Squad & tactics (2024/25)

[Johnny]

[GWN]

Dubs , ASM , Wilson, Willock 

 

The rest put on the next squid game

[cosmic]

Ritchie definitely needs to be benched rest of this season but will be helpful to have him around the club during the transition period as he is already familiar with the "Howe way"

[David Edgar]

 

[Dokko]

2 hours ago, cosmic said:

Ritchie definitely needs to be benched rest of this season but will be helpful to have him around the club during the transition period as he is already familiar with the "Howe way"

 

Might be a good opportunity to get him in to coaching

[Dokko]

4 hours ago, GWN said:

Dubs , ASM , Wilson, Willock 

 

The rest put on the next squid game

 

This bar Dubs. He can join the Squid Game party if he makes it the 1st game without injuring himself.

[Geordie Ahmed]

Long term I'd like to only see ASM and Willock at the club.

 

However in the short/medium term a lot depends on what league we are in.

 

For example in The Championship I'd stick with Hayden but in the PL we should get better 

[1964]

I'm not binning anyone until we play a full team in their correct positions,  having even a few out impacts the whole team

[wormy]

I think I agree with the OP list for the most part except I'd rather shift Manquillo down from play to bench and I'd also keep Clark and Darlow for the bench for the short term. Unless they each show they're on a dramatic downturn I think we've seen enough to trust them as a back up. The problem always comes when they're given an extended run in the first XI and thus, more time to fuck up.

 

EDIT: I'd also keep Ritchie around for personality reasons, an end-of-the-bench kind of presence if he accepts he's slowing up and is happy with such a role. Not to get PFMtastic but he's one of the few whose attitude I think could be beneficial to help light a much-needed fire in the squad, especially with his prior relationship with Howe.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by wormy

[Chris_R]

If this was the summer, the only one I'd want to keep is ASM. But it isn't, and we need to be realistic about how far our alleged £200m could go. Buying an entirely new XI might be tricky as that's only £18m per player and that could be difficult to improve us on that budget.

 

So after the winter transfer window, we're going to have to "settle" for a few of the existing squad.

 

In the starting line-up, I'd keep:

 

Dubravka

Willock

Almiron

ASM

Schar

 

Bench would be:

Darlow

Lascelles OR Fernandez

Hayden

Lewis

Joelinton

Manquillo

Wilson

 

That feels INCREDIBLY harsh on Wilson, who is our second best player, but he's made of glass and we're going to need at least 2 strikers to haul us out of this, relying on him alone as a single point of failure up front is suicide, as the rest of our strikers are shit.

 

So striker will be a position we recruit for, so will we buy a backup to him? Or will we buy someone for him to be backup to? Probably the latter. No point spending precious funds on backups when we're looking up at (ultimately) European slots so me benching Wilson is a reflection of what I expect our transfer policy will be moving forwards - I'd be astonished if we buy ANY squad players, it'll be new 'purples' from now on for the next 3-4 years with those being upgraded becoming the bench. I'd still expect Wilson to play a lot though, either from the bench or rotating in, or starting whilst the new man settles in.

 

That leaves us lining up something like this....

 

 

My concern there is that we'd be looking for 3 defenders and 2 CMs which although we desperately need them, that may be too much to change at once. So maybe we keep another DC, we know under Rafa that our defence can be solid and so maybe one of Lascelles or Fernandez could stay in the first XI too. Probably Lascelles, because he's a better athlete and has more pace. I do rate Federico, but I think we'll need someone who can run back there alongside Schar who'd be my first choice.

 

In which case we're looking for 5 over Christmas: DL, DR, MC, MC and SC. With an alleged £200m to splurge, that gives us a generous £40m per position (average) to get what we need, which I'd be confident we can do and would keep us up with a decent manager like Howe and the rest of the squad supporting.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Chris_R

[Gallowgate Toon]

In the short-term, part of me wondered if the diamond could do with a return, but it requires us to go a bit too kamikaze with our full backs imo.

 

The main things I can see as issues are that we need to sort CM as best we can, get ASM into his correct position (LW), and get our left back situation sorted ASAP.

 

                     Dubs

Lewis   Fede   Lascelles   Manquillo

 

Fraser   Hayden  Willock   ASM

                   Almiron

                    Wilson

 

I'm pretty sure Lewis is actually right footed. If he's going to play he's going to need protection from the winger (if Fraser can get committed), but I just can't stomach seeing Ritchie as a full back anymore - it's absolutely killing us. ASM absolutely should be playing on the left but Manquillo is the only full back we have that can play behind him until Dummett is back. It's dysfunctional but I think this is just about as good as it can get for us currently.

 

Would be up for subbing in Jo for Fraser. Would love to have Schar in but I'm not convinced about him in a back 4.

[Rich]

Lewis isn't right-footed, like.

[toontownman]

So bloody excited for him to work with our players. While the majority of our squad is likely an absolute write off can't wait to see if Howe and his team can actually turn some of our players around. 

 

Joelinton - Can Howe find the right role or get the best from him?

Hendrick - How can he have been courted by AC Milan and Manure before we signed him lol. Can't believe there is anything there. (still rather not see him again, except leaving in January to another club)

Longstaffs - Too far gone? never actually that good? or redeemable? Interested to see if Howe can turn them around.

Lewis - Poor sod came to us with a world of potential, then got bruce'd. Huge worry he hasn't any really meaningful minutes, even off the bench. He must be completely broken.

Fraser - What a player he was a Bournemouth, hope the wee man can stay fit and find that kind of form again.

