The Next Step Up.

[Brend'Watkins]

There's a lot of chat about when Emery brings in his own better players for the way he wants us to play but after Saturday's heroics it's hard to see who and where we could improve. With the exception of Martinez, Kamara and Louiz we could get upgrades on everyone else because if we wanted to pick faults with our performance I'd say an area we need to improve against the better teams is the amount of possession we have in those games. I don't want to particularly get rid of  any players either as I love them all at the moment. Maybe Bailey if we got a decent fee is the exception. 

Assuming we get a European place or even if we don't I think Emery has his eye on better players who he could entice to join us. I personally still think we need a bully in midfield and a pacy winger/forward.   

[pauliewalnuts]

I think we have to be a bit more hard headed when it comes to replacing and improving on players. It's part of the game, love them as we might currently.

The obvious area for improvement is squad depth - we need more good players than we have now, and they need to be players who at least are competitive for a start, and ideally better than what we already have.

Emery is handling this cleverly, he knows he has to get a tune out of what he has until the summer, and is doing a great job in using the players he has, whilst not going out of his way to alienate anyone - remembering that we'll be wanting to move a fair number on in the summer and they are worth less and are harder to shift if you have spent the last six months pretending they don't exist.

I think RB, CB, a wide player and another option up front maybe, for starters.

EDIT and a keeper.

[LeeB]

Digne is another I'd lose if a decent offer came in, replace him with a younger player to push Moreno, but otherwise every other player has shown significant improvement and is buying into the collective spirit.

It's easy to scoff and say it was down to poor recruitment, but I think Emery's decision to keep the squad small in his early days will prove to be a masterstroke in the long term, he's got every player involved and contributing something. Anyone that now joins comes into an established culture that everyone already buys into.

Compare and contrast with the approach from the opposite side of the sprectrum of our most recently vanquished opponents.

[Dante Lavelli]

I think Emery's decision to keep the squad small in his early days will prove to be a masterstroke in the long term, he's got every player involved and contributing something. Anyone that now joins comes into an established culture that everyone already buys into.

Good point, there’s barely any fat in the squad at the moment so anyone joining is likely to be faced with 20-odd committed players so any complacency has likely been driven out.  Fingers crossed that is the case.

[SoccerHQ]

Konsa's been more solid recently in general defensive play but he's still a very limited passer indeed so that's the first one for me.

Certainly need a more consistent threat in final third than Bailey and Buendia who have their excellent games from time to time but then go missing for a few weeks.

Beyond that I think it's then getting in a couple who suit way Emery wants to play e.g. Guendouzi. Moreno obviously suits us more than Digne so that's a good example of a signing we didn't have to make but UE thought it would give us a short term lift and he's been spot on as usual.

[hipkiss92]

Digne is another I'd lose if a decent offer came in, replace him with a younger player to push Moreno, but otherwise every other player has shown significant improvement and is buying into the collective spirit.

It's easy to scoff and say it was down to poor recruitment, but I think Emery's decision to keep the squad small in his early days will prove to be a masterstroke in the long term, he's got every player involved and contributing something. Anyone that now joins comes into an established culture that everyone already buys into.

Compare and contrast with the approach from the opposite side of the sprectrum of our most recently vanquished opponents.

Compare and contrast with Gerrard's reign, where every single player appeared to go backwards from where they were when he joined. Smith by contrast was another who could point to a lot of the individual players in the squad having improved from when they first joined the club.

[Mister E]

Bailey and Traore will both go, with an incomer to compete with existing squad-members.
New CB and RB. Another keeper.

[Drummond]

Konsa's been more solid recently in general defensive play but he's still a very limited passer indeed so that's the first one for me.

Certainly need a more consistent threat in final third than Bailey and Buendia who have their excellent games from time to time but then go missing for a few weeks.

Beyond that I think it's then getting in a couple who suit way Emery wants to play e.g. Guendouzi. Moreno obviously suits us more than Digne so that's a good example of a signing we didn't have to make but UE thought it would give us a short term lift and he's been spot on as usual.

