2017/18 Strongest Line Up

What do you think the strongest lineup will be this upcoming season? Feel free to update as any players are signed or let go!

For me, at this stage it's something like:

Forster

Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand

Romeu PEH

JWP

Boufal Gabbi Tadic

McCarthy, Targett, McQueen/Pied, Clasie, Davis, Redmond, Austin, Long/Sims

Thoughts? Massive season for PEH to kick on in the same way JWP did last season.

Not for me. I'd have Redmond and Davis starting and play JWP on the right for starters.

Forster*

Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand

Romeu Hojbjerg*

Davis*

Tadic* Gabbiadini Redmond*

Subs (7): McCarthy, McQueen/Pied, Stephens, JWP, Boufal, Austin, Long/Sims.

Asterisks explained: Huge question marks over Forster, tempted to put McCarthy but churlish to say he's better without having seen him play. Hojbjerg needs to rediscover how to pass the ball and not panic in possession so much. Davis gets the nod over JWP because JWP is so slow, and Romeu & Hojbjerg is already slow enough. Davis offers slightly more for a 'linking' position but JWP could oust him. Even better if we find an upgrade... Boufal could yet usurp Tadic OR Redmond, perhaps play them in rotation (along with Sims please!), but at the moment Boufal is too unreliable. Ha, imagine being behind Tadic is the reliability stakes.

Don't think the asterisks ALL need to be addressed, but would be a concern if by the start of the season, none of them had. Particularly if we also lose one or two of our best players.

If I were picking the team to play Swansea tomorrow I'd say:

Forster

Cedric

Virgil

Yoshida

Bertrand

Romeu

Hojberg

Tadic

JWP

Redmond

Gabbiadini

Subs: Boufal, Davis, Austin, Stephens, Long, Targett, McCarthy

If I were picking the team to play Swansea tomorrow I'd say:

 

Forster

 

Cedric

Virgil

Yoshida

Bertrand

 

Romeu

Hojberg

 

Tadic

JWP

Redmond

 

Gabbiadini

 

Subs: Boufal, Davis, Austin, Stephens, Long, Targett, McCarthy

Difficult to argue with this. Although we have no idea even of the system yet, so difficult to say.

Boufal in for Tadic and Davis possibly in for Hojbjerg only other arguments. Team picks itself really...

Forster

Cedric, Yoshida, VVD, Bertrand

Romeu, Hojbjerg

JWP, Boufal, Redmond

Gabbiadini

Subs: Stephens, McQueen, Davis, Long, Austin, Gallagher, McCarthy

Forster

Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand

Romeu Hojbjerg

Tadic Davis Redmond

Gabbiadini

Though Hojbjerg makes me feel queasy - we really need a DM/CM partner for Romeu.

What do you think the strongest lineup will be this upcoming season? Feel free to update as any players are signed or let go!

 

For me, at this stage it's something like:

 

Forster

Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand

Romeu PEH

JWP

Boufal Gabbi Tadic

 

McCarthy, Targett, McQueen/Pied, Clasie, Davis, Redmond, Austin, Long/Sims

 

 

Thoughts? Massive season for PEH to kick on in the same way JWP did last season.

It's going to be interesting watching line ups during pre-season friendlies to see who emerges and who doesn't.

Most intriguing for me will be to see if Redmond can improve his shooting accuracy. What a season we'll have if he can.

Forster*

Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand

Romeu Hojbjerg*

Davis*

Tadic* Gabbiadini Redmond*

 

Subs (7): McCarthy, McQueen/Pied, Stephens, JWP, Boufal, Austin, Long/Sims.

 

Asterisks explained: Huge question marks over Forster, tempted to put McCarthy but churlish to say he's better without having seen him play. Hojbjerg needs to rediscover how to pass the ball and not panic in possession so much. Davis gets the nod over JWP because JWP is so slow, and Romeu & Hojbjerg is already slow enough. Davis offers slightly more for a 'linking' position but JWP could oust him. Even better if we find an upgrade... Boufal could yet usurp Tadic OR Redmond, perhaps play them in rotation (along with Sims please!), but at the moment Boufal is too unreliable. Ha, imagine being behind Tadic is the reliability stakes.

 

Don't think the asterisks ALL need to be addressed, but would be a concern if by the start of the season, none of them had. Particularly if we also lose one or two of our best players.

