[Albion] First Game Starting Line-Up Prediction 25/26

[London Irish]

Think a lot of people are forgetting we signed Ferdi for £30m. He will be a key player at full back, definitely not left wing as the OP has him!!

Given we live in times when so many fans don’t seem to regard Pedro as a key player, I don’t think we can say that about Ferdi until we see a decent run of games. The flashes we saw was a good player going forward, jury very much out if he’s better defensively than Pervis

 

[London Irish]

The squad is literally the strongest it’s ever been. How on earth can you claim it is being downgraded.

Yep i think that’s right. It relied on Baleba and Ayari making gigantic steps forward this season and Welbeck defying his regular injury spells. It made up for the big transfer spend being hit and miss

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Think a lot of people are forgetting we signed Ferdi for £30m. He will be a key player at full back, definitely not left wing as the OP has him!!

Forgetting about Ferdi not the most unreasonable thing in the world

 

[Greg Bobkin]

That first lineup could be season-defining.

 

[Silverhatch]

What about breakthrough players from the 21s? Tasker? Howell? Simmonds?

 

[GT49er]

What about breakthrough players from the 21s? Tasker? Howell? Simmonds?

Oh come on! No - we want another £200M spend, but bigger, say 4 X £50M players this time, not £20M may be OK or maybe not long-shots. And certainly not just some kids who've come up through the ranks! We're more entitled than that now, shirley?

 

[Wardy's twin]

Ferdi, who has played half a dozen games in preference to Ayari who has had a very good season.

Given we live in times when so many fans don’t seem to regard Pedro as a key player, I don’t think we can say that about Ferdi until we see a decent run of games. The flashes we saw was a good player going forward, jury very much out if he’s better defensively than Pervis

Agree, he didn't play like he was a full back in the few games he did play.

 

[severnside gull]

I’m assuming from the OP that Rushworth and Beadle have disappeared off the face of the earth over the summer.

And Cashin?

 

[portslade seagull]

Just cannot see Pedro going to a top six team, Baleba will be the biggest loss if any are to leave

 

[7dialssouthpaw]

Just cannot see Pedro going to a top six team, Baleba will be the biggest loss if any are to leave

Pedro looks like classic Spurs-bait to me

 

[The Fits]

Not a chance it’ll be as similar as this season, as lots have suggested. I’d imagine we will have at least two new players starting in the back line. One of Baleba, Bart, JPVH or Mitoma will obviously be sold, at the very least.

 

[Comrade Sam]

Yalcouyé looks a tidy player.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Verbruggen
Veltman JPvH Webster Kadioglu
Wieffer Baleba
Minteh Georginio Mitoma
Welbeck
​

I think Mitoma will still be here, for the first game
He's worth more to us, than other clubs can really afford.
We might be able to beat someone up to our price by deadline day though

Pedro will be gone though. We have our succession plan in place and he needs to clear a space.
We will accept anything over £50m for him, and someone will pay it.

 

[Justice]

It’s going to be a long summer

 

[Gwylan]

Verbruggen
Veltman JPvH Webster Kadioglu
Wieffer Baleba
Minteh Georginio Mitoma
Welbeck
​

I think Mitoma will still be here, for the first game
He's worth more to us, than other clubs can really afford.
We might be able to beat someone up to our price by deadline day though

Pedro will be gone though. We have our succession plan in place and he needs to clear a space.
We will accept anything over £50m for him, and someone will pay it.

Yeah, I'm not wholly convinced that Mitoma will go: a few clubs have a policy of not buying anyone over 25. Brighton turned down a big bid for him in the winter, so clubs know he won't be a cheap deal. Are they going to pay a tidy sum for a 28-year-old who's had two spells out with injury this season and will go missing for a month or so at the next Asian Cup? The only thing we don't know is if there's been a gentlemen's agreement for him to go at a low price; that would change matters,

 

[BevBHA]

Given we live in times when so many fans don’t seem to regard Pedro as a key player, I don’t think we can say that about Ferdi until we see a decent run of games. The flashes we saw was a good player going forward, jury very much out if he’s better defensively than Pervis

Pretty sure he played right back in the game at anfield and was excellent and scored. So maybe it’s not him or Pervis but one on either side

 

[WATFORD zero]

Yep i think that’s right. It relied on Baleba and Ayari making gigantic steps forward this season and Welbeck defying his regular injury spells. It made up for the big transfer spend being hit and miss

This despite the fact that he has played 24,27,37,37 and 35 games so far in the last 5 seasons, his best run in the whole of his career.

Who makes this bollox up, and worse still, what idiots believe it

*edit* I was only quoting league matches, I've now added the cups

 

[dazzer6666]

Yeah, I'm not wholly convinced that Mitoma will go: a few clubs have a policy of not buying anyone over 25. Brighton turned down a big bid for him in the winter, so clubs know he won't be a cheap deal. Are they going to pay a tidy sum for a 28-year-old who's had two spells out with injury this season and will go missing for a month or so at the next Asian Cup? The only thing we don't know is if there's been a gentlemen's agreement for him to go at a low price; that would change matters,

Thought Mitoma himself decided Saudi wasn’t for him

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

I think (hope) that Mitoma has at least one more season with us after all his injury issues this year although his sublime goal against the chavs may have put him back in the shop window.

 

[el punal]

They all are nowadays. Squad gets slowly but surely downgraded, infrastructure gets rapidly upgraded. Such is the life of a Selling Club. Them's the Albion Business Model rules. Absolutely nowt wrong with investing in bricks n mortar as a priority, it tends to hold its value through the bad times and the good. But weakening the overall squad quality, and in particular the core matchday squad, will come back to bite the club in the bum sooner rather than later

Seriously, do you honestly think Tony Bloom splurged £200m+ last year just so that we can be a downgraded, selling club? If that’s the case why did he even bother? My view is that he’s building the squad up with young, promising players to take us to the next level - European qualification.