LUFCTALK

Updated: May 9, 2018

Goalkeepers:
Will Huffer, Andy Lonergan, Kamil Miazek, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Felix Wiedwald.

Defenders:
Vurnon Anita, Luke Ayling, Gaetano Berardi, Laurens de Bock, Liam Cooper, Lewie Coyle, Tyler Denton, Hugo Diaz, Matty Downing, Aapo Halme, Bryce Hosannah, Pontus Jansson, Liam Kitching, Dan Martin, Paudie O'Connor, Tom Pearce, Matt Pennington (loan), Conor Shaughnessy, Pascal Struijk.

Midfielders:
Ezgjan Alioski, Quasim Bouy, Stuart Dallas, Adam Forshaw, Madger Gomes, Pablo Hernandez, Yosuke Ideguchi, Bobby Kamwa, Mateusz Klich, Alejandro Machuca, Luke Murphy, Callum Nicell, Clarke Oduor, Eunan O'Kane, Kalvin Phillips, Oriol Rey, Hadi Sacko, Samuel Saiz, Jamie Shackleton, Jordan Stevens, Romario Vieira, Ronaldo Vieira.

Forwards:
Marcus Antonsson, Adrian Balboa, Pawel Cibicki, Jack Clarke, Sam Dalby, Ryan Edmondson, Caleb Ekuban, Jay-Roy Grot, Pierre-Michel Lasogga (loan), Tyler Roberts, Kemar Roofe, Oliver Sarkic, Ousama Siddiki, Kun Temenuzhkov, Mallik Wilks.

That's one big squad I think a touch of pruning is required to make way for a few newbies.

Selby White wrote:That's one big squad I think a touch of pruning is required to make way for a few newbies.

You’re not wrong, even putting to one side those who haven’t played for the first team, it’s still something like 34/35 players.

Pennington and Lassoga wont be in the squad next season either.

A lot of the under 23s should already being playing 1st team football if they were any good as there are a lot who are 21 and 22 years old.

If they are going with a squad of 20 players with the under 23s making up numbers then plenty players will be getting the chop.

This is my expected actual first team squad for next season as things stand.
We'll sell a number of players, loan out lots of the kids and the rest will be in the age group sides so this should be it apart from any new additions :


Goalkeepers:
Andy Lonergan, Bailey Peacock-Farrell

Defenders:
Full-backs : Vurnon Anita, Luke Ayling, Gaetano Berardi, Laurens de Bock, Tom Pearce
Centre-backs : Liam Cooper, Pontus Jansson, Paudie O'Connor, Conor Shaughnessy

Midfielders:
Central : Samuel Saiz, Ronaldo Vieira, Adam Forshaw, Pablo Hernandez, Yosuke Ideguchi, Mateusz Klich, Eunan O'Kane, Kalvin Phillips
Wide : Hadi Sacko, Ezgjan Alioski, Stuart Dallas

Forwards:
Pawel Cibicki, Jack Clarke, Ryan Edmondson, Caleb Ekuban, Jay-Roy Grot, Tyler Roberts, Kemar Roofe


SELL :
Felix Wiedwald, Luke Murphy, Marcus Antonsson

U18/U23/LOAN OUT :
Will Huffer, Kamil Miazek
Lewie Coyle, Tyler Denton, Hugo Diaz, Matty Downing, Aapo Halme, Bryce Hosannah, Liam Kitching, Dan Martin, Pascal Struijk
Quasim Bouy, Madger Gomes, Bobby Kamwa, Alejandro Machuca, Callum Nicell, Clarke Oduor, Oriol Rey, Jamie Shackleton, Jordan Stevens, Romario Vieira
Adrian Balboa, Sam Dalby, Oliver Sarkic, Ousama Siddiki, Kun Temenuzhkov, Mallik Wilks


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Personally, I think we'll lose both Saiz and Jansson this summer.
We could do with the money because we clearly need to strengthen. There's too many middling midfielders, flawed forwards and wasteful wingers in my opinion.
I would want to see one experienced and commanding centre-half (Bartley, or someone similar), a Pirlo type holding midfielder to dictate the play (Charlie Adam/Gareth Barry style) and an expensive centre-forward because we clearly can't rely on Tyler Roberts as he's both an unknown quantity and injury-prone.

On the upside, I think we have some really great kids coming through and expect Pearce, O'Connor, Clarke and Edmondson all to play more regularly. From what I've seen of them, they all look like they can contribute and may save the club a lot of money in the next couple of years - and probably earn us even more in the next three or four if we don't go up.

In addition to the three I've listed as being sold - not including Saiz and Jansson - I would ideally like us to sell the following players because they've either stalled in their careers, aren't good enough to help us get out of the division (the right way !) or have been more trouble than they're worth : Cooper, Berardi, O'Kane, Sacko, Cibicki, Grot (even though I like him, he'll never win over the crowd) and Ekuban.
I'm torn over Phillips. He really needs to be played further forward and it may work with Forshaw behind him for a full season, but I don't know. Seven goals is a decent return though and we cannot afford the luxury of letting him leave right now, I believe.

