Summer 2011

[Kopite Pete]

What's the general feeling regards this summer? Are we expecting a major Squad rebuild, or is it a case of we need just a few players to get back into the top 4.

[RED Tezza]

Will begin in May and end sort of around the end of August.

[Guest San Don]

Plenty of players going out, I'd anticipate 2 major signings and perhaps another couple to strengthen the squad.

[Block109'er]

Well this will be the first 'proper' window in which we get to jugde the new owners.

 

If not beforehand, I would hope that they give Kenny (at least) a 3 year contract, and I would be hopeful that we would be competing strongly in the trasfer market for the players that Kenny wants.

 

Some width, Ashley Young maybe? Maybe not?

 

Would be nice to see a LB and probably a CB.

 

I think that would be sufficience to see us back with a very strong challenge for the CL places next season, if not better.

[MLB]

We will need to shift about 6-8 players, by my reckoning. Probably more. We should be looking to move on Jones, Konchesky, Poulsen, Jovanovic, Degen, Insua and Aquilani. After that there are a few players who there are fairly large question marks over: Cole, Pacheco, and N'gog. Kenny doesn't seem to be keen on any of them, so they may well be on the way. Then there are players I would class as "sell them if we get a good offer", including Kuyt, Maxi, Johnson and Skrtel. I don't expect any of them to leave, but I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep if they did.

 

We should be able to bring in about £40 million if we can actually manage to get rid of all these unwanted players. After that I would expect us to sign about 5 first team players, plus maybe one or two youth players. We need two wide players, a left back, and probably a central midfielder and centre half. If we have to sell Skrtel and/or Johnson to fund that then so be it.

[Kopite Pete]

Will begin in May and end sort of around the end of August.

 

I'm sure you found that funny.

[ngogswilly]

We will need to shift about 6-8 players, by my reckoning. Probably more. We should be looking to move on Jones, Konchesky, Poulsen, Jovanovic, Degen, Insua and Aquilani. After that there are a few players who there are fairly large question marks over: Cole, Pacheco, and N'gog. Kenny doesn't seem to be keen on any of them, so they may well be on the way. Then there are players I would class as "sell them if we get a good offer", including Kuyt, Maxi, Johnson and Skrtel. I don't expect any of them to leave, but I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep if they did.

 

We should be able to bring in about £40 million if we can actually manage to get rid of all these unwanted players. After that I would expect us to sign about 5 first team players, plus maybe one or two youth players. We need two wide players, a left back, and probably a central midfielder and centre half. If we have to sell Skrtel and/or Johnson to fund that then so be it.

 

Agree, if we could buy a new defensive midfielder, a left back and a winger we'd go along way to being capable of challenging for CL spots again maybe even more.

 

I'd guess we'll have maybe 20 odd million of our own money to spend between player sales in January of this year plus club profits. If we then move on some deadwood and even generate at least 20 million extra we'll be in good shape to bring in 2/3 quality players.

 

Anything else would be a bonus in my opinion. If we could bring in 1 or 2 more quality players it would be fantastic but I think 3 is the very best we can hope for.

[Block109'er]

We will need to shift about 6-8 players, by my reckoning. Probably more. We should be looking to move on Jones, Konchesky, Poulsen, Jovanovic, Degen, Insua and Aquilani. After that there are a few players who there are fairly large question marks over: Cole, Pacheco, and N'gog. Kenny doesn't seem to be keen on any of them, so they may well be on the way. Then there are players I would class as "sell them if we get a good offer", including Kuyt, Maxi, Johnson and Skrtel. I don't expect any of them to leave, but I certainly wouldn't lose any sleep if they did.

 

We should be able to bring in about £40 million if we can actually manage to get rid of all these unwanted players. After that I would expect us to sign about 5 first team players, plus maybe one or two youth players. We need two wide players, a left back, and probably a central midfielder and centre half. If we have to sell Skrtel and/or Johnson to fund that then so be it.

 

Konchesky and Poulsen I expect to be gone by August.

