Squad watch 2020-21

A place to put info regarding / discuss the squad in general
(which squads, PL/UEFA HG status, formations for certain games etc) .

Squad status [WIP]

 

Gedson Fernandes :

1. Following on from elsewhere, if he is not given an EL slot
then IMHO tis pointless keeping him on loan.

2. Similarly I do not expect the club to do the dirty on the boy
if the loan cannot be terminated now, and have him rot in limbo.


So if #2 comes to pass, IMHO the fair thing to do is :

1. Incluide him in the EL squad, at the expense of an MF who
will get a lot of PL game time anyway.

2. Commit to him being in the starting XI for all the EL group
games, and the League Cup QF.

3. If the loan can be terminated in the winter, make it clear that
his continuation at the club, and any PL games between now
and the League Cup QFs, will depend on how well he fronts
up in those EL games.


Opinions ??

 

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaale !!!

I am going to write stuff now that may have many calling
for me to be burnt at the stake for heresy, but here we go ...

I contend that the only PL games that Bale should be starting
are those against the usual suspects (Sky 4, Sugga Daddy FCs) +
those who become a PL top 4 threat during this season by
the time we are scheduled to play them.

For other PL games, I would like to see him be as sub for Son
at 60 mins (firstly to protect Son and then to have two bursts of
30 mins of utter blitzkrieg against the opponent) . IMHO the
collective strength of the squad by then should suffice to
try and put those games beyond reach by sub time.

 

I like the look of our squad. We now have decent options in every position (except that we probably do need at least one more CB).

Mou deserves real credit for this, as he appears to have brought some real shape to the squad in double quick time.

With real competition for all places, the squad appears to have responded very positively. The Bale factor, alone, is well worth what it’s costing us to have him back at the club. I can’t wait to see him in action!

 

The acid test IMHO will be the EL games.

If what will hopefully not be close to PL strength starting XIs crush
the group, then the squad as a whole will be ready for what will be
three season-making blocks of games (late Nov to pre xmas, the Jan
FA Cup / potential League Cup SF melee, late Jan to mid Feb) .

 

The squad has shaped up really nicely over this window. Levy, Hitchen and Jose have done a brilliant job - would've been a perfect job had we gotten Skriniar.

We have fantastic depth in the attacking positions, great depth in the full back positions and great depth in the keeper position.
CB is our problem area whilst depth in the midfield is our secondary concern.

None of our CBs are of starting calibre at Spurs, all would be ok as a third choice (Cup/ Europa starter) but in the Prem we ideally need better, though there is obviously hope that Tanganga can grow into what we need.

In midfield, although Sissoko showed on Sunday he definitely has his uses and is far better alongside Hojbjerg than crabby (), we don't have any depth in the team who can truly cover Lo Celso, Ndombele and Hojbjerg with regards to what they bring in terms of creativity or defensive steel.

In terms of how we set up (and providing we have a fit squad), I think for Premier League and higher profile games in cups or Europa, this is the XI we need to play:
Hugo
Doherty/ Aurier, CB, CB, Reguilon
Lo Celso, Hojbjerg, Ndombele
Bale, Kane, Son

In Europa or cup games that we're expected to win, we can field a rotated XI of:
Hart
Doherty/ Aurier, Tanganga, CB, Davies
Sissoko, Dele
Lucas, Lamela, Bergwijn
Vinicius

There's still the likes of Gazzaniga, CCV, Cirkin, Rose, Winks, Gedson, White and Clarke who are also there to be utilised, albeit one or two I expect to leave before the English window shuts.

It's a big squad that I think Jose will enjoy working with over (CBs aside) and barring any injuries or defensive horror shows, it has to be said, there's a real possibility of a trophy in that squad, especially that first XI.

 

Agreed.

Same, too, with the domestic cup games.

The congested fixture list could have worked in our favour in that so many of our players are fully in the groove, whereas other teams appear to be stuttering.

 

Has the Europa League squad been published yet? Not sure where I would see it.

 

Hopefully here (eventually) .

