Preparing for the Premier League

[morla84]

The overall standard is going to be vastly improved next season with us and Brighton replacing the dross at the bottom.

[nufc4eva]

A lot of people have put a striker as a "must have", and we do need to improve our options up front, but we're going to have spend a heap of cash to get an upgrade on Mitrovic. Remember, he cost a lot just two years ago. I'd rather we plug the holes in the starting line up before we start improving the bench.

The worry is we don't know if Gayle will do it in premier league so a starting striker is a must

[Mick]

A lot of people have put a striker as a "must have", and we do need to improve our options up front, but we're going to have spend a heap of cash to get an upgrade on Mitrovic. Remember, he cost a lot just two years ago. I'd rather we plug the holes in the starting line up before we start improving the bench.

The worry is we don't know if Gayle will do it in premier league so a starting striker is a must

Gayle also misses too many games, we need another goal scorer.

[Raconteur]

Sure, but do we need it more than a starting centre midfielder, a starting centre back, a starting left winger, a starting centre half, a starting left back, a starting right back and a starting keeper?

 

We need all of those starters, and a sub striker - Ashley's not going to buy all we need, so we're going to have to prioritise and compromise.

[mighty__mag]

I don't think I personally would take Atsu at 6.5m or whatever  is the alleged price. He's been ok nothing more.

 

 

Go for Bright Osayi-Samuel instead. Still a rough diamond, but Rafa could turn him into the finished article.

[Mick]

Sure, but do we need it more than a starting centre midfielder, a starting centre back, a starting left winger, a starting centre half, a starting left back, a starting right back and a starting keeper?

 

We need all of those starters, and a sub striker - Ashley's not going to buy all we need, so we're going to have to prioritise and compromise.

 

I think we need 2 premiership capable defenders one for central defence and one to replace Dummett.  2 premiership capable midfielders for the centre of midfield and a left winger in the mould of Ritchie who will help out in defence and get goals. We also need a premiership capable goal scorer, get those places filled and we'll not struggle.  I can easily see as many as 10 players leaving so we'll need to bring in some players to fill squad places, hopefully we'll bring in younger players with potential to develop.

[morla84]

First teamers:

 

                      Krul

Yedlin    New    Clark    New

              New    New

Ritchie        New            New

                    New

 

Back up:

 

                      Darlow

Anita Lascelles Mbemba Dummett

              Shelvey Hayden

  New        De Jong          New

                      Gayle

 

Also keep:

 

Elliot

Sterry

Aarons

Perez

Mitro

 

Loan out:

 

Lazaar

Armstrong

Mbabu

 

Sell:

 

Colback

Hanley

Diame

Haïdara

Gouffran

Gamez

Sels

Murphy

Ameobi

Saivet

Rivière

[Dave]

ffs

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

Contract information taken from: -

http://www.nufc.com/2016-17html/squad.html

 

Out of contract in June 2017

Vurnon Anita

Yoan Gouffran

Christian Atsu (end of loan from Chelsea)

Sammy Ameobi

 

Out of contract in June 2018 (i.e. one year left on contract so Mike Ashley may be looking to cash in)

Massadio Haidara

Jesus Gamez

Daryl Murphy

Curtis Good

Tim Krul

Kevin Mbabu

 

NUFC.com have "tbc" for the contract length of some players e.g. Emmanuel Riviere. Some players like Haris Vučkić aren't listed.

 

Tim Krul, Siem De Jong, Henri Saivet, Emmanuel Riviere, Adam Armstrong, Freddie Woodman and Kevin Mbabu coming back from loan.

 

There will be a lot of decisions to make.

 

This article shows the likes of Burnley and Watford only spent around £20m after they were promoted: -

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-transfers-budget-premier-league-12964044

 

I'd hope we have a much bigger budget than that.

[Mole_Toonfan]

ffs

 

This

 

Some really need to get realistic, we are not going to solve all our problems in one window.

[mrmojorisin75]

Sure, but do we need it more than a starting centre midfielder, a starting centre back, a starting left winger, a starting centre half, a starting left back, a starting right back and a starting keeper?

 

We need all of those starters, and a sub striker - Ashley's not going to buy all we need, so we're going to have to prioritise and compromise.

 

I think we need 2 premiership capable defenders one for central defence and one to replace Dummett.  2 premiership capable midfielders for the centre of midfield and a left winger in the mould of Ritchie who will help out in defence and get goals. We also need a premiership capable goal scorer, get those places filled and we'll not struggle.  I can easily see as many as 10 players leaving so we'll need to bring in some players to fill squad places, hopefully we'll bring in younger players with potential to develop.