Good line-up with sensible thoughts. Clasie could still suprise some people on here. I think he has a better forward passing array than Romeo or PEH who are both a bit side-ways.

What do you think the strongest lineup will be this upcoming season? Feel free to update as any players are signed or let go!

 

For me, at this stage it's something like:

 

Forster

Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand

Romeu PEH

JWP

Boufal Gabbi Tadic

 

McCarthy, Targett, McQueen/Pied, Clasie, Davis, Redmond, Austin, Long/Sims

 

 

Thoughts? Massive season for PEH to kick on in the same way JWP did last season.

For me its:

Forster

Cedric Stephens VVD Bertrand

Romeu PEH

JWP

Redmond Gabbi

Austin

Austin has to lead the line for us - we need him in the box to score goals, convert the crosses, win the headers and hold the ball up.

Gabbi is better as a wide or second striker than a centre forward according to all the reports I read on him when we signed him - and he'll use the space created by Austin to nip in and score.

Redmond gives us that pace we need on the break and also seems to play better when wide out on the right. I just don't see any end product in Boufal or Tadic at the moment.

JWP - for the set pieces - and he has more chance of delivering the killer pass than Davis.

PEH - there's no one else - but he needs to step up and live up to the comparison with Busquets the club was so smug about!

Stephens - better on the ball than Yoshida - and he's only going to get better the more we play him.

For a laugh an experimental 5-3-2 with wingbacks

Forster

Cedric Stephens VVD Yoshida Bertrand

Romeu

Davis Tadic

Gabbi Gallagher

Midfield is the hardest to work out I want someone to play killer through balls, to mix it up with the wingbacks crossing, hence Tadic but it probably leave us light in midfield from a closing down working hard point of view.

4-4-2

Forster

Cedric Vvd Stephens Bertrand

Redmond Davis Romeu Tadic

. Gabbiadini Long

Subs - the others!!

McCarthy

Cedric VVD Stephens Bertrand

PEH Romeu

Redmond Boufal Tadic

Gabbiadini

Stephens to learn from VVD. A season as first choice as risk but I think he'll grow it stature even more. I'd rather a Gueye or Wanyama alongside Romeu but PEH will do if we don't sign anyone for that position.

Boufal, Redmond and Tadic to interchange and playful close to Gabba, also all four to act as the first line of defence by pressing (!) high. Boufal and Tadic really do have the ability to lay a lot on for Gabbiadini so I expect far more from them

Forster

 

Cedric VVD Yoshida Bertrand

 

Romeu Hojbjerg

 

Tadic Davis Redmond

 

Gabbiadini

 

Though Hojbjerg makes me feel queasy - we really need a DM/CM partner for Romeu.

If we are going to play Yoshida next to VVD, I wonder if Stephens could play next to Romeu? I think he might be a good fit there.

I'd go with a 4-3-3

Forster

Cedric, Yoshida, VVD, Bertrand

Davis, Tadic, Romeu

Gabbi, Austin, Redmond

Forster

Cedric

VVD

Stephens

Bertrand

Romeu

JWP

Tadic

Boufal

Redmond

Gabbiadini

...................Forster

Soares Yoshida Van Dijk Bertrand

............Romeu Hojbjerg

..Redmond. Boufal. Tadic

.................Gabbiadini

Subs

McCarthy

Pied

Stephens

Clasie/Davis

Austin

Long

Would sell JWP but doubt anyone will ever put an offer in for him.

Clasie is the type of player we need, but a better version of.

If we keep purse strings tight and don't sign any first teamers, am hoping MoPe can get best from likes of Hojbjerg and Clasie because there is clearly more to come from both

*correction

...................Forster

Soares Yoshida Van Dijk Bertrand

............Romeu Hojbjerg

..Redmond. Boufal. Tadic

.................Gabbiadini

Subs

McCarthy

Pied

Stephens

Clasie

Davis/JWP

Austin

Long

Would sell JWP but doubt anyone will ever put an offer in for him.

Clasie is the type of player we need, but a better version of.

If we keep purse strings tight and don't sign any first teamers, am hoping MoPe can get best from likes of Hojbjerg and Clasie because there is clearly more to come from both players.

