2020/21 Marcel Brands

[davek]

The architect hasn’t finished his masterpiece yet

That sounds like more of a threat than a promise of good things to come.

 

[the golden visionary]

That sounds like more of a threat than a promise of good things to come.

Ed Kemper finished his masterpiece when he decapitated his ma

 

[JMT]

This man needs to pluck the CM of his life this summer cause it'll change everything if we get the right one in.

 

[Brisan123]

This man needs to pluck the CM of his life this summer cause it'll change everything if we get the right one in.

Plus a Reece James clone for RB

 

[JMT]

Plus a Reece James clone for RB

a right footed Digne will do, Not asking for much do we.

 

[jazzy]

The architect hasn’t finished his masterpiece yet

I thought Dan had been relieved of his services

 

[Brisan123]

a right footed Digne will do, Not asking for much do we.

I would prefer someone with more pace and physicality who can cross a ball like Digne

 

[Bluestar]

Brands couldn't sell soup to starving navvies.

You can’t polish a poo mate. Unsellable players are unsellanle.

 

[HumbleWedbetters]

??????????
Kyle Walker is a RB
Godfrey is a CB
Played OK as a LB but was poor as a RB

Godfrey can play anywhere. Trust me, he will be a better right back than walker who occasionally plays centre half. The fact he can do left back, centre half and defensive mid makes him a managers dream

 

[Martin Alvito]

I would prefer someone with more pace and physicality who can cross a ball like Digne

Not many of those out there, and those end up at the financial gorillas sooner or later. It's generally pick two: offensive threat, pace and physicality, defensive ability.

There's always the tried-and-true Alba/Alves approach where one physical, defensively-oriented back covers for the other's license to crash forward, but given the state of our midfield I think we're better off having another dangerous crossing threat on the opposite flank from Digne.

 

[The binman chronicles]

It’s not a grand plan to cut the squad of players who aren’t contributing. Those players weren’t even kids, they just weren’t very good. That’s not even including some players who did play in 17/18 that clearly weren’t good enough like Martina Niasse Klaasen etc. or weren’t used like Vlasic Lookman

There’s still areas of the squad to improve of course but out of the players Carlo has at Finch Farm at the moment who are fit, there’s only Besic who money is being ‘wasted’ on. All of the rest are being used even if some aren’t good enough.

I’m not saying it’s a grand plan, it’s basic squad housekeeping but no one was doing it before Brands came. We are now getting closer to having 2 players for each position. There are problem areas like RB, and some are blatantly not good enough, but we don’t have a scenario anymore like we did under Martinez and Koeman where we had multiple number 10s, 4 or 5 left backs, so many left wingers.

It feels like we’ve finally cut the squad down to something Carlo can work with now where players are feeling involved, there’s no one mooing round finch farm, and we have assets in the squad to trade for future purchases. That is a far better place than having a ginormous squad of absolute rubbish.

We are actually only at a starting point now to be able to build upon. Before the foundations were made of blancmange. Brands has us left with a fairly decent core where we can focus on a couple of quality additions each year that we've made room for in terms of numbers and wages. If we can jettison Delph (Besic is gone in the summer right?) then I'm happy we've got back on an even keel and thus the progression will be simpler from here.

 

[Saint Domingo]

We are actually only at a starting point now to be able to build upon. Before the foundations were made of blancmange. Brands has us left with a fairly decent core where we can focus on a couple of quality additions each year that we've made room for in terms of numbers and wages. If we can jettison Delph (Besic is gone in the summer right?) then I'm happy we've got back on an even keel and thus the progression will be simpler from here.

This

 

[Carlito]

It’s not a grand plan to cut the squad of players who aren’t contributing. Those players weren’t even kids, they just weren’t very good. That’s not even including some players who did play in 17/18 that clearly weren’t good enough like Martina Niasse Klaasen etc. or weren’t used like Vlasic Lookman

There’s still areas of the squad to improve of course but out of the players Carlo has at Finch Farm at the moment who are fit, there’s only Besic who money is being ‘wasted’ on. All of the rest are being used even if some aren’t good enough.

I’m not saying it’s a grand plan, it’s basic squad housekeeping but no one was doing it before Brands came. We are now getting closer to having 2 players for each position. There are problem areas like RB, and some are blatantly not good enough, but we don’t have a scenario anymore like we did under Martinez and Koeman where we had multiple number 10s, 4 or 5 left backs, so many left wingers.

It feels like we’ve finally cut the squad down to something Carlo can work with now where players are feeling involved, there’s no one mooing round finch farm, and we have assets in the squad to trade for future purchases. That is a far better place than having a ginormous squad of absolute rubbish.

This part I can't agree with.

The only natural right-back who the manager is willing to use has been in an injury-induced decline for years, and he doesn't always play when fit.

There's no natural cover at left-back that the manager is willing to use.

There's no natural cover at right-mid, despite it being well understood that the first-choice option was never going to be reliable.

There's no natural cover at centre-forward that the manager is willing to use, as evidenced by King remaining on the bench when Calvert-Lewin was injured.

The excuse is always that Brands's hands are tied because Walsh has saddled the club with expensive flops on prohibitive contracts, but we've recently been informed that the most expensive flop of all is to be offered a new contract at the end of the season.

It was a difficult job to walk into, and we don't know what sort of brief he's working towards, but I'm very surprised that anyone could look at the squad and believe that this is going well.

 

[Toffeelover]

Has he gone yet?

Might well out live you Dave!!!!

 

[degsy]

...It was a difficult job to walk into, and we don't know what sort of brief he's working towards, but I'm very surprised that anyone could look at the squad and believe that this is going well.

I'd also be very surprised if the job description he thought he was signing on for is the same one it actually is now.