Team For The Championship Next Season.

Bachman
Morris
Ngakia
Ekong
Sierralta
Cleverley
Gosling
Kucka
Kalu
Baah
Fletcher

Not bad. Think we might have a chance of coming back up with that team.

 

I just vomited

 

Christ. I think we’ll have a good squad next season and stand a good chance of going up but not with that personnel.

I reckon Sissoko, Sarr and Dennis will all be sold leave for sure and Foster, Kucka and Cleverley will leave (with the caveat that the latter might get an extra year). In addition, some of Pedro, Cucho, Kamara, Masina, King, Louza and Samir will leave based on level of interest from other clubs and personal preference. We’d do well to part ways with Bachmann too and Kabasele too.

That leaves:
Okoye
Dahlberg
Elliott

Ngakia
Femenia

Samir/New CB?
Troost-Ekong
Sierralta
Cathcart
Pollock

Kamara/Masina?
Morris/New LB

Etebo?
Kayembe
Louza?
Cleverley?
Dele-Bashiru
Asprilla?
New CM?

Zinckernagel
Kalu
Cucho?
Pedro?
Baah

King/New CF?
Fletcher

 

Gozzers POTS calling it now

 

That is truly repulsive.

 

Sorry forgot King Ken Sema.

 

Ah, the cat sh1t on top of the dog sh1t.

 

Not enough creativity and not convinced by the attacking players. WTE might do OK back down there but we'll likely be up against better attacking players who can punish his weaknesses unlike most teams last season.

 

Bachmann

Ken Sema
Cathcart
Cathcart
Cathcart
Ken Sema

Kucka
Gosling
Ken Sema

Andre Gray
Ashley Fletcher

#pisstheleague

 

If we go down, we'll have a better team than the opening post (which I know is a joke!). Would expect the starting line up (if we didn't get any new signings) to be something like:

Okoye

Ngakia
Sierralta
Samir
Kamara

Kayembe
Sissoko
Dele-Bashiru

King
Pedro
Kalu

Which would be quite fun. Pedro is young enough that I think he could stay for another full season as unlikely to be a starter elsewhere. I don't think King will get another PL move at his age with two relegations on the CV. Sarr and Dennis leaving are obvious and think we would send Louza to Udinese if we couldn't recoup our money elsewhere. I think Kiko will feel like he's done his time with us and head back off to sunny Spain. Sissoko will be 33, maybe he wouldn't fancy it in the Championship but seems to like the club and might be up for dropping down a division to try and win a trophy.

If we then supplemented that team with Pollock, Baah, Zinckernagel and maybe even gave Dan Phillips a go as a squad player, plus a couple of new signings, I reckon it could be pretty enjoyable! A couple of the old heads like Cleverley and Cathcart would hang around for a final year but if we only used them sparingly could live with that.

 

Excellent work

 

I'm salivating.

 

That looks absolutely terrible and would be more likely to go down than up

 

I'd go for:
Okoye
Masina
Ngakia
Samir or Pollock
Sierralta
Kayembe
Phillips or Clevs
Asprilla or TDB if we can hold on to him
Zinc
Kalu
Baah or Fletch

That makes for a nice young team with a mixture of physical strength and class.

I would be more than happy with that for next season.


Edit: Forgot to include worst case.
Bachmann
Kiko
Cathcart
WTE
Rose
Tufan
Gosling
Kucka
Fletch
Gray
Peñaranda
4-4-2

With a 35 y/o Troy to come in and save our season in January.

 

Samir is an odd one, he was regular starter for Udinese, so not sure why it’s assumed he’d be happy to drop down a level. That said Udinese have just bought two centre backs, so maybe he’s not that good and they know it, which begs the question why have they sent him here?

Basically, If he does end up playing for us in the Championship next season, it shows exactly what a farce our approach to strengthening the CB position this season was.

 

What? He started every game bar one (when suspended) this season for Udinese despite the fact that they have four or five CBs (not including the new arrivals). If he stays, it will be because he wants to stay in England after many seasons in Italy and elsewhere. and fancies our chances at bouncing back so he’ll get another shot at the PL. Of course if he’s clearly a cut above some other PL side will snap him up.

 

Any centre back who is happy to drop down to the championship, was clearly not good enough for the task he was brought in for, hence my point.

He’s Brazilian, he’d have to be absolutely mental to actually want to play in the championship.

 

This team wouldn’t make the playoffs. It’s one of the most pedestrian teams I’ve seen with a massive weak sport in goal and at centre back. This won’t be the team though.

 

Won’t be the team although that CB pairing were the primary options in a defence that held the best defensive record in the championship since it was rebranded as such 17 years ago. Problem with that side is everything else!

 

Joao Pedro is also Brazilian. And quite good. And played for us in the Championship.

 

Joao Pedro isn’t 27, and never played a day in the second tier in any country throughout his entire career.

People don’t half have some funny ideas about what the Championship actually is on here.