 

i agree with this as a minimum but there's no mention of the #10 spot there really, diame has to go and we need to bring in a capable player in that spot and another PL capable striker to challenge/replace gayle but i suspect it'll be either/or this window

 

you'd be looking at brining in 5-6 PL standard players in that case, doable in one window imo and should give us enough to have a decent season

[Mick]

 

i agree with this as a minimum but there's no mention of the #10 spot there really, diame has to go and we need to bring in a capable player in that spot and another PL capable striker to challenge/replace gayle but i suspect it'll be either/or this window

 

you'd be looking at brining in 5-6 PL standard players in that case, doable in one window imo and should give us enough to have a decent season

 

I'd rather we spent our money on fewer good players than more average players and I expect that Rafa will do that as he knows he can build on that later.  Stabilise us this season and then kick on from that.  We've got a manager who is capable of putting proper foundations in place and we have to take advantage of that.  I hope to see him working on the kids and getting that setup right so we can bring players through the ranks.

[mrmojorisin75]

 

i agree with this as a minimum but there's no mention of the #10 spot there really, diame has to go and we need to bring in a capable player in that spot and another PL capable striker to challenge/replace gayle but i suspect it'll be either/or this window

 

you'd be looking at brining in 5-6 PL standard players in that case, doable in one window imo and should give us enough to have a decent season

 

I'd rather we spent our money on fewer good players than more average players and I expect that Rafa will do that as he knows he can build on that later.  Stabilise us this season and then kick on from that.  We've got a manager who is capable of putting proper foundations in place and we have to take advantage of that.  I hope to see him working on the kids and getting that setup right so we can bring players through the ranks.

 

couldn't agree more, he will know as well as anyone else that we're looking at a 2-3 year period of stability and building to become a proper football club again given what went on before

 

slow and steady, if something else happens along the way then great

[nufc4eva]

We need 4 maybe 5, but wholesale selling players is too much. It has to be incremental change to try and stay up. We need a striker, A good striker is what keeps you in the league, whether that's Gayle or someone new. We need someone to complement Shelvey/ Hayden, A centre half and a winger. These would be big upgrades on what we are at the moment. We probably need an attacking midfielder in there and it would be great to get a new left back.

 

Low priority for me is right wing, right back, keeper and left back as I think we have enough there if we improve further up. Unless we can upgrade on Shelvey then he starts and possibly someone more experienced than Hayden initially. We need a quick left winger that gets in behind and I would say a big mobile striker whoever the hell that could be.

 

Hopefully we can bring in a few younger players to complement the first team and push for a spot over the season.

[nufc4eva]

 

i agree with this as a minimum but there's no mention of the #10 spot there really, diame has to go and we need to bring in a capable player in that spot and another PL capable striker to challenge/replace gayle but i suspect it'll be either/or this window

 

you'd be looking at brining in 5-6 PL standard players in that case, doable in one window imo and should give us enough to have a decent season

 

I'd rather we spent our money on fewer good players than more average players and I expect that Rafa will do that as he knows he can build on that later.  Stabilise us this season and then kick on from that.  We've got a manager who is capable of putting proper foundations in place and we have to take advantage of that.  I hope to see him working on the kids and getting that setup right so we can bring players through the ranks.

 

couldn't agree more, he will know as well as anyone else that we're looking at a 2-3 year period of stability and building to become a proper football club again given what went on before

 

slow and steady, if something else happens along the way then great

2 first team upgrades can make a massive difference to rest of the team. Look at Clark, Ritchie and Gayle

[Altamullan]

Just caught up with this and there are great observations and interesting views about what we need to do and how we'll do it. There is a fair bit (above) about putting down foundations and building over a couple of seasons. If accurate, I wonder whether that will steer us towards younger players (on the cusp of excellence). Although this time it won't be driven by potential sell on value, but needs of the squad? Suspect a bit if both myself,  a couple of older players (on their way out) complementing the longer term prospects. Also, just chance/happenstance who's available who can they fill a slot in Rafa's system.

[Mick]

It's almost a new experience talking about building for the future rather than just looking at the present.  We've got one of the best chances during my lifetime of building a proper system at the club, it would be criminal if we didn't do that and I think we will.  No more scouts buying players and the manager trying to fit them in, no more having reserve teams for what only looked like having them because we had to and others had them.

[mrmojorisin75]

btw, if it was me in charge (looking to play rafa's system) i'd be looking to get rid of shelvey personally and replacing him with an all rounder to play with hayden then bringing a number 10 in to provide the creatvity

[buzza]

I think thred starters would make us much better: 1st priority would be a right central defender who can bring ball out to accompany clark. 2nd priority a number 10 who can score 15 goals and who workz hard. 3rd priority is a winger to replace gouff/atsu, as both are not prem stNdard.

Other needs are  striker and a central midielder.

With these five we would be more balanced.

