Squad shapes up
But still an obvious weakness...
Hello everyone - with less than a week to go until the big kick-off, I thought I’d take a look at the state of our squad. Yes, there is more than a month before the transfer window slams shut, but we have an awful lot of points to play for before then…
Goalkeepers: Muric, Peacock-Farrell, Norris
Aro Muric is the latest signing - taking the number of fresh faces up to an incredible eight - and after paying about £3 million it seems safe to say he will be number one.
The Kosovo international is a huge unit (Wikipedia has him at 6ft 6) so he should at least cover a lot of the goal, while he impressed on loan in Turkey last season. But a few of his previous loan spells were more questionable. He started the 2019–2020 season as first choice at Nottingham Forest, but quickly lost his place in the side due to errors. OK, that was a couple of years ago now, but Muric has only played just a tick over 50 games at 23 and I can’t help feel he represents a bit of a punt. He does seem comfortable with the ball at his feet and it is clear Vincent Kompany prioritised that.
Heading into the summer, I think most of us expected Wayne Hennessey to be no1 and were fine with that prospect, but perhaps the Wales international was not deemed a good fit for our new progressive passing style. Regardless, Hennessey has a lot of experience and I feel that would have been handy behind a back line that will be raw.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell should be a capable backup but might want to move for regular minutes and another loan could do him good again, so we might not be done with new goalies. Will Norris has looked terrible, to be honest, so could may require a new no2.
Full-backs: Roberts, Lowton, Taylor, Maatsen, Dodgson
Kompany’s system seems set to free up the full-backs to attack more as they will be charged with providing width in what looks likely to be a 4-2-2-2 system. That should suit Connor Roberts and Charlie Taylor as their strength is attacking, not defending.
The loan signing of Ian Maatsen from Chelsea is a curious one. He looks like the archetypical modern full-back, extremely athletic and keen to attack, and did well on loan at Coventry last season. But there has been little talk about Taylor moving on and Maatsen is unlikely to have come here to sit on the bench, so this is one to watch.
Maatsen is technically the replacement for Erik Pieters, I guess, but having given Owen Dodgson a new long-term deal I thought we would use him as cover this year. That said, being able to use five subs this season means full-backs can be replaced more often, which might be necessary given the energy Kompany will expect of them.
Taylor and Matt Lowton are both capable of playing as wide centre-backs in a back three, which adds flexibility that is likely to be useful over a gruelling league season.
Centre-backs: Harwood-Bellis, Egan-Riley, McNally, Long, Thomas
Since I last wrote, Nathan Collins has been sold to Wolves and honestly I’m still a bit mad about the fee - we have absolutely had our pants pulled down - but let’s move on.
It leaves the defensive options at Kompany’s disposal very inexperienced, however you dice it up, and it is unclear who is going to be the first-choice partnership. Taylor Harwood-Bellis seems likely to start against Huddersfield but it is anyone’s guess who plays next to him. There could be an argument to play Kevin Long to offer some continuity, but I am absolutely not making that argument. Long’s passing is as bad as Ben Mee’s, so I can’t see him having any regular role to play in a Kompany defence.
Bobby Thomas seems to have featured a lot in pre-season, more than Luke McNally anyway, but I have a feeling it might be CJ Egan-Riley who gets the nod. Egan-Riley can also play at right-back and defensive midfield, but having captained various teams through his young career he might be the leader of the back line that we will need.
Just a note on experience, there has been push back to the absolutely fair assessment that our back line doesn’t have a lot of it. Roberts, Lowton and Taylor have plenty but the centre-back options, bar Long, are callow. Experience is relative, of course, but these lads are being expected to replace Mee and James Tarkowski, who played hundreds of games together. THB has played for a couple of Championship teams but we are still talking about a 20-year-old with 50-odd games. McNally has played 30 games in League One. Egan-Riley is a rookie when it comes to senior football.
You can kid yourselves if you like but these lads are inexperienced, they will make mistakes and we will have to be patient with them. I still feel we are missing a trick not having an experienced centre-back on the books to guide them, but I am clearly being an old man shouting at a cloud about that so I’m giving up making that point.
Defensive midfielders: Cullen, Cork, Brownhill, Westwood
Josh Cullen seems like he will be one of the first names on the sheet and the Ireland international will be central to Kompany’s system, dropping in as a third centre-back and setting our tempo. He is clearly the key signing - if it works out, we will do well.
Ashley Westwood is still on the road to recovery but I am thrilled we kept Jack Cork around and he is an obvious contender to replace Mee as the club captain. Cork and Cullen should provide plenty of protection for that inexperienced defensive unit.
