squad size and cover

[spadge]

just wundering what peoples thoughts are on the size of our squad and what players you would bring in if you could or who you wouldnt have got rid of. Think the reason we always had a good end of season when other teams didnt was because of the extra squad size we had, when other teams had injurys and had to draft players on last minute deals we never had to do that.

taking the loan players out of our squad and it looks really small, i no getting rid of bromby is a bit of a weird one on for me then again if i was offered a 4 year contract at that age then his boyhood club aswell, the one that gets me is halford tho i think if we could have got him back it would have been a great coop and really do think wed have been in a great position with killgannon out you could put him centre back, ward out he could go right midfield up front wherever you need him.

 

[tomtheblade]

who is kilgannon?

 

[Bladesman]

who is kilgannon?

Sounds like a pint of something.

 

[Ollessendro]

Squad size is fine. We have quality rather than quantity this year. Now that Blackwell has (finally) brought in defensive cover in the form of Davies and Fortune then we'll be ok. We just need another striker and bob's your uncle we can challenge for automatic. I'm happy with the size of the squad and the cover as long as KB brings in another CF (especially now Ward is out for 6 weeks or so).

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

I think we're a top quality striker away from having a very big say in the promotion race this season. Unfortunately, this has to be a free agent or a loan that dislodges one of the other loans. I would imagine that a loan striker could be brought in to replace Davies when Kilgallon is back - Killa can't go nowhere until January after all.

 

[La_Blade]

I think we're a top quality striker away from having a very big say in the promotion race this season. Unfortunately, this has to be a free agent or a loan that dislodges one of the other loans. I would imagine that a loan striker could be brought in to replace Davies when Kilgallon is back - Killa can't go nowhere until January after all.

I'm not too sure about that, if Chris Hughton or Gareth Southgate phoned Blackie this morning and said they'd give us £10 million in January for Killa providing he goes on loan straight away, Blackwell would be carrying up the A1 on his back by dinner time.

 

[puppet]

I'm not too sure about that, if Chris Hughton or Gareth Southgate phoned Blackie this morning and said they'd give us £10 million in January for Killa providing he goes on loan straight away, Blackwell would be carrying up the A1 on his back by dinner time.

so it looks likehe's off then. absolutely pathetic.

 

[puppet]

Squad size is fine. We have quality rather than quantity this year. Now that Blackwell has (finally) brought in defensive cover in the form of Davies and Fortune then we'll be ok. We just need another striker and bob's your uncle we can challenge for automatic. I'm happy with the size of the squad and the cover as long as KB brings in another CF (especially now Ward is out for 6 weeks or so).

how do you work out 'quality over quantity'?

 

[tomtheblade]

so it looks likehe's off then. absolutely pathetic.

you're being sarcastic, right?

 

[La_Blade]

so it looks likehe's off then. absolutely pathetic.

I did say IF

 

[Ollessendro]

how do you work out 'quality over quantity'?

It is my judgement of course Puppet. My opinion is that this season our first 11 is better than last season. Even though we only have a small squad, I think the 18 or so players that are in that squad are all good players. We are not carrying any dead wood like last season. Such as Webber, Hendrie (although I rated him), Sharp and Carney. Additionally, with the possible exception of Halford the loan signings that KB has brought in this year are better than last years. All of this together, in my mind, means that our squad is quality over quantity.

 

[Darren]

It is my judgement of course Puppet. My opinion is that this season our first 11 is better than last season. Even though we only have a small squad, I think the 18 or so players that are in that squad are all good players. We are not carrying any dead wood like last season. Such as Webber, Hendrie (although I rated him), Sharp and Carney. Additionally, with the possible exception of Halford the loan signings that KB has brought in this year are better than last years. All of this together, in my mind, means that our squad is quality over quantity.

Players we had at the start of last season and no longer have are as follows:

Kenny
Halford
Stead
Beattie
Webber
Hendrie
Sun
Carney
Speed
Tonge
Gilliespie
Armstrong
Spring
Naughton
Ehiogu

And we have replaced that lot with:

France
Evans
Reid
Williamson
Harper
Taylor
Ward
Stewart
Davies
Bunn
Little
Treacy

I think its hard to say that that basis that we are stronger than we were at the start of last season.

 

[uniblade]

williamson had forgot about him

how long before he is fit any reports ?

has he started training yet ?

