Squad & tactics (2025/26)

[1881]

12 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

If Howe stays. Surely the club will be looking to replace the utterly useless set piece coach and perhaps also look to freshen up the coaching staff in general?

I’m not sure he has much influence. There was a couple of games where you could see him trying to talk to subs as they were coming on, I assume to tell them their responsibilities when defending a set-piece and they were completely blanking him. You could see he was getting really annoyed. And I’m not sure you ever see him on the touchline these days. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him leave.

[1881]

21 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

If Howe stays. Surely the club will be looking to replace the utterly useless set piece coach and perhaps also look to freshen up the coaching staff in general?

I am surprised Graeme Jones is still at the club. He seems to be responsible for the attack and although he has not had a lot to work with this season we have struggled badly in our forward play.

[Deuce]

A refresh of the coaching staff is nearly as important as a squad refresh 

[andycap]

I will repeat the setpiece coach sets the plays it's the players that execute them. 

Cannot believe the grief the poor sod gets for terrible implementation of his methods. 

[Myleftboot]

Aye it’s certainly not his fault the players can’t beat the first man.

[andycap]

I think most people see set piece coach and think automatically we'll score a load of them but not factoring in poor corner freekick takers. 

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

I'm sure I saw a stat somewhere saying we were one of the highest scorers in the league from set pieces this season.

 

Apologies if I totally imagined this out of thin air, it has been known.

 

Edit: joint second for most set piece goals in the league this season, seems the set piece coach has quietly made a profound difference to us.

 

 

Edited May 3 by Tiotes Witch Doctor

[andycap]

1 minute ago, Tiotes Witch Doctor said:

I'm sure I saw a stat somewhere saying we were one of the highest scorers in the league from set pieces this season.

 

Apologies if I totally imagined this out of thin air, it has been known.

We are high up there top four I think. 

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

5 minutes ago, andycap said:

We are high up there top four I think. 

Joint second, who'd have bloody thought that, I was shocked when I saw it.

[andycap]

1 minute ago, Tiotes Witch Doctor said:

Joint second, who'd have bloody thought that, I was shocked when I saw it.

Yeah we forget about some of our thiaw goals etc from earlier in the season. 

[SUPERTOON]

1 hour ago, andycap said:

I will repeat the setpiece coach sets the plays it's the players that execute them. 

Cannot believe the grief the poor sod gets for terrible implementation of his methods. 

You could say the same about Howe with the players then surely?

[andycap]

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

You could say the same about Howe with the players then surely?

In theory yes but I think in my opinion howe has gone stale in his ways and methods. 

[Geordie Ahmed]

I liked the routine for the Thiaw chance, need to see more creative things like that 

[Minhosa]

When I saw the team selected for the Forest game, I presumed it would be 3-5-1-1 or 5-3-1-1 depending on whether we had possession or not.

 

To me, this made perfect sense i.e: overload their tired midfield and also have an extra centre back on the pitch to cope with their physical forwards who all carry the profile of attacker we've struggled against for a while.

 

I was really gutted to see it was a 4 with Hall shoehorned at RB.

 

IMHO, it makes sense to transition to this system, particularly if we're sticking with Woltemade. Advantages being;

 

1) Woltemade is better when he has plenty of bodies around him imho. Having a 5 man midfield (in possession) would really suit him and give him bodies nearby and runners off him PLUS a forward option ahead of him (in this case, Osula).

 

2) Plays to Hall's strengths as LWB.

 

3) Gives Botman and Thiaw an extra body making us much more robust and less likely to concede as many soft goals.

 

4) MASSIVELY reduces our need for wingers now Gordon is going and the others are either shite (Elanga), aging (Murhpy) or inconsistent (Barnes).

 

5) 'Only' requires us to sign a competent RWB (if Tino leaves), another CB and a competent forward plus a LWB reserve or just buy Hugo Bueno who can over both RWB and LWB slots. We need a new GK irrespective of the system.

 

6) Allows us to ship out any/all of the following; Elanga, Wissa, Murphy, Barnes and Gordon.

 

7) Would also help Ramsay in having more options around him and also more of a free role.

 

So, next season, we'd be looking like this;

 

                                                                                                                                          NEW GK (POPE)

 

 

                                                                             THIAW (SCHAR?)                                NEW ELITE CB                                BOTMAN (BURN)

 

 

 

 

TINO (OR NEW RWB)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    HALL (NEW SUB LWB)

 

 

 

 

                                                      TONALI (OR HIS REPLACEMENT)                                 BRUNO                                                   RAMSAY (JOELINTON)

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                           WOLTEMADE

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                    NEW FORWARD (OSULA)

 

 

Edited May 11 by Minhosa

[La Parka]

                Pope

     Thiaw Botman Burn

Murphy Bruno Tonali Hall

  Osula  Wolte Joelinton 

 

 

I wish we'd played that and use the wingbacks as wise players. Use the wide CBS to provide overload and commit to attacks. (This isn't my selection btw - I'm basing it off Howes) 

 

At the minute we are so passive and predictable. Get 2 narrow wide forwards off wolte if we are persisting with this lineup.

