Next season

[Jim]

1 minute ago, Almat said:

 

Who is going to pay his wages, though? I think we are basically stuck with him until his contract expires at age 33/34. But his recent form has been very encouraging. 

 

I think bottom half premier league teams will come in for him and TBH he's the type of player that will hold his own at one of those teams.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

24 minutes ago, Almat said:

 

The manager they recruited is better than the one we recruited, basically. Sorry, but that's the (unpalatable for some) truth. No great shame in that as Hughton had a pretty impressive managerial CV before he went to Brighton. Of course, Hughton has been in his job 6 months longer than CC but, interestingly, both have had 2 pre-seasons in the job. 

 

I don't think the squad needs much more investing in it for next season and I don't think DC will be allowed to spend much given the FFP rules. It's new ideas we need more than anything. 

 

Possible indeed. Carlos, of course, could argue that Hughton has had previous experience in English football - especially the Championship - so has that advantage. Whether that makes Hughton a better manager, well that's down to opinion I guess.

[HirstWhoScoredIt]

34 minutes ago, Great Big Galaa said:

 

I think bottom half premier league teams will come in for him and TBH he's the type of player that will hold his own at one of those teams.

If they wanted him surely they would have done so in the Summer when he was a free agent.

[parkerowl]

Center Half - most important

 

Right Back

 

Right Winger

 

Job done

 

[oldishowl]

5 hours ago, Holmowl said:

Simple from me.

 

A new manager. For this squad to have struggled so badly to even make the play-offs is just wrong.

 

The new manager can prune here and add there, but the squad is outstanding.

 

I don't think the squad is outstanding. We have some very good players but as a squad it is unbalanced.

We lack physical players and the teams that try and bully us normally succeed. This is definitely the case in centre midfield 

The best first 11, in my mind does not have enough athletes in it. If sides try, like Brighton did at home they just over power us , by playing a physical running game.

We continue to struggle to find a system that works because our strikers suit 442 and our midfield does not

 

We are great against sides that want to play football but in my eyes are deficient against powerful, athletic teams

[Gingernuts]

What a joy it is to read a thread where there is sensible discussion and no-one is hurling abuse at each other. There's hope yet....

[Lionel Fessi]

I'm going to write all this assuming we don't go up this season and lose out in the playoffs.

 

A new CB is our biggest priority, nothing but love for Loovens but sadly his time is up and Lees needs a new partner ideally somebody thats dominant in the air, quick and under 30 so they can form a long standing partnership to take us into the PL. I wouldn't mind keeping Loovens around next year for his leadership qualities and experience alongside Sasso who has proven he's good enough back up (I imagine he'll be offered another 1 year deal), but i'd like first team captain to be preferably Hutchinson. 

 

I can't see Carlos changing his favoured 442 system either, so these next suggestions are going on that basis and are pretty controversial.

 

It's obvious we need some more quality out wide, Wallace as much as he continues to impress he isn't getting any younger, Reach is still developing and we can't rely on forcing FF into a wider role all season. Sell Sougou and Matias sorry but injured or not 2 years has passed and apart from 1 incredible goal he's done nothing and I can't see him having an impact on our season. I still haven't been convinced by Buckley/Macca so unless we could get one of them on a free or for a nominal amount I wouldn't be interested. We should buy a quick direct winger, somebody like McCleary (Reading), Swift (Brentford) or Ayite (Fulham), players similar to that style as we have nobody that offers pace in attack other than FF which is a huge weakness in our current side. Alongside that we should loan or pay a smaller fee for another wide man, sounds like a cliche but Ben Marshall only wen t for £1.2million, he would have been steady back up.

 

Send Rhodes back to Middlesborough. 

