Summer Priority

[GrandOldTeam]

Goalkeepers

I think we have no problems here. Howards good enough to challenge the top fourand we have suitable cover in Nash and Turner and Ruddy should we have a keeper injury crisis.

Defence

Again, I think we're ok here. Ideally, a pacey right back who gets forward would be good but with four players who can play right back in Neville, Hibbert, Coleman and possibly Jacobsen - I think any money we have should be spent on other areas of the squad.

Midfield

Heres the priority in my opinion. Left side is fine with Pienaar. I think Arteta should be kept in the centre next season, possibly continuing in his holding role which he occupied for a period of this season or

We desperately need a decent traditional right winger - by traditional - I mean a winger who goes back to basics, ie, beat the full back and get the ball in the centre. All our attacks focus down the left flank - its too predictable and if Pienaar or Baines are having an off day - we'll struggle.

For me, Leon Osman isn't good enough to be starting in a centre role, never mind on the right. He can perform in a 5 man midfield or against Portsmouths, Fulhams, Birminghams and that ilk but if we are seriously looking to challenge the top four, we need to improve on him. I'm not saying to sell him, he's a very useful tidy player - a good squad player.

Forwards
As with right back, in an ideal world we would bring in someone but its not absolutely essential. To get the best out of Cahill we should always set up to play a 4-5-1 type formation anyway.

In football manager world;

Howard

Neville Lescott Jagielka Baines

Arteta

????? ........ Pienaar

Fellaini Cahill

Yakubu

OR

Howard

Neville Lescott Jagielka Baines

????

Arteta ........... Pienaar

Fellaini Cahill

Yakubu

Priority is to keep the current squad together. Depending on Artetas role - as either a sitting midfielder or on the right, I think we need to bring in either a quality right sided midfielder (or even Moutinho) or a quality sitting midfielder. (Mbia/Veloso mould)

In your opinion - what areas of the squad would you like to see improved?​

 

[Micky]

Keep Arteta in the centre, thats blatently his best position. We should go get Niko Kranjcar and bang him on the right. A midfield of......

Arteta

Kranjcar Pienaar

Cahill Fellaini



Ding dang doo.

 

[Goat]

Howard is alright, no problems there really. Could do with better back up, but who know what Nash is even like. Not a great need IMO.

Right back is also not a GREAT need, if we had lots of money I would love to see us get somebody else in, we should sign Jacobsen and then we would have Hibbert, Jacobsen, Neville, with possibly Coleman. It needs sorting, but other need must.

Left Back, could do with some cover for Baines, I know we have Lescott, but it leaves us short. Possibly somebody who could play Fullback or CB. Not a great need and again we are skint, so go with what we have.

Centre Back, no problems for me, Lescott, Jags and Yobo and this new young German fella.

RIGHT SIDE MIDFIELD. Oh my God, spend everything we have on this postion, Osman is not a RM and never will be. Would like to see us get an out and out winger, maybe even a left sided player like Turan or even a CM like Moutinho. Anybody really, as long as they are either skilful or fast.

Centre Midfield, no problems for me, would love to see us sign somebody, but it really depends how much money we have after buying a winger, clearly The Mout, Topal, Cana or even Mbia I would like. But we have lots of players who can play in the CM role.

Left Midfield. Pienaar could do with some back up or competition, we need 1 maybe 2 wingers. But if he keeps playing as he has been, he has no worrys for selection.

Strikers. Would love to see us buy somebody, but we have plenty of strikers, its just that a lot of them are either injury prone or crap. The Yak stands out, but its whether hes the same player.

 

[uknightbreed]

we need to keep the squad we have but also need to add better first choice players in a few areas.

we need a better right back (although i bet any money we start with hibbert as our first choice right back again next season) and we also need a more suited and consistant right midfeilder.

just to note .....theres a few rumours banging about that lescott could be off for 10-12 million (with perhaps jo thrown in for good measure as city are also in for tevez)and Neven Subotic could be coming in as his replacement.

theres also talk that javi martinez could be available for around 10 million and winger matias fernandez is also available on the cheap which imo is also worth punt.

subotic , fernandez , martinez , mustafi , peterlin and the usual summer target of alan smith ?

