2 hours ago, Famous CFC said:

Even if Chelsea were in the Champions League next year, Id be very surprised if any of the players mentioned joined Chelsea. Far-fetched choices. 

Only player I mentioned who would be very difficult to get is De Vrij, the rest could be achieved. Aside from my list, I think Bailey & Malcom would be keen to join, Sessegnon depends on whether he’s still in the championship or not.

Edited March 18, 20188 yr by Floyd25

8 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

Only player I mentioned who would be very difficult to get is De Vrij, the rest could be achieved. Aside from my list, I think Bailey & Malcom would be keen to join, Sessegnon depends on whether he’s still in the championship or not.

De Vrij Transfer maybe. That's about the ambition now.

The way our ambition is going,I would say Tom,Dick and Harry.

4 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

De Vrij Transfer maybe. That's about the ambition now.

He’s a good defender, I think a few clubs will be after him in the window, Liverpool and United were mentioned. 

52 minutes ago, Bluesince66 said:

The way our ambition is going,I would say Tom,Dick and Harry.

Not sure about Tom and Dick, but I’d take Harry, if his second name was Kane.

2 minutes ago, Floyd25 said:

He’s a good defender, I think a few clubs will be after him in the window, Liverpool and United were mentioned. 

Apologies, i was inferring that our ambition now only amounts to free transfers. If Liverpool and United are interested we won't be able to compete, i suspect

Edited March 18, 20188 yr by WhiteWall

2 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Apologies, i was inferring that our ambition now only amounts to free transfers. If Liverpool and United are interested we won't be able to compete, i suspect

True, yes I can’t see us competing with United and Liverpool in the market. I suspect De Vrij will go to Inter though. 

15 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

Only player I mentioned who would be very difficult to get is De Vrij, the rest could be achieved. Aside from my list, I think Bailey & Malcom would be keen to join, Sessegnon depends on whether he’s still in the championship or not.

Im not on about the selections in general. 

I'll tell you one thing about my squad for 18/19 - Bakayoko ain't f**king in it.

27 minutes ago, Zeta said:

I'll tell you one thing about my squad for 18/19 - Bakayoko ain't f**king in it.

LOL ... must say I am amused and amazed in equal measures at the number of posters who have included him in their squad for next season. He's be the first name out the door for me, and if no-one wants him, I'd even pay up his contract to get shot of him. A loan serves no useful purpose for such a limited footballer.

Honestly, i want 3 new players to be bought: Jorginho, Odriozola( or Thomas Meunier), Timo Werner and maybe a keeper if Courtois leaves. The rest of the squad needs to be filled with the following returning loanees: Kurt Zouma and Ruben Loftus Cheek.

Our squad would look something like this:

Goalkeepers: Courtois, Eduardo and Caballero

Centre Backs: Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, David Luiz, Kurt Zouma and Ampadu ( Sell Gary Cahill)

Fullbacks/Wingbacks: Odriozola, Emerson, Zappacosta and Alonso ( Sell Victor Moses)

CM: N´golo Kante, Drinkwater, Loftus Cheek, Barkley, Jorginho and Fabregas ( sell/loan Bakayoko)

AM´s: Eden Hazard, Hudson Odoi and Willian ( This is dependant on Willian keeping his insane form until the end of the season, if he does, dont sign another winger and develop CHO, if he doesn´t, sell Pedro and buy another winger), also consider bringing back Mason Mount

ST´s: Alvaro Morata, Timo Werner( he can also play as a wide forward if we need) and Olivier Giroud.

I think that if we sign these players, we will genuinely become a top 5 side in Europe, we are so freaking close god damnit.

Starting Eleven: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, Meunier/Odriozola, Emerson( i like Alonso, but i feel that Emerson is a really special player that can offer even more than Marcos if we trust him), Jorginho, Kanté, Hazard, Willian and Werner/Morata( let them both compete for the spot)

19 hours ago, Zeta said:

I'll tell you one thing about my squad for 18/19 - Bakayoko ain't f**king in it.

Yep, nor mine, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was it after yesterday, loan move or permanent transfer. 

Edited March 19, 20188 yr by Floyd25

The annual next years squad thread! Good to see we made it until March before giving up on this season.

It's very dependant on who the manager is. If Enrique comes in as everyone seems to be speculating, we will need some very significant surgery to make his system work. Frankly that is why he is a bad choice. Tuchel and Sarri the same. 

For me if Conte goes (which is probably likely) I'd like to see Simeone or Allegri come in. Not sure how we could convince them but fingers crossed. I'd then prefer us to make some big signings rather than pad out the squad as we did last year. 

Priorities are:

1. Strengthen the midfield with another box to box player - Fabinho should be our number 1 target, although we may need more than just him. RLC should come back in. It's a shame Saul Niguez is worth 150m now. He'd have been perfect. 