Almiron - So much potential we haven't seen and wouldn't think possible from watching him at the weekend. Its there though. 

Lascelles - Went from absolute leader touted for an England call up to almost a liability. 

 

I expect we will see the usual Shelvey getting his shit together and trying for a bit like he did under Rafa, it ultimately won't last long though. I think Hayden and Willock will benefit massively from Howe too, the both have the technical skills and education from Arsenal, with the right instructions and training I think they will be huge. Will be interesting to see if Schar and Fernandez come in from the cold or not. 

[Stottie]

23 hours ago, Johnny said:

I'd try this with Almiron and ASM switched and Fede not Lascelles. Murphy is a weak link, but gets the shout for dead ball ability. Murphy and ASM wide are not going to track back, so #10 has to drop very deep when the CMs get dragged into fighting fires.

 

Flat back four and pressing #10 are essential. With a five and sitting off, we are far too pedestrian.

[Rich]

Something of a depth chart based on a 4-4-1-1:

 

GK

Dubravka

Darlow

Gillespie

Woodman (loan)

 

RB

Manquillo

Krafth

 

CB(R)

Schar

Lascelles

 

CB(L)

Fernandez

Clark

LB

Lewis

Dummett

 

RM

Saint-Maximin

Murphy

 

CM(R)

Shelvey

Longstaff

 

CM(L)

Willock

Hayden

Hendrick

 

LM

Fraser

Ritchie

 

AM

Almiron

Joelinton

 

ST

Wilson

Gayle

 

Saint-Max, Ritchie, and Joelinton the only ones with “best” positions up for debate there, IMO. If Fraser is to be reborn, though, it’ll be on the left if his Bournemouth career is anything to go by.

 

I genuinely think ASM is best on the right and though he probably disagrees, hopefully Howe won’t. That’s probably his best chance of getting into the France squad, too.

 

Ritchie has always preferred to play on the right but hopefully will be bottom of the pecking order to play wide anyway.

 

Who the fuck knows with Joelinton. I’d like to see him as the AM/SS, but not at the expense of Almiron eventually getting a run there.

[buzza]

4 hours ago, Stottie said:

I'd try this with Almiron and ASM switched and Fede not Lascelles. Murphy is a weak link, but gets the shout for dead ball ability. Murphy and ASM wide are not going to track back, so #10 has to drop very deep when the CMs get dragged into fighting fires.

 

Flat back four and pressing #10 are essential. With a five and sitting off, we are far too pedestrian.

Deffo switch them, ASM might prefer Nº10 but hasn´t played a decent game there. It´s an easier position for him cos he can hide more when defensive running is needed. He is far superior attacking wise out wide and will have to track back a bit more.

Almiron on the other hand does do the defensive shift and plays well in the 10 position for me. dead cert this one especially if he is to play his favoured 4411 style.

[Hanshithispantz]

Don't think we need to be too drastic personally like, I think we'll see something like this (rotating players depending on performances) and assess where we're at in January. I would assume a right back, CDM, AM and a winger would be a priority but some might surprise us.

t 

[McCormick]

Can see Howe persevering with Joelinton in the Josh King role. Hopefully with a real manager coaching him we can begin to see why our scouts were so hot on him.

[Shearergol]

On 08/11/2021 at 08:30, Geordie Ahmed said:

Long term I'd like to only see ASM and Willock at the club.

 

However in the short/medium term a lot depends on what league we are in.

 

For example in The Championship I'd stick with Hayden but in the PL we should get better 

 

You don't want Wilson at the club? Weird.

[Happinesstan]

Reserving judgement until I've seen what Howe can get out of them. Seen many a career revived by a good manager.

[xLiaaamx]

Pretty sure Almiron is away with Paraguay. They always call him up.

[nufcjmc]

You could quite easily say bin the lot if you wanted to be ruthless. We have no style of play or anyone integral to the functioning of said none existent style. 

I wouldn't miss any of them albeit a couple of players have enough about them to stick around more medium term and I hope the dead wood start disappearing regularly in transfer windows. 

Like others have said who has been managed/ trained or demotivated by the past setup? Who has really settled into this complacent level where they feel what they are doing is enough? Weeding out the difference between those two types of players are critical for any progress and development.

Howe will have his favourites like all managers do and some may be left field but are the best fit for his system. 

As I have said before elsewhere it's not just the money and potential that's exciting but the hope if its not working you don't stick to it because you can't afford to change it such as mangers can now be sacked, bad signings can be binned etc.

[Guest HTT II]

I’d keep the following players only:

 

GK

Dubravka

Woodman (loan)

 

CB(R)

Schar

Lascelles

 

CB(L)

Fernandez

LB

Lewis

 

RM

Saint-Maximin

Murphy

 

CM(L)

Willock

 

AM

Almiron

 

ST

Wilson

 

I’d peddle the rest of them happily!

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by HTT II

[sixx]

At this level and given the predicament we're in it's all about putting very average players to good use and acknowledge their limitations. We saw it so clearly with Benítez. All of a sudden players like Dummett, Lascelles, Dúbravka or Hayden executed their roles quite impressively. They clearly had extremely detailed instructions on how to react on and off the ball, almost as if they had been given a script of the game beforehand. Given what Howe has achieved with an absolute toilet of players in the past I'm quite confident he can do exactly that. Think we most desperatly need full backs in the next window but a centre back or a centre midfielder wouldn't hurt. We really need to build a spine to this squad as soon as possible.

[Yorkie]

We need to make use of Almiron, like. Used properly he'll exhaust defenders and create space for the more potent attackers (at intended when we signed him). Lad has been wasted these last two years.