 

[Goat]

Javi Martinez is class on Fm, cant say ive seen him play.

 

[uknightbreed]

Javi Martinez is class on Fm, cant say ive seen him play.

ive only seen him play a handful of times myself ,plays for bilboa .
he seemed very tidy and has very good vision and top notch passing ability.

 

[atrottel]

Although I've not been as down on Hibbert as some people, I can imagine the difference that a defensively sound but marauding right back could make to the team (I've mentioned Anyukov from Zenit a few times) by balancing out the threat and adding an additional outlet for the centre backs.

Currently we're not that hard to shut down (see yesterday) if you stifle the left wing overlaps and cut off access through the middle (easier said than done, but good teams can).

Right midfield I'm not as concerned about as I think the addition of an attacking fullback (probably also cheaper than a midfielder) would help improve things a lot. Neville actually played pretty well on the right, Osman's not bad on his day (although he tends to cut inside because of the lack of overlap) and even Saha and Anichebe have been known to put in a cross from over there.

I think our other main need is in the forward line - Yakubu recovering from a serious injury, and Vaughan and Saha not the most consistently fit. I'm not sure we can rely on a Cahill/Fellaini back-up forward role for the season. But that area costs a lot of money.

 

[davek]

Goalkeepers​

I think we have no problems here. Howards good enough to challenge the top fourand we have suitable cover in Nash and Turner and Ruddy should we have a keeper injury crisis.​

Howard just agreed an extension so he's here for the duration. Nash I haven't seen this side of the millenium, so I wouldn't know if he's capable of deputising, but I have zero faith in the others on the books. Ideally we need someone who can keep Howard on his toes. He faces no competition for his place.

Defence
Again, I think we're ok here. Ideally, a pacey right back who gets forward would be good but with four players who can play right back in Neville, Hibbert, Coleman and possibly Jacobsen - I think any money we have should be spent on other areas of the squad.

In 24 hours it seems we've gone from having a decent right flank to one that needs gutting overnight. Jacobsen looks decent but he's cracking on and his injuries leave cause for concern. Neville is solid but unspectacular in an attacking sense. Hibbo is the one that bothers me at the moment. I cant decide whether his injuries have broken up his progress and affected his confidence. It's going to be a big season coming up for Tony and I think your mention of Coleman could be the reason why rather than us splashing out on an area that doesn't need addressing as desperately as midfield.​

Midfield ​

Heres the priority in my opinion. Left side is fine with Pienaar. I think Arteta should be kept in the centre next season, possibly continuing in his holding role which he occupied for a period of this season or

We desperately need a decent traditional right winger - by traditional - I mean a winger who goes back to basics, ie, beat the full back and get the ball in the centre. All our attacks focus down the left flank - its too predictable and if Pienaar or Baines are having an off day - we'll struggle.​

For me, Leon Osman isn't good enough to be starting in a centre role, never mind on the right. He can perform in a 5 man midfield or against Portsmouths, Fulhams, Birminghams and that ilk but if we are seriously looking to challenge the top four, we need to improve on him. I'm not saying to sell him, he's a very useful tidy player - a good squad player.

A priority that's never been addressed under Moyes. I thought Davies might have broken the trend but he preferred to have him tucked in. I also think with the striker crisis over Moyes might drop Fellaini back deep into midfield where he apparently envisaged him playing in the first place. Who knows how that one will work out?

Forwards ​

As with right back, in an ideal world we would bring in someone but its not absolutely essential. To get the best out of Cahill we should always set up to play a 4-5-1 type formation anyway.

I think we need to show some urgency there, tbh. I think Jo will be gone soon unless they extend the loan (unlikely I'd say); Yak: who knows how he's going to be after this injury?; Vaughan is raw and cant lead the line right now, imo; Anichebe I can see being allowed to move on; Saha is, well, Saha, and an injury is never far off.



​

​

 

[Blue Wiz]

Players out: VdM, Casillo and Valente. That will make our midfield weaker, so I'd like to see the following coming in (at the least).