 

Thats what you said last time Mr Negative. Gino is a promotion specialist.

 

Cant believe that people still don’t understand the threat of Sarr made life a lot easier for our CBs and think Troost is some kind of championship superstar. The guy was still giving the ball away constantly. If Troost/Cathcart/Sierralta have that rubbish in front of them we will be conceding plenty.

 

Players who hadn’t played in the second tier prior to our relegation last time:
Ismaila Sarr
William Troost-Ekong
Christian Kabasele (played 4 games aged 17 in Belgian Second Tier)
Etienne Capoue

Don’t think it is a very relevant metric frankly. Samir will probably earn more for us than he will at Udinese or elsewhere in Italy. Maybe he stays, maybe he goes but I’m not sure the fact that he has never played in a second tier is relevant.

Are you referring to me? That’s not what I said at all is it. WTE is clearly not some sort of superstar but an above average championship CB with a significant number of flaws. And you are actually agreeing with me then that that team will struggle because of the dross in front of it: the problem with that side isn’t the CB pairing. It is everything else.

I’m also not sure that Sarr is solely responsible for our defensive solidity last season, though it is certainly an interesting theory.

 

WTE is absolutely a problem next season. Unless we just play it long all the time from the keeper’s hands. Sarr was a player who should never played in the championship - terrified opponents who sat back accordingly. People used our lack of goals conceded to justify not upgrading our centre backs this season with catastrophic results. It seems you will do the same ahead of next season but I promise you these goons will fail miserably in the championship once the £40m winger isn’t occupying everyone’s minds. They are absolutely useless.

That said I agree Kucka/Gosling stinking the place out may be even more of a problem.

 

Ismaila Sarr - who was going to pay £40m for him in the middle of covid?

William Troost-Ekong - joined us as a championship club already, presumably he was happy with that, unless we forced him against his will?

Christian Kabasele (played 4 games aged 17 in Belgian Second Tier) - This is a joke right? He’s already know to be horrendous and we’re not pinning our PL survival hopes on him are we?

Etienne Capoue - was highlighted as a poisonous element by our CEO and left at the earliest opportunity

But anyway, you’re missing the main thrust of my point. We’re in desperate need of quality centre backs, because we’re in the relegation zone due to not having kept a clean sheet all season. We’ve added Samir, a player who would apparently be happy to drop down to the second tier for the first time in his entire career.

Any centre back drafted in to help us try and avoid relegation from the Premier league who would happily drop down and play in the Championship was clearly never good enough for the task in had were they?

We need PL quality centre backs not championship ones, the type that aren’t happy to play in the championship because they’re too good for it.

Thats precisely why we’re in the mess we’re in and talking about our championship team next season, not having PL quality centre backs!!

 

Your logic is a little circular and we have no idea how much he will be willing to stick around in the Championship so we shouldn’t judge his quality based on conjecture. Even if we knew it to be true we shouldn’t judge his quality on that.

Obviously to some degree players we sign when in the relegation zone must be anticipating to some degree the prospect of relegation and some won’t. That will depend on a range of factors, including their quality and long-term career goals. They might be unwilling to play championship football when they arrive but develop an affinity withe the club and want to stick around.

Personally, I am pleased that at least some of the signings seem likely to stick around next season regardless of which division we’re in. That’s good planning on my view.

Not upgrading CB following a relegation is less important than not upgrading CB following a promotion. Most of our defenders have shown themselves to be good options at Championship standard and awful at PL standard. I would rather they weren’t first choice next season but Cathcart and WTE will be perfectly fine CB options should we get relegated; that’s their level. I’d like alternatives who are younger so we can build towards the future though.

 

Personally, I’m disappointed we’ve signed so many players that are of a standard that they’d be happy to stick around. There is probably some link between that and why we’re currently 19th and on our third manager.

Also I don’t understand the bit about Samir earning more here. He’s presumably on the 50% wage reduction clause all our players are apparently on, and why would a championship player earn more than a Serie A player?

 

I agree with your point on priorities but Cathcart and WTE are both below average Championship CBs in my opinion. Dreadful players. That said we might get away with them. Sierralta might step up again at a lower level. Kabasele is a joke on a long contract who will be injured most of that time. Hopefully Samir will be happy to stay. Agree on younger players.

 

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Duxbury insisted on his 50% drop with Hughes and Chalobah and then gave up after that as a failed experiment. Would Kamara/Samir/Kalou sign such a deal in our current position?

 

I suppose when you put it alongside the other nonsense spouted by Duxbury last summer and how that has turned out, you’re probably right.

 

Who knows what reduction they do have but either way salaries in the PL are much higher than in Serie A (generally speaking) and Watford much higher than Udinese. He wouldn’t be being paid an average championship salary, he would be being paid the salary he has agreed with PL Watford subject to whatever wage reduction is in place. Wouldn’t be shocked if he gets paid more and the prospect of a return to higher PL wages may be enticing. Who knows?