14 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Not a shock someone like him is happy, he hated playing the tedious sh*te Maresca had us doing, as seen by him often breaking rank and just getting the ball and going of to score with it.

Hopefully Alonso sees his qualities and plays to them, instead of trying to turn him into a backwards passing risk free robot.

15 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

" ... and stuff". Bless you, Cole, never change.

1 minute ago, dermott said:

" ... and stuff". Bless you, Cole, never change.

Thats Shakespearean for him.

“Xabi Alonso says he would like "four or five" centre backs in his squad for 2026-27”

We currently have 10 after signing Lacroix. So that is Colwill, Lacroix, Hato, and 1 or 2 others.

The defence (GOALKEEPER) will be the make or break for this season.

Spoiled for options going forward.

JP/Welbeck/Satpayev leading the line.

If we want to play through the middle with 2 10’s we have 2 of the best in the league in Palmer & Rogers.

If we want to stretch the field and attack at pace we can rotate between Stevie, Misha & Quenda.

The key to this attack is going to be offloading Enzo, having to shoehorn him into the side makes us weaker in every such situation unfortunately. Without him we can be so tactically flexible, it really is looking positive.

Edited July 31Jul 31 by The Boehly Babes

Squad depth is going to be an issue for us again isn't it?

We've got the makings of a good first 11, still got a couple of needs, an actual top keeper, a quality partner for Caicedo and a replacement for Cucu.

But past that if we are left needing to use the back up's or squad players regularly we are going to suffer.

I’m not too concerned, on another day J. Pedro scores from 2 yards out and Estevao slots the 1 on 1 home plus the rebound from J. Pedro. Could easily have been 4-1 and still have Caicedo, Enzo (booooo), RJ, Gusto (boooo) etc. to come back in

You have to appreciate the irony of having Alonso of all people as manager, and having the worst central midfield amongst the top sides in the league, and seeing rivals strengthen in that area. I mean sure, former midfielders make up the bulk of managers, but nonetheless. Still time, but the lack of links are concerning at present.

Lewis Hall available.

Adam Wharton available.

Diogo Costa available.

What a first 11 we could gift to Alonso if we can shift who we need to shift.

Costa

James

Lacroix

Colwill

Palestra

Caicedo

Wharton

Hall

Palmer

Rogers

Joao Pedro.

Would be brilliant.

Edited Sunday at 00:505 days by axman2526

9 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Lewis Hall available.

Adam Wharton available.

Diogo Costa available.

What a first 11 we could gift to Alonso if we can shift who we need to shift.

Costa

James

Lacroix

Colwill

Palestra

Caicedo

Wharton

Hall

Palmer

Rogers

Joao Pedro.

Would be brilliant.

Aside from the fact all sources seem to indicate Hall’s preference is Utd the other two seem easily achievable and with little competition for their signatures.

Much prefer Wharton for this set up than Scott and with our relationship with Palace a deal shouldn’t be impossible.

The fact it’s so quiet around GK is worrying, after the last minute sniffing around Maignan last summer followed by another season with Bob proving he has too many brain farts to be reliable, I thought that would’ve been one of our first moves.

Fingers crossed for a productive end to the market.

42 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Aside from the fact all sources seem to indicate Hall’s preference is Utd the other two seem easily achievable and with little competition for their signatures.

Much prefer Wharton for this set up than Scott and with our relationship with Palace a deal shouldn’t be impossible.

The fact it’s so quiet around GK is worrying, after the last minute sniffing around Maignan last summer followed by another season with Bob proving he has too many brain farts to be reliable, I thought that would’ve been one of our first moves.

Fingers crossed for a productive end to the market.

What sources?

3 hours ago, dkw said:

What sources?

That Simon Phillips said how Alonso had tried to convince him but he wasn’t keen on the move.

Seems slightly more credible than Younes etc.

You're reading my mind, Xabi.

1 minute ago, abramovich said:

You're reading my mind, Xabi.

I just can't see how we do it without selling players first. Another week goes by and we don't move on the ones that need to be moved on. Nobody is buying our players, and I don't blame them, they've not shown anything to justify the prices we're asking for.

To be fair, I think Chalobah is as good as gone to Como. The fact that they've managed to get rid of Garnacho is nothing short of a miracle. Delap will have teams interested, he belongs in one of those relegation battlers. Badiashile and Disasi are a tough sell because you're basically trying to figure out which one is more useless, but someone somewhere will need a centreback. Guiu is probably a loan, Essugo who knows.

The bigger issues are Enzo and possibly Gusto. I'm sure if made available there'd be clubs interested but not at the prices quoted by the club.

Edited Sunday at 16:405 days by abramovich

Yeah, I'd like to think Chalobah gets sorted soon, Badiashile + Disasi as well.

Said it a while ago, and I still feel it holds, but Alonso will be pushing for a holding midfielder.

Aye midfield needs upgrading, also need a new number 1 keeper.

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Said it a while ago, and I still feel it holds, but Alonso will be pushing for a holding midfielder.

Well he's just snagged Henderson LOL

Over the next few weeks he has to make a call on which center backs he wants to keep.

Has said he only wants 5. Levi and Maxence are two of them, apparently we are in no rush to move on Tosin either.

Badishille, Chalobah and Disasi are on Thier way out. That leaves Sarr, Anselmino, Acheampong and Fofana going for the 2 other spots, unless Hato is included in that group as well.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Over the next few weeks he has to make a call on which center backs he wants to keep.

Has said he only wants 5. Levi and Maxence are two of them, apparently we are in no rush to move on Tosin either.

Badishille, Chalobah and Disasi are on Thier way out. That leaves Sarr, Anselmino, Acheampong and Fofana going for the 2 other spots, unless Hato is included in that group as well.

Colwill, Lacroix, Hato will likely be the starting 3 if we do play that system.

Of the remaining, Fofana should be the one shifted but those wages coupled with that injury record essentially create another Sterling situation.

The club did the right thing (cancelling the Dortmund loan after the tapping up) quickly followed by the wrong thing (Strasbourg loan) with Anselmino last season, so I’d EXPECT him to get a better loan once again if possible. Maybe PL?

They seem to have a high opinion of Sarr, even after his disaster performances last season, keeping him around will stunt his development but also we’d become too light if we loaned him.

So it’s safe to assume come the end of the window when Enzo, Gusto & Neto are all still sat around pouting that they’ll sell Josh for some wonderful pure profit, probably to Liverpool.

i don’t think we need to worry about what formation we’ll play because I think we will play both a 4-2-3-1 and 3-4-3 in the same game for the start of the season at least. If we play with a back 3 then one of the wide CB’s will be playing full back too ie James on the right or Hato on the left with the opposite flank having an attacking wing back ie Palestra or maybe Quenda on the left.

It will probably look like a 4-2-3-1 for the most part I reckon and having a more conventional back 4 makes a space to get Estevao on the pitch with Palmer, Pedro and Rogers.

Edited Monday at 23:264 days by 19seventyone

The issue is who the hell partners Caicedo and his name better not be Enzo Fernandez.

The man and his staff.

The look on Calum McFarlane is a riot.

58 minutes ago, Scott said:

The man and his staff.

The look on Calum McFarlane is a riot.

Someone please send Callum to Spain to get some much needed tan, he's glowing amongst those men.