Having given this a little thought while weeding, I have come to a few conclusions, but of course you may not agree with me. Goalkeeping: Probably EPL standard, so not too worried. Defenders! We seem to have a pair of central defenders who are good at Championship level, with some backup. Are they good enough in the EPL remains to be seen. Our two wing backs are good going forward, but in our last EPL season didn't look so good at defending. Midfield: Three first choice players who on their day are fine, but seem to pick up a lot of injuries. Attackers: Sarr is EPL class. Pedro might be, but is only 19 and still learning. Sema rarely managed a full 90 minutes for Udinese, so maybe he is a borderline case. Of course we would all love to see a goal scorer at EPL level, but these are as rare as hen's teeth. Pukki at Norwich scored a hatful in the Championship, but wasn't an answer in the higher division. The back ups that we have had have been adequate in mid-field if not in attack , but I don't see them setting the EPL alight. So my conclusion: We need four or five players to finish up mid-table. So there you are, come up with your own conclusions, and we will see how the club sees things.
Definitely a striker or 2 and maybe some defenders even if one or two are back up but we probably will need to let a few go as well if we can.
I think we are in pretty good shape. In fact, better shape than almost any promoted side in recent years. Striker(s) - definitely. Perica should sling his hook ASAP. Gray didn’t and won’t cut it in the Prem (couldn’t have much effect in EFL let alone the Prem). Deeney is good partner striker. A No 10. Midfield - pretty good shape, but needs bolstering as said re injury propensity. Defence - CBs pretty bloody good IMHO, but a bit of real WB cover would be good. (Craig C tried really hard, went forward well, but wasn’t mobile enough and exposed us against Brentford through being too high up the pitch, leaving Will H to cover as FB!) Not a panic situation, by any means. But the striker situation is key. A good defence alone won’t keep you in the Premiership - you gotta score, and we haven’t been exactly prolific against Championship opposition.
The club seem to know what they want this time. We all know we need a striker and we also need a younger Cleverley and a Dacoure style midfielder but better. I'm more concerned about good players who may go, such as Wilmot who I believe has the potential to become an England CB and he will not want to sit on a bench next season. Brexit also makes a difference as to how we do business for our first team although it won't stop us buying players and loaning them within Europe so an income stream will continue there.
The real questions are whether the top five of the Championship at their best are equal to the bottom five of the EPL and what the fall out will be from the pandemic and brexit. Unfortunately it is impossible to answer these questions either on a general level or in terms of WFC finances. As supporters all we can do is identify gaps. The Brentford game showed that we lack depth for the EPL. The first choice midfield and defence are probably adequate for a lower end finish but if anything happens to an of them we are in trouble. That worry could be mitigated if we could find a goalscorer because it would alleviate pressure on the defence. It will always be a gamble getting a good Championship goalscorer for the EPL. Many have failed eg Vydra, Ighalo after a promising start, Pukki. Some have succeeded spectacularly, such as Vardy and Deeney in his prime. The only thing that we can be sure of is that we will sign players that we weren't expecting and some will succeed whilst others will not. The quality, or lack of, in the lower part of the EPL will dictate how much wiggle room we have. We definitely need to strengthen but anyone we bring in has to fit into the systems that we play. I'm glad I don't have to make the recruitment decisions.
Two strikers, a midfield "general", decent back up to Masina and possibly a central defender / holding midfielder. It has been more the goalscoring department that has let us down than anywhere. The defence has ridden its luck a bit but our midfield needs something else. Chalobah is coming good, Hughes will be fine, as is TC when fit and Gosling is an experienced addition. Up until the end of January we were still giving the ball away far too often and that's where we'll run into serious problems: we tend to grind the gears rather than ease through... I am proper fed up of shouting yellow to yellow at the telly, though it's been much less of an occurrence of late. Sanchez... maybe give him a year. Zinckernagel... I think the EPL might suit him more. Success... times up, I think, after five years of flattery Gray... improved, but not enough. Perica... I think he'll come good, whether that good is good enough is another matter. Xisco hit the ground running and dragged us over the line: we kept our heads whilst Swansea, Reading and Brentford fell away. I'm excited to see how we fare with him at the helm pre season and how he'll cope tactically against the more clinical sides as well as the bruisers like Burnley. Fine tuning then, with some better parts, not a complete overhaul. Just as well, I doubt that's affordable!
We are all looking along the same mythical lines of player recruitment. If the owners are, is another thing. They know the purse strings. We need, minimum, I feel 4 decent signings to add to the first 11. LB - To push Masina - Ashley Young would do and he is versatile. He could be RB cover too. CB - To hopefully partner F. Sierralta - God knows who but I feel Ekong, Kabasele and Cathcart are only back up IMHO. CM - We don't have enough PL standard players here, We could probably do with two. Dele-Bashiru should be back from injury, we may need just one. Will Quina come back? Was he good enough anyway? ST - We all know this. Maybe 2 to be honest. But, given finances maybe only 1 plus Cucho (If he wants to come) to maybe replace Sema with Sema as back up. If we can only get 3 players in, scrap the CB. We need to get rid of: A lot of deadwood. Of the top of my head, AG, Success, Lazaar, Sanchez (maybe If i remember, his contract is only to the end of this season), Perica, Navarro. Deeney can stay, he'll be a good option off the bench and is good for the dressing room despite his off the field antics. If we might be able to line up next season as: -----------------Foster or Bachman----------------- --Kiko--------New CB-----Sierralta-----Masina-- --------------------------Hughes------------------------------ ------------Chabs-------------------New CM------------- --Sarr-------------------New 9------------------Cucho-- That'd be a miracle if we even get that. But as we all know, we have little strength in depth, which is needed in the Prem. Next season I fear for us really, a few sneaky Pozzo gems and a couple of loans might do it though. Muñoz can stay, he deserves it, he needs to develop a plan B mind. Next season will be much, much tougher.
Seems we are in general agreement about who needs to go and what we need to bring in.. Defence has been good this season but strikers are much better in the Premier League so we will be exposed.. And if we can't take our chances up front we will have real problems..
I feel that even in the championship we had a hole when Masina was injured (which Ivic himself admitted) and we were missing a reliable striker. It was really our defence that got us promoted rather than our attack. So cover for Masina and more firepower upfront, but that's easier said that done. Some transfers can look good on paper, but not work out (Andre Gray is an example of that).
