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Squad & tactics (2024/25)


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Guest chopey

If the three teams going down are the ones in the relegation zone now who could we get off them to improve us ?

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If you had of asked me a year ago:

 

Stoke: Butland, Shawcross, Martins indi and shaquiri

 

We don't need Butland if we keep Dubravka, Shawcross and Martins indi haven't had a good year. Shaquiri is a nasty piece of work but a great player. Not sure if he would be a rafa player.

 

West brom: nope

 

Southampton: ward-prowse, tadic, boufal, Bertrand, possibly Redmond.

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Guest Howaythetoon

Just putting it out there but would people be happy if we kept the same back four next season?

 

I would be although if a better right back or an exceptional player became available I would rethink my position. However what we have now seems disciplined, well drilled and good enough.

 

Back up defenders aside I would rather we invested whatever budget we get on attack, midfield and keeping Dubravka

 

I’d be happy with the current back-four/5, but I think our weakest player in that is a yedlin who I like, but he’s not really good enough. Dummet at least is a solid defender and seemingly improving, Yedlin is all pace and energy which is fine for us this season, but next season I’d like to see a decent RB brought in and maybe even a more commanding CB than Lejeune. Regardless, the defence is the least of our worries. We need a proper CF and a 10 or playmaker more than anything.

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I'd be happy to see an upgrade on Yedlin and think he'd be a good option from the bench to freshen things up where needed late in a game. Other than that I think Dummett's good enough for what we need and would love to see Lascelles and Lejeune continue this partnership, but I'd like a new CB to push them both as I don't see Clark here long term if Rafa can help it and he obviously doesn't rate Mbemba.

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Guest Howaythetoon

I’d love a no nonsense type CB as I believe Lascelles is actually a decent enough footballer, but not quite good enough as a no nonsense type CB. His main attributes lie in his leadership and consistency of performances. Lejeune has played really well lately, but he’s not the quickest or strongest. Although he’s a good footballer. Clarke for me just hasn’t stepped up despite being really really good last season. He’s a Championship player. Mbemba I like and rate, but I don’t think he’s any kind of answer to how Rafa wants us to defend and play. Dummet can fill in at CB if need be and is decent enough as he is performing right now at LB, but again ideally an upgrade there would be welcome top. Regardless, I think if Rafa can develop the team in fits and starts I think down the line he can build a very good side here. He needs money though, not stupid money, but enough to at least compete with the rest. Huddersfield and Brighton have spent twice as much as us this season I believe.

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:thup: If Ashley lets the club use it's own money this summer I'll be confident of us significantly progressing. People can say the TV money isn't that big a deal as everyone has it but I think that plays massively into our hands now, having a manager like Rafa. I trust him to spend that money a whole lot better than most in this league and that alone gives us a head start if Ashley is willing to let us spend imo.
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Guest Howaythetoon

Rafa has been hit and miss at previous clubs in the transfer market, but I can accept that. For me a manager’s job is to strengthen the team with the right kind of players in positions needed and he is adept at identifying that and the more money he’s allowed to spend or the more input he’s allowed the higher calibre of player he goes for. Reina, Alonso, Macherano, Torres et al. He said when he first arrived at Liverpool he had to look at players way down on his list and bring them in and hope to improve them so they would be useful. It worked to a degree. But if you give Rafa a top player he will turn that player into a better player. Just look at what Torres said about him, how Rafa this PE teacher who didn’t make it as a pro, showed this goalscorer, how to score goals even better. That takes some skill.

 

I’d rate his dealings thus far 7/10 in the transfer market for us. And that’s with no money.

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For the summer, I think we need to sign Dubravka and Kenedy certainly. I haven't seen enough of Slimani yet so jury's still out. He turns 30 in the summer though which may impact the decision. A RB, LB, CM, a #10, a ST and a backup CB for me. Think Rafa will only really need a decent PL sized budget to make us a really decent side, £60m-£80m on top of player sales.

 

Will he get that with Ashley still at the club? Fuck no.

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Dubravka and Kenedy (obvs). Then after those two my priorities would be:

 

Striker: None of ours are good enough and we wont sign Slimani due to his age. We will almost certainly sign someone from a foreign league as they are cheaper.

 

Number 10: Perez, well is Perez. Plenty of respect for him but I want someone who will chip in with 10/12 goals and be our maestro. Again we will go foreign but I've always liked Shaquiri (sp) so id look at him when Stoke go down.

 

Centre mid: Even on current form Diame has a season of good football at best, Shelvey is unreliable, Hayden not good enough and Merino has question mark over him at the moment. I'd like a destroyer type, who can play a bit.

 

Right back: A slightly more thoughtful right back who is better positionally than Yedlin.

 

Striker: Gayle and Joselu aren't up to the job, if the opportunity arises we should bin them and bring in a second striker. Use the loan market if needs be.

 

Disclaimer: Ashley is a fat cunt so none of this will happen.

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Curious to know precisely what Benitez's target for next season is. This season and the last have had very clear and obvious aims - promotion and then survival. Where does he see us now? What's the goal? Europa League qualification surely? One of the cups?