3 at the back for me in the Chelsea style, so:

Forster

Stephens

VVD

Yoshida

Cedric

Romeo

Davis

Bertrand

Boufal

Gabbi

Redmond

Subs: the others.

I'd like us to try he following but I doubt we will

..................Forster

....Stephens VVD Bertrand

Cedric Romeu PEH McQueen

..................Boufal

..........Gabbiadini Austin

It's going to be interesting watching line ups during pre-season friendlies to see who emerges and who doesn't.

Most intriguing for me will be to see if Redmond can improve his shooting accuracy. What a season we'll have if he can.

Expected Goals (xG) based on the historical outcomes from shots taken from where he took shots last season: 6.064

Actual Prem goals by Redmond: 7. So he either needs to get in better positions to shoot, or shoot less and create chances for others. Improving his shooting from places where he's unlikely to score anyway won't have much impact. Conversely Long missed the target with more than 10 chances along the edge of the 6 yard box last season...

https://public.tableau.com/profile/paul.riley#!/vizhome/PremierLeagueShotDashboard2016-17/PLShotDashboard2016-17

FWIW Aguero is rated 1 for xG and Costa 2.

Incidentally, there's a weird piece of info in here - Mark Noble scored a free-kick from INSIDE the area v Saints last season (!). Anyone remember it? Ah!

I get the feeling Hojbjerg isn't going to work out for us. Something isn't quite right with him.

...............Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

......Clasie......Romeu.................

Boufal..........JWP..........Redmond

............Gabbiadini....................

Perhaps swapping places between Boufal and JWP

Or

...............Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

..........Clasie......Romeu.............

Boufal.........................Redmond

.......Gabbiadini....Austin............

I think we should employ Fraser Richardson as a floating centre-back

I think we should employ Fraser Richardson as a floating centre-back

In a front sweeper role? You could be onto something there.

Interesting how few people have picked Austin. Really wish we would move him and Long on but their wages are probably higher than they would really be worth to anyone.

Gabbiadini, Long, Austin, Gallagher isnt a top half striker pool IMO.

In a front sweeper role? You could be onto something there.

 

Interesting how few people have picked Austin. Really wish we would move him and Long on but their wages are probably higher than they would really be worth to anyone.

 

Gabbiadini, Long, Austin, Gallagher isnt a top half striker pool IMO.

In a road sweeper role, possibly...

All these people knocking Austin make me laugh.

He knows how to put the ball in the onion bag. Simple. You can talk about your FM formations as much as you like. At the end of the day, all good sides have a mean horrible b@stard at the back, a midfielder who can tackle and run all day long, some pace down the lines, and someone who knows how to put the ball in the onion bag.

It's a simple game sometimes made complicated.

All these people knocking Austin make me laugh.

 

He knows how to put the ball in the onion bag. Simple. You can talk about your FM formations as much as you like. At the end of the day, all good sides have a mean horrible b@stard at the back, a midfielder who can tackle and run all day long, some pace down the lines, and someone who knows how to put the ball in the onion bag.

 

It's a simple game sometimes made complicated.

Agreed, to an extent! I tihnk a lot of people are also quick to dismiss Austin's mobility, and I wonder how much of that is watching him play with their own eyes, and how much is just assumption based on a few snippets here and there. I saw a couple of poor games from him last year, but I also saw a few games where he lead the line excellently - chased down defenders, held the ball up, brought other people into play etc. And then there is the obvious goal threat, as well as being capable in the air.

Of course, compared to Gabbiadini and Long he isn't as mobile. But before him we had Pelle, who wasn't exactly Mr Mobility, and he did a pretty good job for us.

Interesting to see the quality of the players that people are having to put on the subs' bench after picking their XI. It's a good indicator of how strong the squad is and that the cover for injuries etc. looks good. The puzzle of last season is why these players didn't score more goals, sometimes not making the chances and at others due to the finishing. With the same players to choose from this year the big question is whether Pellegrino's influence will make the difference, regardless of who is in the starting XI.

Not sure why so many are picking Boufal. He's done bugger all to warrant a place in the team so far and his attitude stinks at times.

FF

Cedric - VVD - Yoshi - Bertrand

Romeu - Hojbjerg

JWP - Tadic - Redmond

Barry

Obviously Hoj hasn't done much to warrant a place either but the two main differences are his attitude and that right now we don't really have a better option.

