A bit of weekend reading for you
Of course the summer break isn’t finished yet and other transfers will be made.
Of course it’s a squad game not just the first 11 that matters.
Of course we’re not ‘in the room’ with Smith so don’t know completely what he’s thinking.
Nevertheless here goes;
Once the dust had settled after the promotion game at Wembley we had a squad of 21 including loanees returning, existing transfers coming in and excluding players released but after including all young squad players (in brackets).
GK; Steer, Kalinic, Nyland, (Sarkic)
CB; Chester,
LB; Taylor,
RB; Guilbert, Elmohamady, (Bree)
DM; Tshibola,
CM; McGinn, Hourihane, Bjarnason,
AM; Grealish, Lansbury, (O’Hare)
AL;
AR; (Green)
Striker; Kodjia, Davis, Hogan, (Hepburn-Murphy).
Everyone knows this was thin and left us with a first 11 of;
Steer
Elmohamady, Guilbert, Chester, Taylor
Hourihane, McGinn, Grealish,
Green, Davis/Hogan, Kodjia
The staunchest fan would admit that investment was needed in at least 5 positions with 2 more debateable. Some would say 8. Two of those first team places were addressed immediately with the swift signings of Hause at centre back (and cover for left back) and El Ghazi (left-sided attack and cover on right side) with a strong squad boost from the Jota transfer swap for Gardner. The purchase of Wesley has filled the first team slot at central striker. Leaving us at the moment with;
Steer
Guilbert, Chester, Hause, Taylor
Hourihane, McGinn, Grealish
Green, Wesley, El Ghazi
At best that only leaves us with 2 first team slots to fill because the incumbents are not good/fit enough for us to start the season with; right-sided attacker and centre back. Of course we’d LIKE an upgrade to left back or possibly goalkeeper which would leave us with a stronger first team and stronger squad. So who’s next on the shipping-list?
Centre back; Mings, Barbet, Cahill, Dunk, Kane, Tomori, other
Surely the Mings deal will get done? It’s likely. I’d personally take Tomori if we didn’t get Mings but either way Barbet as backup would be a smart move IMO as well. Cahill or Dunk would be too expensive, surely? Not too many worries here that the team will not be strong enough come the season start.
Right-sided attack; Benrhama, Lolley, Bale (with a cheeky switch of El Ghazi to right-side?), other?
Here’s the point I want to make about the ‘wingers’ on either side; I think Smith may be taking a leaf out of Klopps book and trying to build a system in which they are not ONLY wingers but are goal-scoring attackers in their own right. El Ghazi is, Benrhama is, Lolley might be. He may be looking for these players to contribute 10 goals a season each alongside a big strong hold-up playing centre forward who scores 12 to 15 and the midfield chip in with 6 each. A genuine goal threat from the front 6 players throughout the game from open play and set pieces.
Seen in this light an audacious offer to bring Bale back from his gilded Spanish torture by some financial shenanigans like Wolves played 2 years ago would make a whole lot of sense, wouldn’t it? And we’d score a bucket-full of goals to keep us up. Either way this is an important piece of the puzzle missing at the moment.
The other possibilities are ‘nice to have’ as far as I’m concerned and depend on the inside perception of risk-taking regarding the money. We don’t have that information of course.
Left back; Targett, James, someone else.
Goalie; Butland, Etheridge, ?
If any or all of those 4 position purchases get done what does that say about the other members of the squad? Lansbury, Bjarnason, Kalinic, Nyland, Tshibola, Davis, Hogan and the 5 squad players; Sarkic, Bree, O’Hare, Green and Hepburn-Murphy? Some might be used as components of the transfers we want if they fit. And the youngsters can look forward to a season-long loan to give them one last chance to impress the new academy team and Smith. A couple may be retained for cover or be too difficult to sell but some will be sold I expect.
We expected lots of movement this summer transfer window and won’t be disappointed but the success of it all will lie with Smith and his coaches welding the new first team into a coherent unit by the start of the season. Can he do it?
That’s a team that could, if gelled and working well, give problems to every team in the division and more than cope with the task of staying up.