 

 

   

[andycap]

5 hours ago, Minhosa said:

When I saw the team selected for the Forest game, I presumed it would be 3-5-1-1 or 5-3-1-1 depending on whether we had possession or not.

 

To me, this made perfect sense i.e: overload their tired midfield and also have an extra centre back on the pitch to cope with their physical forwards who all carry the profile of attacker we've struggled against for a while.

 

I was really gutted to see it was a 4 with Hall shoehorned at RB.

 

IMHO, it makes sense to transition to this system, particularly if we're sticking with Woltemade. Advantages being;

 

1) Woltemade is better when he has plenty of bodies around him imho. Having a 5 man midfield (in possession) would really suit him and give him bodies nearby and runners off him PLUS a forward option ahead of him (in this case, Osula).

 

2) Plays to Hall's strengths as LWB.

 

3) Gives Botman and Thiaw an extra body making us much more robust and less likely to concede as many soft goals.

 

4) MASSIVELY reduces our need for wingers now Gordon is going and the others are either shite (Elanga), aging (Murhpy) or inconsistent (Barnes).

 

5) 'Only' requires us to sign a competent RWB (if Tino leaves), another CB and a competent forward plus a LWB reserve or just buy Hugo Bueno who can over both RWB and LWB slots. We need a new GK irrespective of the system.

 

6) Allows us to ship out any/all of the following; Elanga, Wissa, Murphy, Barnes and Gordon.

 

7) Would also help Ramsay in having more options around him and also more of a free role.

 

So, next season, we'd be looking like this;

 

                                                                                                                                          NEW GK (POPE)

 

 

                                                                             THIAW (SCHAR?)                                NEW ELITE CB                                BOTMAN (BURN)

 

 

 

 

TINO (OR NEW RWB)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    HALL (NEW SUB LWB)

 

 

 

 

                                                      TONALI (OR HIS REPLACEMENT)                                 BRUNO                                                   RAMSAY (JOELINTON)

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                           WOLTEMADE

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                    NEW FORWARD (OSULA)

 

 

 

What's going on with that mate? 😂 

[Minhosa]

2 hours ago, andycap said:

What's going on with that mate? 😂 

 fine on a big screen, mental on a phone screen. 

[stozo]

10 hours ago, Minhosa said:

When I saw the team selected for the Forest game, I presumed it would be 3-5-1-1 or 5-3-1-1 depending on whether we had possession or not.

 

To me, this made perfect sense i.e: overload their tired midfield and also have an extra centre back on the pitch to cope with their physical forwards who all carry the profile of attacker we've struggled against for a while.

 

I was really gutted to see it was a 4 with Hall shoehorned at RB.

 

IMHO, it makes sense to transition to this system, particularly if we're sticking with Woltemade. Advantages being;

 

1) Woltemade is better when he has plenty of bodies around him imho. Having a 5 man midfield (in possession) would really suit him and give him bodies nearby and runners off him PLUS a forward option ahead of him (in this case, Osula).

 

2) Plays to Hall's strengths as LWB.

 

3) Gives Botman and Thiaw an extra body making us much more robust and less likely to concede as many soft goals.

 

4) MASSIVELY reduces our need for wingers now Gordon is going and the others are either shite (Elanga), aging (Murhpy) or inconsistent (Barnes).

 

5) 'Only' requires us to sign a competent RWB (if Tino leaves), another CB and a competent forward plus a LWB reserve or just buy Hugo Bueno who can over both RWB and LWB slots. We need a new GK irrespective of the system.

 

6) Allows us to ship out any/all of the following; Elanga, Wissa, Murphy, Barnes and Gordon.

 

7) Would also help Ramsay in having more options around him and also more of a free role.

 

So, next season, we'd be looking like this;

 

                                                                                                                                          NEW GK (POPE)

 

 

                                                                             THIAW (SCHAR?)                                NEW ELITE CB                                BOTMAN (BURN)

 

 

 

 

TINO (OR NEW RWB)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    HALL (NEW SUB LWB)

 

 

 

 

                                                      TONALI (OR HIS REPLACEMENT)                                 BRUNO                                                   RAMSAY (JOELINTON)

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                           WOLTEMADE

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                    NEW FORWARD (OSULA)

 

 

 

I see the thinking here but a few observations:

 

1. It's a system designed to fit Woltemade. For it to work, we probably need a minimum one more Number 10.

2. To really play this system, your recruitment has to go all in on this system. I'm not saying it doesn't work but the reason most teams don't play it is it is hugely demanding on the full backs. You need at a minimum four very capable full backs who are as comfortable attacking as they are defending, who are athletic enough to cover the ground and positionally smart enough to not get caught up the pitch. At best, we have two currently able to do that, so at a minimum you'd need two more - probably three because if you're committing to this system you need it to withstand injuries. 

