Preparing for the Premier League

[James]

Unless he gets injured Dummett will play more games than any other left back next season.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Gayle's a tricky one, especially since we play one up front. I want to give him a chance but I don't think we should be relying on him like we do now. Getting the right forward in will be a hard one.

[mrmojorisin75]

Gayle's a tricky one, especially since we play one up front. I want to give him a chance but I don't think we should be relying on him like we do now. Getting the right forward in will be a hard one.

 

i think he'll probably be a double-figures striker under rafa but the key would be who is playing behind him...you'd need someone quality affecting every game and chipping in with double-figures (or close to) themselves for it to be anything other than a season of struggle

 

perez/diame behind gayle will fail miserably

[La Parka]

Depends how we set up too. I imagine Gayle will be more effective if we look to soak up pressure and counter.

[merlin]

Wonder what we'll do with Gayle and the striker position. It would be incredibly harsh on him to spend big money on a striker and relegate him to the bench after this season, but he's not quite a proven Premier league striker which we'll need.

As I have said before, David Kelly scored 27 goals in our promotion of 92/93 but KK still sold him to Wolves in the summer afterwards because he brought Beardsley in who was PL proven.

I don't know what Rafa would do about Gayle but we DO need another CF or No 10.

[LFEE]

Sign Defoe

[Yorkie]

Gayle will score goals if we create chances.

[Paully]

Gayle's top flight record is one every 190 minutes so he'll be fine if we create chances!

[mrmojorisin75]

Gayle will score goals if we create chances.

 

which is why i said i'd be cool with gayle if we upgrade the #10 spot significantly...if not we'd need to upgrade gayle imo

[Disco]

Sign Defoe

 

Won't happen but was thinking that yesterday. Ideal for a one year deal and even better for the levels of anger it would generate.

[joeyt]

Wonder if we'd go for Dunk if Brighton don't get promoted. Can't see him wanting to stick around for another year.

 

 

[mrmojorisin75]

Wonder if we'd go for Dunk if Brighton don't get promoted. Can't see him wanting to stick around for another year.

 

that much better than what we've got you think?  looks average to me

[joeyt]

I think he looks a lot better on the ball than Lascelles and Hanley with the ball at his feet but he's got loads of yellow cards this season so seems to have a disciplinary problem. Would be a good alternative if we couldn't get someone with proven top league experience.

[Optimistic Nut]

Take him as the Hanley replacement who'll no doubt want to move on, then we still need a proven Premier League CB to replace Mbemba. I'd take a new CB, Lascelles, Dunk & Clark as a four for the first season back up.

[mrmojorisin75]

i'd take that aye

[Ketsbaia]

Issa Diop, the centre back. He's from Toulouse so it can't go wrong.

[Minhosa]

Wonder if we'd go for Dunk if Brighton don't get promoted. Can't see him wanting to stick around for another year.

 

that much better than what we've got you think?  looks average to me

 

I've seen him a number of times, in the flesh, and he's a really good player.

 

Definately capable of making the step up and very very steady.

 

Edit - we bid for him during the summer before last and many clubs hold an interest. Fulham have also made lots of bids for him but not been successful.

[Altamullan]

A lot of these posts totally disregard who our manager is, like. He'll pick intelligent, malleable players with professional attitudes first and foremost.

In the position we will be in (all being well, i.e. newly promoted, not in Europe, needing to reestablish ourselves as a credible Premier League side) and the impact of this on how desirable we will seem for better players with multiple choices, I think this will be be exactly Rafa's approach. He'll choose players with the right attributes who he believes he can develop/mould into a particular role, rather than base decisions solely on previous performance of a role. Alongside this 'potential' I hope he goes for one or two old heads who have already demonstrated they can do the particular job he wants doing.

[Ikon]

I haven't seen much of Maguire tbh, but I like what I've seen so far. Doesn't need to adapt too much and at an age where he can only get better, especially under the guidance of Rafa.

[Disco]

Wonder if we'd go for Dunk if Brighton don't get promoted. Can't see him wanting to stick around for another year.

 

that much better than what we've got you think?  looks average to me

 

I've seen him a number of times, in the flesh, and he's a really good player.

