The state of our squad going into the championship.

Premandup

I’m going to start by looking at the last 6 games of the season, where we played a fairly settled side, won 3, drew 3, picked up 12 points and scored 12 goals conceding 5. That’s a good base and had we kept that up
all season we would have finished 2nd on 76 points. Fair to say I’m quietly confident in the Championship.

In all six games Darlow started in Goal, not that there was much choice with Krul and Elliott injured. Krul has one year left on his contract so if we are going to sell him now would be good. We have also signed Matz
Sels about whom I know nothing. He will bring competition for places with Elliott, Darlow and Woodman all trying to be our number one keeper.

The defence has been almost as solid. Anita, Mbemba, Lascelles and Dummett started 5 of the 6 with Janmaat and Taylor replacing Anita and Lascelles for the Spurs match. Taylor has gone, the question here is
regarding Janmaat’s future. He is a more natural fullback than Anita, and he is on a long term contract, whilst Anita only has one year left on his, but should he be our starting full back or should we buy in? The
other worry is that Dummett also seems to be in the last year of his contract, but I imagine he would sign an extension.

There are two other defenders in the last year of their contracts Coloccini and Satka. That only leaves Mbabu, Haidara and Sterry as defenders who have any game time, Sterry subbing Sissoko in the Spurs game. Whilst I have no
problems with Anita or Janmaat, playing alongside Mbemba, Lascelles, Dummett as our starting defence next season, we need more strength in depth, especially with Colocccini joining San Lorenzo, at last, hopefully. Apparently we are in for two more defenders with Steven Caulker, Grant Hanley and Arsenal youngster Isaac Hayden all cited.

The midfield of Tiote, Colback, Sissoko and Townsend also started every game – while Shelvey, Wijnaldum, Perez and even SDJ got minutes as substitutes. Whilst keeping the bulk of that starting midfield together would be
wonderful, is it likely? Personally I would try to keep it together as Rafa does not seem to fancy Shelvey, and so I imagine he, Wijnaldum and SDJ might all be following Townsend out of the door. I can’t see Thauvin, Cabella, Saivat or Vuckic contributing so all that leaves is Aarons as recognised back-up. To make matters worse, Tiote is in the last year of his contract, and there will be suitors for Sissoko. Replacing Townsend with Matt Ritchie is questionable, but makes sense. Ritchie is not as good, but probably good enough. We need to clear out the backups and buy in competition for places.

Up front is less conclusive or convincing, even with the arrival of Dwight Gayle. Rafa preferred Cisse’s experience to Mitrovic’s presence last season, not that either scored enough. The second striker seemed to be between Wijnaldum and Perez – with Wijnaldum getting the nod four games to two. Cisse and Gouffran are in the last year of their contracts and I can’t see Riviere contributing much, which only leaves Armstrong and Toney as back up to the three of Mitrovic, Perez and Gayle. Dwight Gayle has a decent record and proven experience – but is he good enough to fire in a high number of goals? Wijnaldum as second striker still needs replacing, assuming he goes.

As well as those players mentioned in this article we are paying the wages of 11 further outfield players who have never kicked a ball in anger for the first team. I wonder if any of them ever will.

Premandup

About Premandup

View all posts by Premandup →

You may like these posts

76 thoughts on “The state of our squad going into the championship.”

  1. Thanks Prem
    Well I think we are quite well covered up top,Cissie will go,Jong will be loaned out,on Richie he might not be in Townsend class but not far short but he’s also one hell of a grafter and Rafa will improve him,we must step up our defence we are very short there I see Rafa bringing two defenders in the very near future

      (Quote)

  2. Yeah cheers Prem. Good to see you back.

    I agree up front does not look too bad. Mitro, Gayle, Perez and hopefully Armstrong to be the 4 with maybe De Jong staying on to provide a bit of presence and composure.

    I still think we need another winger as Aaron’s can’t be relied on with his injury record. Tiote, Colback, Shelvey and one other to come in at CM in place of Sissoko, who can add attacking presence.

    In defense probably two CBs and a left back still required – so a few signings to go yet but with several to go as well.

    Heidara, Janmaat or Anita, Gouffy, Sissy, Gini, Cisse, Riviere to go yet – so in total we may end up bringing in less than actually leave.

      (Quote)

  4. Thanks I do still manage to have a read every few days but rarely have enough to comment on.

    I as usual fairly optomistic

    I seem to recall seeing a table a few weeks ago about out average position over the last eas it 25 years. My own records going back to the 50s show only twice since then have we had anything remotely bodering on success, and that even Joe Harvey’s side rarely graced the top 10 so I don’t see that Pards was anything other than a mid table manager with a mid table squad performing in line with NUFC expectations. Whilst growing up in SW london, I did get to dislkie Palace quite a lot, so disappointed to see Townsend head that way, a shame really he is better than that.

