The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 52

[Hunter Rider]

A solid starting XI doesn't win a league, a solid squad does, so we probably need closer to like 8 players in for 8 players out. If we're being brutally honest then Young, Fellaini, Carrick (obviously since he's retiring), Jones, Smalling, Valencia (because of his age), Lingard, and Mata have to be replaced, and they have to be replaced with players that are likely going to cost on average £35m, probably even higher for some crown jewels Mourinho will want to get. Not to mention players like Herrera, Blind, Darmian and Shaw will probably also want to leave so they'll need to be replaced, too.

Are we going to spend £300m+ in a single window and integrate them all within a single season, and also see a reversal in the deterioration of Pogba, Martial, and Sanchez…? Probably not. Even if we get this 'ideal' of Dybala, Kroos, Sandro, and Varane like the papers want uninformed readers to believe we still wouldn't win the league.

I agree, the squad is short of the quality needed for a title winning campaign but our manager is already failing to get enough out of the best players we have, so would buying more attackers for instance really matter? I tend to doubt it, but sadly I do see Martial getting the boot so he can buy Bale.

I am not overly worried about what CM's Mourinho would target in truth, he has brought in quality players like Modric, Essien, Fabregas and Pogba at other clubs and bought Matic twice, he has had an odd love for clunkers like Mikel and Fellaini as well, but usually as spare parts.

Fullbacks are crucial this summer regardless of who is manager, we need to address both flanks, Valencia has been a great servant to the club but he should be a back-up now, he offers nothing in attack, and while Young has had a few good games this season he's 33 and not a proper LB. If we add a CB I'd also be pretty comfortable with Mourinho's choice.

 

[DeadPresident]

I agree, the squad is short of the quality needed for a title winning campaign but our manager is already failing to get enough out of the best players we have, so would buying more attackers for instance really matter? I tend to doubt it, but sadly I do see Martial getting the boot so he can buy Bale.

I am not overly worried about what CM's Mourinho would target in truth, he has brought in quality players like Modric, Essien, Fabregas and Pogba at other clubs and bought Matic twice, he has had an odd love for clunkers like Mikel and Fellaini as well, but usually as spare parts.

Fullbacks are crucial this summer regardless of who is manager, we need to address both flanks, Valencia has been a great servant to the club but he should be a back-up now, he offers nothing in attack, and while Young has had a few good games this season he's 33 and not a proper LB. If we add a CB I'd also be pretty comfortable with Mourinho's choice.

Yeah, the full backs are a priority, and arguably have been since LvG’s days. We’ll likely need to shell out about £100m for the pair if we want decent quality, and then probably another £50-70m for an experienced, leader-type CB, I can’t see Mourinho fielding sides with Smalling/Jones again if he can avoid it.

Trusting Mourinho’s choice on defensive and midfield options is fair, but if he approaches the attack the way e has been we’ll need another £200m investment in the attack alone to start playing any half decent game, which seems far fetched and unacceptable to me. I see is coming a distant second to City again at best next season, if not slipping behind Liverpool depending on how much they improve.

 

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