Hotspur75
Thimotée Atouba
After the non-event that was the January window, I must say I am heartened by the lack of activity in the sense that it tells me beyond doubt that Poch is here for the (very) long term - he appears to have no or next to no short-term agenda (other than re-introducing Janssen for now) - but it is clear that his agenda and Levy's is a long term one.
If we look at the changes in the squad in the past few months, forced on Poch or not, we have seen Foyth getting regular game time in the PL, Skipp and KWP come through, Winks getting back into the frame and starting more games than before his injury, and Alli playing a better season until he got injured than in any of the previous years since he came to WHL (IMHO). That is the nucleus of our side in, say, three years from now, when we will be settled into our new stadium, and we may have reached, or be on the verge of reaching, Poch's "last level" (including trophies).
If we take a look, realistically, at how many of our current squad might be starters (or heavily involved squad players) at the beginning of 2022-23, it might well look something like this ...
GK: ?
Def: KWP, Foyth, Sanchez, ?
DM: Dier, Winks/Skipp
AM: Alli, ?, ?
CF: Kane
... with all of those being 28 or (much) younger still. He should have course put Dier (as leader of the back line) into a three, with Winks and Skipp playing in midfield together, depending on how they develop. Given how Poch has promoted Dier and Alli in particular to having more responsibilities, including the captaincy in League Cup games over the last two years when playing (some of) the kids, he may well be using those games to pre-shape (and think about) the team of 2022, and recruitment in the summer window may well take the fictional 2022 line-up above as a vantage point. In that sense, I would be surprised if we do not go back to Fulham for Sessegnon in the summer, for example. Also I think we will almost certainly be looking for a young English GK in the summer, who can be promoted when Hugo or Gazzaniga (whom I do not rate) leave.
Any idea who might be on the shortlist for the AM positions? Of course, Son and Lamela would still be under-30 as well, as would Moura.
If we look at the changes in the squad in the past few months, forced on Poch or not, we have seen Foyth getting regular game time in the PL, Skipp and KWP come through, Winks getting back into the frame and starting more games than before his injury, and Alli playing a better season until he got injured than in any of the previous years since he came to WHL (IMHO). That is the nucleus of our side in, say, three years from now, when we will be settled into our new stadium, and we may have reached, or be on the verge of reaching, Poch's "last level" (including trophies).
If we take a look, realistically, at how many of our current squad might be starters (or heavily involved squad players) at the beginning of 2022-23, it might well look something like this ...
GK: ?
Def: KWP, Foyth, Sanchez, ?
DM: Dier, Winks/Skipp
AM: Alli, ?, ?
CF: Kane
... with all of those being 28 or (much) younger still. He should have course put Dier (as leader of the back line) into a three, with Winks and Skipp playing in midfield together, depending on how they develop. Given how Poch has promoted Dier and Alli in particular to having more responsibilities, including the captaincy in League Cup games over the last two years when playing (some of) the kids, he may well be using those games to pre-shape (and think about) the team of 2022, and recruitment in the summer window may well take the fictional 2022 line-up above as a vantage point. In that sense, I would be surprised if we do not go back to Fulham for Sessegnon in the summer, for example. Also I think we will almost certainly be looking for a young English GK in the summer, who can be promoted when Hugo or Gazzaniga (whom I do not rate) leave.
Any idea who might be on the shortlist for the AM positions? Of course, Son and Lamela would still be under-30 as well, as would Moura.
