Current/expected squad

[We Are Premier League]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: NEW, Rodak, Gazza
DL: NEW, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, NEW
DRC: Tosin, NEW
DLC: NEW, Ream, Kongolo
DM: NEW, Chalobah
MC: NEW, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, NEW Knockaert
WL: NEW, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: NEW, Reid
SC: Mitro, NEW, Muniz

[JimOG]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: NEW, Rodak, Gazza
DL: NEW, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, NEW
DRC: Tosin, NEW
DLC: NEW, Ream, Kongolo
DM: NEW, Chalobah
MC: NEW, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, NEW Knockaert
WL: NEW, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: NEW, Reid
SC: Mitro, NEW, Muniz

Can't remember the source but it mentioned that Marco wanted 9-11 incoming players so your maths is spot on

[dfwilson84]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: NEW, Rodak, Gazza
DL: NEW, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, NEW
DRC: Tosin, NEW
DLC: NEW, Ream, Kongolo
DM: NEW, Chalobah
MC: NEW, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, NEW Knockaert
WL: NEW, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: NEW, Reid
SC: Mitro, NEW, Muniz

Can't remember the source but it mentioned that Marco wanted 9-11 incoming players so your maths is spot on

I don't think we will bring in another striker.

[JoeS]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: Strakosha, Rodak, Gazza
DL: Targett, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, Fredericks
DRC: Tosin, Itakura
DLC: Djiku, Ream, Kongolo
DM: Matic, Chalobah
MC: Al-Musrati, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, Osayi-Samuel Knockaert
WL: Solomon, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: Almiron, Reid
SC: Mitro, Gyokeres, Muniz

Based on rumours I have filled the yellow slots with players, how confident would you be of staying up?

[filham]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: NEW, Rodak, Gazza
DL: NEW, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, NEW
DRC: Tosin, NEW
DLC: NEW, Ream, Kongolo
DM: NEW, Chalobah
MC: NEW, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, NEW Knockaert
WL: NEW, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: NEW, Reid
SC: Mitro, NEW, Muniz

Can't remember the source but it mentioned that Marco wanted 9-11 incoming players so your maths is spot on

I don't think we will bring in another striker.

We need to give game time to both Stansfield and Muniz, there really is no room for another striker.

[FFC1987]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: NEW, Rodak, Gazza
DL: NEW, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, NEW
DRC: Tosin, NEW
DLC: NEW, Ream, Kongolo
DM: NEW, Chalobah
MC: NEW, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, NEW Knockaert
WL: NEW, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: NEW, Reid
SC: Mitro, NEW, Muniz

Can't remember the source but it mentioned that Marco wanted 9-11 incoming players so your maths is spot on

I don't think we will bring in another striker.

We need to give game time to both Stansfield and Muniz, there really is no room for another striker.

I'd say if we don't add a striker and decide to gamble on Muniz and Stansfield, i'd confidently say we'll likely go down. It's never worked over relying on Mitrovic.

[Whitestone]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: NEW, Rodak, Gazza
DL: NEW, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, NEW
DRC: Tosin, NEW
DLC: NEW, Ream, Kongolo
DM: NEW, Chalobah
MC: NEW, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, NEW Knockaert
WL: NEW, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: NEW, Reid
SC: Mitro, NEW, Muniz

Can't remember the source but it mentioned that Marco wanted 9-11 incoming players so your maths is spot on

I don't think we will bring in another striker.

We need to give game time to both Stansfield and Muniz, there really is no room for another striker.

I'd say if we don't add a striker and decide to gamble on Muniz and Stansfield, i'd confidently say we'll likely go down. It's never worked over relying on Mitrovic.

Exactly this. We failed to bring in a striker last time and we know how well that went. I like Muniz, but anyone who thinks we can rely on him and Stansfield, who I suspect will go out on loan, is being a bit naive, a bit like those who think Ream will finally come good in the Premier League. It ain't going to happen.

[Lordedmundo]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: Strakosha, Rodak, Gazza
DL: Targett, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, Fredericks
DRC: Tosin, Itakura
DLC: Djiku, Ream, Kongolo
DM: Matic, Chalobah
MC: Al-Musrati, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, Osayi-Samuel Knockaert
WL: Solomon, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: Almiron, Reid
SC: Mitro, Gyokeres, Muniz

Based on rumours I have filled the yellow slots with players, how confident would you be of staying up?

