Our present squad

doombear said:
I suspect Munoz will be going as there is interest, I believe, and he is 30 now so time to take a profit. Also, I believe Khalaili is in addition to Gozo, whose visa is yet to come through.
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Good to know.

Munoz has been immense, but if we could get Khalaili and Gozo for a simular fee we get for Munoz, thats got to be good business on paper.
 
TheBigToePunt said:
I think a lot depends on whether Sage wants us to play with two No10s tucked in centrally behind a No9, as Glasner did, or if he wants us to have two slightly more wide wingers instead. I haven't seen enough of the preseason games to form a view on that.

If we are to play with wide attacking players, or maybe one wider attacking winger and one tucked in a bit more, then McNeill, Gozo, Khalilli, and even March all make a different kind of sense, perhaps?
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It is clear that Sage requires intense pressing. I also suspect he'll want his wing backs to do a lot of work such that he'll need four for each game so the starters can go full pelt and be subbed after an hour with the subs coming on to carry on the intense pressing etc. (hopefully). I also think I read somewhere that he does like his 10s to operate wider. Our transfer business so far (including the latest developments if they indeed come to completion) would seem to reflect this.
 
doombear said:
It is clear that Sage requires intense pressing. I also suspect he'll want his wing backs to do a lot of work such that he'll need four for each game so the starters can go full pelt and be subbed after an hour with the subs coming on to carry on the intense pressing etc. (hopefully). I also think I read somewhere that he does like his 10s to operate wider. Our transfer business so far (including the latest developments if they indeed come to completion) would seem to reflect this.
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That all makes sense.
I am not sure where Sarr fits in to this, though? He is our best attacker but probably won't play No9 as we have Mateta (for now), Larsen, and Nketiah for that role. I can't imagine Sarr being placed out wide and told to stay there.
 
TheBigToePunt said:
That all makes sense.
I am not sure where Sarr fits in to this, though? He is our best attacker but probably won't play No9 as we have Mateta (for now), Larsen, and Nketiah for that role. I can't imagine Sarr being placed out wide and told to stay there.
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Without Sarr, our team has the pace of a tortoise carrying a car battery on his back
 
TheBigToePunt said:
That all makes sense.
I am not sure where Sarr fits in to this, though? He is our best attacker but probably won't play No9 as we have Mateta (for now), Larsen, and Nketiah for that role. I can't imagine Sarr being placed out wide and told to stay there.
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But doesn't Sarr tend to play out wide for Senegal? If I recall correctly, he played across the front line during his time at Watford and I think it was as a right winger that he tore Liverpool apart in a memorable victory against the Scousers. I don't think Sage will insist his 10s stay out wide but that they will interchange with the aggressive wingbacks.
 
doombear said:
But doesn't Sarr tend to play out wide for Senegal? If I recall correctly, he played across the front line during his time at Watford and I think it was as a right winger that he tore Liverpool apart in a memorable victory against the Scousers. I don't think Sage will insist his 10s stay out wide but that they will interchange with the aggressive wingbacks.
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He does, so he can do it.

But its an interesting debate, Sarr undoubtedly benefited most from Glasner's inside 10 formation. But we were so bereft of any width playing that way.

Really hope we see our wing backs having someone to overlap this season. IMO Larssen will have a field day if we can start banging some crosses in.
 
doombear said:
But doesn't Sarr tend to play out wide for Senegal? If I recall correctly, he played across the front line during his time at Watford and I think it was as a right winger that he tore Liverpool apart in a memorable victory against the Scousers. I don't think Sage will insist his 10s stay out wide but that they will interchange with the aggressive wingbacks.
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From what I recall, in the WC he played across the line. That great goal he scored was from a run down the centre
 
doombear said:
But doesn't Sarr tend to play out wide for Senegal? If I recall correctly, he played across the front line during his time at Watford and I think it was as a right winger that he tore Liverpool apart in a memorable victory against the Scousers. I don't think Sage will insist his 10s stay out wide but that they will interchange with the aggressive wingbacks.
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Sarr seems to have played across the front line and could probably do a decent job in most of them, but if a fella has just got 20 goals (albeit half of them against poor opposition) it must be tempting to tap into his form and confidence by playing him closer to goal?
 