 

I'm in two minds about Aquilani (especially as Juve are now quibbling on the fee) part of thinks we should bring him back and see how he fares under Kenny for 6 months.

 

I would sell Johnson tomorrow but I can't for the life of me see anybody offering us a strong fee or him anywhere near the wages he's currently on. He's never getting that shirt back of Kelly now that's for sure.

 

Maxi is a good squad player and has a couple of years left in him yet (assuming he's happy not to start every week).

 

Skrtel is a liability for me and we need to replace him ASAP.

 

Kuyt never was nor ever will be the greatest but I just like him and I'd be sad to see him go. Every team needs a Kuyt, somebody who will leave every ounce of himself on the pitch, and whilst he may not have played well today he was MOTM last week at Chelsea (for me).

[WrongIslander]

I know it is asking a lot but I'd like Kelly to be put in as first choice CB and someone young, hungry and talented (being good in the air a pre requisite) to play next to him.

 

Dortmund showed what getting the right CB partnership can do for you, the mancs are showing now with Smalling that young players should be blooded and Smalling reminds me a lot of Kelly in that he was a RB who was more suited to a CB role.

 

We need a leftback who can defend and go forward. Not to go all Cilla but I asked "our Graham (our man in Spain) and he reckons 21 year old Jose Angel from Sporting Gijon is the one to watch on that front so I'll lash his name into the hat. How is Mavinga doing thesedays?

 

Carragher should realise that he's not going to be playing forever and show the same grace as Giggs and Scholes and while still fighting for his place realise that the youngsters need to be played and his job is to prepare them for the future.

 

I'd like to see two proper wingers so we can play a 4-4-2 should we so choose.

 

I'm more than happy with our central midfield options and our strikers.

 

Pacheco, Suso, Sterling, Coady, Silva and anyone else that warrants it should get a shot at the bench and then if they get their chance and take it then we go from there.

 

A nice young hungry centre forward with the attributes and talent to fight for a centre forward birth with N'gog should he stay, wth Kuyt as the first striker sub.

 

So it looks like

 

Keepers: Reina/Brad the lad/Youth

 

LB: Angel/back up

CB: ? (Young, quick, can head a ball)/Carra hearing good things from Benfica (again from the lad who put me on to Luiz) about Roderick Miranda. Worth a shot for the name alone surely?

CB: Kelly/Carra/Soto

RB: Johnson/Kelly/youth

 

LW: ? (Young, quick, can cross a ball)/Pacheco (?)

CM: Lucas/Gerrard/Meireles/Suso/Shelvey/Coady

CM:

RW: ? (Young, quick, can cross a ball)/Sterling/Silva (?)

 

CF: Carroll/Kuyt/Pacheco

ST: Suarez/Kuyt/Pacheco

 

Same players can play in a 4-3-3 of course or 4-5-1 or 5-4-1, just chose the old favourite to illustrate my point.

 

We have better players here than we give ourselves credit, but at the same time we give credit to players when we could be getting much better.

 

Skrtel is hit and miss and you can't afford that at CB and Agger is injury prone. If we could get a decent price for both and move on I'd think that would be a good idea. Soto and Carra are excellent backups and if Carra continues to play at the level required then he's a great bonus but we need to look to the future.

 

Net spend is the key and I think if we can recoup a fair bit then FSG won't mind going over that net spend in a big way one bit for the right players.

 

I think there are still a lot of changes to come but we have a nice platform to build on now with two forwards to usher in the new era, a top class CB waiting to be played in that position (for my money), a RB who seems to be finding his feet again and still has the talent to go right to the top, and a packed CM (though I'd like to see more of a defensive presence in there should anything happen to Lucas).

 

Out:

Poulsen

Jovanovic

Konchesky

Agger

Skrtel

N'gog

Maxi

Cole

Aurelio (hate to do it but the lad is made out of biscuits)

 

In:

 

LB (maybe Angel?)

CB

DM

LW

RW

 

Nine out five in. Younger, hungrier and stronger squad for a mix of injury prone, overpaid, overrated deadweight

[Hugo Sanjeev]

I know it is asking a lot but I'd like Kelly to be put in as first choice CB and someone young, hungry and talented (being good in the air a pre requisite) to play next to him.

 

Dortmund showed what getting the right CB partnership can do for you, the mancs are showing now with Smalling that young players should be blooded and Smalling reminds me a lot of Kelly in that he was a RB who was more suited to a CB role.

 

We need a leftback who can defend and go forward. Not to go all Cilla but I asked "our Graham (our man in Spain) and he reckons 21 year old Jose Angel from Sporting Gijon is the one to watch on that front so I'll lash his name into the hat. How is Mavinga doing thesedays?

 

Carragher should realise that he's not going to be playing forever and show the same grace as Giggs and Scholes and while still fighting for his place realise that the youngsters need to be played and his job is to prepare them for the future.

 

I'd like to see two proper wingers so we can play a 4-4-2 should we so choose.

 

I'm more than happy with our central midfield options and our strikers.

 

Pacheco, Suso, Sterling, Coady, Silva and anyone else that warrants it should get a shot at the bench and then if they get their chance and take it then we go from there.

 

A nice young hungry centre forward with the attributes and talent to fight for a centre forward birth with N'gog should he stay, wth Kuyt as the first striker sub.

 

So it looks like

 

Keepers: Reina/Brad the lad/Youth

 

LB: Angel/back up

CB: ? (Young, quick, can head a ball)/Carra hearing good things from Benfica (again from the lad who put me on to Luiz) about Roderick Miranda. Worth a shot for the name alone surely?

CB: Kelly/Carra/Soto

RB: Johnson/Kelly/youth

 

LW: ? (Young, quick, can cross a ball)/Pacheco (?)

CM: Lucas/Gerrard/Meireles/Suso/Shelvey/Coady

CM:

RW: ? (Young, quick, can cross a ball)/Sterling/Silva (?)

 

CF: Carroll/Kuyt/Pacheco

ST: Suarez/Kuyt/Pacheco

 

Same players can play in a 4-3-3 of course or 4-5-1 or 5-4-1, just chose the old favourite to illustrate my point.

 

We have better players here than we give ourselves credit, but at the same time we give credit to players when we could be getting much better.

 

Skrtel is hit and miss and you can't afford that at CB and Agger is injury prone. If we could get a decent price for both and move on I'd think that would be a good idea. Soto and Carra are excellent backups and if Carra continues to play at the level required then he's a great bonus but we need to look to the future.

 

Net spend is the key and I think if we can recoup a fair bit then FSG won't mind going over that net spend in a big way one bit for the right players.

 

I think there are still a lot of changes to come but we have a nice platform to build on now with two forwards to usher in the new era, a top class CB waiting to be played in that position (for my money), a RB who seems to be finding his feet again and still has the talent to go right to the top, and a packed CM (though I'd like to see more of a defensive presence in there should anything happen to Lucas).

 

Out:

Poulsen

Jovanovic

Konchesky

Agger

Skrtel

N'gog

Maxi

Cole

Aurelio (hate to do it but the lad is made out of biscuits)

 

In:

 

LB (maybe Angel?)

CB

DM

LW

RW

 

Nine out five in. Younger, hungrier and stronger squad for a mix of injury prone, overpaid, overrated deadweight

 

I'd like someone like PSG's CB Mamadou Sakho; he's big and strong, good in the air, sound technically, quick, a leader; and only 20.

 

Jose Angel's "one to watch" as in he is a good player, or we're actually looking at him?

[Chinandeler Bong]

Why does everyone feel the need to 'Judge' the owners ?

One summer doesnt make a legacy.

[Carvalho Diablo]

I wonder if James Milner and / or Adam Johnson might be ready for a swift City exit ?

 

Both good players, both would seemingly fit right in with what NESV are trying to build here, and neither one is a stick on City first teamer.

 

Just a thought.

[WrongIslander]

As in Graham Hunter told me via Twitter that he's the one that fits the bill when I laid down our requirements for a young LB to compliment Glen Johnson.

