New season, new system?

Please join us in extending a warm welcome to our latest recruit Tom Kilbey. Tom opens his KUMB account by looking at Sam Allardyce's current squad and examining its strengths and weaknesses ahead of this weekend's season-opener against Aston Villa...

With little over a week to the start of the season, now is the time to start thinking ahead to the opener against Aston Villa. With the board still frantically trying to secure the services of new players, our team is starting to shape up. Let's take a look through our squad, and at a potential new system for next year.

Goalkeeper

When going through the team, it doesn't take long before there's a debate. Henderson or Jaaskaleinen? Youth or experience? Through pre-season, Big Sam has alternated between the two goalkeepers, giving both a chance to impress. I'd like to see Henderson given a chance since Jussi is definitely not the keeper he used to be. Only time will tell.

Full Back

Unfortunately, there isn't much of a debate here. I say 'unfortunately' because I feel that this is perhaps our weakest area. Allardyce's style is going to be based on a solid defence, and I don't think we have this, especially at left back.

Demel will start on the right side of defence and although he looked far from comfortable at times last season, he is highly rated and after a few games in pre-season he should hopefully step up.

I'd also like Jordan Spence to be given a final chance this season. Despite not making an impact at Bristol City last season, what I've seen of him tells me that he is a capable defender and he is reaching the age at which we need to decide to either give him a run in the side, or let him go.

On the left side of defence our only real option is George McCartney and I don't think he is of sufficient quality despite having a solid, if not spectacular spell for us last season.

In the youth ranks we have Danny Potts. I am fully aware he has the potential to be an excellent player but we are perhaps guilty of over-hyping our youngsters. After one excellent game last season he had a couple of very shaky performances; should we believe he can step into the role of a Premier League player after just three first team appearances?

Centre Back

This is one position where there isn't too much of a debate. Some people are seeing the signing of James Collins as a step back but I have always rated him, so consider him as a good signing.

Besides him, we have the ever improving James Tomkins who should build on his performances last season - plus we also have Winston Reid. I had my doubts about him for the first year and a bit, but I think life in the Championship allowed him to come on leaps and bounds and isn't a bad back up to have.

We could perhaps do with one more centre back, but our new signing Alou Diarra can play there if needed so we are in fairly good shape here.

Holding Midfield

We seemingly have two defensive midfielders in our team, both of whom are among the most talented players in the squad. For this reason, I cant help but thinking we will play with two holding midfielders.

Diarra and Diame in front of the back four would fit an Allardyce-style defensive tactic and could be effective with the right balance. Of course, we still have Mark Noble who could play a similar role, although I do fear for him in a system like this as he could easily find himself shunned from the first team.

Central Attacking Midfielder

If we did play with two defensive-minded midfielders, we would need to play with three in front of them whose primary job would be to create and score goals. In the middle, we would inevitably play Kevin Nolan, although we also have the option of Jack Collison who only really impressed last season when playing in a more advanced role.

Wingers

More than anything else, I hope that we play with genuine wingers next season. Since we lost Matthew Etherington, we have been hugely lacking in width, making us look bereft of ideas.

In the centre we have absolutely no creativity, making it even more critical that we get the ball wide. I despise seeing players like Collison play out wide like he did so often last season. Quite frankly, if we try to fit all our midfielders into our side, we will not have a chance last season.

Although we would all like to see players like Jack in our side, we have to realise that we must play players in the correct position so inevitably, some will have to miss out. I hope we play with Ricardo Vaz Te and Modibo Maiga, which would give us a genuine forward threat.

It is promising to see that we are pursuing new wingers.With a bid lodged for Matt Jarvis and reported interest in the exciting Senegalese prospect Pape Moussa Konaté, hopefully by Saturday we will be in a position where we can play out-and-out wingers rather than central midfielders playing out of position.

Strikers

I don't think there's much of a debate up top. Maiga may want to play in a central role but surely he can be best utilised on the wing, leaving Carlton Cole with the unenviable responsibility of being our only striker.

I think Maynard will fall short of Premier League quality and with Baldock being sold, this only leaves us with the single striker. According to reports, we will only sell Baldock once we get a replacement, which make sense.

One name being mentioned is that of Louis Saha, which has been greeted with an avalanche of criticism from many West Ham fans. I would happily have him on a short term, free transfer. If he can get eight goals for us, and share the workload of Carlton Cole, and provide competiton for his place, I dont really see the problem.

People are complaining it's only a short term solution, but surely that's exactly the point? If he can get us a few critical goals over the next two years and help us establish ourselves as a Premier League side, I'll be very happy. This is, of course, providing we sign young talent as well, and if we can seal the signing of Konaté - and perhaps one other forward player - I'd be fairly happy with our attacking options.

My system therefore, would look something like this (which could obviously switched round in terms of personnel):

Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be attributed to, KUMB.com.