1. A good RB. Neville is played in the midfield and Jags as CD, means Hibbert is then our only choise on that position... and he isn't good enough to break us into the top4. Keeping Jakobsen is also a good thing, but won't help out in the long run.

2. A good midfielder to have on our right wing. We have Osman there for most of the time and he can have good games, but is also very weak so in tougher games he disappears. A new Kanchelskis or Limpar would be nice.

3. Another playmaker. Arteta is great, but can't be our only creative player. While Pienaar have shown some bright points, he isn't a good enough cover.

I'm not desperate for a striker, but it would be nice if we could get another experienced one since both Saha and Vaughan is injuryprone.

 

[Brownie]

Primarily we need to keep all our best players. Timmy saying he prays to God that we keep hold of our current squad has worried me. I don't see why he would say something like that unless some of our players we considering other offers. I don't usually read too much into what the players say, but I thought that was a bit of a strange thing to come out with after losing a cup final.

Anyway, I'll presume we keep all our first teamers. We need someone on a similar level to Mikel in the middle. This is still the most important thing for me. If we had a player who could keep the ball as well as Arteta does playing alongside him in the middle we would instantly become a thousand times better in possession. I would rather spend any money we have on this than anything else. All we need on the right is someone decent, someone better than Leon at playing on the wing. Any kind of 2nd or 3rd tier European player would do.

Up front I'm happy, we would have to spend big money to improve on what we have there and it's not really worth it at the moment.

Defence is fine as well so long as no one leaves. If we sign a centre mid then Neville can revert to right back.

I was thinking about Howard in goal yesterday. I've never really thought he's amazing, I don't think he's anywhere near up with the best in the league, but he's pretty good. And there's a lot to be said for having a pretty good keeper these days, since most are terrible. You can only really guarantee a top class goalkeeper if you pay loads, other than that it's a gamble really, so we may as well stick with Howard.

Hopefully we'll sign someone tomorrow.

 

[FC Brugge]

I'd love to see steven defour here, he'd be the perfect addition, steady midfielder, can go AM, can go DM, can def play on the right, and he'd bring the best out of fellaini. them two sitting back while cahill or arteta plays behind yakubu would be a beautiful thing too see

 

[toffee77]

Slate me for this, but I'd sell Lescott to City for 25m or so and get Mancienne in on loan.

I'd buy Belletti, is unhappy at Chelsea, good attacking player.
If we buy Moutinho (I pray) then Arteta has to go back on the right IMO, a centre mid partnership of Arteta and Moutinho would get bullied by the Essien/Ballack and Fletcher/Carrick partnerships. Arteta would have to go back on the right. I'd also buy a strong defensive midfielder (Veloso). Sell Anichebe and get Owen in for an extra striker. Moyes could get the best out of him. I'd also get a free bargain winger for the championship, and a couple more loans and frees (Obinna etc)

Leaving...

Howard

Belletti
Jagielka
Yobo
Baines

Arteta
Veloso
Moutinho
Pienaar

Cahill
Yakubu

 

[davek]

I think someone who could add something, and who's a realistic target, would be O'Neill from Boro. I think he's a Moyes-type player. He might not have the wing play we'd all love to see, but he'd be an improvement on Osman. Him and Sean Davis on a free would give us a lot more bite in midfield, something we've lacked at times.

 

[The Esk]

Summer Priorities

A few good BBQ's in the good weather, and a great time on holiday in the south of France

 

[ToxtethBlue]

We need to improve the right hand side, that should be priority. I think we'll see Phil Neville move to right back so that's sorted and hopefully Osman finally gets replaced and becomes a squad player.

I'd also like to see us sign a centre midfielder and let Cahill and Fellaini compete for the same position, behind the striker. Someone who can compliment Mikel Arteta really. Either we do that or let Rodwell develop into the role. He certainly has the right attributes.

Midfield is key really, we need atleast three midfielders in my opinion. A wide player, a centre midfielder and someone who can play both roles like Arteta and Osman. I doubt it'll happen though, we've been saying the same thing for years. The midfield is never sorted.