how the team is shaping up

[dannyboi-ffc]

I think were almost there in terms of new faces. I still think at the very minimum we will still lose kasami, stek, and ruiz.  With dejagah, kaca and mitroglue as 50/50.

Assuming we sign this greek left back i think we need just one right sided centre back in the aaron hughes mode and  a reasonably experienced one is vital to give a nice balance.

Centre mid is easily our weakness, parker tunnicliffe david and christensen but for me that is a bit short. Id like a danny murphy at around 24/25 years old and if im being greedy another squad player. Karagounis would be ideal.

Im hoping richardson and dejagah both stay which would cement there place in the starting line up and i think george williams will have a better season than roberts will. We need two for every position so another winger would be nice if kaca leaves.

As for strikers i like woodrow alot, dembele, roberts are exciting back up and providing we keep mitroglue or hugo i dont think we will sign another striker after mcormack. Im just worried there isnt enough goals there. Saha got 32 boa got 17/18 and bazza got 22/23 last time we went up. Its asking an awful lot of mcormack to score 32 like saha and even if he does we need goals elsewhere. Woodrow wont get more than 15,  hugo probably the same. We cant rely on dembele to get double figures so i think alot is depending on ross but i dont want another forward because it will slow down woodrows developement. Oh yes i forgot taggart.... no comment because i know nothing about him. Anyway this is how our match day squad is shaping up in my eyes

                         Stockdale
voser          ?                 Burn         greek guy

                    David              Parker       

Dejagah                                        Richardson

                     Woodrow  Mcormack

or
                         Stockdale

voser           ?                Burn          greek guy

                      ?                    Parker

Dejagah             David               Richardson

     
                          Mcormack


Typical bench
Bettinelli / experienced cheap gk
Amorbieta/ hutchinson
Hoogland
Tunnicliffe
G Williams/kaca
Roberts
Hugo/ Dembele/ Taggart

Squad players
Ryan williams
Grimmer
karagounis
Vigen Christensen


So according to me we will see  4/5 new faces still with 4/5 leaving. 2 new centre mids and one should be karagounis, 1 experienced centre back, possibly a back up gk and a winger if kaca leaves. Thats a 25/26 man squad which seems a nice size for that league.

Whats everyone else thinking so far, im quite happy with the way were going about our business

[General]

I'm not sure why given that we've dropped down the division you're so intent on leaving amorebieta on the bench. I'd start him at CB given the options we have now. Ludicrous to leave him out at the moment.

[dannyboi-ffc]

I'm not sure why given that we've dropped down the division you're so intent on leaving amorebieta on the bench. I'd start him at CB given the options we have now. Ludicrous to leave him out at the moment.

I see where your coming from, i did  post recently suggesting 3 at the back because i cant see how burn and amore can both play in a two. Were signing a new lb too so who do you leave out? Burn being on the bench id imagine wont be very popular

[General]

And why wouldn't you put tunicliffe in their again with Parker in your second formation, the guys has played in the championship before, proven he can cope and alongside Parker (who I think is another weak link) would be a good (not ideal/perfect) option.

A back four of hoogeland, amorebieta, burn and voser (or if both voser and hoogeland are RB's then buy in a LB) would be alright, although I say alright because I don't know much about the newbies. It is experienced.

If we kept those who played in the World Cup they would clearly add quite a significantly better standard then what we have at the moment and we're luckily in the driving seat in being able to keep them for this season at least regarding Ruiz and déjàgah and then mitroglu long term.

I'd love to see our starting attacking line up look like this..

Déjàgah----------------------Richardson

---------------Ruiz----------------------

--------------mitroglu/McCormack-----

I think Ruiz given the extra time and having had a good World Cup, coupled with having been average for us may mean that if he stays he would want to make up for what he's not given us moving forward. I think he , given the extra space, he could thrive and be incredible for us in the championship. I also think that mitroglu if we kept him may strike up a good partnership with Ruiz and could respect the quality of the play Ruiz can deliver enough too.  The fact that we now have seven strikers means we have a huge amount of options to choose from. As a hold up player I think woodrow is the best I've seen out of the bunch, I thought tankovic was great too, really classy, but he's sadly gone. Rodallegas pace...


Another format which could work is


Déjàgah and Richardson on the wings and Ruiz playing the AM role whilst woodrow plays the lone striker feeding balls to Richardson and déjàgah to use their pace to get in behind the opposing defences. Or to play one - two's with Ruiz etc.

I'd love to see a galvanised mitroglu play for us.

[General]

I'm not sure why given that we've dropped down the division you're so intent on leaving amorebieta on the bench. I'd start him at CB given the options we have now. Ludicrous to leave him out at the moment.

I see where your coming from, i did  post recently suggesting 3 at the back because i cant see how burn and amore can both play in a two. Were signing a new lb too so who do you leave out? Burn being on the bench id imagine wont be very popular

I still think burn is the bigger liability, he's also a lot less experienced than amorebieta. Some championship strikers would have a field day if burn was there without a more mature defender by his side.

[dannyboi-ffc]

I'm not sure why given that we've dropped down the division you're so intent on leaving amorebieta on the bench. I'd start him at CB given the options we have now. Ludicrous to leave him out at the moment.

I see where your coming from, i did  post recently suggesting 3 at the back because i cant see how burn and amore can both play in a two. Were signing a new lb too so who do you leave out? Burn being on the bench id imagine wont be very popular

I still think burn is the bigger liability, he's also a lot less experienced than amorebieta. Some championship strikers would have a field day if burn was there without a more mature defender by his side.

