ndidi to that list.

[pmcla26]

Hermansen 

 

Ricardo 

Nelson 

Faes 

Thomas/JJ 

 

Ndidi 

Soumare

 

Fatawu 

El Khannouss 

Mavididi 

 

Daka

[mozartfox]

6 minutes ago, 1972 Fox said:

I keep seeing this on here . When will people start to realise that this is not going to happen in most cases? We are likely to be stuck with these duds until their contracts are done as there won't be any takers, due to the ridiculously high wages we have given them.

 

You can also add Skipp, Daka, BDCR, Ayew, Ndidi to that list.

We need to take them to ‘We buy any Player.com’.  Get what we can and have done with it.  New Dawn is better than continuing this mess.  I agree we will need to subsidize their loss of wages from any fees.  

[MrsJohnMurphy]

2 hours ago, TrickyTrevLeftPeg said:

Wow you found a repeated name. Imagine what you could achieve if you applied that energy to something useful.

Good grief mate, life's too short just laugh about it

[LCFCCKEANO]

Hermansen(Stolarczyk more likely as he’ll be gone)

 

Ricardo

Nelson

Okoli

Justin

 

Winks

Ndidi(Skipp more likely as he’ll be gone)

 

Fatawu

BEK

Mavididi

 

Daka

 

Subs-

Stolarczyk(Bausor if Mads leaves)

Souttar

2 of VK, Thomas, Coulibaly or Aluko(that is my preferred order)

Soumare(if sold Braybrooke)

Skipp

Monga

Alves

McAteer

 

Players like Evans, Braybrooke, Wilson-Brown, Page, Golding, Wanya etc pushing to be in and around the squad

 

New striker in for either a full back or winger

 

Sell all the older lads not there potentially except Ayew and one of the cbs for depth 

[kyleolly]

What about Bobby Decordova- Reid he’ll get at least 20 goals in the Championship 

[honeybradger]

1 minute ago, kyleolly said:

What about Bobby Decordova- Reid he’ll get at least 20 goals in the Championship 

Bobby Reid played in a dominant Fulham side and averaged 7 goals a season. His only 20 g+a season in the championship was 8 years ago.

[DesertFox]

Imagine if we could shift this lot (stuff of dreams, I know) and keep the rest...

Kristiansen, Faes, Coady, Vestergaard, Ndidi, Soumare, De Cordova-Reid, Daka

 

We could still have a squad of 30, and finish top six IMO, without signing (or selling) anyone, even with a medium points deduction

 

3-2-4-1 (with Ricardo inverting, Enzo-style)

                   Hermansen, 

     Justin,    Nelson,   L. Thomas,

             Ricardo,     Winks,

Fatawu,  El Khannouss,  Alves,  Monga,      
                     Mavididi,
              

Subs: Stolarczyk, Okoli, Aluko, Choudhury, Page, Skipp, McAteer, Evans, Ayew, 

Squad: Bausor, Coulibaly, Souttar, Wilson-Brown, Joseph, Golding, Braybrooke, Marçal, S. Thomas. 

 

Restricted to the players we currently have, I think Stephy works as well as anyone as a 9 in this system, because while none of them can finish, he has got a bit of physicality and pace, and can hold it up fairly well. If we signed an actual striker, then Mav back to LW and Monga making more appearances from the bench, until he can't be dropped...

 

[Sly]

The truth is, that our XI is quite strong for this league. 

 

Our 2nd XI would also be pushing mid table. 
 

We aren’t as strong as we were, however we still have an embarrassment of riches for this league.

 

Ricardo, Hermansen, El Khannous, Winks, Mavididi, Fatawu etc, should all be featuring in squads in the Premier League.

 

I still however do think after the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Seria A and Bundasliga, in terms of actually quality, the Championship is the 6th best league in Europe. You could argue that the top teams, with the trickle down of Premier League money, would push to be mid table in the other top leagues within Europe. 

[dobbylcfc]

Jacob

 

Ricy p

nelson 

Okoli

Thomas/JJ

 

winks

skipp

 

Fatawy

Bek/alves

Maviddi/Monga

 

Ayew/Daka/Evans

 

 

[honeybradger]

6 hours ago, Sly said:

The truth is, that our XI is quite strong for this league. 

 

Our 2nd XI would also be pushing mid table. 
 

We aren’t as strong as we were, however we still have an embarrassment of riches for this league.

 

Ricardo, Hermansen, El Khannous, Winks, Mavididi, Fatawu etc, should all be featuring in squads in the Premier League.

 

I still however do think after the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Seria A and Bundasliga, in terms of actually quality, the Championship is the 6th best league in Europe. You could argue that the top teams, with the trickle down of Premier League money, would push to be mid table in the other top leagues within Europe. 

Championship is terrible quality wise if you compare it to top flights in other countries. The best teams in that league are pushovers in the PL and midtable and lower championship sides are pushovers for the teams at the top. The best teams in Eredivisie and Primiera league give top 6 teams a run for their money and the top 4/5 in the Belgian league are midtable PL quality.

 

Also have we not just seen Winks, Mavididi and even Fatawu struggle significantly at PL level? I dont think on the basis of their performances last year that you could argue they belong at that level.

[les-tah]

Curious..For this years best 11 and signings from a PSR perspective if we kept the spend to a minimum and loaned in the important players like a starting striker and centre mid that are levels above what we have already does that mean “if” we get promoted would we have a huge premier league budget as we can spend 2 seasons worth of money? Or does it not work like that and we are better off spreading it over 2 seasons?

Edited 14 July 2025 by les-tah