Fantasy football - A discussion about tactics, squad strength, and transfers.
This is a guest 'blog from Premandup which I think will create a good debate. Basically it takes a look at what our best team is, and how to employ those players effectively. It also takes a cheeky look at transfer targets that we could look at during the summer. Here goes...
Well the transfer window has shut and now we know what our squad will be for the remainder of the season.
As it stands, our best XI players, in my opinion, look to be:
Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Cheik Tiote, Joey Barton, Jonas Gutierrez, Kevin Nolan, Hatem Ben Arfa and Shola Ameobi.
Obviously there are some people who would prefer Steven Taylor to either Simpson or Williamson, but that is down to personal preference I guess. Stephen Ireland has not been included as he is yet to earn a place, and obviously Shola is now out for the forseeable future.
For me, the first question is how to get the best out of them? The defensive unit pretty much picks itself with regard to formation as it's likely that we will play a flat back four with Tiote playing the central defensive midfield holding role. Agreed? Now we just have to try and get the best out of the front five.
The problem as I see it is that there is only one striker, no wingers and one natural left-footed player in there. Playing with a conventional 4-4-2 with Jonas Gutierrez and Joey Barton on the flanks, Kevin Nolan in the middle and Hatem Ben Arfa hanging off the striker leaves only one player playing in their natural position. This just doesn't make sense.
A potential solution? Well we could play with a diamond midfield that will see Gutierrez and Barton play a bit narrower with a licence to roam out wide if they need/want to. That will mean that Kevin Nolan plays a more advanced role, which seems to suit him better and allows him to pop up and score his goals. This looks a bit more interesting.
You can add to it aswell. Take Hatem Ben Arfa and package him as the second striker, but withdraw him to a deeper role near where Kevin Nolan is, and you have two attacking midfielders supporting the lone striker, whether that be Leon Best, Nile Ranger, or Peter Lovenkrands.
This would then allow the centre of midfield to be dominated by three more defensively minded midfielders, or box-to-box type midfielders which would give the back four the protection they need and would mean we would line up with a 4-3-2-1 formation, or 4-1-2-2-1 formation if you like. Whatever it is, it's similar to what Arsenal and Chelsea both play.
Now we need to take a look at back-up players. Does our very limited squad have cover for every position? Let's have a look.
Goalkeeper: Tim Krul, Ole Soderberg and Fraser Forster. Granted the latter is on loan at Celtic currently, but I think we are alright here. Does Alan Pardew though?
Defence: James Perch, Steven Taylor (Simpson or Williamson), Sol Campbell, Tamas Kadar. We could perhaps do with a left-back in the summer.
Midfield: Danny Guthrie, Dan Gosling, Haris Vuckic and perhaps Shane Ferguson? Can he play on the left wing? Perhaps we could do with a new player there in the summer.
Attack: Leon Best for Shola Ameobi? Nile Ranger for Kevin Nolan? Peter Lovenkrands for Hatem Ben Arfa? Maybe Stephen Iremand for Ben Arfa?
I think with that we have a squad that will last us through to the summer and secure us survival, but we do need to strengthen in the summer if we are to avoid another season of struggle next year. Who would you sign though? I'd go for:
Cheikh M'Bengue - A left-back from Toulouse.
Ozan Ipek - A left winger/inside left midfielder from Bursaspor.
Yousef El-Arabi - A right sided attacking midfielder/forward from Caen.
Yevhen Seleznyov - A striker from Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.
If we sign all of those it would cost roughly £20 million which would leave us a lot of room for wages and roughly cost what Alan Pardew says our budget is for the summer.
What do you think?
