Throwing out the baby with the bath water

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MACCA75

Player Valuation: £70m
Last season was awful. Consistently mediocre displays and forgettable games.

And yet, we finished 8th. Not great by any stretch, but a pretty average and respectable finishing position for the club.

We would all like to improve, and we are seeing a complete overhaul of the management structure, and are likely to witness a complete overhaul of the playing staff too.

My question is this - Should we keep hold of the base of players who have shown they are the 8th best in the country? A safety net if you like. Or should we rip it up completely and replace them (likely) with foreign imports?

Nobody disputes that those who did not contribute last season need to go - the likes of Mirallas, Besic, Sandro, Browning etc.

But - if we decide to lose a string of players who did contribute - players like Rooney, Baines, Jags, Keane and even the much maligned likes of Schneiderlin, Williams, Bolasie, DCL (I know i’ve said he needs a loan) and Niasse, are we throwing away a safety net?

If we lose a core of the team and then sign a load of flops like Klassen, Sandro (and yes) Vlasic. Where does that leave us?

I think we should hold on to Rooney, Baines, Jags, Niasse and possibly even Schneiderlin at the very least, even if they are just filling the bench.

Just a thought. (Its difficult to make a case for Williams and Bolasie tbh)
 
Bin any bad influences if poss.

Otherwyse, get new players, bench the others, start winning with he new guys then the voices of the old nuisances will never be listened-to.
 
From the 'safety net' of players as you put it, there are some whose legs had obviously gone. They should be the first to go. (Schnids, Jags). Replacing those two with the Best Quality players we can obtain would strengthen us. Then its a case of padding some positions with Potential that has a resale value should they not settle or perform as expected.

Of course there will also be fringe players who could be replaced without much notice.
 

Of that list, I would let Rooney go (just because of the huge wage it would free up more than anything), as well as Bolasie and Williams. I would look at loaning out DCL if the coaches are not convinced he's developed into a minimum 10 goal striker, and Schneiderlin if there was a decent offer on the table. Losing Baines and Jagielka would lead to a little too much upheaval for one season in my opinion, and I think Keane (who I've been very critical of) can be given another chance but hopefully not as first choice centre half. I'd also be fine with Funes Mori, Martina, Klaassen and Sandro going if the offers are there.
 
I'd rip the squad to pieces, as there is nothing there of cumulative value. There appears to be low standards and no team spirit, so I wouldn't have any problems throwing them out and starting again.

Players who are worthy (the likes of Coleman, Pickford, Walcott etc) would be safe. Get Lookman involved again.

Keep even under-performing youngsters likes Davies to see how they develop, but senior pro's who haven't performed can get out.

I'd rather go in to next season with a smaller, streamlined but better squad that will no doubt get stretched at times, to a very mediocre squad of decent numbers like we have now.

We need to start setting standards, and if that means we'll struggle when players are out injured, I'd rather than that than buying in any old dross just to plug gaps.
 

It is a case of judging who is on the decline. Alex Ferguson was the master of it - at times made decisions that look baffling in terms of who he sold, but how many went on to improve on, or even maintain, the level of their last season at Utd. He offset that well with who he brought through the youth system into the first team and who he needed to buy - who would always be better than what he already had or was coming through. Not rocket science, but a very effective recruitment policy.

I presumed that was what Walsh was meant to have done, laid out a plan of the positions we would need to improve and replace throughout the next three to five seasons and weight that up against who was coming through the academy - but he clearly wasn't able, otherwise we wouldn't have ended up with 4 number 10's and no one to challenge Baines at left back.

I don't see how we can make that transition this summer, however good Brands is - we don't even have a first team manager at the minute and sounds as though many of the scouting team are on their way out.

The best thing we could do is to try and shift any players who we do not see as progressing further or being able to help us challenge further up the table. That will be a risk, as we could end up short of the reliable old guard who managed to scrape us 8th, and probably have to throw in a few more youngsters - but it is a risk worth taking IF having done that towards the end of the window there are 2 or 3 significantly better players available and affordable in key positions.
 
Clearly we wont be getting rid of the vast majority of the squad, however the squad and recruitment was clearly unbalanced it needs adjustment and some players need clearly defined roles, some must leave to balance the squad, some will be loaned out.

We need 3-4 first 11 players max. a couple for Competition and squad depth and youth players.
 

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