 

The ownership will obviously be the biggest indicator of whether or not we'll be able to achieve his aims. Back him to the fullest, and I genuinely think we're as likely to lift silverware as we've ever been since I supported the club.

 

There's nowhere in the team that can't be improved but striker is obviously the priority.

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Curious to know precisely what Benitez's target for next season is. This season and the last have had very clear and obvious aims - promotion and then survival. Where does he see us now? What's the goal? Europa League qualification surely? One of the cups?

 

The ownership will obviously be the biggest indicator of whether or not we'll be able to achieve his aims. Back him to the fullest, and I genuinely think we're as likely to lift silverware as we've ever been since I supported the club.

 

There's nowhere in the team that can't be improved but striker is obviously the priority.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/12/26/rafael-benitez-can-make-newcastle-top-eight-club-as-long-spend/

 

“I think that this club still has great potential,” said the Newcastle manager. “If we do the things that we have to do now in January and we stay in the Premier League, it’s one of the teams that has to be in the top eight. Watching the table and the size of the other teams. But we have to be sure we understand that this is a crucial time for us.”

 

“If you talk about the massive money that has been spent in football in these years, maybe it is not easy,” said Benitez. “But you never know. To improve teams like Newcastle, if you do the right things it is enough to be stronger and bigger and compete. If you spend £200 million, £300 m every year, obviously even if you make mistakes you have a good team, but without spending so much money, you can still improve and do well. That is my idea if we are capable to stay in the Premier League.”

 

I think he can make us a top half team, where Leicester, Burnley are, pushing the team in 6th for a EL place, with a decent sized PL budget. £60m-£80m. To get that size of a budget though we're probably going to have to be taken over.

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If you had of asked me a year ago:

 

Stoke: Butland, Shawcross, Martins indi and shaquiri

 

We don't need Butland if we keep Dubravka, Shawcross and Martins indi haven't had a good year. Shaquiri is a nasty piece of work but a great player. Not sure if he would be a rafa player.

 

West brom: nope

 

Southampton: ward-prowse, tadic, boufal, Bertrand, possibly Redmond.

 

After reading Soton forums in the build up to our match I think i'd rather play with 10 men than have Tadic. They absolutely hate the lad now.

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If you had of asked me a year ago:

 

Stoke: Butland, Shawcross, Martins indi and shaquiri

 

We don't need Butland if we keep Dubravka, Shawcross and Martins indi haven't had a good year. Shaquiri is a nasty piece of work but a great player. Not sure if he would be a rafa player.

 

West brom: nope

 

Southampton: ward-prowse, tadic, boufal, Bertrand, possibly Redmond.

 

Shaqiri isn't a nasty piece of work if he's in a team that's competently organised. I watch most of his games for the NT and in a proper functioning system his game goes from 'selfish' to 'direct'.

 

In fact the set-up Petkovic plays is very similar to Rafa's, except they ask a lot more going forward from the full-backs due to the lack of natural width elsewhere. Shaqiri plays wide right and comes inside to cross and shoot, very similar to the way Ritchie does for us. I could absolutely see him performing that role for us. If we're wanting him to come in and play as a pure #10, I'd be less enamored as he's never really excelled there.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Accidently posted this in the summer transfers thread:

 

Can I beg a small diversion and ask about Realistic Sales - Summer 2018? Reading through Odin's post got me wondering about purchases, and then I remembered there is an awful amount of shite still on the books.

 

Players like Sels, Saivet, Mitrovic, Colback - all on fat wages and all bar Mitrovic are unlikely to have suitors. Ten thousand average kids out on loan not doing much. It seems that the first team squad is okay, but everyone outside that top 18 is completely rubbish and a total drain on resources that we'd all rather have spent on newer, better players?

 

Do we need to get rid of these before Ashley sanctions incoming transfers?

 

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Jogback will have Championship suitors but I'd amazed if he'll be prepared to take a wage cut as he loves the club too much.

 

Lazaar, Sels and Saviet may prove more problematic unless we're prepared to subsidise their wages. Lazaar has barely played, Sels hasn't been great and Belgian teams are broke and Saivet has mainly been on the bench.

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Accidently posted this in the summer transfers thread:

 

Can I beg a small diversion and ask about Realistic Sales - Summer 2018? Reading through Odin's post got me wondering about purchases, and then I remembered there is an awful amount of shite still on the books.

 

Players like Sels, Saivet, Mitrovic, Colback - all on fat wages and all bar Mitrovic are unlikely to have suitors. Ten thousand average kids out on loan not doing much. It seems that the first team squad is okay, but everyone outside that top 18 is completely rubbish and a total drain on resources that we'd all rather have spent on newer, better players?

 

Do we need to get rid of these before Ashley sanctions incoming transfers?

 

 

While there's definitely players to shift - it is nowhere near as bad as last season where we had 10-12 players needing new clubs. Haidara, Good and Gamez are all now out of contract and can be released and I would think we could find buyers for Saivet and Colback. It's only really Lazaar and Sels that I think we might have real difficulty shifting and may have to accept another season long loan for.

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I usually do it myself, but it feels like there's no point in discussing this kind of stuff unless we get taken over, unfortunately.

 

same here. The transfer rumour thread used to be me favorite...some years back, that is  :crazy2:

 

 

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