3 at the back for me in the Chelsea style, so:

 

Forster

 

Stephens

VVD

Yoshida

 

Cedric

Romeo

Davis

Bertrand

 

Boufal

Gabbi

Redmond

 

Subs: the others.

id go 3 at the back also, he did play it last season with some success so I wouldn't be surprised if he goes with it with us. Still a big ? on boufal so I might be tempted with Sims instead of him but that team does look good.

All these people knocking Austin make me laugh.

 

He knows how to put the ball in the onion bag. Simple. You can talk about your FM formations as much as you like. At the end of the day, all good sides have a mean horrible b@stard at the back, a midfielder who can tackle and run all day long, some pace down the lines, and someone who knows how to put the ball in the onion bag.

 

It's a simple game sometimes made complicated.

With progressive ideas and breadth of tactical knowledge like that, you should apply for the England job, you'd be a shoe-in

With progressive ideas and breadth of tactical knowledge like that, you should apply for the England job, you'd be a shoe-in

I'm sick of people who probably can't kick a ball talking about false 10's, floating centre-backs, and some Carlos Kickaball nobody has ever heard of, but is a 20 on Football F*cking Manager.

Football isn't complicated. Get the spine right, with a bit of pace down the wings, and you'll be alright. Sorry it's not trendy, but then I don't wear skinny jeans and I haven't got a beard down to my b*llocks.

.................Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

...........JWP......Romeu.................

Tadic..........Davis..........Redmond

...............Gabbiadini.................

.................Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

...........JWP......Romeu.................

Tadic..........Davis..........Redmond

...............Gabbiadini.................

Yeh if I was to guess, this would be the side vs Swansea. Maybe Stephens over Yoshi.

Forster

Cedric VvD Stephens Bertrand

Tadic Romeu Davis Redmond

Gabbiadini Austin

.................Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

.......Stephens......Romeu............

Redmond.....Boufal........Tadic.......

...............Gabbiadini.................

I'm sick of people who probably can't kick a ball talking about false 10's, floating centre-backs, and some Carlos Kickaball nobody has ever heard of, but is a 20 on Football F*cking Manager.

 

Football isn't complicated. Get the spine right, with a bit of pace down the wings, and you'll be alright. Sorry it's not trendy, but then I don't wear skinny jeans and I haven't got a beard down to my b*llocks.

It's a bit of both really. Games are sometimes won by the team that sets up right tactically, or maybe just an individual tactic that makes the difference in a marginal game (which most football matches are). That being said, games are also often decided by one team having a player who needs one chance to score, and the other not managing to find the net despite carving out several good opportunities (usually Saints!)

.................Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

...........JWP......Romeu.................

Tadic..........Davis..........Redmond

...............Gabbiadini.................

I think most people see this as the base team, with a couple of possible changes. JWP/Davis/Clasie/Hojbjerg are a bunch of players that whoever is picked on the day, I expect most people will say "ok fair enough". Equally if Boufal is picked in one of the wide positions.

The issue I have is no matter which of those four midfielders you use to plug the two gaps in midfield, it's a bit "meh". I'm ok that we go with one of them - perhaps Hojbjerg can do a job defensively if we have a quality player ahead of him, and perhaps Davis or JWP can be more effective attacking players if they're not having to get back and help the DMs so much - but we saw it too often last season that we either had no-one joining the attack, or we looked lightweight in the middle and teams bypassed us easily if they managed to avoid Oriol!

With progressive ideas and breadth of tactical knowledge like that, you should apply for the England job, you'd be a shoe-in

No surprises, but if one of them has to play (because we don't invest in a conventional AM or box-to-box CM) then we should prioritise JWP above Davis. Neither of them have much in the way of pace or strength, and both are likely to carelessly give the ball away a couple of times per match. However, JWPs corners and freekicks & penalties are orders of magnitude better, and based on last season he's marginally more likely to make a run into the box.

Back five picks itself, but beyond that, probably Romeu/Hoj, Boufal/JWP/Tadic, Gabbiadini.

Redmond, Tadic & Boufal all strike me as streaky, so I'd just let them play themselves in and out of the starting line up as form & sub appearances dictate.