Completely agree with that and thats why i think a right sided experienced defender is vital. But i only put burn there because i thought thats what most people wanted. Id rather amore too, towards the end i thought he showed a big improvement.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

I'm not sure why given that we've dropped down the division you're so intent on leaving amorebieta on the bench. I'd start him at CB given the options we have now. Ludicrous to leave him out at the moment.

I see where your coming from, i did  post recently suggesting 3 at the back because i cant see how burn and amore can both play in a two. Were signing a new lb too so who do you leave out? Burn being on the bench id imagine wont be very popular

I still think burn is the bigger liability, he's also a lot less experienced than amorebieta. Some championship strikers would have a field day if burn was there without a more mature defender by his side.

Burn was a regular for Birmingham City for the first half of last season before he was recalled by Fulham. He faced those Championship strikers and acquitted himself well so that the manager and fans wanted to keep him. As long as he is played at centre half and not as a full back then he will be fine. He looked better than Hangeland and Amorebieta until Magath dropped him for `experience' and look what that brought us.

[res]

 The rebuilding almost makes the forthcoming season more interesting than being in the Premiership.
1/ A clear out of "past it" players (whilst recognising the almost heroic performances of some before last season)
2/ A significant reduction in squad age
3/ A decent input into the first team from our past Academy/Development squad investment
4/ What appears to be sensible "hungry" signings
5/ Big signing (McCormack) which gives a message that the club means business
5/ Development of a squad, including cover in most positions, rather than just collecting players without any regard for whether they fit into a team
6/ Right words being muttered by the manager/club
7/ A squad which accepts the reality that we're in the Championship and not the Premiership

Feeling very optimistic, roll on Portman Rd. on 9th August!!!

[ToodlesMcToot]

Either or for Amorebieta/Burn. It's a direct competition now, I hope. Let the best left sided CB win.

We need similar competition on the right now. Another signing there and two more CMs, now that Kasami is gone.

[FulhamElite]

Anyone else concerned about our lack of CMs? Scott Parker is our only recognised player in that position...

[Pluto]

I don't think we need another right sided centre back - think Grimmer is more than ready to step up as back up to Hutchinson if needed, and Burn should also be able to play there. Let's not we also have Donnelly, who is a full Northern ireland international, and Burgess coming through, both of which will be hungry for their chance at this level.

[dannyboi-ffc]

Either or for Amorebieta/Burn. It's a direct competition now, I hope. Let the best left sided CB win.

We need similar competition on the right now. Another signing there and two more CMs, now that Kasami is gone.

So you pretty much think what im thinking. I would add another wide man if kaca leaves which is a 50/50.

[dannyboi-ffc]

I don't think we need another right sided centre back - think Grimmer is more than ready to step up as back up to Hutchinson if needed, and Burn should also be able to play there. Let's not we also have Donnelly, who is a full Northern ireland international, and Burgess coming through, both of which will be hungry for their chance at this level.

I think theres giving the youngsters a chance and then theres smothering the team in them. We need a balance. Amorbieta is sti finding his feet, hutchinson hasnt ever played at this level, burns still developing and donnelly/ grimmer havent ever played a first team game or have spent last season at a league two side. We need a coleman, a leader! We lacked that last year and we need a solid established pro to keep everyones eyes on the prize. Send donnelly on loan, to be honest i think he was very very fortunate to win an ireland call up. Burgess looks better in my opinion.

How can we go potentially go into a game with a pairing of donnelly and burn. Your dreaming if you think felix will risk that after spending 11mill on a striker. We intend to go up first time and nows not the time for unnecessary risks. Were already gonna be using burn tunnicliffe david williams roberts dembele and woodrow. Plus the new greek lb is only 20. we will end up with a nursery if the team age gets any lower. Talk about go from 1 extreme to another lol

[ToodlesMcToot]

Really wish that we could have worked something out with Heitinga. He is the type that we need on the right side (CB). Tons of experience, a leader, very good postitional sense, etc.

We still have transfer work to do at his position,.....without doubt.

[Ordar]

Imagine if we lined up like this in the Champ. Risk getting over run in midfield, but going forward.... jesus


--------------Stockdale---------
Voser-------Burn--Amorebieta--Stafylidis
--------------Parker------------
Dejagah----------------------Richardson
----------------Ruiz-------------------
-------Mitroglou----McCormack---

[fulhamben]

Imagine if we lined up like this in the Champ. Risk getting over run in midfield, but going forward.... jesus


--------------Stockdale---------
Voser-------Burn--Amorebieta--Stafylidis
--------------Parker------------
Dejagah----------------------Richardson
----------------Ruiz-------------------
-------Mitroglou----McCormack---

swap parker for tunni and im in.

[PeterFFC]

I reckon we'll go with
---------------------------Stockdale---------------------------
Voser/Hoogland-----Burn-----Hutchinson----Stafylidis
-----------------------------Parker-----------------------------
Dejagah----------------------?------------------Richardson
------------------Woodrow-----McCormack-----------------

[jmh]

Why are we guessing that Kaca might be leaving?  There haven't been any rumors about him (that I've seen anyway), he was in the gallery from the first day of training, played in the friendly at East Fife, and, honestly, wasn't as good last year as we all hoped he would be and as a result found himself playing sparingly in the run-in.  Is it just because he's played fairly regularly for Sweden?