 

Europa squad is in
* = U21

Goalkeepers
Brandon Austin*
Jonathan De Bie*
Paulo Gazzaniga
Joe Hart
Hugo Lloris
Joshua Oluwayemi*
Alfie Whiteman

Defenders
Toby Alderweireld
Serge Aurier
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Dennis Cirkin*
Ben Davies
Eric Dier
Matt Doherty
Malachai Fagin-Walcott*
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster*
Jubril Okedina*
Sergeo Reguilon
Davinson Sanchez
Japhet Tanganga*

Midfielders
Dele Alli
Gareth Bale
J'Neil Bennett*
Steven Bergwijn
Jamie Bowden*
Jack Clarke
Son Heung-min
Pierre-Emil Hojbjerg
Erik Lamela
Giovani Lo Celso
Dilan Markanday*
Lucas Moura
Jeremie Mukendi*
Tanguy Ndombele
Jack Roles*
Moussa Sissoko
Elliott Thorpe*
Harvey White*
Harry Winks

Forwards
Harry Kane
Maurizio Pochettino*
Rodel Richards*
Dane Scarlett*
Carlos Vinicius

 

Fernandes officially in half-season limbo. Not fair or good IMHO.

 

Gazzaniga wasn’t registered.

I half expected Whiteman to be an official third choice for both EL and PL as I thought Gazzaniga would’ve been sold during the window, hope we try getting Austin a loan in the remaining English window though, at least one of him and Whiteman should be sent out, ideally both but the latter will now likely be on the bench in one or two away ties that Hart starts. I’d like to think Clarke may have some opportunities but with the stacked attacking players in the squad he’ll probably be better off also going on loan, this time to someone who’ll actually play him though.

 

The interesting thing is Danny Rose has reached official Unpersoned status, as not only is he not in the squad, he's not even mentioned he unregistered players

 

Potentially up to 6 EL games + one League Cup QF.
Plenty of space in a starting XI, IF Jose is bold enough to do it.

 

Yeah but the problem is we have Lucas, Lamela and Bale who all essentially play in Clarke’s preferred position so you’d imagine that if Bale gets fit and makes the starting lineup in Prem games, Lucas and/ or Lamela are likely be in the XI for Europa and cups. It’s hard to see Clarke getting an opportunity at the moment apart from minutes from the bench which won’t do him any good. If one of Lucas or Lamela were sold in the window it would’ve looked a lot better for Clarke.

 

As I said, not a problem for a manager who is bold in
their desire to maximally rotate the squad while giving
the "young blood" opportunities too.

So using your example player set, I want certain players
to be thinking : Sh*t if :

1. Bale remains fit and vaguely returns to his best, if I don't
front up in every starting XI I am selected for, I am in the
midweek squad up to xmas at least

2. I am meh in the midweek starting XIs, I will be potentially
be pushed further down the list by the young blood.


Similarly Clarke should be thinking :

If I put in a good performance in whatever meagre starting XI
opportunities I am given, I can become a shoo-in for at least
5 of the midweek games.

 

Stupid decision, in my opinion. Lloris wouldn't have given a **** if he'd have been left out for the group stage.
Now we've basically got a player picking up a wage for nothing and we've pissed off a squad member who has done nothing wrong.

 

I don’t think it has anything to do with a manager being bold or not. It’s a case of we have a large senior squad of players and a number of them play in Clarke’s position. It’ll be better for Clarke to go somewhere he can ideally get 25+ starts than just potentially some minutes in the 6 Europa matches we have guaranteed. It’ll be good to see Clarke given chances but I just don’t see it at the moment, he’s in a similar situation as KWP and Skipp were in that there’s just too many senior players in front of them. Thankfully we’ve loaned out Skipp this season but we should’ve done that with KWP for a couple years and we should do that with Clarke now.

 

I've just read elsewhere that we named 16 non-association players and 9/5 homegrown/clubgrown.
We named Carter-Vickers ahead of Fernandes and Gazzaniga. Very strange.
Does that mean that we're expecting to keep and he'll play some part in the squad?

 

It was inevitable the moment it became apparent Hart would be second choice to be honest. Not sure dropping Lloris would be the best call though, clubs don’t tend to leave out their first choice keeper even if the plan is to usually utilise their second and third ones, plus with him being captain it wouldn’t really look right if the club done that unless he were injured. It really is **** for Gazzaniga though and he doesn’t deserve it but he’s paying the price for a squad overloaded with foreign players, just as Gedson is.