Not really...

The only obvious upgrade of outfield players is Solomon over Kebano. Matic is almost certainly better than Chalobah, but then Chalobah wasn't really a starter last season anyway.

I really don't think we should or need to bring in Targett next season - there is no way Silva should or would implement seven new starters.

[We Are Premier League]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: NEW, Rodak, Gazza
DL: NEW, Robinson, Bryan
DR: Tete, NEW
DRC: Tosin, NEW
DLC: NEW, Ream, Kongolo
DM: NEW, Chalobah
MC: NEW, Reed, Cairney, Onomah
WR: Wilson, NEW Knockaert
WL: NEW, Kebano, Cavaleiro
ACM: NEW, Reid
SC: Mitro, NEW, Muniz

Can't remember the source but it mentioned that Marco wanted 9-11 incoming players so your maths is spot on

I don't think we will bring in another striker.

We need to give game time to both Stansfield and Muniz, there really is no room for another striker.

Maybe not an out an out striker but I think we need 3 GOOD attacking players that can play across the 4 positions. 4 new players there is probably a bit excessive, although one of them might be purely for squad depth.

[Classic94]

So what does the squad look like after the release of a few...

Players in RED are allegedly on their way out, leaving the gaps in yellow to be filled. Doesnt look good when you look at it this way...need one new player for every position  :016: 

GK: Strakosha, Gazza
DL: Targett, Robinson
DR: Tete, Williams
DRC: Tosin, Cabango
DLC: Hause, Ream, Kongolo
DM: Soumare, Chalobah
MC: Al-Musrati, Reed, Cairney
WR: Wilson, Osayi-Samuel
WL: Solomon, Kebano
ACM: Gibbs-White, Reid
SC: Mitro, Gyokeres

Filled in the blanks. Hause is a natural LCB that's dropped down the Villa pecking order, but could be a good pick up for us. Likewise, Soumare looks to have been available for transfer from Leicester. He thrived as an out and out DM at Lille. Cabango from Swansea also looks promising.

[Denver Fulham]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

[WindyCity]

I agree with several here that FFC does need to add another striker.  I don't think we can rely solely on Mitrovic to score (all) our goals.  Not sure if MS feels Muniz/Stansfield ready to contribute at PL level.

[Surlyc]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

If we start the season with 6 new starters, then I don't think we've learned the lesson of the past few seasons. We absolutely need to add some PL quality to the squad, but there are lots of players in the lower half of the PL that our fans would deem not good enough for the PL. The trick is to spike your Championship squad with a few quality upgrades, not to bring in a team of journeyman mercenaries for the sake of it. We need to improve our squad depth (especially if Knockaert, Onomah and Cavaleiro are moved on), but that is not the same as trying to sign a new first team.

A team with the likes of Tete, Tosin, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson & Mitrovic in it should be competitive if we bring in the right players around them. Even the likes of Rodak, Kebano or BDR can be decent starters with the right management/upgrades around them.

[WindyCity]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

If we start the season with 6 new starters, then I don't think we've learned the lesson of the past few seasons. We absolutely need to add some PL quality to the squad, but there are lots of players in the lower half of the PL that our fans would deem not good enough for the PL. The trick is to spike your Championship squad with a few quality upgrades, not to bring in a team of journeyman mercenaries for the sake of it. We need to improve our squad depth (especially if Knockaert, Onomah and Cavaleiro are moved on), but that is not the same as trying to sign a new first team.  A team with the likes of Tete, Tosin, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson & Mitrovic in it should be competitive if we bring in the right players around them. Even the likes of Rodak, Kebano or BDR can be decent starters with the right management/upgrades around them.

I do kind of agree with you.  Recently I have posted that I'd like to see, at Minimum, 2-3 prem quality players that can fit immediately into the starting XI to begin the season.  Sure, based on projected departures, we will need more than 2-3 new faces either as starters or squad players.  But even just 3 ready to go improvements I think would be a big get and may be enough to keep FFC competitive?