    Anyway past gone, looking forward, I think that with rafa we have hope that we will develop into a proper premiership side. When his name was bandied about a couple of years ago I was sceptical that we would get him, or that he was the right man. This time I really can’t thnk of anyone better placed to move us forward.

    I’ll try to post a bit more often 😳

      (Quote)

  6. Good read Prem, thanks. I won’t be happy until the defence is sorted, we have waited so long for an upgrade on those who got us promoted last time.
    Is Colo actually gone yet?
    Hope Gayle does well for us and that Arma gets a fair shout too. I too think we need another winger in and a lot depends on who leaves as to who else is needed. Hoping Ritchie settles well and we don’t miss Andros too much .

      (Quote)

  7. I think Shelvey and de Jong are the wild cards. Shelvey was once good enough for an England call up and could be useful. My opinion is that he should be discouraged from being the “quarterback” as that is a low percentage game, and should play as an attacking midfielder. I would let him take a few long range shots to keep the ‘keeper honest but tell him that he does not have shoot-on-sight license. If he goes that way in any game I would drop him as punishment. De Jong should get this pre-season to prove his fitness. If he is not over that collapsed lung by now he never will be.

    I think the worst thing for Shelvey was that West Ham game where is “quarterbacking” paid off. He then thought he could do it every game and he was given even more encouragement with the Captaincy.

    Finally, on Saivet. He was captain of Bordeaux and the reason he was bought in January was that there were other suitors. We haven’t seen him except for one decent half of football so I don’t know why we would write him off. Rafa was going with PL experience when he came in so I am not surprised he did not use the untried Frenchman. Centre-mid was probably our strongest area anyway. As I said, I don’t see why everybody is automatically writing him off.

      (Quote)

  9. Eric, if Saivet does come good then good on him. I think he was bought in becaause Tiote was off, only he didn’t. Unfortunately captain of a french club does not mean a lot in the EPL as we have learned to our cost.

    Tiote, colback, sissoko, townsend is what we played.
    Saivet, Colback, Ritchie, Aarons is what what we are looking at.

    Not quite the same, but with potential.
    As you say Shelvey and SDJ could come in and be stars.

      (Quote)

  10. Prem: I agree about Saivet being Tiote’s probable replacement in January. However, the club have said that they intended to buy Saivet in the summer but brought it forward to January because there were other interested parties. His Agents are Mondial again where Carr got a lot of our players from so there was probably a bit of arm twisting from them (they were probably running low on croissants and brie in the office that week and gave good ol’ Graham a ring).

      (Quote)

  11. Troy’s predictions:

    1. We needed to keep Pardew because we would never get anyone better under Ashley
    2. Lee Clark as interim manager
    3. England to win Euros

    No wonder he has disappeared.

      (Quote)

  12. So Colo is back. I said it wouldn’t be as easy as just cancelling his contract. He has a year left at 3.5 mil and why would he give that up? There have been reports that he has a 16 game trigger for yet another year, so the club is stuck between a rock and a hard place. My view, as I have said before, is that the club should loan him to San Lorenzo and have them pay as much of his contract as they can afford (not much, I suspect). This means we do not have to pay up his contract and can spread the cost over the year.

    I still expect him to leave, I am just not delusional about it like the people who think he will just walk away from all of that money. After all, this is his last big contract so he would be well served to make the most of it. Plus his Mr. 10% will get 350k so I doubt he will be letting him walk for nothing.

      (Quote)

  13. And The Chronicle better not be calling Ritchie a Scotsman. He is no more Scottish than I am. He was born in Gosport and lived in England all of his life. Just like Elliot lived in England all of his life but plays for the ROI. They are Scottish and Irish Internationals NOT Scotsmen or Irishmen. Because they have Scottish or Irish relatives does not make them that Nationality.

    I know this is a small point but these people are supposed to be journalists so you would think they could occasionally get their facts straight.

      (Quote)

  14. I suppose Ritchie could be classed as Scottish by some since his parents are, but I would disagree since he was born and bred in England. Elliot’s grandfather is Irish so saying he is Irish is just wrong.

      (Quote)

  18. Living in the USA this people claiming to be what they are not or calling them what they are not is a bugbear of mine. You will have someone who has an Irish last name via a great grandfather calling themselves Irish even though they have never left the country. Same with some other ethnicities, someone will call themselves Italian here just because they ate a bowl of pasta one time.

      (Quote)

  19. Ice: I like Conte and it should be iteresting with him, Pep, Mourinho and Klopp this year.

      (Quote)

  20. Eric Sykes:
    Ice: I like Conte and it should be iteresting with him, Pep, Mourinho and Klopp this year.

    aye mate he knows his way round footy game,next year will good to seeRafa having a go at them

      (Quote)

  22. Enjoyed your article very much Prem. I have the impression that Rafa is building a team and not going for individual stars. For myself though I cannot stand having Sissoko around and the sooner the moaning Minnie goes the better.