No surprises, but if one of them has to play (because we don't invest in a conventional AM or box-to-box CM) then we should prioritise JWP above Davis. Neither of them have much in the way of pace or strength, and both are likely to carelessly give the ball away a couple of times per match. However, JWPs corners and freekicks & penalties are orders of magnitude better, and based on last season he's marginally more likely to make a run into the box.

 

Back five picks itself, but beyond that, probably Romeu/Hoj, Boufal/JWP/Tadic, Gabbiadini.

 

Redmond, Tadic & Boufal all strike me as streaky, so I'd just let them play themselves in and out of the starting line up as form & sub appearances dictate.

Well at least you acknowledge it...

I'd say at the moment Davis offers more than JWP as a 'linking' player, whether that's running with the ball or creative passing (the sort of passes that not every player can pick out). However, for the reasons you give I certainly think it's worth giving JWP a shot there. He's not particularly mobile though, so his effectiveness may depend on whether we find a good partner for Romeu, or perhaps if Hojbjerg steps up a gear this campaign.

Well at least you acknowledge it...

 

I'd say at the moment Davis offers more than JWP as a 'linking' player, whether that's running with the ball or creative passing (the sort of passes that not every player can pick out).

Since Davis offers almost none of this anymore, it seems pretty moot. Better to have decent (rather than slow, floated) delivery at set-pieces than pick someone based on the memory of them once having made a driving runs and penetrating passes from midfield...

Since Davis offers almost none of this anymore, it seems pretty moot. Better to have decent (rather than slow, floated) delivery at set-pieces than pick someone based on the memory of them once having made a driving runs and penetrating passes from midfield...

I don't think he's particularly brilliant at either, but still currently better than Ward-Prowse. I wouldn't expect you to agree on anything remotely positive about Davis though.

The trade off for good corners might be worth picking JWP anyway, but then again we hardly ever score from them because we don't have enough of a threat in the air, especially when van Dijk isn't playing.

For Me...

Forster

Cedric VVD Stephens Bertrand

Romeu JWP

Davies

Boufal Gabbi Tadic

McCarthy, Targett, Yosh, Clasie, PEH, Redmond, Austin, Long

.................Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

.......Stephens......Romeu............

Redmond.....Boufal........Tadic.......

...............Gabbiadini.................

Interesting. Like.

.................Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

.......Stephens......Romeu............

Redmond.....Boufal........Tadic.......

...............Gabbiadini.................

I quite like that but my one concern is that they are all very lightweight top 4 so ball wouldn't stick up front long.

Would like to see this tried.

.................McCarthy............

.....Stephens...VVD.....Yoshida....

Cedric...JWP.....Romeu...Tadic....Bertand

......Gabbi....Austin

.................Forster......................

Cedric...VvD...Yoshida...Bertrand.

.......Stephens......Romeu............

Redmond.....Boufal........Tadic.......

...............Gabbiadini.................

That's terrible, too big a gap between the back 6 and front 4. That team is what is known as broken team.

https://arsenalcolumn.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/why-are-two-holding-midfielders-so-crucial-in-the-modern-game/

See particularly the part where Finke says the 2 defensive midfielders should be staggered, in this case both Romeu and Stephens would be naturally very deep, which is made worse by the all of the front 4 are really forwards as opposed to midfielders, by which I mean they are all more comfortable playing in the final third of the pitch rather than playmaking from deeper positions. We would therefore have a lot of difficulty constructing moves as we wouldn't have any natural links between defense and attack and would be very dependant on the full backs to provide those links.

Forster

 

Cedric VvD Stephens Bertrand

 

Tadic Romeu Davis Redmond

 

Gabbiadini Austin

Questions are can Gabbi and Charlie play together? How does Boufal get game time to play himself into the PL?

I quite like that but my one concern is that they are all very lightweight top 4 so ball wouldn't stick up front long.

Would like to see this tried.

 

.................McCarthy............

.....Stephens...VVD.....Yoshida....

Cedric...JWP.....Romeu...Tadic....Bertand

......Gabbi....Austin

I like this too, or something like it. I want to see us try to use Gabbi and Austin together. This would give us our highest scoring potential. Plus I think they are different players. Austin is more physical, better in the air, and holds things up better. Gabbi is faster, quicker, and can stretch a D better.