Club have to back Wagner in reagrds to getting his coaches and players suitable for the style of play.
all well and good having a manager that wants to play a certain way but no good if hes not provided the tools to complete the job.
For sure there will need to be a big turnaround in he squad. After watching the tactical videos kindly linked by others before me, which are well worth a watch (see links below) we need the following players for the squad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWWVq5XRgCMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZi3_zaHtushttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvUpZKmOo5I&t=802s (this one explains the decline of Shalke, interesting to see the view that their fans don't really put a huge amount of blame on Wagner himself for the long winless streak)
1) A ball playing centre half
2) A defensive midfielder who will slot in between the centre backs when in possession.
3) full backs who are very stong going forward. (townsend and furlong kind of fit the bill here, but will need 2x full backs on each side as based on the tactical videos they will be doing a lot of running and over the course of a champ season they will get injured)
4) one more advanced CM who can be a playmaker but also able to battle and win the ball (Mooy played this role at huddersfield. He is now at Shanghai presmably on good wages, maybe Wagner could tempt him back for champ but could be past his sell by date?)
5) The inverted wingers i believe we have already in Grant, Diangana, Robinson and maybe Snodgrass. Assume Pereiera will leave
6) a striker who has the ability to hold up the ball but also has to be able to press constantly. This player has to be super fit and eager to put in the hard work
7) GK who can play with his feet. We know SJ may be off and he certainly isn't comfortable receiving losts of possession so we may see a new face here.
I see no place in this squad for people like Sawyers and Livermore (IMO thankfully) as they do not have the pace and energy to work the geogenpress.