2. Improve our ability in the final third -Some extra zip or creativity with the ball is needed. Leon Bailey is a guy with pace and zip who could learn from Hazard and Willian. As much as I'm not a fan of his attitude, I wonder whether Mahrez might also be a shout as someone who is just clinical and scores and assists.

3. Replace Luiz - Good servant but seemed to revert to his old self this season. His carry on about Antonio's tactics spells the end for him. Koulibaly is the obvious candidate. We just have to stump up the price. 

4. Gain greater balance with left footers in the team - This may seem odd but by my count we only have 4 left footed players in the squad. Emerson, Alonso, Courtois and Giroud. We need in my view some better balance in this area to open up more passing angles and shooting opportunities. Bailey/Mahrez would help but perhaps a further left footer in midfield or defence would be valuable. If Palace go down Sakho is the ideal candidate. We could also consider a Strootman, Rabiot or dare I suggest it Wilshere on a free if places allowed for a midfielder.

With that in mind my thoughts 25 man squad:

3 Goalkeepers (1 HG): Courtois, Caballero, Blackman (CHG)

9 Defenders: Moses (HG), Zappa (in an ideal world Sterling would have this spot), Dave, Christensen (CHG), Rudiger, Koulibaly, M. Sakho, Alonso, Emerson.

5 Midfielders: Kante, Fabinho, Bakayoko, Drinkwater (HG), Ampadu (HG)

6 Attacking Midfielders: Hazard, Willian, Bailey/Mahrez, Barkley (HG), RLC (CHG), CHO (CHG)

2 Strikers: Morata, Giroud

Homegrown: 8, Club Homegrown: 4, Left footers: 6.

Pedro, Luiz, Cahill, Eduardo and Fabregas departing. Fabinho, Bailey/Mahrez, Sakho and Koulibaly signed. 

15 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

The annual next years squad thread! Good to see we made it until March before giving up on this season.

It's very dependant on who the manager is. If Enrique comes in as everyone seems to be speculating, we will need some very significant surgery to make his system work. Frankly that is why he is a bad choice. Tuchel and Sarri the same. 

For me if Conte goes (which is probably likely) I'd like to see Simeone or Allegri come in. Not sure how we could convince them but fingers crossed. I'd then prefer us to make some big signings rather than pad out the squad as we did last year. 

Priorities are:

1. Strengthen the midfield with another box to box player - Fabinho should be our number 1 target, although we may need more than just him. RLC should come back in. It's a shame Saul Niguez is worth 150m now. He'd have been perfect. 

2. Improve our ability in the final third -Some extra zip or creativity with the ball is needed. Leon Bailey is a guy with pace and zip who could learn from Hazard and Willian. As much as I'm not a fan of his attitude, I wonder whether Mahrez might also be a shout as someone who is just clinical and scores and assists.

3. Replace Luiz - Good servant but seemed to revert to his old self this season. His carry on about Antonio's tactics spells the end for him. Koulibaly is the obvious candidate. We just have to stump up the price. 

4. Gain greater balance with left footers in the team - This may seem odd but by my count we only have 4 left footed players in the squad. Emerson, Alonso, Courtois and Giroud. We need in my view some better balance in this area to open up more passing angles and shooting opportunities. Bailey/Mahrez would help but perhaps a further left footer in midfield or defence would be valuable. If Palace go down Sakho is the ideal candidate. We could also consider a Strootman, Rabiot or dare I suggest it Wilshere on a free if places allowed for a midfielder.

With that in mind my thoughts 25 man squad:

3 Goalkeepers (1 HG): Courtois, Caballero, Blackman (CHG)

9 Defenders: Moses (HG), Zappa (in an ideal world Sterling would have this spot), Dave, Christensen (CHG), Rudiger, Koulibaly, M. Sakho, Alonso, Emerson.

5 Midfielders: Kante, Fabinho, Bakayoko, Drinkwater (HG), Ampadu (HG)

6 Attacking Midfielders: Hazard, Willian, Bailey/Mahrez, Barkley (HG), RLC (CHG), CHO (CHG)

2 Strikers: Morata, Giroud

Homegrown: 8, Club Homegrown: 4, Left footers: 6.

Pedro, Luiz, Cahill, Eduardo and Fabregas departing. Fabinho, Bailey/Mahrez, Sakho and Koulibaly signed. 

Would not love this squad, except for one replacement - dont see the point of buying sakho. He is as good as zouma, would be a waste of funds for another decent player who does not really improve our first 11 or squad but just adds numbers.

9 minutes ago, didierforever said:

Would not love this squad, except for one replacement - dont see the point of buying sakho. He is as good as zouma, would be a waste of funds for another decent player who does not really improve our first 11 or squad but just adds numbers.