      (Quote)

  29. Icedog:
    R.I.P. C Ahearne only 52

    She fought that **** disease 3 or four times too. RIP . fed up with cancer taking all the talent away 🙁

      (Quote)

  46. Good to see you writing again Prem mate.

    I thought Dummett had signed a new contract at the back end of last season?. Also i would want to keep Anita on coz I think he’s done OK so far but will flourish under Rafa.

    I really want to see 2 defenders in next – either both CB or fullback that can cover CB.

      (Quote)

  47. Good read Prem!

    Id like to see us move in for a real high profile striker, I’m not sold on mitro.

    As much as we conceded a lot under mcclaren, I think we have a good defence – especially excited to see lacelles kick on next season

      (Quote)

  48. Even when they’re horrendous at penalties they still end up winning!

    Kimtoon:
    What is it with Germany and pen shootouts

      (Quote)

  49. Andy The Magpie:
    Good read Prem!

    Id like to see us move in for a real high profile striker, I’m not sold on mitro.

    As much as we conceded a lot under mcclaren, I think we have a good defence – especially excited to see lacelles kick on next season

    Andy – do you think we can draw a high profile CF though based on playing CCC this season?.
    A season in the lower league might be just what Mit needs.

      (Quote)

  50. Sharpy17: Andy – do you think we can draw a high profile CF though based on playing CCC this season?.
    A season in the lower league might be just what Mit needs.

    ill go along with that mate i think he will do really well you need a rough and tumble type of c\f in the ccc fancy dans dont cut it in the ccc

      (Quote)

  51. surely this is hard to accept Yedlin who was on loan last season at scum have told Spurs they cannot afford the £5 to sign him says a report on ssn!!!

      (Quote)

  52. icedog:
    surely this is hard to acceptYedlin who was on loan last season at scum have told Spurs they cannot afford the £5 to sign him says a report on ssn!!!

    They did show a lot of debt but I would of thought the big TV payout would ease that so it is odd as you say.

      (Quote)

  56. 3.0 now, my god how utterly poor England were against Iceland, because this French team are not that special.

      (Quote)

  59. Oh hell I hope this doesn’t get embarrassing for Iceland.

    Still, they’ll always have their win against us like

      (Quote)

  61. I see Siko will not stay on that wing keeps going inside,he’s getting away with it because France are finding it easy

      (Quote)

  64. Well Siko has stayed out for the first 15mil maybe he’s been told,as it was leaving the full back with all the graft getting no cover from Siko

      (Quote)

  67. Kim – I know it’s little consolation to them but at least Iceland can say they were knocked out by the tournament favourites & by some quality goals.
    If they want to see their glass 3/4 full they could also say they won the second half 2-1 😆

    They made a small population very proud though.
    I’m sure the assistant manager is a dentist of something like that 😯

      (Quote)

  69. Sharpy, Yeah he is a Dentist mate. They were saying on the TV that Iceland have great facilities and more football coaches per head than any other country 😯

      (Quote)

  70. There is a lot to be said for fostering a team spirit. The comparison was made between Wales, Iceland and the Man utd team with Giggs, Becks and Scholes who were so successful . The fact that they know each others game inside out having been together so many years. You end up with a team rather than a set of individuals playing for themselves, a fair point I think. In the case of Wales they had to come to terms with losing Speedo and I think it made them like a band of brothers, part of them must be doing it for Gary. Iceland being so small, every one knows everyone and they were interviewing an Iceland fan who said that someone will always know one of the players through someone else or directly. The Icelandic fans have such a close affinity to the team, they stick by them no matter what, even after last nights loss the union between them was strong. Imagine England fans after a 5.2 loss, there would be all manner of booing even if we put up a fight like Iceland did. We need players to be more team minded and fans to be more patience. Oh and a **** good coach 😉

      (Quote)

  71. Sharpy17:
    Defender today please Rafa … Good man?

    We are going to get more than one defender this week mate,Rafa wants them before they go out to Ireland

      (Quote)

  72. KIM there good points,that’s why I would go with big Al imo he understands team bonding we have had that many so called top coaches and never had a “team”I think Al could do that,but Ime afraid I think big Sam will get the job

      (Quote)

  74. They’re never very far from it Kim.
    Interesting to see who Rafa will bring in at CB. Hope it’s not Caulker.

      (Quote)

  75. Georgio:
    They’re never very far from it Kim.
    Interesting to see who Rafa will bring in at CB. Hope it’s not Caulker.

    Agree mate there’s a lot better c/h out there than him,I’ve watched him play a few times and he was awful,he’s gone backwards after his early promise

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *