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The Great Mass Debater

Premier League Team

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Massive massive disclaimer of IF we go up....

But... IF we go up who would be in your XI? Who from our current XI is Premiership material?

Personally, if we went up I wouldnt want to see a whole host of new signings. I think the success of this team is on players being given their opportunity to shine, and the team they have become. I honestly feel the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and we stand to gain more by keeping what we have here going, than by disrupting it with big money signings.

I would love to see us keep the faith with both Jamal and Max. If we didnt sell them, Id hate to see us worry they were too green and replace them with someone more experienced. Krul I remain on the fence with. Zimmerman Id like to see get an opportunity. Hanley and Klose are good enough. Godfrey may need to be used more as a squad player.

I wouldnt seek to upgrade on Hernandez, Buendia or Stiepermann - they could all shine at a higher level. Pukki and Rhodes coukd do a job for us, though I wonder if we would need a different type of stiker in the Prem, more of a Holt type to be an outlet and gain territory. 

I think central midfield could do with some strengthening more than most areas.

If we do go up, I am excited to see how Jamal, Max, Buendia and Hernandez in particular will fare...

 

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Should it happen then this team and squad will be given a chance. There wont be wholesale changes and we would probably start the season with the team that finished this.

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Nobody knows who would be good enough and who wouldn’t. Would be nice to think that most of the current squad would get the chance to prove themselves with the addition of a few quality signings to strengthen the group. 

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The gist from Webber seems to be that we would keep the core of the squad and look to supplement some additional signings.

I think a new keeper will be top of the list, cover for Aarons, a Tettey replacement, competition for Pukki and another fast winger

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Would largely agree with that icecream snow. Tettey replacement a big one if we go up - not sure his legs will see him through in the prem.

If we don’t get rid of any centre halves (although I think Hanley might go if we go up) then possibly a solid defensive player who can play left back or right back - for back up and for those games where we might want extra solidity rather than rampaging full backs. 

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1 hour ago, Aggy said:

If we don’t get rid of any centre halves (although I think Hanley might go if we go up) then possibly a solid defensive player who can play left back or right back - for back up and for those games where we might want extra solidity rather than rampaging full backs. 

Heise?

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I'm going to say that an upgrade on Hernandez would be a good move. Slightly controversial for some of you (OP for a start) I am sure, but the reasons I say that is because he doesn't beat as many players as the positions he gets in, deserves and he doesn't deliver as well as he ought. Sometimes his touch lets him down (I understand not everyone is perfect, but have a look at last night for some examples). When he gets the ball, in this division, he gets us all on our feet, but the quality he possesses, I fear, will not get him regular, effective performances in  the Prem, if we go up. 

 I would be happy to add just a small number of additions, and keep the manager, and if we came back down , then the squad would not unduly be detrimentally ripped apart for the following season (I totally understand the likes of Aarons et al, would not stay at that point) but he squad will have been moulded at that point to adapt to such an event(s)

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9 hours ago, BaltimoreBird said:

Heise?

No idea if he’s anywhere near good enough if I’m honest - he might be! My impression when he signed was that he liked to get forward though, so perhaps not the more solid defensive option I was thinking about. Can he play on the left and the right? 

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9 hours ago, Crabbycanary3 said:

I'm going to say that an upgrade on Hernandez would be a good move. Slightly controversial for some of you (OP for a start) I am sure, but the reasons I say that is because he doesn't beat as many players as the positions he gets in, deserves and he doesn't deliver as well as he ought. Sometimes his touch lets him down (I understand not everyone is perfect, but have a look at last night for some examples). When he gets the ball, in this division, he gets us all on our feet, but the quality he possesses, I fear, will not get him regular, effective performances in  the Prem, if we go up. 

 I would be happy to add just a small number of additions, and keep the manager, and if we came back down , then the squad would not unduly be detrimentally ripped apart for the following season (I totally understand the likes of Aarons et al, would not stay at that point) but he squad will have been moulded at that point to adapt to such an event(s)

I think against the better prem sides you may well be right Crabby (although the same could be said for most players at all clubs outside of the bigger clubs). However, there are six or seven teams in the prem who I don’t think are much better than the top five or six in the championship and it’s those games where the likes of Hernandez will be crucial to our chances of survival. 

Agree with your your second paragraph though and I imagine that is what will happen.

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Not really comfortable discussion this yet.. but...

1. Replacement Goalkeeper to replace McGovern and challenge Krul.

2. An extra Centre-Back to enable us to play 3 at the back at times (ideally also act as cover at right-back)

3. Replacement striker to replace Rhodes - highly mobile similar to Teemu

4. Extra pace - so we don't have to rely so much on Onel - who could play in any of the 3 AM positions

Wouldn't want much more - squad harmony is so important - give players the chance to show they can be effective in the PL. Would prefer younger players "stepping up."

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A GK upgrade and a ball-winning midfielder the top priorities for me.

Worry for me is that our style of play has allowed us to win/dominate most games, but in the PL we may need to resort to a Plan B / C. Not sure we have the options to allow that.

Not that we're promoted yet by any means anyway.

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For me, very selective strengthening in some positions, and as was set out by Webber in that recent interview, we go for it but accept if we go back down after one season, we re-group and go again.  I think in many position we already have Prem quality players.

 

Moneywise I think last year the bottom Prem club got just under £100m, but am I right the new deal isn't quite as good ?

 

Obviously if we go up, there will be substantial promotion bonuses and we will offer improved deals to many of the squad.  But to be honest I am hoping we'll be able to keep a substantial war chest at the end of the season, on top of the parachute payments (or hopefully another full season in the Prem).

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1 hour ago, Fr. Chewy Louie said:

A GK upgrade and a ball-winning midfielder the top priorities for me.

Worry for me is that our style of play has allowed us to win/dominate most games, but in the PL we may need to resort to a Plan B / C. Not sure we have the options to allow that.

Not that we're promoted yet by any means anyway.

With you all the way on this one father... We do have plan b and c for the championship but not the CDM to play them in the prem

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The most interesting thing I took away from the Webber interview, was that we're getting the academy teams to play 4-4-2. Webber basically said it's really hard (or impossible) for us to recruit senior strikers, goal scoring wingers and left backs. So playing 4-4-2 to get two strikers on the pitch.

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The big thing for me is how will we play?

Will we adopt the same formation and playing style, or will we try to re-invent ourselves? You could argue either approach, ie our current way of playing, against top teams would perhaps yield more defeats but potentially more victories. Hughton-ball proved you cant draw your way to survival. But we wouldnt be trying to win the division and our weaknesses would be more ruthlessly exposed in a higher division.

If we play the same way Jamal and Max are crucial to how we play. Bear in mind they would have more of a defensive role surely in a team battling to stay up. Their attacking attributes are not in question, but how good are they defensively.

If they remain vital to how we attack, they both possess speed and stamina crucial to making how we play work. Were we to lose either of them and replace them with a player who couldnt get up and down the way they do, then we would soon become quite ineffective.

If the plan for the Prem (IF!) is to play the way we do now, we really need someone who can replicate what they do. Pinto has the pace (if he is still our player, he seems to have vanished) but does he have the stamina or the delivery? There is no real back-up for Jamal. We dont want Stiepermann at left back again. Husband is not Premiership level.

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