Now, ill preface this with I aint saying we are up though given we have a 5 point gap, the two behind us have to play each other and theres only 4 games left theres only Leeds United who can mess that up.
With that said, if we were to be a PL team next year who is actually good enough to try get us to 16th, would we have to do a Forest and completely decimate the squad or try what we did under Bielsa and change very little but add quality?
Manager Farke- I dont think he is good enough personally, he has one plan and when that plan doesnt work it is kinda game up. I dont see his possession style winning us games because better teams wont let us keep the ball, weve seen recently how quickly our players **** the bed when theyre pressed in defense and options out are cut off they panic and go long or just end up knocking it out for a throw in. Does he deserve the chance? Absolutely and Id frankly be disappointed in the club if they did anything different. Do I think he is good enough to keep us up? A lot depends on good signings but truthfully, no.
Players
Good enough
Rodon- Absolutely, solid bottom half defender
Struijk- I sometimes think people massively over hype how good he is for someone who makes so many errors, but as a PL option he is fine.
Ampadu- Yes, but Id want him in midfield
Darlow- As back up, fine as long as we have someone high quality as number one.
Tanaka- Easily
Gruev- as a back up option
James- yep
Solomon- we need to try sign for sure
Gnonto- yep
Ramazani- yep, but if Farke isnt going to trust him then whats the point, just replace and move on.
Unsure
Bogle- Guy can attack but defensively hes suspect and I am not sure in the PL you can have someone so weak against top level wingers.
Byram- If he is happy to play emergency back up, fine, if he is starting games we would be going down.
Schmidt- Who knows, looks decent, Farke never trusted him till now.
Aaronson- As a back up for his energy and attitude aint bad but he is nowhere near starter quality.
Rothwell- isnt ours so wouldnt want to drop big money and honestly Id hope the space he vacates would be replaced with a high quality starting option, however as a back up he is definitely good enough.
Piroe- I dont think he has enough strengths to his game to be a PL striker, he can finish but thats it
Not good enough
Meslier- no matter what league, its done, much like Wiedwald, Rachubka, Casilla etc theres no coming back.
Firpo- Contract up, let him move on with the pride of promotion.
Wober- once looked a good PL player, now looks out of his depth constantly.
Guilavogui- no
Joseph- needs a loan to get experience
Bamford- he is good enough, but injuries just means he is never an option, better to let him move on and replace his spot with someone who can actually play.
Squad as a whole
GK- NEEDED + Darlow + Cairns
LB- Needed + Byram
CB- Rodon + Needed
CB- Struijk + Needed
RB- Neeeded + Bogle
CM- Ampadu + Gruev
CM- Tanaka + Needed
CAM- Needed + Aaronson
LW- Solomon + Ramazani
RW- James + Gnonto
ST- Needed + Piroe/Joseph
I dont think you can overhaul an entire squad so you have to keep your strengths in there and replace the weakest links with high quality, dont make the mistake Ipswich have done, go out and get some PL experience