[Guest Hog]

I'd give Anita another contract, he's been good enough and to be honest is a good squad utility player, able to fill in at several positions if we have injuries or get stretched with crowded game schedules.

[Andy84]

First teamers:

 

                      Krul

Yedlin    New    Clark    New

              New    New

Ritchie        New            New

                    New

 

Back up:

 

                      Darlow

Anita Lascelles Mbemba Dummett

              Shelvey Hayden

  New        De Jong          New

                      Gayle

 

Also keep:

 

Elliot

Sterry

Aarons

Perez

Mitro

 

Loan out:

 

Lazaar

Armstrong

Mbabu

 

Sell:

 

Colback

Hanley

Diame

Haïdara

Gouffran

Gamez

Sels

Murphy

Ameobi

Saivet

Rivière

 

What 

[Raconteur]

I'd give Anita another contract, he's been good enough and to be honest is a good squad utility player, able to fill in at several positions if we have injuries or get stretched with crowded game schedules.

 

Yep, that's a no brainer for me. He's not great, and we don't want him to be starting, but he's a good squad player. A new contract beats a transfer fee plus signing-on fee plus probably bigger wages for a similar quality squad member.

[r0cafella]

btw, if it was me in charge (looking to play rafa's system) i'd be looking to get rid of shelvey personally and replacing him with an all rounder to play with hayden then bringing a number 10 in to provide the creatvity

Agree but it might be more of a long term goal as we have bigger problem areas to address.

 

I think the best we can hope for next season is less reliance on him.

[Bimpy474]

I'd give Anita another contract, he's been good enough and to be honest is a good squad utility player, able to fill in at several positions if we have injuries or get stretched with crowded game schedules.

 

I wouldn't for the one of the reasons you state, covering several positions. Rafa doesn't see him that way, i'd think he's played 99% of games at RB under Rafa and if he can't get into CM in front of Colback, well you know the drill.

 

I actually quite like him but i personally think his time here is run.

[Heron]

I reckon we'd arguably have enough to keep us up already but we'd be in a relegation fight. Therefore, to be comfortable I think you're probably realistically talking about the addition of the 3 starters and 3 PL quality squad players. CB, CM and CF would be my 3 starting positions I reckon as I think we have quality in these areas but not quite enough to be comfortable. I know it's not a popular thing to say but I reckon with Gouff on the left in front of Dummett or maybe Ritchie there with Gouff / Yedlin on the right in front of maybe Anita both wings could arguably have some level of defensive capability.

 

So the addition of a good quality CB who reads the game and has some degree of experience would be a worthy addition alongside either Clark, Lascelles or Mbemba. Especially if they're French (?) speaking to guide Chancel along. Mbemba is our best CB but obviously struggles with communication. Another ball playing CB would leave us with 4 capable CB's assuming Hanley wouldn't make the jump. 2 "cloggers" for the love of a better term and 2 "ball players" with all 4 capable alongside one another if necessary (as CB pairings).

 

I don't think you can underestimate the difference that a ball playing CB would make too. It'd provide stability and control to the whole team.

 

CM for me would need to be a box to box midfielder. An upgrade on Diame / Hayden who again has experience and / or a good sense of positioning. Then we'd have reasonable competition for places in there and a capability to switch the way we play even if it's not the formation. Shelvey at home in particular will always be a good creative outlet and plays an important role to any team wishing to be an attacking threat. I question his temperament and previously his athleticism and professionalism but Rafa at least seems to be getting the best out of him fitness wise. A good quality box to box midfielder doing the dirty work and laying it off would give Shelvey the chance to pick his passes and also contribute to both attacking  and defensive aspects of the game. Diame for me is too hit and miss and I feel Hayden will maybe be shown to be a tad naïve. With control in the centre of the pitch maybe Atsu or someone of similar ilk could be used on the left wing when we want to go for games. Rather than a more safe / defensive option of someone like Gouffran.

 

CF was an iffy one for me but it'd either have to be a CF or a good quality #10. Either would improve our attacking threat significantly with either Gayle up top or maybe Perez. The alternative is you get a big mobile striker for either Gayle, Perez or even Diame to play off. I like Gayle but we will need to create plenty chances if he is to be the striker he has this season. He's been great but he's not as clinical as I would like. Once again a bit of experience / lack of naïvety in either the CF or #10 role would be key for me and filling each of these positions with capable, experienced individuals would paper over cracks for the first 6-12months back up there. Then you can look to build.

 

Squad players for me at that point would be wingers and full/wing backs.

 

Suspect you'd need to spend around the region of 30-50 million for good quality players in my 3 necessary positions. With maybe another 15-20 on the squad players but with players going out as well as I suspect the outlay would probably stand at around 50million. I think that might be ambitious with the Ashley in charge...