Squad 2023 - 2024

Well it would would be!

 

So now that Lewis is official, not including players who clearly have no hope in hell of featuring, we are at:

Bachmann (HG)
Hamer (HG)
Okoye

Lewis (loan)
Morris (HG)
(Ferreira)

Porteous
Hoedt
Sierralta
Pollock (HG)

Andrews (U21, HG)
Ferreira
Ngakia (HG)

Livermore (HG)
(Sierralta)
Kone (U21)
Louza
Asprilla (U21)
Kayembe
Dele-Bashiru (HG)

Sema
Martins (loan, U21)
Ince (HG)
Kalu
(Asprilla)

Healey (HG)
Bayo (?)

Still a lot of space in that squad, clearly we need a striker or two, and it looks like we're in the market for one (fingers crossed for Kieffer Moore!), then a defensive midfielder (though looking at that, we have numbers in midfield without much quality there, I do fear the stability will think we're fine there), a goalscoring winger would be nice although I'm not sure we'll get one (similar to the midfield, we have numbers in those areas, and they're decent options in some ways even if they're not going to hit double figures). I would also like a CB, considering Sierralta has had to fill in at DM, and considering Pollock hasn't convinced for us, but I'm not sure we will be in the market for what is sure to be depth with Hoedt and Porteous seemingly quite established as first choice

 

Although Martin is U21 it does not count as a loanee, so takes a place in the 25 man squad

 

Midfield looks weak as piss, same as it's been last couple of seasons. Only hope is that we're not really planning on using it as Ishmael has instructed us to pump long balls directly over their heads.

 

Didn't you see our slick passing game in midfield on Saturday? Sierralta popping the ball about 10 yards backwards to the centre backs, Louza passing the ball mostly to Palace players and Dele-Bashiru...I forgot he was playing at one point.

 

Is there any other way to play ? !

 

Based on a 4-1-2-3 formation and with the 1 sometimes becoming a 3rd CB I’d say the starting 11 is between 1-3 players short depending on your view.

Bachman
Andrews (Ferreira)
Lewis
Hoedt
Porteous
Sierralta (if you take him as a 3rd CB)
Louza
Kone
Martins
New CF (for me in this style we need our target man)
Ince / Asprilla / Sema

So as a starting point and injuries to one side I’d be happy with the addition of a target man to this team for the opening game v QPR

 

Bitcoin? More like Bayocoin. Or Bitcoyo?

 

It seems Andrews only came off the bench vs Peterborough today.

Morris started at left-back.

It wasn't said whether it was Ferreira or Ngakia starting at right-back.

I very much hope the former, and that after Ismael's experiment with trying out Ngakia in the last couple of friendlies he's seen that he's not very good.

 

Considering you can change the whole team at half time, I suppose it doesn't really matter whether you start or come off the bench for a pre-season game. I hope Ngakia was just a placeholder as backup to Andrews while Ferreira got minutes on the other side, now Lewis is here, we won't need to have Ferreira filling in there unless there is an emergency

 

You'll want your first choice players to be getting as familiar with each other as possible though. And it seems as if we did start the game with our first choice lineup again (aside from Morris playing instead of Lewis, who might not have been ready yet).

The fact that Andrews came on as a sub I think suggests he's unlikely to start next week either.

It's not mentioned if Ferreira or Ngakia started at RB - this could be clutching at straws, but perhaps the fact that Morris started at LB, instead of Ferreira who has often been used there in pre-season, indicates that Ferreira played at RB instead. In which case Ngakia could be out the door.

We'll soon find out which it is next week anyway.

 

Lewis played a game in America for Newcastle didn't he? If so, you'd assume he's ready to play some minutes, unless he's picked up a knock

 

They might have just been wanting to give him a bit more time for tactical instructions? And he might have only been able to have one day of training over the last few days due to travelling and the medical, so they might not wish to throw him in to a game so soon.

I doubt he'll have even had the opportunity to pick up a knock.

He'll probably be fine for QPR.

 

Not our greatest ever Championship XI but if they can play to a plan with discipline and high intensity , there’s enough there to get in the playoffs . As has been said , goals maybe a problem so will need one of our strikers to really step up or a collective afford of sharing goals around the team .

Down to Val now , let’s hope he gets some time if it doesn’t start well .

Am feeling positive about the season , but I always do as it generally makes life more fun .

 

Such a thin squad now. Okoye and Pussetto won't be here for much longer either, so we're effectively on just 20 senior players. Luckily we don't have a head coach who plays a physically demanding system.

