My biggest concern this season is that we keep players around because of what they helped us achieve last year rather than because they are actually good enough for the Premier League.
There can’t be any room for sentiment now. The step up is massive and, if we want to stay up, the standards have to go up with it.
For me, there are quite a few players who either aren’t Premier League level or who I wouldn’t want us relying on at this level:
Wilson, Brau, Bidwell, Woolfenden, Lati, Eccles, BTA and Simms.
That’s eight players in and around a 25 man squad.
Bidwell, Eccles and others have played a big part in getting us here, but getting us promoted and being good enough to keep us in the Premier League are two different things.
I also don’t agree with the idea that we should keep certain players because they’re good characters or important in the dressing room. That has value, but ability has to come first. You can’t use valuable squad places on players mainly because they’re popular or have been good servants to the club.
BTA is probably the obvious example. By all accounts he’s a great bloke, works very hard and is very popular with the squad. But technically I just don’t think he’s good enough for where we are now. His positioning and decision making can be poor, he gives the ball away too easily and no one is really sure what his best position is. He’s not really a striker, not really a number 10 and not really a winger. He probably looks best playing as one of two strikers, but hardly anyone in the Premier League plays that way now. Running around, pressing and working hard are all useful, but at this level you need more than that.
Simms is a slightly different one. He improved a lot towards the end of last season and has looked good in pre-season, so I can understand why some would want to keep him. I just don’t think he’s going to become consistent enough or clinical enough to be the striker we need at this level.
The signings of Awoniyi and Cherif also make me think the club sees the striker situation changing quite a bit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Simms and Wright are both sold if the right offers came in. As Wright is currently injured he is more likely to leave the club in the January transfer window.
Awoniyi looks to have been signed as the main striker in the short term, with Cherif brought in as his understudy to provide cover and competition. The longer term plan may well be for Cherif to develop into the first choice striker, with Awoniyi eventually moving into more of a backup role.
Eccles is probably the hardest one because he’s come through the Academy, played for us in League One and has been part of this whole journey. It’s a great story and everyone wants players like that to succeed. But that can’t be the reason he stays in the squad.
The question has to be: is he good enough to make a difference in the Premier League?
For me, the answer at the moment is no.
I think King and Lampard will be pretty ruthless about all of this anyway.
Lampard is ambitious and clearly wants to prove himself as a Premier League manager, and King has given him more than £120m to spend. I doubt Lampard signed a new three year deal because he expects us to spend the next three years bouncing between the Premier League and the Championship.
Neither of them will want mediocrity, and neither should we.
The club is improving massively on and off the pitch, but part of progressing is knowing when to move players on, however much we like them or appreciate what they’ve done.
Ideally, by the end of the window, we should be getting towards two players capable of playing at Premier League level in every position, plus a third goalkeeper, an extra midfielder and a third-choice striker to complete the 25 man squad.
With Bentley now signed, it looks as though Dovin will be loaned out and Wilson will become the third choice goalkeeper, which should mean he is very unlikely to play in the Premier League.
I think there will still be several departures before the window shuts and probably more changes again in January.
Hopefully, over the next nine days, we will sign a left back, a left sided centre back and a left winger, which would give us two Premier League level players for every position in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
As the song goes, Lampard knows exactly what we need.
The players who got us here deserve huge credit for it.
But staying here is a different job altogether.
There can’t be any room for sentiment now. The step up is massive and, if we want to stay up, the standards have to go up with it.
For me, there are quite a few players who either aren’t Premier League level or who I wouldn’t want us relying on at this level:
Wilson, Brau, Bidwell, Woolfenden, Lati, Eccles, BTA and Simms.
That’s eight players in and around a 25 man squad.
Bidwell, Eccles and others have played a big part in getting us here, but getting us promoted and being good enough to keep us in the Premier League are two different things.
I also don’t agree with the idea that we should keep certain players because they’re good characters or important in the dressing room. That has value, but ability has to come first. You can’t use valuable squad places on players mainly because they’re popular or have been good servants to the club.
BTA is probably the obvious example. By all accounts he’s a great bloke, works very hard and is very popular with the squad. But technically I just don’t think he’s good enough for where we are now. His positioning and decision making can be poor, he gives the ball away too easily and no one is really sure what his best position is. He’s not really a striker, not really a number 10 and not really a winger. He probably looks best playing as one of two strikers, but hardly anyone in the Premier League plays that way now. Running around, pressing and working hard are all useful, but at this level you need more than that.
Simms is a slightly different one. He improved a lot towards the end of last season and has looked good in pre-season, so I can understand why some would want to keep him. I just don’t think he’s going to become consistent enough or clinical enough to be the striker we need at this level.
The signings of Awoniyi and Cherif also make me think the club sees the striker situation changing quite a bit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Simms and Wright are both sold if the right offers came in. As Wright is currently injured he is more likely to leave the club in the January transfer window.
Awoniyi looks to have been signed as the main striker in the short term, with Cherif brought in as his understudy to provide cover and competition. The longer term plan may well be for Cherif to develop into the first choice striker, with Awoniyi eventually moving into more of a backup role.
Eccles is probably the hardest one because he’s come through the Academy, played for us in League One and has been part of this whole journey. It’s a great story and everyone wants players like that to succeed. But that can’t be the reason he stays in the squad.
The question has to be: is he good enough to make a difference in the Premier League?
For me, the answer at the moment is no.
I think King and Lampard will be pretty ruthless about all of this anyway.
Lampard is ambitious and clearly wants to prove himself as a Premier League manager, and King has given him more than £120m to spend. I doubt Lampard signed a new three year deal because he expects us to spend the next three years bouncing between the Premier League and the Championship.
Neither of them will want mediocrity, and neither should we.
The club is improving massively on and off the pitch, but part of progressing is knowing when to move players on, however much we like them or appreciate what they’ve done.
Ideally, by the end of the window, we should be getting towards two players capable of playing at Premier League level in every position, plus a third goalkeeper, an extra midfielder and a third-choice striker to complete the 25 man squad.
With Bentley now signed, it looks as though Dovin will be loaned out and Wilson will become the third choice goalkeeper, which should mean he is very unlikely to play in the Premier League.
I think there will still be several departures before the window shuts and probably more changes again in January.
Hopefully, over the next nine days, we will sign a left back, a left sided centre back and a left winger, which would give us two Premier League level players for every position in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
As the song goes, Lampard knows exactly what we need.
The players who got us here deserve huge credit for it.
But staying here is a different job altogether.
