So it's up to you

[wordsleywolf]

In a shock, hypothetical move, Fosun have read the various Wolves message boards, realised the fans know far more than Lambert and have sacked him. They have then selected a poster at random to be the new manager and its you!
So this is an easy gig, you can bring in 5 top quality Championship players and we're not selling anyone you don't want to. All seems rosey until you realise that means 6(!) of this season's duffers have to start the first game. Who are you going to use? Remember it's top 6 by Xmas or you're on the dole.
My choice, some reluctantly are
Costa, Cav, Hause, Marshall, Graham and maybe Ronan.
Suddenly hits home how tough it's going to be forming a genuinely competitive team. And of course when you look at the bench you will see the likes of Edwards, Batth etc.
Who would you have start?

 

[darlowolf64]

................................. Super Doopa Keeper ......................................

Iorfa .... Soopa Doopa CB .... Hause .... Soopa Doopa LB

........................ Ronan ..... Soopa Doopa CM ....................

Costa ..................... Cav ................. Graham/Zyro/Marshall

............................. Soopa Doopa Goalscorer ..................................


Quite easy really

 

[Premier Quality]

I don't think it's that awful - your six are good enough to be in a promotion chasing side, and I think saiss, Iorfa (if we can get him over his issues this season) and a dicko with a pre season behind him are too.

New keeper (Martinez)
Iorfa
New cb (tarkowski)
Hause
New lb (friend)
New cm (Leadbitter)
Ronan
Graham
Cav
Costa
New striker (Abraham clone from mr Mendes)

That leaves a bench of ruddy, Coady, Saiss, MGW, Marshall, Ennis and Dicko.

Tell you what, that's not even a massive fantasy in terms of spending - and you could change some of my newbies there for more expensive mendes supplied improvements. I'd still like another defender to replace coady on the bench though.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

We could have anybody upfront but if we havent got a decent midfield pretty pointless. Id make a statement and look at what makes our rivals tick, what have Brentford, Villa, Derby, Leeds and Norwich got that can strengthen us, be bold be brave pinch there best players, hell we're the richest club in this division and can offer more then others.

Oh a sidenote, I have Patrick Bamford here all day long.

 

[slink]

No chance would i be having Bamford here, only recently signed for 'Boro and they would want all of that money back and he's barely played and i don't think he's actually scored since April 2015 against us.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

No chance would i be having Bamford here, only recently signed for 'Boro and they would want all of that money back and he's barely played and i don't think he's actually scored since April 2015 against us.

He's been horribly underused by many club. If Boro come down he will be first choice, like I said why cant we use our wealth to bully clubs. Bamford will be on 20 odd goals if Boro come down thats a fact.

 

[sycophantia]

Darlo's team would walk this league, although Iorfa needs to up his game considerably from this seasons performances

 

[Quirkafleeg]

Darlo's team would walk this league, although Iorfa needs to up his game considerably from this seasons performances

Or lack of game time more then anything.

 

[slink]

He's been horribly underused by many club. If Boro come down he will be first choice, like I said why cant we use our wealth to bully clubs. Bamford will be on 20 odd goals if Boro come down thats a fact.

Not sold on that. Got to be a reason why he doesn't play and the last time he did play regularly he didn't get 20 goals in this league. Not saying he couldn't do it but it would take some doing to come back from 2 years without a goal and just 20 odd appearances in that time to get 20 goals.

 

[sycophantia]

Or lack of game time more then anything.

Yeah I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt given his previous performances, but he had a good number of games early in the season and was very poor, needs to step it up

 

[Wolfmania]

I reckon I'd enjoy watching a team similar to this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ruddy (Norwich)
--Iorfa---------------------Hanely (Newcastle)/Bartley (Swansea on loan at Leeds)-----------Hause---------Cunningham (Preston)/Bryan (Bristol C)
----------------------------------------C.Adam (Stoke)/B.Watson (Watford)-----------Saiss/Evans/Edwards
---Marshall--------------------------------------------------------Cavaleiro/Ronan/Zyro-----------------------------------------------------------Graham
----------------------------------------------------------------Martin (Derby on loan at Fulham)/Weimann

Ruddy and Hanely I'd support the purchase of because Lambert seems to understand which players from his previous teams fit his systems nicely with 2 decent acquisitions in Marshall and Weimann. I've seen Martinez mooted above but he was just as injury prone as Ikeme if I recall correctly.

