Looks distinctly s*** / average to me.
I think a line up very similar to that is very likely and realistically about as good as we are going to get.
What would yours be then?
We can do better than Dyer and Ameobi for a start. Youngs decent but i think we can do better than him as well. I think we will be seeing a team quite different from that lining up next season if we get Allardyce, and it will probably be better as well.
Based on the back end of this seaon Dyer and shola have admitedly been very poor, but i'm guessing Big Sam will probably keep them on and will really fire them up. Young is good imo and probably the best we'll get, i'd preffer Richards from Citeh but not too sure they'd sell and if they did it'd probably be to Chelski etc
Care to make a line up/formation prediction of your own then?
On what i would do or what i think Allardyce would do?
First of all what i would do is show all of the s*** the door if possible. I would get rid of Carr, Babayaro, Bernard, Bramble, Moore, Gooch, Dyer, Pattison, O'Brien, Sibierski, Luque, Ameobi. I don't rate Ramage either but i wouldn't be bothered if we keep him as a reserve considering he's probably on a small wage and he'll be happy enough.
We've then got players who i would sell under circumstances. If we got our money back or more on Emre and Duff i would let them go as well. I would consider selling Butt if we got around £1.5m for him as well. He's had a good season but he has only got a year left on his contract and he's on good money. Realistically though we will not be able to ship all of them players out in one go so we have to get rid of the biggest earners and the ones we might get money for first of all.
I could tell you a team i'd possibly try but it will probably be totally different from Allardyce's because he will probably try and identify some cheap players from abroad who he knows he can get the best out of who we might not have even heard of. I'd definitely look to bring in Ben Haim, maybe Leighton Baines and possibly Sami Hyypia because i think Allardyce could probably get the last few ounces of what he has left in him out of him. We are gonna need a new right back because even though Solano does a more than decent job there he isn't getting any younger and we can't expect him to play 38 games in that position. I cant think of a right back of the top of my head at the minute but i would have every faith in Allardyce identifying one whether it be a big name or a cheap one i'm sure he will find one better than Young.
As far as the midfield goes i would definitely keep Milner, Parker (i think he will do well under a good manager but that debates for another thread) and N'Zogbia. I wouldn't have any problem with us keeping Butt, Emre and Duff either but at the same time as i mentioned above i would let them go if we got decent offers. I think we will probably need to spend big on a goalscoring creative midfielder this summer though. If Butt does go i think Allardyce would replace him with one of his typical cheap signings who will come in and do a good job. We'd still have Nobby who can play 2nd fiddle to Milner down the right when needed.
I would look to keep Owen and Martins but at the same time i would sell Owen if we got our money back which is unlikely, and i would also consider a stupid bid for Martins. Ameobi would leave in an ideal world with 2 strikers coming in. I'm not so sure if Owen and Martins is gonna work although i'm not writing them of after 2 games like some people. I wouldn't mind signing Nugent but i wouldn't pay over the top for him because he will probably be overpriced. Gudjohnsen would be a top signing if we could get him.
Fill in the other gaps with some of Allardyce's cheap bargains who we could get a couple of years out of.
Oddly i agree with nearly every player that needs to go and the majority of who should be brought in. However, i'm a firm believer that too many changes can hurt too much and the added fact of selling 10 and reaplcing them with another 10 aint easy.
Therefore, when it comes to those like Carr, Baba, Sibierski, Bramble, Gooch and Luque we should get rid AND replace them. On the other hand, those you have metioned like Parker, Emre, Owen and Duff all have considerable talent and should be worked with, even if its just for the time being.
As for Krul, Ramage, Hunty and Edgar..... lets get them loaned out and learn the trade in the lower leagues.
I say keep Owen and Martins. Ameobi is an enigma but if there's anyone who can crack the code it is Big Sam.