3. To the above point, if you strip the squad of wingers to make this all possible, your are totally screwed if you hit a patch of bad form and want to change the system. Or even if we sacked a manager, we'd have a bunch of players a new manager may have no need for. This is more or less the reason Amorim left Man United - they weren't willing to recruit only players who fitted his system because they knew if they did that, they were completely wedded to him and if it went wrong they'd be have an incredibly unbalanced squad. 

[Minhosa]

11 hours ago, stozo said:

I see the thinking here but a few observations:

 

1. It's a system designed to fit Woltemade. For it to work, we probably need a minimum one more Number 10.

2. To really play this system, your recruitment has to go all in on this system. I'm not saying it doesn't work but the reason most teams don't play it is it is hugely demanding on the full backs. You need at a minimum four very capable full backs who are as comfortable attacking as they are defending, who are athletic enough to cover the ground and positionally smart enough to not get caught up the pitch. At best, we have two currently able to do that, so at a minimum you'd need two more - probably three because if you're committing to this system you need it to withstand injuries. 

3. To the above point, if you strip the squad of wingers to make this all possible, your are totally screwed if you hit a patch of bad form and want to change the system. Or even if we sacked a manager, we'd have a bunch of players a new manager may have no need for. This is more or less the reason Amorim left Man United - they weren't willing to recruit only players who fitted his system because they knew if they did that, they were completely wedded to him and if it went wrong they'd be have an incredibly unbalanced squad. 

All very fair points.

 

I think we could probably do with an effective number 10 'type' player this summer irrespective of what system we play as we've lacked a clever creator the whole time Bruno was out injured.

 

You're right about the wingbacks being key to this system but, again, we're probably going to have to sign two this summer anyway with Tino/Trippier going. If one of those can be Hugo Bueno he could also the first option to cover for Hall whilst you'd have the new RB and Miley for the RWB position if needed (maybe Murphy too if we're desperate and he stays).

 

I take the point about being wedded to a system but we've got the likes of Ramsay, Joelinton and Wissa () who could play out wide if we needed to go back to a 4-3-3 in times of desperation.

[Deuce]

Dunno if this has been posted elsewhere, but I thought it was an insightful analysis of what’s been plaguing us this season:

 

From the 2:15 mark:

 

 

[JigsawGoesToPieces]

Going to be a canny rebuild this summer but defiantly needed, so far we know the following are leaving

 

Ramsdale (loan return)

Trippier

Krafth

Targett (not confirmed by club yet?)

Ruddy (think i saw No Hope mention something about it in his article but not confirmed by club)

 

Out of contract June 2026 tbc if staying or going

 

Schar

Gillespie

 

Out of contract June 2027 (id be looking to cash in on a few of these this summer)

 

Pope

Burn

J.Murphy

Willock

 

That will leave us with the following 25 players

 

Ones with a * id be looking to move on if we can find a willing buyer.

 

Keepers

 

Pope *

Vlachodimos *

 

Defenders

 

Hall

Burn

Botman

A.Murphy *

Thiaw

Livramento

Ashby *

Shahar

 

Midfielders

 

Gordon

Barnes

Seung-Soo

Tonali

Bruno

Joelinton *

Willock *

Miley

Ramsey

Elanga

J.Murphy *

 

Strikers 

 

Woltemade

Wissa

Osula *

Neave

 

Outside 4 or 5 quality players id say the squad is pretty average tbh

 

 

Edited May 16 by JigsawGoesToPieces

[aussiemag]

I think the following will happen: 

Release: 
Ramsdale
Trippier
Krafth

Targett 

Ruddy

 

Re-sign:
Schar
Gillespie

 

Sell: 

Willock
Gordon
Livramento

Wissa

Vlachiodimos

 

Sign:

Starting Goalkeeper
Starting Right Back 

Starting Striker

Starting Winger

Backup Left Back

Defensive Midfielder

 

Goalkeepers: 
New Starting
Pope

Gillespie

Right Back: 
New Starting
Miley
Sahar

 

Centre Back: 
Thiaw
Botman

Schar 

Burn

 

Left Back: 
Hall
New Backup

Burn

 

Centre Midfield:

Bruno G
Tonali
Joelinton

Ramsey

Miley 

New DM

 

Right Wing:

New Starter

Elanga
Murphy

 

ST: 
New Striker

Woltemade
Osula
 

Left Wing: 

Barnes

Ramsey
Joelinton

 

[BoSelecta]

The for those of us without the tactical nous/pissed shouting at the telly, have we been playing 4-2-3-1 the last couple of games?

[r0cafella]

If we were to start next season with our current striking options how we feeling about that?

[Minhosa]

40 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

If we were to start next season with our current striking options how we feeling about that?

Unimpressed.