£10million for a player who doesn't fit into how CC likes to play, either sack CC or send Rhodes back, I called it before we signed him and I'm calling it now, it won't work. Hooper is better suited to our system and cost 1/3 of the price (evidenced by recent performances) Fletcher is still valuable for another year, keep FF in the striker role, sell Nuhiu, sell Joao if we can get a good price and then with the money we haven't spent on Rhodes we can buy a striker who will fit into our 442. A player like Kodja (Villa) or Tammy Abraham (Bristol City) is what we should have bought - good in the air, powerful, strong, quick and somebody who can play that lone striker role whilst Hooper/FF/Lee/Wallace/Reach and whoever else creates around them.

 

In short the big spending should be on;

 

2 x Wingers

1 x Striker

1 x CB

 

Aside from that loanees/free transfers on another LB/RB depending on if Palmer/Pudil don't want to play back up for another season, another striker if we sell Nuhiu,Joao and don't keep Rhodes, i'd also like a dominant CM but that seems unlikely unless we were to lose one of Jones/Hutchinson.

[TotalSWFC]

We should adopt a steady & robust approach to getting to the PL. With Chansiri at the helm we have the luxury of not being forced to make 'knee jerk' reactions.

 

As much as it is a Football Club first & foremost, the Team at S6 are building a business (it is now demanded in this game...) as well which may at times feel counter intuitive to our near term footballing lusts...

 

Relative to other clubs our spending has not been out of kilter, nor does our FFP headroom look punitive running into next season (17/18).

 

Believe in the long term direction and strategy...we are going places...

 

 

 

 

[S36 OWL]

The priorities from last summer that still havnt been addressed will be the top issues in the summer again. 

 

A top quality centre half

A beast of box to box midfielder 

And some genuine pacy wingers who can get past their full back and deliver a quality cross. 

[almy20]

13 hours ago, HirstWhoScoredIt said:

It is very difficult to get automatic if you have a slow start.  Getting 90 points (or thereabouts) is very tough.

 

Therefore, this Summer we don't want or need wholesale changes.

 

It seems clear that Carlos is going to stick with a 4-4-2 for the majority of matches so we need a squad that suits that.

 

I want to see a quality centre half come in.  Not a squad player but better than we have.

 

I honestly think we will see the best of Jones and Abdi next season.  We have seen glimpses in the last few months.  Playing 4-4-2, I think we have enough there with Hutch, Jones, Lee, Bannan and Abdi.

 

We need a quality winger that can beat a man and has pace (and that Carlos trusts!).

 

Completely happy with our strikers.

 

I am yet to be convinced by Pudil or Fox.

 

Therefore, for me -

 

Centre half

Left back

Winger

 

All three players first team quality, better than what we have.

 

If we delivered on that I would be very confident of challenging for automatic next season.

I agree with much of what you say but, without delving back, I am sure that neither Newcastle nor Brighton were that fast out of the blocks this current season. so perhaps it is about getting to the stage of having a settled team/formation and the earlier that happens the better !

[Big Ron's Sovereign]

2 full backs

1st choice centre back to partner Lees

a ba5tard for the midfield 

Edited April 11, 2017 by Big Ron's Sovereign

[offalyowl]

I think if we don't make it then Carlos is the big change for me, he's had 2 seasons and been back by the chairman and just hasn't done it, get someone in like the Fulham manager and let him see what needed and we go from there 

[Big Ron's Sovereign]

13 minutes ago, offalyowl said:

I think if we don't make it then Carlos is the big change for me, he's had 2 seasons and been back by the chairman and just hasn't done it, get someone in like the Fulham manager and let him see what needed and we go from there 

 

I'm more than happy to give Carlos another go, we've chopped and changed for years and got nowhere. I think Carlos at our club has been good for us and I'm sick of the club having the same old tired managers. 

Getting another manager in would also signal a 2 season lifespan for anybody else and would see us be a rebuild job again next season. We need to get away from this short term management as it's a sure fire way to destruction.

 

Anyway Fulham manager earmarked for West Ham as per Sky Sports earlier.