Fair enough. I think he is underrated myself. He would also add a left footed option to our centre backs which is  important as it opens up different passing angles to progress the ball than pure right footers. No surprise that Pep invested in Laporte as a left footer in January. 

If spots allowed I would have also added a left footed CM. We really were silly to sell Matic last summer. Again Saul would be the perfect signing for us. Left footed capable of playing a number of roles. Shame Atletico increased his clause to 150m last summer.

Of course all of this is speculative. We may continue our trajectory towards lower spending which would rule out any of the four signings I'm thinking of. 

Edited March 21, 20188 yr by Spiller86

In my opinion our problems mainly lie in midfield, so that's where we should be looking to strengthen.

I'd go with Dahoud from Dortmund. Looks a classy player who hasn't been hyped too much yet, so hopefully that would keep the price down.

Additionally I'd like to see some quality added to the final third.

We finally should be looking for quality over quantity this summer. Of course a lot will depend on if we manage to get top 4 or not, which isn't looking extremely likely at the moment.

A crucial thing is which system will be playing next season, three at the back or four. If the latter certainly more midfielders.

14 hours ago, didierforever said:

Would not love this squad, except for one replacement - dont see the point of buying sakho. He is as good as zouma, would be a waste of funds for another decent player who does not really improve our first 11 or squad but just adds numbers.

 

14 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

The annual next years squad thread! Good to see we made it until March before giving up on this season.

It's very dependant on who the manager is. If Enrique comes in as everyone seems to be speculating, we will need some very significant surgery to make his system work. Frankly that is why he is a bad choice. Tuchel and Sarri the same. 

For me if Conte goes (which is probably likely) I'd like to see Simeone or Allegri come in. Not sure how we could convince them but fingers crossed. I'd then prefer us to make some big signings rather than pad out the squad as we did last year. 

Priorities are:

1. Strengthen the midfield with another box to box player - Fabinho should be our number 1 target, although we may need more than just him. RLC should come back in. It's a shame Saul Niguez is worth 150m now. He'd have been perfect. 

2. Improve our ability in the final third -Some extra zip or creativity with the ball is needed. Leon Bailey is a guy with pace and zip who could learn from Hazard and Willian. As much as I'm not a fan of his attitude, I wonder whether Mahrez might also be a shout as someone who is just clinical and scores and assists.

3. Replace Luiz - Good servant but seemed to revert to his old self this season. His carry on about Antonio's tactics spells the end for him. Koulibaly is the obvious candidate. We just have to stump up the price. 

4. Gain greater balance with left footers in the team - This may seem odd but by my count we only have 4 left footed players in the squad. Emerson, Alonso, Courtois and Giroud. We need in my view some better balance in this area to open up more passing angles and shooting opportunities. Bailey/Mahrez would help but perhaps a further left footer in midfield or defence would be valuable. If Palace go down Sakho is the ideal candidate. We could also consider a Strootman, Rabiot or dare I suggest it Wilshere on a free if places allowed for a midfielder.

With that in mind my thoughts 25 man squad:

3 Goalkeepers (1 HG): Courtois, Caballero, Blackman (CHG)

9 Defenders: Moses (HG), Zappa (in an ideal world Sterling would have this spot), Dave, Christensen (CHG), Rudiger, Koulibaly, M. Sakho, Alonso, Emerson.

5 Midfielders: Kante, Fabinho, Bakayoko, Drinkwater (HG), Ampadu (HG)

6 Attacking Midfielders: Hazard, Willian, Bailey/Mahrez, Barkley (HG), RLC (CHG), CHO (CHG)

2 Strikers: Morata, Giroud

Homegrown: 8, Club Homegrown: 4, Left footers: 6.

Pedro, Luiz, Cahill, Eduardo and Fabregas departing. Fabinho, Bailey/Mahrez, Sakho and Koulibaly signed. 

No offense but Sakho(?!), Koulibaly, really? CB is probably the last position we need reinforcements in, but not only that but you also kept our weakest position unchanged(RB/RWB).

Like i said previously, we have a few excelent players on loan like RLC, Zouma and Mason Mount, so i agree with you on using them, but we HAVE to get a midfielder that is able to keep things ticking in the middle of the park, Jorginho would be ideal IMO, thats the most important thing for the summer, after that, RWB is also crucial for us

10 hours ago, Lucashm said:

 

No offense but Sakho(?!), Koulibaly, really? CB is probably the last position we need reinforcements in, but not only that but you also kept our weakest position unchanged(RB/RWB).

Like i said previously, we have a few excelent players on loan like RLC, Zouma and Mason Mount, so i agree with you on using them, but we HAVE to get a midfielder that is able to keep things ticking in the middle of the park, Jorginho would be ideal IMO, thats the most important thing for the summer, after that, RWB is also crucial for us

No offence taken. It's all hypothetical after all. I'd suggest that the amount of teams who have had success against us this year by matching our formation and pressing high suggests that inability of our back three to hold and circulate the ball is a critical concern. Koulibaly is one of the best ball playing CBs in Europe. Sakho an experienced left footed and ball playing CB. Luiz is finished and Cahill not far behind him. Zouma has a loose first touch, isnt great on the ball, and isn't suited to the current style.  Teams swarmed on Cahill this year and Kurt is worse on the ball than him.

