Do we have too many squad players and not enough quality?

My main concern at the moment are our squad players, don't get me wrong, perch, raylor & williamson were great for us last year, but the fact is they rarely all started a game together either due to injury, suspension or not being picked. Now at the moment you could also add gosling and shola to that list.

If we have to field 1 or 2 of them in the same 11 we'd probably get away with it for a league game, but it's when we have to name 4 or even all 5 in a first 11 for a league game that we go from being top 6 quality to lower mid table.

For example in January it's not inconceivable that Cisse & Demba are at the ACON, Tiote is suffering a 3 or 4 match ban, Saylor has picked up his usual injury and if Cabaye also missed 1 or 2 games (granted this is all hypothetical but certainly not impossible that it could happen) our first 11 could look something like:

---------------Krul---------------
Simmo-----Willo-----colo-----santon
hba-----gosling-----perch----jonas
---------Shola-----obertan

Not a strong enough first 11 to get you through more than 1 or 2 games top. So for me it's imperative a centre half, centre mid and a striker are added to our squad before the window is shut. And these shouldn't be up and coming players as we have enough of them now, they should be players that can come in and won't weaken the team. If that means tiote, cabaye, cisse, demba & colo or saylor have to be dropped/rested for a few games then fine by me. It's all part and parcel of being at a big top 4/top 6 team which we now have to aspire to be.

Now I'm not claiming to to know who we should acquire for these positions, and luckily for us we have a certain Mr Carr for this job, it's just that if the above positions aren't filled I can only see regress happening based on last season and not the progress that we now have an excellent chance of achieving.

 

I agree that our squad is a bit thin in back-up. Last season we suffered quite badly when we had to pair players like Simpson, Willo or Perch at CB, though the latter two looked better when next to Colo.

Theoretically we could be dumped out of Europe early on, a long with both cups, in which case our squad would probably be ok. But otherwise, yeah, a CB really is needed. I'd love Debuchy and a quick striker as well, but the CB would be my priority.

Midfield is not really a concern, in my opinion, because I'd be ok with letting the youngster play. Vuckic wasn't bad, especially against West Brom, and Abeid and Amalifitano look in really good form in pre-season.

 

There is no ACON his year..

Also don't forget about Bigirimana, Amalfitano and Marveaux who look like 3 quality players imo

 

I do sort of agree, and think another striker (though not if Senegal don't make the ACON) and an extra fullback might be handy, but bearing in mind you've made 5 players unavailable there I still think you can put a reasonable side together. Even using the same lineup you could shift Jonas inside as he did last year, push Gosling into Cabayes front of the triangle role, HBA and Obertan either side of Shola, back five stays as is. Thats forgetting that you've got Marveaux, Abeid, Fergie and the new boys who might be able to step up. Biggest fear is Simpson and Perch having to play centre half again, but don't forget that only happened because we had 3 CB's unavailable which isn't going to happen that often.

 

There is, it was in January. There's one next year too, also in January.

 

Yes there is.

 

WTF Africa? I thought it was every 2 years

 

It is, but they've moved it from even to odd years to avoid clashing with World Cup years. Rather than not having one for three years (i.e. 2015) they're having one in 2013.

 

Why couldn't the bastards just miss this year out and wait until 2015

 

Don't think we can say Bigi and Amalfitano look like quality players after only a few friendlies. Both look like they have plenty of potential, especially Bigi, but for me they're going to be some way off our first 11 for the prem. Marveaux looks the part, but again he seems to be being eased in really gently pre season, have a feeling he'll feature a lot more in the second half of the season rather than the first.

 

See now this is what ive been worried about. Im happy we are bringing in some great potential but if we lose a key face or two at the moment then we could really suffer, especially given the amount of games next year. Its not inconceivable that last year was a part fluke (hear me out here) where everything just came together..and people like perchinio will not be able to replace players like Tiote and saylor to the extent they did last year.

On the other hand though maybe Obertan will improve and Marveaux will stay fit, and youngsters will now step up (bigi looks good, Abeid still showing some quality)


I just reckon that as much as we need to strengthen defence..its key areas such as creative mid and striker we also need back up for.


Fantastic how we havent lost anyone key yet though. I know there are no guarantees but i definitely expected to lose at least Ba by now. Thats definitely just as important as strengthening, especially considering how well the players seem to get on and the morale amongst the team.