[Sting of the North]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

If we start the season with 6 new starters, then I don't think we've learned the lesson of the past few seasons. We absolutely need to add some PL quality to the squad, but there are lots of players in the lower half of the PL that our fans would deem not good enough for the PL. The trick is to spike your Championship squad with a few quality upgrades, not to bring in a team of journeyman mercenaries for the sake of it. We need to improve our squad depth (especially if Knockaert, Onomah and Cavaleiro are moved on), but that is not the same as trying to sign a new first team.

A team with the likes of Tete, Tosin, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson & Mitrovic in it should be competitive if we bring in the right players around them. Even the likes of Rodak, Kebano or BDR can be decent starters with the right management/upgrades around them.

Good post!

[Denver Fulham]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

If we start the season with 6 new starters, then I don't think we've learned the lesson of the past few seasons. We absolutely need to add some PL quality to the squad, but there are lots of players in the lower half of the PL that our fans would deem not good enough for the PL. The trick is to spike your Championship squad with a few quality upgrades, not to bring in a team of journeyman mercenaries for the sake of it. We need to improve our squad depth (especially if Knockaert, Onomah and Cavaleiro are moved on), but that is not the same as trying to sign a new first team.  A team with the likes of Tete, Tosin, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson & Mitrovic in it should be competitive if we bring in the right players around them. Even the likes of Rodak, Kebano or BDR can be decent starters with the right management/upgrades around them.

I do kind of agree with you.  Recently I have posted that I'd like to see, at Minimum, 2-3 prem quality players that can fit immediately into the starting XI to begin the season.  Sure, based on projected departures, we will need more than 2-3 new faces either as starters or squad players.  But even just 3 ready to go improvements I think would be a big get and may be enough to keep FFC competitive?

I don't think you can generically say you can or can't do whatever.

It's not ideal to bring in 5-6 new starters, but our roster's issue is up the entire spine. Are people seriously suggesting we can start Cairney and Reed in CM, or BDR for 30+ matches as our 10? We need a starting CB. We likely need a GK upgrade. No one thinks Kebano should regularly start at LW.

It is what it is. Get some business done early and you have a full summer camp to integrate vital upgrades. "Only bringing in three starters" looks something like this:

                                 Mitrovic
    Kebano               New CAM               Wilson
                      New CM           Reed
         Robinson    New CB    Tosin     Tete
                                Rodak

Or start BDR at the 10 and replace Kebano.

Either way, unless those three new players are incredible, I don't see how that's enough to stay up. Each add beyond that makes us noticeably better. I can live with Reed starting if we also upgrade Kebano and Rodak (or Robinson?). My preference would be six new starters, but I think we'd be OK with five.

(Edit: There are also five subs per match, so pushing some of these guys to the bench to have better depth is also a thing.)

[Classic94]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

If we start the season with 6 new starters, then I don't think we've learned the lesson of the past few seasons. We absolutely need to add some PL quality to the squad, but there are lots of players in the lower half of the PL that our fans would deem not good enough for the PL. The trick is to spike your Championship squad with a few quality upgrades, not to bring in a team of journeyman mercenaries for the sake of it. We need to improve our squad depth (especially if Knockaert, Onomah and Cavaleiro are moved on), but that is not the same as trying to sign a new first team.  A team with the likes of Tete, Tosin, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson & Mitrovic in it should be competitive if we bring in the right players around them. Even the likes of Rodak, Kebano or BDR can be decent starters with the right management/upgrades around them.

I do kind of agree with you.  Recently I have posted that I'd like to see, at Minimum, 2-3 prem quality players that can fit immediately into the starting XI to begin the season.  Sure, based on projected departures, we will need more than 2-3 new faces either as starters or squad players.  But even just 3 ready to go improvements I think would be a big get and may be enough to keep FFC competitive?

I don't think you can generically say you can or can't do whatever.

It's not ideal to bring in 5-6 new starters, but our roster's issue is up the entire spine. Are people seriously suggesting we can start Cairney and Reed in CM, or BDR for 30+ matches as our 10? We need a starting CB. We likely need a GK upgrade. No one thinks Kebano should regularly start at LW.

It is what it is. Get some business done early and you have a full summer camp to integrate vital upgrades. "Only bringing in three starters" looks something like this:

                                 Mitrovic
    Kebano               New CAM               Wilson
                      New CM           Reed
         Robinson    New CB    Tosin     Tete
                                Rodak

Or start BDR at the 10 and replace Kebano.

