Next Season's Squad

[jackodiamonds]

...will (most likely) be without:

GK Rushworth
CD Humphries
RB Ashby
CM Patino
W Lowe
W Sagoe Jr

from the loans, of which I imagine only Rushworth and Lowe's absence will be felt.

The squad may also be without:

RB Naughton
CM Allen
CM Walsh
AM Paterson
W Placheta

That's potentially 11 players from a 25-man squad out the door. The summer rebuild will be 80% of the reason for next season's success or failure. What would you do with the five out-of-contract players? Keep or release?

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Rushworth has been confirmed for next season.

Cullen's option has been taken.

This is next season's squad as it sits on our books: Swansea City - Next season's squad

It does not include Rushworth. It does not include players out of contract in June.

There several interesting options for next season. The following players are out of contract with their home clubs: Lowe, Ashby, Patino, Placheta, Sagoe (who knows what he can do, but clearly at the moment not enough for us). Of these Lowe and Placheta are worth pursuing.

We can also add Sam Parker, Govea, Lissah and Thomas to our squad. If they have the drive, they could make the step up. And then there are the geri's in Allen, Naughton, Pato. Each probably worth another season if they come back healthy. Walsh is the one with a big question mark ... probably worth a single season contract with an option but I wouldn't sign to more than that for health reasons.

Bottom-line we're not going to get promoted when we have players like Cullen at #9 and Grimes as the automatic in midfield. They are just not strong enough to play for an automatic promotion chasing club. And, the logic behind the other players follows from that.

 

[jackodiamonds]

Rushworth isn't confirmed for next season, and probably won't be back. I believe the concerned parties agreed in principle to a second season, but since the talk of a potential England call-up everyone's done an about-face and now he might even start for Brighton next season.

Placheta's Norwich deal was cancelled by Norwich when Swansea made enquiries, and Swansea signed him to a short-term deal of their own until the end of the season. I hope he comes back. Lowe is apparently too expensive and I'd forgotten about him (will add him to the list).

Agree re Cullen (unless he takes a significant step up), and I'd be worried if Fisher becomes the #1 keeper again. The youth players look promising.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

That's disappointing on Rushworth. This means we're stuck with Fisher ... FFS we can't let that happen

I remember Williams announcing in some pre/post match interview that Rushworth was with us for next season. But I can't locate exactly when. and whether it was before or after the link "probably won't be bank" was posted on BBC.

 

[CroJack]

I remember Williams announcing in some pre/post match interview that Rushworth was with us for next season. But I can't locate exactly when

I think it was in February.

 

[CroJack]

What would you do with the five out-of-contract players? Keep or release?

The only one I would keep as a backup on the left wing is Paterson. He has the most goal contributions (7 goals and 6 assists) of any Swans player this season, so he deserves his contract extension imho.

Placheta's stats aren't good enough for a winger. In the past four seasons, he's played approx. 3200 minutes of football and scored 2 goals and had 1 assist. Yes, he's got pace, but that's all he has.



Naughton, Allen and Walsh? No, thank you. We can't go on with players who are either too old or too injured. Or both. Naughton and Allen are probably on (too) good wages at Swansea.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

I thought Placheta performed well in his wide role. With Ginnelly and Lowe fit, not my first choice in that position, but useful in other ways.

 

[CroJack]

I thought Placheta performed well in his wide role.

I concur with your assessment, but given his age of 26, he should be a fully-fledged player, capable of contributing goals and assists as a winger.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

The more I listen to interviews and commentaries on Youtube from football pundits ... the recurring theme foundational to team success is the strength of the senior pros in the team in terms of personality, professionalism, enforcing a level of performance in training (every session) and on match day and the prevailing culture that anything but winning is not acceptable. You hear this from ex-players, owners, coaches. In short, no class, no culture, no success, the senior pros do a good chunk of the job for the coach/manager in enforcing standards.

Do we have that? Can we get that? Are we having to rely on the likes of Cabango evolving into that ... who is grooming Cabango with these attributes.

If Allen brings that and can chip in 30 bullet-proof minutes a match off the bench or better then he's worth a one-year. I look at the current squad and don't see Grimes and Fulton as the rocks we can build success on. Allen would provide a presence to back-up those two.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

In today's pre-match, Williams yet again was floating notions of Rushworth returning for next season. Looks like next week there will be a series of announcements, not the least of which will be the list of released players. Apparently all players have been informed of the Club's intent with respect to next season and for those that the Club wants to retain final contractual issues are being worked through.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Took a look at the EPL league table and can't believe how the standard at the bottom of the table has dropped off since we were relegated. Everton and Brentford have zero risk on 36 and 35 points respectively and the best of the absolute worst only have 26 points. We went down with 33 points and WBA at the bottom still mustered 31. I know there are 3 games left but FFS.

 

[CroJack]

If Allen had been effective in enforcing standards, then our performances in the past two seasons would have been considerably more impressive.

 

[jackodiamonds]

I concur with your assessment, but given his age of 26, he should be a fully-fledged player, capable of contributing goals and assists as a winger.

I think he will given an opportunity at Swansea. He's got more than pace, he's got trickery, he can beat a man, he can cross and he shoots the ball cleaner than Ronald.

I think the reason for his sub-par stats is that he's often been injured in the past, so yes - buyer beware - but worth a short-term at the very least. Also - who knows what tactical systems he's been played in before? He's actually listed in more than one place as a left back and a left wing back, which tells me a decent amount of his previous appearances have been in a defensive role anyway, so his weak looking attacking stats don't bother me at all.

