Flying high
Full Member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2015
- Messages
- 1,776
We've all written off this season now, right? Let's look to the rebuild process and focus on what's needed to complete the job. If they'd all left in the summer, not many would have been missed. But I would say that, when all are fit, we have a decent enough core at a good age to build upon.
We have a core of players now who are, imho, good enough to get us back to the top 4 with the right players around them:
DeGea
Wan-Bissaka
Maguire
Mctominay
Pogba
Rashford
Martial
We have a small group of players who are perfectly good enough to be squad/rotation players next season:
Romero
Shaw
Lindelof
James
We have some that can be retained as decent backup players or sold without really losing anything:
Jones
Rojo
Bailly
Dalot
Fred
Lingard
Pereira
That leaves some older players who have to leave next summer, so shouldn't play unless there's no one else available:
Young
Matic
Mata
So, that's 7 first teamers I'd be content with starting next season. As it stands then we need a LB, CB, CM and RW with another CM and CF to upgrade our cover/competition. That's 6 players needed.
Though of course there's a large group of young players that I haven't mentioned yet. While I understand the calls for Greenwood to start, I haven't personally seen enough yet to think he's going to be first team regular within 2 years. Garner, Gomes and Chong even less. Williams has looked really good but I want to see him get a good run of games. He and Shaw together might be enough to not need a LB.
Tuanzebe looks to me to be closest to PL starter level and, as it stands, I think he will show enough this season, that we can delay a CB signing.
The kids will continue to get chances this season through necessity. It's up to them to prove that we don't need some of those positions to be filled. If Axel and Williams are up to the job, then adding 2 CMs, RW and a CF would make us competitive again, if we can get those signings right. That doesn't seem so far off to me.
Could any of the other kids cement a place? Would bringing in a new manager now simply reset things all over again?
I don't post an awful lot in the united section. It's a busy place with a lot of noise.. and I'm kinda old
But I do read and totally understand everyones frustrations with our current level, there will certainly be ups and downs this year, possibly the worst we've seen since Ferguson left. But let's leave the blame game for other threads and try to find the positive way forward. Whether our future is with Ole, in some ways doesn't matter. I can now see how our squad can be functional, if not yet exceptional, within a year or so and a realistic number of signings. When in recent times, we had far more problems than solutions. Now at least, we have a fairly solid base from which to build.
We have a core of players now who are, imho, good enough to get us back to the top 4 with the right players around them:
DeGea
Wan-Bissaka
Maguire
Mctominay
Pogba
Rashford
Martial
We have a small group of players who are perfectly good enough to be squad/rotation players next season:
Romero
Shaw
Lindelof
James
We have some that can be retained as decent backup players or sold without really losing anything:
Jones
Rojo
Bailly
Dalot
Fred
Lingard
Pereira
That leaves some older players who have to leave next summer, so shouldn't play unless there's no one else available:
Young
Matic
Mata
So, that's 7 first teamers I'd be content with starting next season. As it stands then we need a LB, CB, CM and RW with another CM and CF to upgrade our cover/competition. That's 6 players needed.
Though of course there's a large group of young players that I haven't mentioned yet. While I understand the calls for Greenwood to start, I haven't personally seen enough yet to think he's going to be first team regular within 2 years. Garner, Gomes and Chong even less. Williams has looked really good but I want to see him get a good run of games. He and Shaw together might be enough to not need a LB.
Tuanzebe looks to me to be closest to PL starter level and, as it stands, I think he will show enough this season, that we can delay a CB signing.
The kids will continue to get chances this season through necessity. It's up to them to prove that we don't need some of those positions to be filled. If Axel and Williams are up to the job, then adding 2 CMs, RW and a CF would make us competitive again, if we can get those signings right. That doesn't seem so far off to me.
Could any of the other kids cement a place? Would bringing in a new manager now simply reset things all over again?
I don't post an awful lot in the united section. It's a busy place with a lot of noise.. and I'm kinda old
But I do read and totally understand everyones frustrations with our current level, there will certainly be ups and downs this year, possibly the worst we've seen since Ferguson left. But let's leave the blame game for other threads and try to find the positive way forward. Whether our future is with Ole, in some ways doesn't matter. I can now see how our squad can be functional, if not yet exceptional, within a year or so and a realistic number of signings. When in recent times, we had far more problems than solutions. Now at least, we have a fairly solid base from which to build.