As I see it and trying not to sound like an alleged Palace supporter and his party’s alternative views, we are signing too many foreign players! We are only allowed 17 in the squad of 25 if they are not ‘home grown’ and as far as I know none of them are. So we are nearly on the limit without buying the attacking midfielder and winger that Sage wants.
On the other hand with Esse and possibly Rak Sakyi going we may still end up with more English and ‘home grown’ over 21 players than we can play in the first team squad. Who are we going to get rid of? Cardines has gone out on loan to Bristol City but he is under 21 and we could keep and play him. Some of the others are going to be more difficult to shift. Selling Wharton and buying a cheaper quality foreign midfielder only makes the position worse in more than one way. It seems Hobbs and co have not thought this out and don’t seem to know the rules. It’s going to be messy clearing this up and we may lose the very types of player we should be keeping.
 
Norbury Old Git said:
As I see it and trying not to sound like an alleged Palace supporter and his party’s alternative views, we are signing too many foreign players! We are only allowed 17 in the squad of 25 if they are not ‘home grown’ and as far as I know none of them are. So we are nearly on the limit without buying the attacking midfielder and winger that Sage wants.
On the other hand with Esse and possibly Rak Sakyi going we may still end up with more English and ‘home grown’ over 21 players than we can play in the first team squad. Who are we going to get rid of? Cardines has gone out on loan to Bristol City but he is under 21 and we could keep and play him. Some of the others are going to be more difficult to shift. Selling Wharton and buying a cheaper quality foreign midfielder only makes the position worse in more than one way. It seems Hobbs and co have not thought this out and don’t seem to know the rules. It’s going to be messy clearing this up and we may lose the very types of player we should be keeping.
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We have Henderson, Matthews, Mitchell, Hughes, Wharton, Nketiah, McNiell. So one more space to fill.
We only had 23 in the squad in January. 7 homegown. 16 foreigners. So not much different now.
 
TheBigToePunt said:
Sarr seems to have played across the front line and could probably do a decent job in most of them, but if a fella has just got 20 goals (albeit half of them against poor opposition) it must be tempting to tap into his form and confidence by playing him closer to goal?
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For me, we keep all our existing squad (in their entirety - unless silly money is offered) for 1 more year, to cover Europe, league and cup competitions to be supplemented by needed additions. In the likely event we are out of Europe next year, we can sell Munoz, Mateta etc as our game time and squad number numbers required are far reduced.
What a great position to be in!!
We can then use this year as an audition, across all forms of competition, for our great players to hone a supreme squad for the 2027-8 season.
Eye watering and exciting times lie ahead….. 🦅
 
Bletch Eagle said:
For me, we keep all our existing squad (in their entirety - unless silly money is offered) for 1 more year, to cover Europe, league and cup competitions to be supplemented by needed additions. In the likely event we are out of Europe next year, we can sell Munoz, Mateta etc as our game time and squad number numbers required are far reduced.
What a great position to be in!!
We can then use this year as an audition, across all forms of competition, for our great players to hone a supreme squad for the 2027-8 season.
Eye watering and exciting times lie ahead….. 🦅
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I'll have a pint of what you're having! 😉
 
Norbury Old Git said:
As I see it and trying not to sound like an alleged Palace supporter and his party’s alternative views, we are signing too many foreign players! We are only allowed 17 in the squad of 25 if they are not ‘home grown’ and as far as I know none of them are. So we are nearly on the limit without buying the attacking midfielder and winger that Sage wants.
On the other hand with Esse and possibly Rak Sakyi going we may still end up with more English and ‘home grown’ over 21 players than we can play in the first team squad. Who are we going to get rid of? Cardines has gone out on loan to Bristol City but he is under 21 and we could keep and play him. Some of the others are going to be more difficult to shift. Selling Wharton and buying a cheaper quality foreign midfielder only makes the position worse in more than one way. It seems Hobbs and co have not thought this out and don’t seem to know the rules. It’s going to be messy clearing this up and we may lose the very types of player we should be keeping.
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I will be very surprised if Hobbs & Co aren't aware of the regulations. You may well be aware that foreign players can count as home grown according to the following:

"

What is a 'Home Grown Player'?​

A "Home Grown Player" means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)."

