Fantasy Article: Playing Career Mode......

This is an unrealistic solution/squad building article

Good Morning Ladies and Gents,

Today I fancied being a little unrealistic and building my perfect squad, giving you the reasons for teach individual that is in my squad and how just 6/7 signings and a hell of a load of sales could make a major impact in changing this XI from inconsistent, young and potential lead to an excellent balance of youth and experience, mixed with flair, aggression and hunger.

Realistically I don’t really want Chelsea to make another 7/8 signings in one window and cause more unrest etc. but as Si mentioned recently this summer window is the last of a 4 window plan to rebuild the squad before they are looking to settle the current squad and only add the odd improvement or replacement here and there. So now is the time to do it if we believe it is needed and I do.

I am going to break this down into stages;

Goalkeepers

Djordje Petrovic;

Petrovic keeps his place in the squad for me, he has been really good since coming into the fold, with obvious areas still to improve upon. He did make a mistake in our most recent game but that is probably the first serious mistake he has made, he stays and he is my No2 moving forward, he plays cup games and European games if we get there.

Emi Martinez (Aston Villa);

Martinez would be my No1, he is aggressive, tall, passionate, a leader, a massive S***house, an excellent GK & ultimately doesn’t block a pathway for a younger GK coming through like Petrovic or even Slonina etc. It was a difficult choice and I know many of you dont rate him but I would take a chance on a reduced price Aaron Ramsdale if the offer came around. He has so much potential and yes he has made the odd mistake here and there but most goalies do, he plays high risk high reward and when he is in form and playing consistently he bring more rewards then failures. It would be between those 2 with Martinez edging it for me.

Marcus Bettinelli;

Betts can stay as 3rd choice, he seems like a great person to have around the dressing room, he helps with the homegrown quota and is a cheap wage.

Defenders;

Reece James;

Speaks for himself, Club Captain, No1 Right Back in the world when fit and I am stupidly optimistic about his Injuries going forward now he has finally had the surgery we all knew he needed, I think people keep forgetting that part.

Malo Gusto;

Already in the conversation for top 5 RBs in the PL, a brilliant debut season and bags of potential to improve further, him and James will push eachother to improve and we will have plenty of fixtures for them both to get good minutes through a season.

Ben Chilwell;

I keep Chilly but only just, his injury record needs to improve, he is one of a few that have held on by a thread in my squad and I think with Chilly he needs to ensure that he is doing everything he can to maximise his fitness, his injuries aren’t really recurring they are always different which comes down to him in my view, I am not a specialist, that is opinion based. We all know how good he is when he is fully fit, which I don’t believe he has been for a couple of years now.

Theo Hernandez (AC Milan);

This guy is the real deal, an absolutely elite LB in the modern game and there is a real discussion about him being the No1 in the world in that position, this is the first of my potentially unrealistic signings but there is a small chance that he could end up with us, SMALL is the word. A top player, he would bring bundles of character, experience, leadership and quality to the squad and would elevate our defence to a new level. He would fit in well with our French contingent, which makes the adaptation period easier.

Levi Colwill;

A decent first season at his boyhood club, a few little injuries and has spent his time split between roles, which adds to his game, improves him in wide areas and his versatility. He is a centre half there is no doubt about that but at such a young age to learn how to defend channels and wide areas is an excellent trait to learn.

Wesley Fofana;

Similarly to Reece James, A top class player when fit, he has been incredibly unlucky with the injuries he has suffered, since being at Chelsea he has had 2 hamstring injuries and then this ACL, the ACL is through no fault of anyone they are freak incidents. The hamstring injuries last season were down to the methodology of Graham Potter I believe, we had so many hamstring injuries last season. Hopefully Wes who is back on the grass doing individual stuff, will just slowly and surely make his way back, he is going to have a very long pre-season pretty much starting back last month when he returned to grass running all the way through to August, this should give him loads of time to strengthen and recondition himself ready to go next season.

Axel Disasi;

He has grown on me through the season, but it is glaringly obvious to me that he is not a starter if everyone is fit, an excellent rotation CB and a brilliant guy to have around the squad by the looks of it, he has good leadership qualities but it is something that he can improve upon further.

Benoit Badiashile;

When he came into the club he was excellent from minute one, I don’t think we have quite seen the same Big Ben this season, but his season has been very stop start through injury this time around. I give him next season to prove his fitness because he deserves that, due to his relatively low fee I would consider offers in the 40m+ category but off this seasons showing nobody will pay that.