[WrongIslander]

I wonder if James Milner and / or Adam Johnson might be ready for a swift City exit ?

 

Both good players, both would seemingly fit right in with what NESV are trying to build here, and neither one is a stick on City first teamer.

 

Just a thought.

 

They should have come here in the first place but sadly it wasn't an option. Certainly would have no qualms about them making their way here now, especially not Johnson.

[Carvalho Diablo]

They should have come here in the first place but sadly it wasn't an option. Certainly would have no qualms about them making their way here now, especially not Johnson.

 

Milner reminds me a bit of Ray Houghton.

[WrongIslander]

Milner reminds me a bit of Ray Houghton.

 

You'll be glad to know then that Liverpool was his first choice.

 

Sadly I don't see either coming here, not for a while anyway.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Sadly I don't see either coming here, not for a while anyway.

 

Nah, me either.

 

A waste to see them both sat on the bench so often, exactly the type of players we are crying out for in my humble opinion.

[MLB]

Apparently the mancs are after Young. Realistically I think he'll go there instead of coming to us, but never mind. There are plenty of other options.

 

I don't see us going for any of these 20-21 year old Spanish and French left backs that people are talking about. Not while we have Robinson coming through, anyway. I like the idea of Baines because if we had him, Adam and a quality left winger than we would have three players who could provide excellent delivery with the left foot. I'm not sure it's a realistic option though.

[razor]

Ashley Young and a LM (Downing?) in.

 

I think some of the players mentioned will move on, but I don't know about Jones (why would we sell him - what has he done / done wrong?).

 

WI, Agger defo won't be going. Also, why would you want a young inexperienced Centre Half to play with a young inexperienced Centre Half?

[Hugo Sanjeev]

As in Graham Hunter told me via Twitter that he's the one that fits the bill when I laid down our requirements for a young LB to compliment Glen Johnson.

 

For a second there I thought you spoke to our match day PA announcer who had given you "inside" info. Don't know why I thought his name was Graham, cos I'm sure I've heard his name, although currently escaping me, dozens of times! I took the Cilla Black remark a bit literally:monkeyconfused:

 

Interesting about Jose Angel because Sporting Gijon have 22 yr old LB Roberto Canella Suárez, who is also highly rated. I presume Angel played against Barca tonight; wonder what's happened to Canella?

 

Newscastle's Spanish LB Enrique is also quite highly rated. I haven't seen enough of him to form a view on his defending, but he is very good going forward, has a good cross on him; and seems to have bit of pace as well.

[Pidge]

Yet agan we need to sell. It's vital that we shift a few more bodies. We need competition/cover for Lucas, a left back and some strong wide players.

[Guest TK-421]

I would sign Niko Kranjčar and Wayne Hennessey = no.19.

[Hugo Sanjeev]

Milner reminds me a bit of Ray Houghton.

 

Good shout that.

 

Quicker and stronger than Houghton perhaps. Ray had to use his intelligence and technical ability to play on the right hand side, as he wasn't a winger. Milner is very versatile and an energetic player, but isn't a winger either. Milner, like Houghton, has also got it in his locker to score goals. The guy came on leaps and bounds at Villa and I think, with the right guidance, there is a lot more to come from him. Not in Houghton's class yet, as he hasn't performed at the highest level consistently and played his part in the team winning things. Interesting comparison though.

 

Unless Man City get another manager in who believes in some of these English lads, which is likely sooner rather than later, their careers are just going to stall.

 

You'd think some of these lads would learn from Shaun Wright Phillips' mistakes.

[WrongIslander]

Ashley Young and a LM (Downing?) in.

 

I think some of the players mentioned will move on, but I don't know about Jones (why would we sell him - what has he done / done wrong?).

 

WI, Agger defo won't be going. Also, why would you want a young inexperienced Centre Half to play with a young inexperienced Centre Half?

 

Because Dortmund have proved with Subotic and Hummels that if you get the right players that compliment each other and allow them to grow together it works.

[Liam]

This isnt Football Manager. Be happy if we end the summer having not lost anybody better than we buy.