UEFA's rules are stricter in that whilst you still need to have at least 8 home grown players in your 25, 4 of them have to have come through the club's own academy. If a club doesn't have the requisite number of qualifying home grown players, I think they lose one spot in their 25 for each such player they don't have, so if we had, say 2 from our own academy but say 6 from those of other clubs we'd still only be able to register 23 players for a UEFA competition. even though we had 8 home grown players. Hope that makes sense.

I think we might fall foul of UEFA's rules and end up with a smaller squad for our European games, but I haven't checked our squad re that..
 
The squad is now taking shape and looking a bit better with the recent acquisitions.

With McNeill giving us a natural left footer and Guessand joining on loan our front 3 is looking a lot better in terms of competition and alternative formations. Arguably we have 2 players for all positions with Nketiah and maybe Franca being used as impact subs, or even as a 442 in the last 20 minutes.

We still need a Max replacement. Richards seems the only real option as the centre of a 3 but his distribution is limited and not sure he is overly dominant in the air. Left and right side seems more competitive now so less concerned there.

Unless Hughes improves we are still potentially short of a CM. Maybe Ozoh will be kept to provide an option there - next season it is likely that all 4 will leave or be released so keeping Ozoh makes some sense and he is still very young.

Obviously we could sell Mateta and/or Munoz in the next couple of weeks but we seem to be better prepared if we do.
 
Henderson/Benitez/Matthew's

Muñoz/khalaili

Riad/Mingueza
Richards/Tomiyasu
Convott

Mitchell/Sosa

Wharton/Doucoure/Lerma
Kamada/Hughes/Devenny

Sarr/Guessand
Mateta/Strand Larsen/Nketiah
Pino/França/McNeil

Possible outgoings:
Mateta
cardines loaned to Bristol City
Rak-sakyi
Ozoh
Esse
Muñoz

Possible incomings
Gozo
Disasi
Le Guen
March
Camara
Njie
Zaha
 
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this is going to be an interesting season. I'm always optimistic and positive, however I don't really feel excited by any of our transfer business. The most exciting thing was being able to move Johnson on, which is pretty sad really. That said, our two recent record breaking transfers were pretty underwhelming, so the idea of needing a 'name' often doesn't live up to expectations.

I feel like we've quietly increased the squad, but as to whether we've improved overall quality, we'll have to wait and see. There's so much change in the Premier League this season, loads of new managers, it's probably a good time for us to make the switch when others are also going to have to learn the ropes of the Prem. It might be a bit more forgiving given that others are in a similar boat.

Also, more competition for places can only be a good things. Look at what signing JSL did for Mateta - he had to fight for his place! So some of our injury returns and new low key signings I really hope will challenge everyone to improve and compete to new levels.
 
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Looking at our centre back options,

The Good News
- Richards is a warrior who has shown consistent form in the last couple of seasons and is a reliable performer
- Canvot has great potential and improved significantly as he played more games
- Riad has been unlucky with injuries, but in his limited opportunities he has shown flashes of his talent
- Tomiyasu is a class player with a very good experience , but he has to prove his long term fitness
- Lerma has shown he can be a competent stand in
- Mingueza can apparently play there, even though he’s more of a RWB.

The Bad News
- none of them are Lacroix or Guehi

We are linked with getting at least one centre back in this window and for me that will be very important.
I remain unconvinced by our current options against the opposition we will encounter.
Although a very good defender, I don’t see Richards as having the recovery pace or accuracy of distribution to play in the centre of the back 3.
I think somebody mentioned that we could muddle through to January with the current options and address it in January if necessary.

To me, that’s an unnecessary risk.
 
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