A controlling midfielder may be useful. But for me a box to box player is more important. Hence Fabinho. As for right backs if we shift to four at the back Dave will return there. Sterling is also a long term answer so I'd like to see him given a shot before other purchases are made.

On 17/03/2018 at 22:56, Famous CFC said:

Even if Chelsea were in the Champions League next year, Id be very surprised if any of the players mentioned joined Chelsea. Far-fetched choices. 

It didn't stop Arsenal from getting Aubamayeng. 

I really don't think it's that much of a big deal, its wages a player wants and we can secure that and everyone knows we are a team who's more likely to be in the Champions League than not be in the Champions League. 

I'm not going to list players because but I think we need players in key areas and I pointed it out before, our spine is not that good. If we persist on playing the Conte formation and Conte stays here we'll need to get a new centre-back who can distribute the ball better from the middle. I'm going to just list the problems as bad/good, not to say the players are bad in these areas, but to say they don't suit this current system, and right now it's everything in the middle where we are due an upgrade.

        Bad

Good-Bad-Good

Good-Good-Bad-Good

Good-Bad-Good

 

Courtois isn't a terrible keeper, but we need a better keeper who can play it out from the back and not give it away from every goal kick, would the sweeper-keeper role even be better or?? 

I love Christensen but he's not a good footballer, he's only 21 and can get better, but if we were to go places we will need someone who can fill that void that David Luiz left from last season, it was crucial.

And the biggest thing right now and everyone will agree, the spot next to Kante. For a player as good as Kante he deserves a good midfield partner, he's been carrying for 2 all season like he's 9 months pregnant. I do feel this is an area where we need to heavily invest in, such as throw money at somebody. 

Striker area, as much as I rate Morata he's gone missing for far too long, can we gamble on him being our key striker? I'm not sure, but I don't think we should sign a new striker either. Give Michy his chance, play Giroud and just use all 3 of our strikers. I think an area where we do need to invest in would be the right side, Willian is inconsistent so I probably should have put the right wing side as "Bad" not "Good" considering how bad he was at the start of the season until recently. Pedro has to go for me, he's been very poor this season and it would be wise to get someone who can compete with Willian, perhaps Mahrez? 

Anyway, that's where I think the problem lies. It's probably all pointless anyway, Conte won't be here and it'll be a different system. 

I really don't agree with people that don't think Christensen is a good footballer. To me he looks very natural on the ball, much more so than Cahill or Rudiger.
He's a young lad who has been outstanding this season, but recently (albeit in crucial games) he's hit a bit of a rough patch. He always tries to find the footballing solution, and more often than not he finds one. Our entire team struggles when we try to play it out from the back, it's very harsh to only criticize him for it.

Personally I see him as our captain 2 years down the line. 

4 hours ago, Slojo said:

It didn't stop Arsenal from getting Aubamayeng. 

I really don't think it's that much of a big deal, its wages a player wants and we can secure that and everyone knows we are a team who's more likely to be in the Champions League than not be in the Champions League. 

The top four as it is now could well be the top four a few years at least. Any of the top players mentioned will consider a Champions League team as the preferred choice rather than a team in the Europa League. City, Liverpool, United and even Spurs are above us in attracting players. Who's going to want to join a team in the Europa League when they can join a top team in the Champions League. Might have to lower our expectations on who we think we can get. 

1 hour ago, Famous CFC said:

The top four as it is now could well be the top four a few years at least. Any of the top players mentioned will consider a Champions League team as the preferred choice rather than a team in the Europa League. City, Liverpool, United and even Spurs are above us in attracting players. Who's going to want to join a team in the Europa League when they can join a top team in the Champions League. Might have to lower our expectations on who we think we can get. 

Maybe a few of our followers should take heed of the BIB. Our stock is slowly falling away. Our style of football is one of the least attractive in the league, as well as the least effective out of the top 5. We cannot compete financially, for the moment at least. We could be the "also rans" for a while now, so best get used to the idea.

2 hours ago, CFCholland said:

I really don't agree with people that don't think Christensen is a good footballer. To me he looks very natural on the ball, much more so than Cahill or Rudiger.
He's a young lad who has been outstanding this season, but recently (albeit in crucial games) he's hit a bit of a rough patch. He always tries to find the footballing solution, and more often than not he finds one. Our entire team struggles when we try to play it out from the back, it's very harsh to only criticize him for it.

Personally I see him as our captain 2 years down the line. 

Rudiger is far better on the ball.