How does this team look

[TrianonDave]

..................Martynez
Cash...Konsa...Mings...Target
........McGinn...........Luiz
.................Grealish
Traore........................Watkins
...................Wesley

[Exiledvillan]

The worrying part for me is that Wes may not be as good as before the injury.

Kin ell, he was sh1te before the injury.

Better start praying to your God, if you're banking on Wes to take us to the next level mate.

Traore's honeymoon period ends soon, very soon.

[Exiledvillan]

Ignore me mate, I'm wearing my 'cantankerous auld bollox' head, today.

[TrianonDave]

Well with a dodgy knee, got to be better than Davis 3🤣

[westcountryvillain]

Wes had bagged 12 goals in half a season when he'd been isolated up front for most of it, mainly because our midfield at the time would constantly lose possession or not move up the pitch quickly enough to support him. That said, he is nowhere near Watkins in many respects and has to improve a lot to become a first team regular, it's just that last season his understudy was Davis! He also had a tendency to throw himself to the floor and then protest/sulk when decisions didn't go his way, needs to cut that out as it's not doing him any favours.

IF - he can improve his positioning for when the ball comes in from the flanks and show some composure in his decision making in terms of which player to lay the ball off to then that team looks decent to me. Traore needs to learn from Watkins and not be a blow hot & cold type of player, otherwise he doesn't really belong in this league.

[Exiledvillan]

That’s quite a damning appraisal there WCV, when you read it back. He actually only scored 5 goals in 21 Prem games, + 1 against scouse kids in the cup. He doesn’t seem to have a lot going for him, does he?

I’ve been bitterly disappointed with Traore tbh. A shadow of the Ajax player that I saw 5 years ago. Mind you, he saw plenty of ball in Holland and had plenty of time. He needs to show for the ball a bit more, and stop falling over his own fkucing feet.

[oldskoolvillan]

Might be interesting to try but not this season imho, Wesley may be back in training, but he will need a few run outs with the u23s, then a few sub appearances before but I do like the idea of jack in a central role, although probably either alongside watkins in a front two or behind him with others playing wide. Once Wesley is fit if he becomes the player he could be you could then play a sort of 4 3 2 1 with jack and ollie as the two with license to roam, I wouldnt want to be facing that as a defender, to many decisions to make! In order for that to work though our midfield 3 would need to be really well organised.

[TrianonDave]

Obviously the point im making is a striker up alongside Ollie which could be Tammy or Eduord?
The other point is, A settled team and formation, make it hard for the guys on the line to break into the team. Its not always about buying, we cannot expect another 5 or 6 new faces, it takes time for them to bed in, too much time!

[oldskoolvillan]

Absolutely agree on a settled team group, and also about not always buying unless whomever you buy is good enough to put one of the current first team on the bench. Here's a mad idea Ive just come up with, I cant see Dean going for it though. Play with Mings, Hause and Konsa as a back 3, Targett and Cash on the flanks, any two from luis/nakamba/sanson/sjm in between them, with jack and ollie and wesley as a sort of trianular front 3. This of course assumes that wesley is fit and comes good, if not maybe thats the new face?

[westcountryvillain]

oldskool when it wasn't going well for us last season a back 3 with the wing backs playing on the flanks from midfield is exactly what I wanted to see - great minds eh! Playing this way would keep us very disciplined defensively and allow the midfield to give good support to the attack.