First Choice?

[dcdavecollett]

What about Philogene?

[Taylor]

Archer and Duran are the back up and challenger for Watkins. I don’t see us buying another striker. They’re not easy to come by, and I expect a few clubs are coveting Ollie too. We need to keep him happy and firing, rather than buying a second rate replacement.

[Gareth]

Martinez
Cash
Konsa
Pau
Mings
Moreno
Luiz
Kamara
McGinn
Diaby
Watkins

Marschcall
Carlos
Digne
Ramsey
Theilimans
Buendia
Bailey
Archer
Philogene

With Ramsey coming in for either Cash or Konsa for home games & poorer opposition, Luton/Wolves/Fulham etc

Sure I will have missed someone off :-)

[Dogtanian]

So if we gave a monkey all of infinity to pick starting 11s, would he ever pick Olsen?

[Mister E]

So if we gave a monkey all of infinity to pick starting 11s, would he ever pick Olsen?

why do you even ask??!

[dicedlam]

Archer over Duran for me.

I think that is a little unfair on Duran. We haven't seen enough of him to make a call. Archer for that matter, we have, but limited to seeing him play mostly championship level football.

I would keep Archer around for maybe six months and put Duran out on loan, but we still need to invest heavily on another striker. Watkins is too hit and miss for me.

[chrisw1]

             Martinez
Cash  Mings   Torres   Moreno
          Kamara  Luiz
McGinn                 Tielemans
       Diaby   Watkins                       

Tielemans and Ramsey is close.  A fit and firing Ramsey may well edge it, but Tielemand would help us have more control of the ball.  I want us to have more control in games against the top sides this season rather than giving up possession and hoping for a smash and grab.

[Smithy]

If everyone is fit and available, we are going to have international footballers who don't even get into the match day squad.

How far we've come.

[Monty]

Tielemans as an option for the left midfield position is interesting. Does he have the dribbling (sorry, the 'ball-carrying') to pull it off? The thing about JJ in that position is how incisive he is.

[Clark W Griswold]

             Martinez
Cash  Mings   Torres   Moreno
          Kamara  Luiz
McGinn                 Tielemans
       Diaby   Watkins                       

This is the one that I think in the long term will turn out to be the best 11 from what we have now. It’s a really tough call though, we can’t be sure how any new players will do once we get into it, we don’t know who else we might sign or that possibly even leave (although let’s hope not in that regard). We have slightly unknown quantities in Carlos, Duran and Archer as well and we also have a number of players who have elevated their form in the last 6 months but hadn’t been up to much for a year or two before. And then there’s Coutinho. Anyway, it’s great that we finally look like we’re back. For the opener I’d have Digne for Moreno due to injury and I would keep Konsa in for Pau just to start with at least.

[Dave]

For the opener I’d have Digne for Moreno due to injury and I would keep Konsa in for Pau just to start with at least.

After yesterday, I reckon Konsa in for Watkins.

[tomd2103]

Tielemans as an option for the left midfield position is interesting. Does he have the dribbling (sorry, the 'ball-carrying') to pull it off? The thing about JJ in that position is how incisive he is.

On paper, we don't really have an obvious replacement for Jacob Ramsey to fill in that position on the left side of midfield.  Such a shame that both he and Moreno got injured as they were really starting to develop a good understanding on that side of the pitch. 

[RamboandBruno]

             Martinez
Cash  Mings   Torres   Moreno
          Kamara  Luiz
McGinn                 Tielemans
       Diaby   Watkins                       

This is the one that I think in the long term will turn out to be the best 11 from what we have now. It’s a really tough call though, we can’t be sure how any new players will do once we get into it, we don’t know who else we might sign or that possibly even leave (although let’s hope not in that regard). We have slightly unknown quantities in Carlos, Duran and Archer as well and we also have a number of players who have elevated their form in the last 6 months but hadn’t been up to much for a year or two before. And then there’s Coutinho. Anyway, it’s great that we finally look like we’re back. For the opener I’d have Digne for Moreno due to injury and I would keep Konsa in for Pau just to start with at least.

Agree with all of this

[Drummond]

Based on what I've seen so far, the team from last season doesn't need much. This is based on everyone being fully fit.

League games:

         Martinez
Cash Konsa Mings Moreno
   Kamara     Luiz
          McGinn
Diaby           Coutinho
           Watkins

Subs: Olsen, Carlos, Torres, Digne, Tielemans, Buendia, Archer, Bailey,

Cup Games

         Martinez
Chambers Carlos Torres Digne
   Dendoncker Tielemans
          Ramsey
Bailey           Buendia
           Archer

Subs: Olsen, Cash, Mings, Ramsey A, McGinn, Watkins, Kellyman, Duran, Philogene

*edited to add Cup subs

[Risso]

I think we're going to see the same version of 4-4-2 that we saw last season


Martinez


Cash - Konsa/Carlos - Mings/Torres - Moreno/Digne


McGinn/JPB - Luiz - Kamara/Tielemans - Ramsey/Buendia/JPB


Diaby/Bailey - Watkins/Archer/Duran


We've got a huge possible range of possibilities in midfield so I didn't list every possible permutation (Tielemans can play in Ramsey's spot for example). The only place we still look a bit short is right back and up front, where I think Archer and Duran are too untried to be considered reliable replacements if anything happened to Watkins.