 

Like the post because it gives a clear picture of where we stand, which is not in a good place. I am concerned.

 

As soon as our usual injuries kick in the team is going to be absolutely shocking!

 

Aye. I like what I've seen in Pre-Season far more than previous Seasons and I like the younger overall player age now. Will help reduce the injuries we'll get this Season I think by law of averages.

We're too thin numbers wise in the Senior Squad currently. It's the better situation than last Season though where the squad was bloated but also an unbalanced set of positions which didn't help much when injuries did strike and took wages from players who might have been able to instead had they not been there. Minimum we need is a Senior CDM, CM and ST, ideally another CB as well but if we take a CB and CM from the Academy Pool I'm not overly fussed.

 

People laughed when I said we would be in a relegation scrap, but that squad is not big or strong enough to last a campaign. A couple of injuries and we're into the academy. Only 4 days to go before the season starts and we look like this. It's insane.

 

It’s the depth that is the problem, and to a lesser extent we are asking young stars like Asprilla and Kone to lead the team. A 20 man squad and 3 of those are £10m of unsellable Mogi Bayat duds.

As you say picture 5 starters on the treatment table (common for us) and think who will be starting. It’s horrendous.

 

Asprilla and Koné both have talent, and have had time to adapt to the league as well as have a Pre-Season with us now. More so Asprilla than Koné, I think it will be his breakout year. It's also missing Chakvetadze from the list.

I fully agree though the big problem is effective depth. I rate our starting XI and most of our immediate bench as effective options for this level. We've stripped out almost every bit of deadwood in the known squad (Bar Okoye and Pussetto who will be gone before the Window closes) which would have severely hampered being able to make changes before, but have not made any clear plans to replace them yet which is highly concerning at this stage.

Maybe we're just having to bide our time in the market for the targets we want to be available at a lower price. Or maybe we just don't have the cash. It would be nice to know exactly what our intent is.

 

Uh oh spaghettios

 

Our best starting XI is probably upper mid table level, but our squad as a whole is now so thin, any sort of injury crisis will have us much closer to relegation than sneaking into the play offs.

 

The Ferreira loan is a bit of a weird one as it’s an area in which we are lacking bodies, but one would assume a backup is being lined up. However I’m all for getting business done early the whole team and manager can gel and prepare completely for opening day.

That being said, I’ve seen elsewhere on the forum about asset stripping, clearing debt and the imminent ‘for sale’ sign popping up on the corner of vicarage road. I was very sceptical of this at first but I think this could be a very real reality.
I don’t think we have ever gone into a new season under Pozzo management, other than the 1st season, where supporters have absolutely no idea where we will end up come May. I dread to say it’s looking closer to relegation than promotion but I’m very open to be proven wrong and see winning football again.

 

I'm afraid Leventhal has already reported there are no more incomings expected in that position, as it stands.

 

So is our big summer huge money signing (Ince) actually fit?

 

I'll never understand why clubs don't make more effort to get their squad sorted out way before the season starts. On the face of it we'll kick off against qpr with the thinnest group we've had for a long time. No doubt more faces will arrive before the end of the month but how many points will we have dropped by then? Are points won in August worth less than those picked up in February and March?

 

Hardly any clubs at all will have signed everyone they intend to already. There are always going to be deals which can only be done later on in the window because a selling club wants to bring in a player before letting another leave. There will also always be players who clubs will want to evaluate in pre-season before deciding whether they're fine with letting them go or not - a lot of PL clubs will have only just finished their pre-season tours for instance with their wider squads, before trimming down those deemed to be surplus.

 

He's fit enough to model the 3rd kit released today.

Don't know if he managed to get on the pitch vs Peterborough for instance though.

 

It's perhaps thin in terms of quality in a few positions, more than numbers.

Given Ismael has said he wants 2 first team players for each position, we actually do already have that for every one except for Centre Back. There have been rumours that we've been trying to get a left-sided CB in, so that would tally.

The only other question mark will be Striker - whether we keep Bayo and Healey and bring in one more, or just bring in one and ditch Bayo, or ditch Bayo and bring in two more. Guessing that Ismael might at least occasionally want to play with two strikers on the pitch at once one I would have thought we'd want three first team strikers for that position, but who knows.

Given all this, I expect that all we have left to sign will be Chakvetadze, a back-up CB, and then one or two strikers depending on what else happens there. That will probably be it.

My main concern assuming the above is the case will be DM, as Livermore is crap. But I wonder if Kayembe will end up also filling in there instead as the back-up. I'd also worry if our first choice CBs continue to be shart.