 

Definately capable of making the step up and very very steady.

 

Edit - we bid for him during the summer before last and many clubs hold an interest. Fulham have also made lots of bids for him but not been successful.

 

Cappa n all ain't he? Usually a decent sign.

[Elma]

Since the start of the season I've had a sneaky suspicion Sturridge will join next year. Whether it happens will depend upon whether 28 (just after season starts) will be considered too old for Mike and Lee, and whether NUFC think they can improve/manage his injury record. It's just I think Liverpool will be shifting him on, and he's exactly the sort of player Rafa likes - lots of pace to get in behind, good on the ball, and gets a fair few headers for his size (18% of all goals). If we don't go for him, it will be someone like him from abroad. Can't see Mitrovic still being here. Gayle will be used more sparingly but still has lots to offer.

 

Elsewhere, it's probably worth pointing out that last year we were unlucky to drop on 37 points. SMc had a points average of 0.85 points per game. Rafa had 1.3 points per game (49 points over a season which would have had us in 11th, between Chelsea and Everton). If you exclude the first four (three away and home derby) when he was still trying to organise them, the ratio jumps to 1.86 points per game, a run which included games against Liverpool, Man City and Spurs.

 

The point of this is to flag that the following back five played a considerable part in that - Darlow, Anita, Lascelles, Mbemba, Dummett. Now we've swapped Clark for Mbemba but Mbemba is still on the books and we could still field that defence. Yedlin has replaced Jaanmaat. In front, Shelvey was used as a sub more than not, but Colback and Tiote became the preferred two. Again, not a million miles away from where we are now. Shelvey's game has improved under Rafa, Hayden is a solid addition, and Tiote no loss. I'd like to see us sign a beast of holding midfielder with decent distribution though.

 

In front of them it's a little more tricky. We were using Townsend, Sissoko and Wijnaldum, all of whom have gone. I would say we need a replacement in the number 10 role for Wijnaldum. We have Diame in that position but we need an upgrade there. I wouldn't be surprised to see Townsend come back, but we now also have Ritchie who is one of the few players who I have no doubts about in the Prem. Gouffran will probably be let go, but I don't think Sissoko is a huge miss. I don't think we'll retain Atsu so we'll need someone wide left.

 

Up top we were playing Cisse. For me, Gayle is an upgrade there but as per the opening paragraph we need a proven premiership quality striker, maybe two.

 

Where this is going is that we still have 6-7 of a side that did remarkably well under Rafa in the Prem in the last six games, and I don't think we are significantly weaker man for man. The mackems may shout that we were s*** and Rafa relegated us, but we were relegated by SMc and a chronic lack of action from the board. If Rafa had had two more games we'd have been fine. Therefore, to say our current squad would be immediately relegated is miles away from reality. The collective improvement from solid coaching and a decent shape count for more than the individual quality of each player. Look at Burnley? Comfortable this year and with no better a squad than us.

 

In summary, we need a quality centre-half (as Hanley and/or Mbemba will be off), a right-back if Anita is released, a quality left-back as an upgrade on Dummett, a holding midfielder, left winger necessity, right winger "nice-to-have", and at least one striker, two if Mitro goes. Sounds like a lot but will allow us to release 5 or 6 and players like Dummett will drop into the squad as cover.

 

I actually think the current side would just about survive under Rafa - the above is to get us comfortably into mid-table rather than fighting a relegation scrap.

[Taylor Swift]

We need to spend around £70-100m. Anything less and we won't stay up. LB, CB, 2 CMs, LW, RW and one ST.

[Taylor Swift]

Sturridge would be great but we couldn't afford to pay his wages if he gets injured. We would need to buy another striker in that case and hope that an injury free Sturridge fires us into the top 10, but no downside if he gets injured.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Yep, nobody with a bad injury record unless Carroll wants to come back

[Elma]

We need to spend around £70-100m. Anything less and we won't stay up. LB, CB, 2 CMs, LW, RW and one ST.

 

I think we'd stay up with less than that (provided Rafa stays), but would hope we spend at least 70 million to give us a chance of comfortable mid-table.