Bartley could be shrewd signing as he's done well at Leeds and Swansea might not need him if they stay up (or even if they are relegated).

Cunningham has performed consistently well for Preston (2.6 tackles/2.4 interceptions/2.1 headers a game - doherty only beats him on headers) and Bryan is someone who's impressed me at the two Bristol games I watched while visiting friends who lived there.

Charlie Adam is out of contract and could provide that deep lying creativity that McDonald used to provide. Alternatively we could look at Watson who goes to 2018 but hasn't featured for Watford much this season (would very much depend on his fitness mind). I've kept Evans/Saiss/Edwards because I think they'd benefit next to a seasoned Premier League performer in their moulds.

I'd chuck the bank to sign Chris Martin, a proven goalscorer who plays the 4-2-3-1 system incredibly well. If that fails I suppose we could have Weimann there instead, I'd like us to offload Bodvarsson and end up with a strike force of new signing/Dicko/Weimann/Wilson/Ennis for next year which could do a job.

Mind you, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with a team along the lines of (and I dislike this team):

Ikeme
Iorfa - Hause/Batth - Hanely - Doherty
Edwards - Evans/some alternative
Marshall - (new player) - Graham
Weimann

(EDIT - all this assumes Costa leaves us of course)

 

[wordsleywolf]

On Bamford he looked really good at the Molineux in L1. Seems to have made some poor career choices after that. Given his current record I don't seee him being keen on a move to a club where all the recognised strikers combined aren't in double figures. It hints there may be a problem with chance creation.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If we sign Grant Hanley then I'm going to be very disappointed. For a start everywhere within a 20 mile radius of Compton will experience a partial solar eclipse every single day due to his head.

Anyway, six to keep is a fairly simple task; Hause, Ronan, Marshall, Costa, Cavaleiro and Graham, same as the OP. As that includes no keepers, no full backs, only one central midfielder who is 19 and has played four league games so far and no strikers it underlines that we're basically strong out wide/potentially in the number 10 role and absolutely nowhere else.

 

[YoungWolf]

My wish list is

Goalkeeper - Badly needed. Fuck Lonergan off. Maybe even Ikeme too. Our Ruddy is highly rated. And I wouldn't be surprised if we signed the Norwich one.

A left back - Husband from Boro maybe, decent footballer at this level and still young.

A centre back - Tarkowski would be my top target but he will probably be in the Burnley team next season. Big no to Hanley, just a lump like Batth. slightly better lump but not what I want or think we actually need. We've been linked with the guy from berlin I think it was?

A centre midfielder - A centre midfielder to compete with Evans, Saiss and Price. Those three all have their own qualities I feel but none are the full package. We need someone who can run games, like McDonald could when he could be arsed. I wanted us to sign Forshaw when Wigan signed him, good footballers, not sure we'd get him. In reality we will just keep Edwards in there, I'm resigned to him being a regular starter.

A striker - Assombalonga would be a great option, we need a finisher, like when we used Afobe correctly(instead of letting his ego get ahead of him and playing him as a fucking ten). Might be a risk considering his long injury, so having him and Dicko might not be ideal if both are still working their way back to full sharpness. Either way, we need a third forward with Dicko and Bod working to stake their claim. Then we have Ennis and Wilson looking to get in too. Ennis more likely IMO.

I'm hoping we act quickly in the transfer market, get our business done early. Get rid of some deadwood. Have a proper pre-season. Then we can properly judge Lambert too.