Either way, unless those three new players are incredible, I don't see how that's enough to stay up. Each add beyond that makes us noticeably better. I can live with Reed starting if we also upgrade Kebano and Rodak (or Robinson?). My preference would be six new starters, but I think we'd be OK with five.

(Edit: There are also five subs per match, so pushing some of these guys to the bench to have better depth is also a thing.)

This pretty much.

With the best will in the world, 2-3 new players simply isn't enough. Fab, Seri and Williams all need replacing just to be on a par with last year.

Sure, in an ideal world, we'd only need a couple of players to compliment the squad, but we're simply not in that position by a long shot. We're a newly-promoted team, short on numbers and PL quality in most areas.

Agree with the above post. No less than 5 starters are required and the sooner we get them through the door, the better.

[filham]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

If we start the season with 6 new starters, then I don't think we've learned the lesson of the past few seasons. We absolutely need to add some PL quality to the squad, but there are lots of players in the lower half of the PL that our fans would deem not good enough for the PL. The trick is to spike your Championship squad with a few quality upgrades, not to bring in a team of journeyman mercenaries for the sake of it. We need to improve our squad depth (especially if Knockaert, Onomah and Cavaleiro are moved on), but that is not the same as trying to sign a new first team.

A team with the likes of Tete, Tosin, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson & Mitrovic in it should be competitive if we bring in the right players around them. Even the likes of Rodak, Kebano or BDR can be decent starters with the right management/upgrades around them.

Good post!

Yes, we must have learnt that splashing a £100M on a new team is a recipe for relegation.
I am looking to start with something like:-
                                                                     New Keeper
                                   Tete                 Tosin                   New CB                 Robinson
                                                                  Reed       New DM
                                                                         New CM
                                               Wilson                     Mitro               Kebano
The four new players need to be top class and clearly better than Rodak, Ream, Chalobah/ Cairney, and BDR who would now understudy them.

[We Are Premier League]

GK: Strakosha, Gazza                (Free)
DL: Targett, Robinson                 (Loan to buy)
DR: Tete, Jonjoe Kenny              (Free)
DRC: Tosin, Itakura                    (5m)
DLC: Bassey, Ream, Kongolo      (10m)
DM: Matic, Reed, Chalobah         (Free)
MC: Rothwell, Cairney                (Free)
WR: Wilson, Reid
WL: Matondo, Kebano                (4m)
ACM: Barkley, , Twine              (Loan+4m)
SC: Mitro, Gyökeres                  (10m)

[Denver Fulham]

This looks about right, and ~6 of them have to be new starters. It's a big ask. Our roster was "loaded" for the Championship but has quickly become quite threadbare for the PL.

If we start the season with 6 new starters, then I don't think we've learned the lesson of the past few seasons. We absolutely need to add some PL quality to the squad, but there are lots of players in the lower half of the PL that our fans would deem not good enough for the PL. The trick is to spike your Championship squad with a few quality upgrades, not to bring in a team of journeyman mercenaries for the sake of it. We need to improve our squad depth (especially if Knockaert, Onomah and Cavaleiro are moved on), but that is not the same as trying to sign a new first team.

A team with the likes of Tete, Tosin, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Wilson & Mitrovic in it should be competitive if we bring in the right players around them. Even the likes of Rodak, Kebano or BDR can be decent starters with the right management/upgrades around them.

Good post!

Yes, we must have learnt that splashing a £100M on a new team is a recipe for relegation.
I am looking to start with something like:-
                                                                     New Keeper
                                   Tete                 Tosin                   New CB                 Robinson
                                                                  Reed       New DM
                                                                         New CM
                                               Wilson                     Mitro               Kebano
The four new players need to be top class and clearly better than Rodak, Ream, Chalobah/ Cairney, and BDR who would now understudy them.

Again (IMO), this is silly. We spent poorly in 2018 and we recruited late in 2020 (thanks in large part to the miniscule turnaround time). Our two relegations weren't because we brought in new players.

If we spend 100m and land 4-5 excellent players, we'll stay up. If we invest poorly, we won't. You don't *have to* spend a ton, but it certainly doesn't hurt if you are able to. All these "lessons learned" comments should apply to finding the right players and/or early, not that spending was the issue.

The number of folks on here pushing to start players like Kebano and Cairney is really surprising. I love both guys, but that's not going to work.