Maybe we all have to remember that the goal for next season may not be Champions league. Frankly if we can permanently banish any and all talk of relegation, make every game a potential win, play some good football, and secure European qualification, then that would be a major win for the club. The word stability seems the one most often used by the new regime and suits a club building a new stadium and recovering from a 3 manager season.
We will have time and opportunity to sign even better players next summer with the promise of that European football and maintaining a bigger squad, but right now we should focus on (re)building a squad that delivers those ambitious goals for 2018/19. Creating a system of play, a framework in the club top to bottom, and a mentality of winning games are all important. Not signing potential short term world class players for 1-2 seasons tops. That’s why Sir Wayne can go. Obviously Williams, Mori, Miralas, Bolasie and possibly even Oumar are surplus under that plan too. Jags may go but only to make room for Seamus as Captain.
Silva’s job is to forge the remainder of the talent into a team that can deliver those first paragraph goals. So unless they want out, I can’t see them pushing the Schneiderlin, Keane, Gana, Klassen’s out as they have a great potential to bring something to the table in the next 10 months.
Yes I am sure Marcel and Marco have been looking at the video’s of last season with an eye to assessment but I think they need to look at the players that didn’t play much or were out on loan and think about how all these players fit into the system they want for next year.
We brought these guys in to analyze, develop a plan, and execute it - not to do a Koemaggedon, ‘Walsh in an Italian wine bar’ inspired drunken-sailor-spend-fest on every player whose name gets on the back page of a tabloid or who didn’t meet fan expectations at their current club.
There are very few players we have been linked with that we should realistically be after, who fit the mould mentioned above. Perhaps the Willy C interest is insurance against Schneiderlin wanting to go. The Lascelles option looked good but he would only come with a path to Captain (see Seamus above) and finally the Maddison deal might be interesting if M&M think Vlassic or Dowell are not going to be able to fill in for a potentially injured Sigurdsson.
We can all be amused by the hacks and their desire to be filling column inches but we should trust the new leadership to focus on filling key positions and preparing for July 2nd and pre-season.
Apologies - Sunday Rant!