Should be an interesting summer, anyway !

MOT.

All spot on. I hope Saiz stays and I expect Pontus will stay if we get Bartley back. Your call on Huth I think is a great one... could be a Chris Whyte/Chris Fairclough type signing helping us to only concede 50ish in the league like 89/90 or 16/17 or hopefully even less (unlike the 64 this season)! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44059540

Updated: May 12, 2018

Goalkeepers:
Will Huffer, Andy Lonergan, Kamil Miazek, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Felix Wiedwald.

Defenders:
Vurnon Anita, Luke Ayling, Gaetano Berardi, Laurens de Bock, Liam Cooper, Lewie Coyle, Tyler Denton, Hugo Diaz, Matty Downing, Aapo Halme, Bryce Hosannah, Pontus Jansson, Liam Kitching, Dan Martin, Paudie O'Connor, Tom Pearce, Conor Shaughnessy, Pascal Struijk.

Midfielders:
Ezgjan Alioski, Quasim Bouy, Stuart Dallas, Adam Forshaw, Madger Gomes, Pablo Hernandez, Yosuke Ideguchi, Bobby Kamwa, Mateusz Klich, Alejandro Machuca, Luke Murphy, Callum Nicell, Clarke Oduor, Eunan O'Kane, Kalvin Phillips, Oriol Rey, Hadi Sacko, Samuel Saiz, Jamie Shackleton, Jordan Stevens, Romario Vieira, Ronaldo Vieira.

Forwards:
Marcus Antonsson, Adrian Balboa, Pawel Cibicki, Jack Clarke, Sam Dalby, Ryan Edmondson, Caleb Ekuban, Jay-Roy Grot, Tyler Roberts, Kemar Roofe, Oliver Sarkic, Ousama Siddiki, Kun Temenuzhkov, Mallik Wilks.

I've been thinking about the squad a lot in the last day or so, particularly since seeing the effect Ayling has had on the team.
Edmondson's really caught the eye too, along with Pearce, Grot scoring a worldie, etc ..

It seems to me like we can categorise players similarly to how they do in Football Manager :

KEY - build the side around this spine
FIRST TEAM - those who'll be in the side most weeks
ROTATION - those who'll play about half the time
BACK-UP/YOUNGSTER - those who'll play occasionally, either in the cups or to give a first-teamer a rest or to aid their development with an eye on the long-term


As things stand right now, the only players I would describe as key (ie who should start the majority of matches) are :
BPF
AYLING
JANSSON
FORSHAW
HERNANDEZ
SAIZ

That's it.
We clearly need a massive upgrade up front. Roofe has had a decent season, Edmondson should definitely be involved next term while Roberts is a complete unknown. The rest can leave.
We also need an experienced centre-half and another holding midfielder who's been there and done that.

If we can sign those THREE players, get rid of some of the passengers eating up the wage budget (O'Kane, Murphy, Ekuban, Cibicki, etc) and pick up a few more (quality loans, which we never seem to get) to fill the squad we'll have a chance of the play-offs.
Obviously, if we sell Saiz (£8m ?) and Jansson (£12m ?) then we'd need to get like-for-like replacements.

I'd love to re-sign Bartley as the partnership with Pontus was instrumental in us finishing in 7th last year, but if not I'd like to see us go for Robert Huth.
As for midfielders, again Charlie Adam would be good. I feel that Gareth Barry will be out of our price range and the emotional return to Villa Park should seal his retirement season for him anyway.
As for the striker situation, I can't see us signing anyone from the UK other than as a loanee. It'll be some relatively unknown European who's bagged hatfuls in a second division somewhere. That's not necessarily a bad thing given Saiz came from the Segunda in Spain, but it's all a bit chancy, isn't it ??
How about Peter Crouch ? Don't laugh : I'm serious. He's a good, technical player who could act as a fulcrum with Roofe and Saiz buzzing off him. One last hurrah for the beanpole ?

I’ve posted elsewhere, I currently have 7 starters in my head, those listed by Rigger, plus Alioski. I’d expect Tom Pearce to really push on next season, so my 7 is turning into 8.

Obviously we are looking at another experienced CB, particularly as Pennington appears to have served his time, with back up from Cooper, Shaughnessy and O’Connor.

We’ve been crying out for a dominant Joey Barton type in midfield for ages, I’d expect someone to come in there to assist Forshaw, with back up from Vieira, Phillips et al.

As for striking options, as Rigger says Roberts is unknown at this stage, but I’d expect him to start regularly if good enough. For me, we need to spend big here on an experienced Premier League/Championship player, the unknowns from abroad do work out sometimes, but I’d feel more comfortable if we’ve heard of whoever it is.

I would say that Ronaldo Vieira is a key player, all the others I would agree with, and I don't think I'd be that upset if we sold Dallas. I don't think Grot or Ekuban will ever make regular players, so would like to see the back of them too rather than prolong things.