Joachim Andersen (Crystal Palace);

I have mentioned it before and as much as I love Marc Guehi, Andersen is the palace centre half that I would go and buy. He is that little bit older and more experienced, as much of a leader, a better passer of the ball or at least has a better range in my opinion, he is massive and strong something we miss, he is aggressive and he would be a fair bit cheaper than Guehi.

Midfielders

Enzo Fernandez;

I don’t need to say too much about him, even in this side currently some of the statistics he is putting up are quite frankly ridiculous and some of which are only met by Rodri in the entire division, a new manager and somebody who utilises him properly will elevate him to another level.

Moises Caicedo;

He has gone under the radar for me this season, he hasn’t been mind blowing by any means or lived up to the price tag, but he has been fairly consistent doing his job breaking up the play and winning the ball back, he still has so many levels to reach and so much to improve upon but he hasn’t been anywhere near as bad as some people outside the club are trying to suggest.

Romeo Lavia;

I have said from minute 1 and I still maintain that his ability level and the ceiling he has to reach is higher than Moises Caicedo’s and hopefully injury doesn’t prevent that. A horrible season for him personally and the club, lets hope he can get himself ready and conditioned for the start of pre-season.

Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa);

This was a tough decision I was torn between Luiz and Amadou Onana but Luiz edges it on aggression and his progressive passing. Onana has loads of potential but right now we need players who are ready and proven in the PL (in the spine) as well as have that bite and aggression about them in a good way.

Conor Gallagher;

I keep Conor Gallagher on a playing level, he has earnt his place in the squad, however I do understand if he is sold this summer. There isn’t much to say about him as a player other than he is the sort of player you want in any squad.

Wingers/Attacking Midfielders

Carney Chukwuemeka;

A horrible season from an injury standpoint, but the odd times he has played he has looked brilliant and like he has elevated to another level of his game, with still plenty more to level up on. He has averaged a goal involvement every 66 minutes this season, that is something to use and work with moving to next season.

Christopher Nkunku;

Another player with an injury plagued season and looking at it now, if we would have had the likes of this man this man available this season I would have no doubt that we finish a lot higher in the table than our current position shows. A fully fit Nkunku elevates this team massively.

Mykhailo Mudryk;

In the past few weeks he has started to look more confident and more comfortable in his surroundings, he looks a lot more free and relaxed playing centrally in our current system but long term he needs to play off the left, I can just imagine him now inverting in field with Theo Hernandez overlapping (wake up from your daydream Luke!!).

Nico Williams (Athletic Club);

I have spoken about Williams a couple of times recently, he is extremely both footed and extremely direct, he is a little bit raw and unpredictable which isn’t ideal but he has a very low release clause which just has to be triggered, with the right manager he would explode in the PL.

Cole Palmer;

I really don’t need to say anything about this man do I……….. Just build the team around him.

Michael Olise;

Similarly to Williams he is brilliantly direct and a real threat, he already has the ability to win games by himself, he has had an injury plagued season for Palace, only featuring in 11 games, he has averaged a goal involvement every 84 minutes being involved in 9 G/A.

Strikers

Nicolas Jackson;

He is still incredibly raw but improving all the time, with a more experienced Striker around him he could learn a lot and improve all facets of his game.

Ivan Toney;

Should be a fairly reduced price, he is experienced, a leader, a goal scorer and has plenty to prove at the top level. He is of an age where he doesn’t block too many pathways and can really help lend his knowledge to younger strikers.

Benjamin Sesko;

For his release clause you just have to trigger it and get him in, he will be an elite striker in 3 years time and getting him for that price will be an absolute steal. He has averaged a goal involvement every 116 minutes this season for Leipzig which is very reasonable for his first season in a top 5 league.

The XI

This squad is big but not too big especially with European football potentially, it leaves room for academy and returning loan players to feature/be involved. In my opinion it brings experience, aggression and leadership.

There is plenty of rotation and versatility available as well as tactical flexibility, in the formation shown above the wingers would invert allowing the full backs or just one full back to overlap and create an overload, but also you could make the 3 behind the striker really wide with both full backs as well as their rotation options being comfortable coming in field with the ball.

As you can tell this is a lead on from last weeks article where I wanted to go deeper on my reasons and my squad building. I don’t think this is a completely unrealistic squad to build but there are some unrealistic elements to it, predominantly Hernandez and Martinez most likely, as well as maybe Olise.

Hopefully you can all now understand my thought process a little bit more and I look forward to hearing your opinions.

Thanks for reading

Luke Rushbrook