 

[jackodiamonds]

In today's pre-match, Williams yet again was floating notions of Rushworth returning for next season. Looks like next week there will be a series of announcements, not the least of which will be the list of released players. Apparently all players have been informed of the Club's intent with respect to next season and for those that the Club wants to retain final contractual issues are being worked through.

His starting line-up could be telling. Interested to see who he picks, and really hoping he won't burn a game with the regulars when he could be stretching some of the youth players, see who could step up for next season.

 

[The Blobster]

My money is on the regulars , Williams seems reluctant to use youth . Darling will be missing tomorrow as he has had an operation on his foot. Will he go with Wood and Cabango or give a youngster a chance .

 

[CroJack]

Also - who knows what tactical systems he's been played in before? He's actually listed in more than one place as a left back and a left wing back, which tells me a decent amount of his previous appearances have been in a defensive role anyway, so his weak looking attacking stats don't bother me at all.

He has made 14 starts this season, 8 for Swansea and 6 for Norwich. He has only played as a full-back on 2 occasions and that was for Norwich. I am not sure if it was in the League Cup or the Championship. But it doesn't matter whether he's a full-back or a winger. Jodi Jones is a full-back and he has 24 assists in 3400 minutes this season. Placheta has managed 1 assist in 3200 minutes. Ok, Jones plays in the League One and Notts County have better strikers than we have but still...

If you ask me, I would raid Notts County and sign Jodi Jones (26 years old), Langstaff (27 years old) and Crowley (26 years old). I wouldn't gamble on Placheta, I wouldn't sign Lowe and I would get rid of Yates.

Langstaff, Cullen and Big Myk as strikers, Ginnelly can play as a striker as well
Crowley, Paterson and Oli Cooper as attacking midfielders
Jones, Ginnelly, Ronald and Sam Parker as wingers
Grimes, Fulton, Abdulai + two more box to box midfielders to add pace and physicality
Tymon and Jodi Jones as left full-backs
Key and Naughton? or one more right back
Darling, Cabango + 2 new centre-backs
New goalkeeper if we don't sign Rushworth on loan

He's got more than pace, he's got trickery, he can beat a man, he can cross and he shoots the ball cleaner than Ronald.

Yes, he can beat his man with his pace, but I'm not sure he hits the ball cleaner than Ronald. Ronald has 3 goals from 10 shots on target, Placheta 0 goals from 5 shots on target. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Ronald is good enough (yet) either, but he's 22 years old and still developing.

I think the reason for his sub-par stats is that he's often been injured in the past...

His stats are per minute/game/90 minutes, so injuries don't matter in that regard. My point is I wouldn't gamble on Placheta, Allen and Walsh. There are better options out there.

 

[jackodiamonds]

I've seen him beat players with stepovers and misdirections, not just pace.

Also I think injuries do matter in terms of disrupting continuity - the first couple of games back after an injury are frequently tentative performances as the player doesn't want to risk re-injuring themselves, plus they are re-joining the squad and aren't quite up to the same speed or sharing the same understanding. If a player is frequently injured, the cycle repeats and they spend half their playing time out-of-form and off the pace.

Someone like Jodi Jones is a week-in, week-out player who is completely enmeshed in his teams tactical system and dressing room hierarchy, and that matters a lot in terms of being able to make an impact. As far as I can tell Placheta has only played one full season, 36 games for Slask Wroclaw during which he was the team's joint-top scorer with 8 goals and 5 assists (one goal every 382 mins of actual playing time), although I acknowledge that's in a different league (but then, technically so is Jones and I wouldn't want to bet that the standard of EFL League Two is better than the Poland's top division.)

In cases like this, looking at total minutes played or even per 90s is not helpful. Nobody will know what he's really capable of until he can put together a full season of football at this level, but there's a chance that might never happen. From what I've seen on the pitch, I would sign him on an incentivised short-termer, simply because he can probably be had affordably enough to make it a reasonable risk-reward proposition. I doubt Swansea will do it though.

I do understand how you'd be reluctant to sign him because you don't agree with my assessment of his potential based on his age, he does have an injury history, and Swansea have wingers with Ginnelly coming back and Parker perhaps ready to step up. I'd add Aimar Govea to that list as someone who could also make the squad next season.

A lot of people assumed Williams would raid Notts County. I wonder if those players can make the step up. The stats suggest maybe they can (total dominance at lower level = at least competence at higher level), but the stats say Jerry Yates is a 15-goal Championship scorer

 

[ivoralljack]

A lot of people assumed Williams would raid Notts County. I wonder if those players can make the step up

Many of the Ipswich players made the step up in the Championship, so much so Tractors will be in the Premier League next season. But is our manager as good as theirs? Definitely not imo.

 

[Behindthegoal]

We will always look back to John Toshack’s achievement. But he made a new squad for each season and the funds available to make it so.

 

[ivoralljack]

Given all the players we sold to reward the owners' investors instead of investing for an immediate return to the Premier League, we should have done the same. But, investors' return apart, what happened to the money our owners promised to put in of their OWN money? This was a clear and unequivocal commitment they made, which I saw on TV, when they were directly asked by the interviewer that, having bought the club, if they also had money to invest in the playing squad. The answer was a firm yes. But we all know no such money was ever seen and future purchases were funded from the cash received from players we sold, which I believe exceeded £200 million. We were lied to and conned, imo.