Which team would you rather have, this seasons, or last?

Although im happy with the signings, I'm not filled with optimism for the season ahead. I don't see much speed or skill amongst the team.

We dont have a proven PL goalscorer either. We have gyan who is class but sess isn't a proper striker, wickam and dong unproven and young, Campbell injured. So what happens when gyan is injured? I think it will be the same excuses from Bruce, and as much as I like the man and have supported him, I cannot stand no more excuses, especially when he can do something about it right now.

What I mean is:

Aston villa - bent
Tottenham - Defoe, pav, vdv.
Liverpool - saurez
Everton - Cahill

They will all be around the Europe area. And all have goalscorers to rely on. I've heard 4-5 players of ours coming out with "Europe" which has obviously been sold to them by the club.

I'd rather be going into this season with the team of last year. Bent,Campbell,gyan,welbeck. That would scare any defence in the world and cause problems. Compare that to gyan,dong,wickham. It just dosent make sense to me lads.

I hope I'm proved wrong. But I think missing out on nzog for 9.5 mill (absolute steal) and signing no striker, all I see is a backwards step for us.

But then again, our midfield is stronger, hopefully that pulls us through, hopefully.

 

I think the whole team is marginally stronger, though I don't know how Ji and Wickham are going to do I have a feeling that Ji at least, from what I've heard of pre-season, wil be great, and from January onwards I think I'm right in saying that we'll all expect young Wickham to step up to the plate. The only losses we've had are Bent and Hendo, I think we've addressed the Henderson sale by signing every cheap/free midfielder under the sun, and though I think the defence still needs to be looked at heavily, if anything it's been strengthened by Brown and O'Shea.

 

Still time for striker (s) to be brought in yet.
Would have been nice to have them pre season, however imo, there will be major activity the last few days of August.
Yes, bent, campbell, Gyan & Welbeck was a formidable force, but, campbell was injured most of it and is still ours, welbeck was never ours (could be yet tho),
Gyan is still here. Unfortunately the b*stard known as bent wanted away. Its difficult to keep players like that + he was ****e and not trying for the 2 months previous to leaving.
KTF young Connor & Dong may surprise a few people this season.

 

It's too soon to be worrying about what Spurs,Everton and Villa will be doing re Europe;I can see what you're saying about last years attack but they didn't set the world alight with number of goals scored.
Pre season results don't mean anything IMHO -I feel that we have a lot more nous in the squad and won't be bullied like we were on a number of occasions last season.Even without flair this squad is good enough for a top 8 place-if we bring any more in it will be a bonus.
Here's to a great season.

 

I would go for this season. I think the squad is more streetwise and certainly physically stronger than last year.

It seems less likely to me that we will be bullied like we were in certain games last season (2 specifically spring to mind!)

 

Going into the first game of last season we had bent and Campbell with a back up striker in welbeck who was **** for Preston and was seen as a poor loan buy!

We had bramble as a new signing where there was worries about how he'd play and had just lost cana and did not replace him.

I'm pretty sure cahill isn't a striker either and,plays off the striker,like sessegnon.

This seasons squad has more balance and experience, once again starting with the 'I'm unsure about Bruce' crap so I hope we start off well or else the vultures will be circling

 

Last seasons forwards and this seasons midfield..Gutted we lost JH but see value in SL and CG.

 

Thats a toughie as i think weve signed some good players but weve lost a few as well. Bent Onuoha and Mensah were all good players im not arsed about henderson as i never really rated him andhe was a bit of a pussy. I dont think either team (1st eleven) is a great lot stronger if you look now compared to 12 months ago but i think we have better depth this season and for that rsason i will say the current squad.

 

Sh!t forgot to mention Welbeck but im hoping Whickham this season can be the Welbeck of last season and hes ours not fergies.h

 

This season because they are all "our players"

 

Personally I think this years squad is better but best possible starting Xl would probably go to last years squad because of the strike force

looking at both squads

Last Year - This Year

GK - Gordon,Mignolet, Carson --- Gordon, Mignolet, Westwood, Carson
RB - Onuoha, Bardsley, Angeleri --- O'Shea, Bardsley, Angeleri
LB - Richardson --- Richardson
CB - Turner, Bramble, Mensah, Ferdinand, Da Silva --- Turner, Bramble, Brown, Ferdinand, Laing
RM - Elmohamady --- Elmohamady, Larsson
LM - Malbranque, Reid --- Malbranque
CM - Cattermole, Henderson, Zenden, Riveros, Colback, Meyler --- Cattermole, Gardner, Vaughan, Colback, Meyler
AM - ???? --- Sessegnon
CF - Bent, Gyan, Welbeck, Campbell --- Gyan, Wickham, Ji, Campbell


From that I would say we have certainly improved the squad this season BUT IMO we still need a good left winger and another striker

 

Cheers for that mate, now it's even harder to choose, although the forwards were better last season, i thought this season was an improvement elsewhere, but when you put them side by side like that, it's harder to make the choice.

 

I think this season's squad is overall slightly beter, but not by much. Still only a solid mid-table team.

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