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The Rebuild

DubSpur said:
Or blame Poch for turning down every player he was offered during those windows.
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If he was offered players that wouldn’t fit his system, and weren’t who he needed, why would he say yes to their signing. They should have had a better transfer panel, collectively identified targets, and then worked to make the signings happen.
 
Raziel said:
So, window is closed, final tally

- Hart, Toby, Lamela, Aurier, Sissoko, Foyth, Cirkin, Gazza, Rose, Bale, Vini gone (11), Loans for CCV, Parrott, Etete, Whiteman
- Gollini, Romero, Emerson, Gil, Sarr (4) in, plus Skipp & Sessegnon returning
- Son & Kane staying is a big part

I'd say as an observation

- Club had focused on bring squad age down, and getting rid of fringe players who have been here too long
- We have probably accepted this season is a rebuild, so went for promising talent (money probably a consideration as well)

Nuno is going to have to compensate for lack of backup striker and potential creativity problem in CM (depends on Lo Celso/Ndombele)

Paratici started well, but he's going to have to figure out a January deal or two.
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Not sure Scarlett is any worse than any of our previous backup striker options, and could even turn out better. Hopefully Nuno can get a tune out of Ndombele.
 
I think we are in the fight for the top 4. It will be tough to get top 4, and there is a good chance that we will miss out. However, last season was a mess and we didn’t finish that far off.

If we can have stability through the season then that itself is a plus on last season. Add in the players signed, and we have improved the squad, and addressed key areas with Romero and Emerson having signed. Plus have future options elsewhere.

The aim for the club now has to be to fight to finish as high as possible, and let’s see where that takes us to.
 
LemonadeMoney said:
Not sure Scarlett is any worse than any of our previous backup striker options, and could even turn out better. Hopefully Nuno can get a tune out of Ndombele.
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This is key for me. Somehow Tanguy has become the most important player in our squad.

Fit and motivated and he changes the way we play in a positive fashion. Without him we will see much more of the functioning but completely uninspiring midfield we have seen so far this season.

He could be the difference between top 6 and top 8.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
We hope,yes, but we simply don't know that yet.
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I think it's a given that Emerson will be better than Doherty, a training cone could be better than him. So an improvement there. Romero will need to be judged in his first season but again, how hard is it to be better than Dier and Sanchez?
 
Well the rebuild has started for sure, lots of deadwood moved out and several young exciting players bought in. We were never going to complete the full rebuild in one window but we have made a good start. There will always be fans who think we needed more ( its what us fans do) but its a great start.
 
So just for comparison (as it's a rebuild thread), a user on reddit posted the players we brought in for the 2014 season (Poch's first)

- Nuno's in -> Gollini, Gil, Sarr, Emerson, Romero
- Poch's in -> Vorm, Yedlin, Dier, Stambouli, Fazio, Davies (Dele joined in the winter window that followed)

Interesting GK (Gollini vs. Vorm), Defender (Fazio/Dier vs. Romero), FB (Yedlin/Davies vs. Emerson), Midfield (Stambouli vs. Gil/Sarr)
 
El Guepardo said:
I think we are in the fight for the top 4. It will be tough to get top 4, and there is a good chance that we will miss out. However, last season was a mess and we didn’t finish that far off.

If we can have stability through the season then that itself is a plus on last season. Add in the players signed, and we have improved the squad, and addressed key areas with Romero and Emerson having signed. Plus have future options elsewhere.

The aim for the club now has to be to fight to finish as high as possible, and let’s see where that takes us to.
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In terms of finishing in the top 4, it needs one of the four to underperform and us to outperform. I actually think Liverpool are the most likely to fal out of the top 4 if anyone

Personally I dont give us more than a 10%-15% chance say of finishing in the top 4, but this season is a transitional one in my mind. 5th or 6th and ideally a cup would be a good outcome
 
I'd hope we finish at least sixth. I think there are only 5 teams good enough to finish above us, but I think 4th or 5th is where we'll finish.
 
El Guepardo said:
If he was offered players that wouldn’t fit his system, and weren’t who he needed, why would he say yes to their signing. They should have had a better transfer panel, collectively identified targets, and then worked to make the signings happen.
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He was offered top quality players that fit his system, it's been done to death already.
The signings he did want haven't turned out great...
 
I think we’ve done ok. Obviously most of us would have loved a striker and a young Eriksen but we can’t fix it all in one window.
More important than just players I think Nuno has a lot of work to do to restore or build confidence and the mental toughness in the same way Poch managed to do.
What I like is he’s got an honesty about him, and you can hear the sincerity in his interviews, where he talks of hard work, and the humility to say the success is that of the players.

this gives me confidence. Confidence that the players will stay honest on the pitch, be without ego and understand to be good we will have to work hard. Because I’ve felt these past few years we’ve just turned up to games thinking we have more ability than the opposition, and on so many occasions that just hasn’t been true. Exciting to see how it all pans out #COYS
 
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So exactly what deadwood do we have left to shift?

Before the season started I guess Dier, Sanchez, Doherty and Winks would have been on the list. Dier and Sanchez may have earned a reprieve based on their resurgence.

so really just Doherty and Winks? That’s pretty good going with only 2 to shift. Unless Davies is considered deadwood. But he’s a dependable squad player.
 
Reducing the squad age and losing players who averaged 31 years old for players who average 21 years old with no detriment to the squad is a real positive
 
RunTMC said:
So exactly what deadwood do we have left to shift?

Before the season started I guess Dier, Sanchez, Doherty and Winks would have been on the list. Dier and Sanchez may have earned a reprieve based on their resurgence.

so really just Doherty and Winks? That’s pretty good going with only 2 to shift. Unless Davies is considered deadwood. But he’s a dependable squad player.
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I think Winks, Doherty and Davies

And unless Dier has a complete renaissance year, I'd look for a replacement for him next summer as well

We have come a long way in last two years with changing the squad, that 2-3 more and we have a squad that with minor tweaks should be able to push for the next 4-5 years.
 
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