 

[gurujuan]

It's interesting, in this thread anyway, most seem to be clear on what we need, which is quite unusual as normally probably only Westwood is safe. Most too, also think we should stick with the coach, albeit with some reservations. For me, the most important thing, if we don't go up, is not to undo the good work we've done so far. With the piggies coming up, the last thing we want is to be going back to square one. This season needed be a wasted one, if we learn from it, and one of the top priorities, will be re establishing our identity. We had it last season, but this season, I feel we've lost our way a little Whether tactically we've got it wrong, or the players are unsuited to the system, it needs to be ironed out over the summer

Edited April 12, 2017 by gurujuan

[HOOTIE AND THE SHIT TU]

At the end of last season my list was

 

Right Back

Left Back

Centre Half

Right Winger

Midfield Beast

20 Goal Striker

 

In my opinion, once we get Rhodes firing we have a 20 goal striker

 

If Hunt steps up, and he's shown signs lately then we may have finally got our Right Back, but we need a better option than Palmer

 

Pudil, Fox and Reach are all capable

We need another centre half, Loovens, Lees and Hutch have all missed games, I'd be tempted to bring a top quality CB in, and an up and coming youngster

Wallace is probably my favourite player, but we need another Right Winger to compete with him, not seen anything from Mcmanaman or Buckley to suggest they are the answer

We need a Midfield Beast, A Shelvey type 

 

[Philb125]

As stated earlier I only think 2/3 needed in shape of: 

 

Commanding CB

Poweful Defensive/box2box CM (Jackson Irvine) 

Pacey Winger (assuming Mcmanaman goes back as he could fill role of only could get a run in team) 

 

But that said, I wouldn't be too disappointed to see no one sign and a few leave. Outgoings:

 

mcgugan, dielna, lachman, Buckley, (I wouldn't be shocked if one of Fletcher, Abdi or Jones left too as I think signed as first team players but not forced way in and strength signed since) urby, sougou, bus 

 

once they depart and returns of Lee, Abdi, Matias our squad is a match for most. I don't really buy into fact we get bullied, more so we struggle to break down defensive minded teams that don't offer much space for us to play in. 

 

I think Sasso will get better with experience. Melo could be good back up midfield and Matias / Reach / Mcmanaman good options out wide. 

 

 

[HirstWhoScoredIt]

7 hours ago, almy20 said:

I agree with much of what you say but, without delving back, I am sure that neither Newcastle nor Brighton were that fast out of the blocks this current season. so perhaps it is about getting to the stage of having a settled team/formation and the earlier that happens the better !

Brighton had 20 points after 10 matches.

 

Newcastle had 19 after 10 matches

 

Although, incredibly we had 17!

Edited April 12, 2017 by HirstWhoScoredIt

[fatzooma]

Brighton are going up and will. We'd to improve...Therfore, a few cheeky bids for Knockhart etc might be worth considering.

[Earlsfieldowl]

21 hours ago, gurujuan said:

 

Think we could have achieved it this year. There's a very clear brief of what's needed now, and it's exactly what was needed in the summer. However, we splurged money everywhere, without ever addressing those shortcomings. We simply can't make the same mistake this year

 

Correct - we couldn't solve the problem areas last summer which were pretty obvious so not that confident we will address them properly this summer.

 

Our recruitment has been pretty shambolic since last summer and a review of this process is needed imo.  

 

We have to get it right this time.

 

If CC stays I don't see many changes and a similar pattern of play next season which probably won't get us up.

 

If we have a new man in charge I think there will be some significant changes personnel wise.

[thewookieisdown]

On CC I'm generally in favour of counterplays ie doing something different to the norm.  That means in this case retaining CC who is already (by today's standards and those are the only standards that matter) a long termer. I certainly don't think the record is such that replacement is a matter of urgency.

 

The main requirement on field is a centre back. With a quality signing there we have Lees and X plus Loovens and Sasso and we are good to go.  

 

I remain optimistic that in the end Matias will deliver.  But that may be foolish.

 

Incidentally at the start of the season i reckoned we had a roughly 25% chance of going up and in my view we would still be around that.