Josh Brownhill has had a good pre-season and I’ve put him in with the defensive midfielders, but he could be used further forward too. I haven’t particularly rated Brownhill during his time at Turf Moor but he should stand out in the Championship.
With Westwood to come back, our options in this area are genuinely outstanding.
Attacking midfielders: McNeil, Twine, Gudmundsson, Bastien
Our very public chase of Coventry midfielder Callum O’Hare suggests we want another attacking midfielder, but I’m not convinced that should be a priority. O’Hare has been a standout player in the Championship but with Coventry said to value him at about £9 million that money could probably be better spent in other positions.
Injury issues have restricted Scott Twine’s action during pre-season but the former MK Dons player has the tools to be a serious weapon in the Championship. Twine is also an option to play in the front two and he will probably feature in both positions.
As for Dwight McNeil, I’ve said before that a year in the second tier playing for a team that actually wants to play football could be just what he needs. It sounds like he will play more centrally for Kompany and I fully expect him to tear up this league.
There will probably be some interest in McNeil before the window closes but offers are not likely to be high after he performed poorly last season and we should keep him. A deal for O’Hare only makes sense to me if he is to be McNeil’s replacement.
Samuel Bastien is a bit of an unknown quantity but, a bit like Brownhill, he seems to have the flexibility to play in either the defensive or attacking midfield area too. I fear even mentioning his name might trigger a calf strain but I have always liked Johann Gudmundsson and if he can stay fit - a big if, to be fair - he can play a big part as well.
Strikers: Rodriguez, Barnes, Cornet
This is the area where there is still a significant question mark ahead of the season.
Maxwel Cornet seems certain to leave. Given how well publicised his release clause is, I am quite surprised he is still here. Kompany has already stated we are planning to be without Cornet and it seems safe to say his departure is a case of when, not if. That’s not to say he won’t play for us in the meantime. I’m sure we would all love to see another Cornet blockbuster special or two in the early weeks of the new campaign.
Forest are the latest to be linked with Cornet, but for whatever reason clubs appear unwilling to pay the release clause for a player able to feature in various roles, who has Champions League experience and hit nine PL goals in a dire team last year. Beats me.
After the deal for Jackson Muleka fell through because… reasons, it has gone a bit quiet on the hunt for a new striker. I would have thought a loan move for another Manchester City starlet, Liam Delap, would have an obvious name to us to go for.
Having complained about our lack of experience I can hardly whinge about having Jay Rodriguez and Ashley Barnes in attack, but few of us expect them to be prolific. Jay did score 22 goals the last season he spent in the Championship, but like Barnes he is 32 now and it is asking a lot for him to net that regularly. After all, Jay has managed a whopping three league goals in the past two seasons, which is one fewer than Barnes. Matej Vydra might be back in the second half of the season but we can’t count on him.
There has been excitement around Lewis Richardson but he barely played last season due to injury problems. He is another player who could benefit from the change to five subs, but we have to treat his potential breakthrough as a bonus, not rely on it.
A new striker feels like the last piece in the puzzle now - and it is one we must get right. History shows promoted teams normally have a striker who can be relied on to score at least 15 league goals, ideally 20, and at the moment we clearly lack that. In our first promotion season under Sean Dyche, Sam Vokes and Danny Ings hit 20 in the league. In the second, new signing Andre Gray fired 23 goals in 41 league games.
VK has said goals are “the only thing I care about” so a new striker is a must. At the moment, I’ll back us to create a lot but perhaps not stick the chances away. And as I expect that inexperienced back line to be a little leaky, we need a star man in attack.
Just for fun, here’s my predicted XI for Huddersfield Town away on Friday night: Muric; Roberts, CJER, THB, Taylor; Cullen, Cork; Brownhill, McNeil; Barnes, Rodriguez.
Letters
Mark got in touch after the last newsletter with some thoughts on the early arrivals:
“I might be the only who thinks this but not impressed with our signings, two from League One, whom I have never heard of before - and think the step up will be too much for them.”
Transfers are always an inexact science and it’s not always obvious who is ready to step up a level. But Twine has a great record over the last couple of seasons and his expertise from set pieces should be transferable at least. I guess the sort of players we have targeted (bar O’Hare) are a sign of where we are at financially at the moment.
That’s it for this week. I will be aiming to deliver a newsletter roughly once a week throughout the season, but I can’t guarantee I won’t miss the odd one, and with a lot of midweek matches it might sometimes arrive on a Thursday rather than a Monday.
I’ve already heard from a couple of people who expressed interest in contributing but if you have an idea for an article you think would work in the newsletter, let me know.
Thought of the day
The new kit is a beauty - and no gambling sponsor is certainly welcome too.