Throwing out the baby with the bath water

[Tak]

It's the attitude that concerns me more than the performances. We're not really party to those with negative influence on the rest of the squad, as such it's very difficult to second guess who will be released.

I'd guess that attitude over performance will be the prioritization when Mr Brands begins his cull of the squad.

That and who is going to take some of these miscreants off our hands?

True and this is all speculation without a hint of truth, that’s the diverting part of this bit of the season.

Brands has stated somewhere about prioritising getting the ‘right people’ in place.

 

[Tak]

It certainly is and they are the experts who will get paid to do it too.

No point in us amateurs speculating.

Yes except in one sense, it’s fun, but only if you never expect your opinion to matter!

 

[Charles Hawtrey]

I cannot see the Schniederfraud staying. We will need a new midfielder to sit in front of the back four (not Gana's job) and protect them from oppo marauding midfielders. I dont think the Frenchie is very good at that but Silva has utilized Huddlestone and then also Dacoure in that way. I have no idea who we would get but if we are looking to play 4141 then that's an obvious need.
Unless Besic......?

 

[gonetomorrow]

So what's happening with the baby then?

 

[Boss_Rarkley]

Sandro
Klaassan
Calvert Lewin
Rooney
Williams
Jagielka
Martina
Bolasie
Besic
Mccarthy
Browning
Galloway
Garbutt

They are essentially the players we should be getting shut off. Schnerderlin when arsed is definitely an asset to have in the squad and Funes Mori when fully fit is a very capable CB. Keane aint great but as a squad player he is also half decent and could keep his place next season solely down to there being 4-5 key areas of the side elswhere that require strengthening which will no doubt take up our budget.

The good thing is those all sold probably bring in about £65-70 million which can be reinvested in 2-3 top quality players without touching Moshiri's/EFC's own cash with another god knows 600k or so off the wage books.

 

[billyblue80]

If you stand still you go backwards. So yes we need to remove alot of the dead wood which includes Rooney and Morgan. Personally I would keep Baines and Jags for experience and transition in replacements but there are arguments for them to leave too. Saying that we do need to keep some consistency and a total churn would be too much so I would add one lb, one CB, one cm, a back up goalie, plus maybe a forward.

 

[WA Toffee]

No team ever gets success by bringing in lots of new players every year. Ideally 4 is the maximum we should be adding. I know each of us will have a different view of the 4 weakest positions, but if we do replace those with 4 topplayers, our team looks a lot better already and don't have to bed in a whole new squad.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

Schneiderlin contributed to the 8th place finish by doing what, handing round the half-time oranges?

 

[Charles Hawtrey]

Wholesale change is a recipe for disaster... history will teach us nothing (else)
Perhaps we should define our playing style, train and coach and see how the players adapt or not before we start binning and buying?

 

[Sarnia Kevin]

Keep the goalie. And Coleman. And that other bloke.

Yes that other bloke, and whatsisname - he needs to stay.

 

[tadpole]

My question is this - Should we keep hold of the base of players who have shown they are the 8th best in the country?

Relax mate. It'll be the same as every transfer window. Only a handful of in-contract players will leave permanently to sign for other clubs, and the majority of them won't be the Martinas of this world, they'll be players who other clubs are really keen on having.

Fans can shout as loudly as they like about who they want to 'get rid' of, that ain't how things tend to happen though, and last year we saw some of the reasons why : we had so many ins and outs, together with injuries, that our starting lineup was often vastly different from 12 months earlier, and this really disrupted the team.