I think as far as Konsa is concerned, we have Carlos to come back in too. I'd definitely get another Right Back though, as much as I love Young, I'm not sure he's another full season in him.

We need more drive in midfield, Guendozi as an example would be a great addition.

Up front is where we need more depth, and I wouldn't be surprised to see 2 or 3 come in, whether that's strikers, wingers or even a number 10.

Goalie is an interesting one, Olsen and Sinisalo are both full  internationals and Steer is obviously a hero. I'd ditch Olsen (who wouldn't?!) but we may have enough with the other two.

[Baldy]

The next step up -  keep our manager.

Do whatever it takes to keep the vultures away in this current managerial roundabout frenzy.

The rest will fall into place.

[algy]

I've felt for the entirety of Gerrard's reign, some of our players were underperforming & underrated.  I don't think the squad needs major surgery to compete for the European places (5th-7th).  Most of the first team, I feel, are up to that level - assuming Carlos will go in for Konsa, it's really only Bailey in our first team that I'd have questions about whether he could compete in that bracket, in the Premier League.  I think it'd be more a case of supplementing our squad with one or two players who'll give a bit more depth & offer something a bit different.

The step up from that, though, is much bigger.  If we are very active in the transfer market, I'd expect it to be because we're looking towards being in the running for the Champions League places.  It's not that I think we lack the quality - I'd still maintain that none of our first team would look out of place in a top 4 squad (maybe with Bailey as an exception), it's more a question of what role they'd play there.

All in all, under Emery I'm optimistic about our ability to move up the league, and am fairly confident that by next season we'll be a sort of 5th-7th placed team who have a bit of an eye on finishing higher up the season after.  All that dependent on Emery being backed fully, whether that's because he wants to go big in the transfer market if it's a case of saying that we'll be patient if things don't pan out exactly as planned.

[ChicagoLion]

Bailey and Traore will both go, with an incomer to compete with existing squad-members.
New CB and RB. Another keeper.

This is how I see it.

[Risso]

I've felt for the entirety of Gerrard's reign, some of our players were underperforming & underrated.  I don't think the squad needs major surgery to compete for the European places (5th-7th).  Most of the first team, I feel, are up to that level - assuming Carlos will go in for Konsa, it's really only Bailey in our first team that I'd have questions about whether he could compete in that bracket, in the Premier League.  I think it'd be more a case of supplementing our squad with one or two players who'll give a bit more depth & offer something a bit different.

The step up from that, though, is much bigger.  If we are very active in the transfer market, I'd expect it to be because we're looking towards being in the running for the Champions League places.  It's not that I think we lack the quality - I'd still maintain that none of our first team would look out of place in a top 4 squad (maybe with Bailey as an exception), it's more a question of what role they'd play there.

All in all, under Emery I'm optimistic about our ability to move up the league, and am fairly confident that by next season we'll be a sort of 5th-7th placed team who have a bit of an eye on finishing higher up the season after.  All that dependent on Emery being backed fully, whether that's because he wants to go big in the transfer market if it's a case of saying that we'll be patient if things don't pan out exactly as planned.

We've done patient and have so far got away with only having one striker. It would be madness not to go large this summer.

[dave.woodhall]

We've been patient for the past ten years.

[eamonn]

We've been patient for the past ten years.

All of our lives, surely. Some of us, anyroad.

[Clark W Griswold]

A decent back up keeper, a good right back to compete with Cash (although i am happy with Cash), a centre back that's better than any we have leaving Carlos and Mings to compete to play alongside. A top centre mid that's tough and athletic to go in with Kamara, and a really top quality wide attacking player. That's 5, 3 to go straight in. Offload Olsen, Konsa, Sanson, Nakamba and either Bailey or Traore and i think we'd be in good shape. One eye on a new centre forward in the Jan if we think we need it. I'd keep Chambers as he's quite versatile, and Young for another season if he's up to it.