Next Season's Squad.

[NewCorkSeth]

Theres a question for everyone: Who is your first name on the team sheet and why?
Mine is Yiadom. I tussled with it being Rinomhota because of our lack of number or quality in his position (and hes mint) or Moore because hes a quality CB at this level and our captain/leader on the pitch but in the end I had to settle on Yiadom.

He plays in a pivotal role in modern football and is physical enough, intelligent enough and skillful enough to thrive at it. Also hes twice as good as our next best in that position so theres another reason.

[Nameless]

Theres a question for everyone: Who is your first name on the team sheet and why?
Mine is Yiadom. I tussled with it being Rinomhota because of our lack of number or quality in his position (and hes mint) or Moore because hes a quality CB at this level and our captain/leader on the pitch but in the end I had to settle on Yiadom.

He plays in a pivotal role in modern football and is physical enough, intelligent enough and skillful enough to thrive at it. Also hes twice as good as our next best in that position so theres another reason.

Moore. There aren’t any sensible alternatives, you pick one other CB to partner him.
He’s the captain
HE’s also the dominant personality in the club.
He puts his body on the line and sets a superb example, twice he’s refused to leave the pitch despite having the sort of injuries you really should leave the pitch with.
He stuck with the club when he could have left. He actively tried to stay....

[URZZZZ]

Theres a question for everyone: Who is your first name on the team sheet and why?
Mine is Yiadom. I tussled with it being Rinomhota because of our lack of number or quality in his position (and hes mint) or Moore because hes a quality CB at this level and our captain/leader on the pitch but in the end I had to settle on Yiadom.

He plays in a pivotal role in modern football and is physical enough, intelligent enough and skillful enough to thrive at it. Also hes twice as good as our next best in that position so theres another reason.

Easily Rinomhota. As you said on another post, the defence looks well stocked, with the possibility of Gunter in worst case scenario. If Rino got injured, think we’d be in a lot of trouble given we sold our next best centre midfielder

He’s intelligent, he makes the right decision a lot, he’s got a good engine, he gives 100%, and as already stated, we have no backup to him

[Hound]

Would have been Moore, but it’s Rino now we signed MM and MM

[Nameless]

Would have been Moore, but it’s Rino now we signed MM and MM

But MM partners LM and MM has never played for us and wouldn’t be selected ahead of LM.

[Hound]

True. But you’d think MM and MM could pair up fairly successfully if LM was out, whilst if Rino is out, we’ve no obvious replacement

[NewCorkSeth]

True. But you’d think MM and MM could pair up fairly successfully if LM was out, whilst if Rino is out, we’ve no obvious replacement

We could sign MM?

[Nameless]

True. But you’d think MM and MM could pair up fairly successfully if LM was out, whilst if Rino is out, we’ve no obvious replacement

That doesn’t change the fact that LM. Would be the first on the team sheet. If there is no alternative to Rino he may as well be last on the list as he’s going to be on it anyway......

[Zip]

Moore is our captain and leader. First name on the team sheet every day of the week for me,

[Brain Traysers]

True. But you’d think MM and MM could pair up fairly successfully if LM was out, whilst if Rino is out, we’ve no obvious replacement

Yep this is the key question for me - not necessarily who is first on the team sheet, but whose absence would be most painful. I agree losing Rino would hurt us more than Moore

[Nameless]

True. But you’d think MM and MM could pair up fairly successfully if LM was out, whilst if Rino is out, we’ve no obvious replacement

Yep this is the key question for me - not necessarily who is first on the team sheet, but whose absence would be most painful. I agree losing Rino would hurt us more than Moore

Don’t think there can be much arguement with that.
General agreement then that the problem here is the original question was wrong !

[Snowflake Royal]

Can we see the stats to back that up? Or is it just your opinion?

Just wondering that is all........

Opinion of things largely not well measured in stats but in some cases supported by some stats.

Never understood why some players wind you up so much Ian. When generally your posts are pretty balanced

Swift has his weak spots, but is obvs a half decent player. Every manager has picked him when fit. I just don’t think some of that stuff is true - he isn’t a big ‘hollywood’ ball man, and he is often pretty economical in keeping possession and playing short passes

No obvious sign of any big attitude, seems well liked by his teammates and always acknowledges the crowd. Seems a generally decent chap. Don’t think there’s loads to really dislike

What people mean by a Hollywood pass normally and what I'm talking about are different.

I don't mind Swift, in his proper place. Which is not in the workhouse of midfield.

[Hound]

True. But you’d think MM and MM could pair up fairly successfully if LM was out, whilst if Rino is out, we’ve no obvious replacement

Yep this is the key question for me - not necessarily who is first on the team sheet, but whose absence would be most painful. I agree losing Rino would hurt us more than Moore

Don’t think there can be much arguement with that.
General agreement then that the problem here is the original question was wrong !

Yep understood, subtle difference, but yes I answered who would be most missed

Moore prob is the ‘first name on the teamsheet’. Followed by Rino, Yiadom and then Swift

[Snowflake Royal]

There's no one player who is first on a team sheet, because there are multiple players who are just clearly going to get picked every game they are fit and not woefully out of form because they play in different positions.

Rino, Moore, Miazga, Yiadom, Meite, Barrow.

We actually have good competition for the creative midfield slot in Loader, Swift and Olise plus Barrett.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Apparently WBA have agreed a fee with Brentford for Sawyers. Which I assume will be used to fund Ejaria.

How important is this position? Do we need alternatives? Olise, Barrett and Holsgrove are all attacking midfielders. Loader can play there.

Far more important is a deeper midfielder, who can allow Swift to be our main man in that attacking role.

Goes without saying I'd have loved Ejaria, but it's not a priority position.

[Hendo]

Goes without saying I'd have loved Ejaria, but it's not a priority position.

I think that is probably a fair assessment.

[NewCorkSeth]

If they do get him they are getting one hell of a deal for a young player with buckets of potential.

[morganb]

If they do get him they are getting one hell of a deal for a young player with buckets of potential.

Didn't Ejaria have a couple of failed loans before settling in with Reading? There's no guarantee that Brentford will be a good fit for him.

[Hound]

I'm not so sure tbh. He is clearly a quality player, but a very poor loan at Sunderland, and I don't think the Rangers one went too well, and thats in a w@nk league. He probably had a dozen good games in this division, and even then he wasn't really the stand out for us. Sounds a very shy lad, and probably needs the right environment

3m seems quite a lot to me. Paying for potential at this stage. Sawyers is a far more complete player at this point in time, and I'd rather have Olise if it was a choice between the two.

Agree Brentford is probably the right club for him though

[Brain Traysers]

It's certainly an intriguing move - probably the most intelligent club in the championship buying from the most intelligent club in the PL. Usually Liverpool manage to extract eye watering fees for young english talent (reported £16m profit on Solanke after only 550 mins of PL gametime, £18m for Ings, £12.5m for Ward and £16m for Ibe)

The reported £3m fee for Ejaria suggests that for whatever reason they don't see much in him (despite signing a "long term" contract last June), yet Brentford do. Alternatively they think he is good, but unlikely to ever be near the level of their current first team, but that same argument could have been made for Ward, Ings and Ibe. Maybe its only when a fellow cash rich PL club are interested that they know they can jack the price up.