 

[Ollessendro]

Kenny - Bunn is as good
Halford - good player, sorry to lose him but IMO Treacy is a better wide player
Stead - Evans is better
Beattie - big loss, but we've splashed out 3 million on a much, much younger CF
Webber - dead wood.
Hendrie - dead wood.
Sun - dead wood.
Carney - dead wood.
Speed - dead wood.
Tonge - dead wood. Harper more than adequate replacement.
Gilliespie - deadwood.
Armstrong - Stewart and Talylor adequate replacements
Spring - who?
Naughton - Walker adequate replacement
Ehiogu - deadwood.

And we have replaced that lot with:

France
Evans - decent finisher, big potential
Reid
Williamson
Harper - big signing
Taylor - sold LB
Ward - very promising, bags of potential
Stewart
Davies
Bunn - good start, looks promising
Little
Treacy - very dangerous, looking good

I disagree with you Darren. I think the squad we have this year is stronger than the one that we started last season with.

 

[tomtheblade]

Think you're mostly right

Selling Naughton and Walker has undoubtedly made us weaker. Having them both as fullbacks at the end of last season, even one out of position, was immense IMO. I dread the thought that Walker is leaving at the end of the season.

Ehiogu was deadwood once he was injured, but remember he was part of a defence along with Morgan that was exceptional for a large part of the season. Agree that Harper is a good comparison/replacement for Tonge

Ward is undoubtedly better than stead, however despite Evans potential i wouldn't necessarily say that he is an adequate replacement for Beattie in terms of goals scored if nothing else.

Overall I'd say we are about equal in attack, stronger in midfield and weaker in defence

On the 'weaker' side we do however have a smaller squad.

On the 'stronger' side we have a more settled squad and Blackwell seems to know his best 11. We also seem to player better as a team.

I can see the reasoning for both sides of the argument. Maybe we are overall a stronger side, but then again i would also argue that the division is also considerably stronger this year.

 

[Ollessendro]

I'm not so sure that selling Walker and Naughton has made us that much weaker. We have Walker doing as good a job as Naughton this season and remember that Naughton was not a left back. Yes he was fantastic going forward, but he was not happy in that position and was in there makeshift because of Naysmiths injury. Remember that Stewart has also being brought in and he is a good attacking full back (although i'm not convinced about his defensive abilities).

Ehiogu was a fantastic player. And he put in some really solid performances for us. But he is 35/36 and as you rightly said once he knackered his achilles then that was it. Personally I feel that the defense is still pretty damn strong. Morgs and Killa have a great partnership. Battle ram and footballer. Walker is as good as Naughton and that leaves Taylor at left back. He is doing ok and remember that Naysmith, our regular left back for last season, is due to come back from injury (although I expect him to go North of the border in January). Quality cover remains a worry (no idea about Davies and Fortune) but at least we have some cover!?

Beattie is much more of an accomplished striker than Evans; I will not argue against that. However a lot of his goals came from penalties and whilst this was a good thing (after years of horrible penalties) we have a good replacement in Cotterill. If Evans can net 15/20 goals then we won't miss him too much (I expect Ward and Henderson to both get double figures). Am I arguing we are stoner in attack? I'm certainly saying that I see us scoring more goals this year (albeit from many different sources).

I see your points Tom. And of course it's down to my opinion and judgement, but I think that we are stronger now than we were this time last year. I whole heartedly agree that the division is stronger and that may make thibgs extra difficult for us. I have said many times already that this year we'll finish top 4. I believe that it will be us and the 3 releaged teams. I think West Brom will probably win it and then it's between us, Boro and Newcatle for the second automatic spot.

A final thought is this: for people who say the squad is threadbare. Would you sooner have a squad that is small, but with 16/17/18 players you would be happy to start, or would you sooner have a squad with 25 players but 7 or 8 of them are simply not good enough or out of favour with the manager??

 

[tomtheblade]

Am I arguing we are stoner in attack?

Ahhh.... so that explains that smell in the dressing room

 

[Ollessendro]

Freudian mistake!? Maybe that is why our 5 million partnership up front can't hit a barn door!? ;-)

 

[Vistoma]

I am in the middle here because I think we are better in some areas, worse in others so my opinion, overall, is we have stayed where we were.

This is worrying as we SHOULD have progressed.

 

[Ollessendro]

This time last year we'd taken 8 points from a seemingly easier start. I guess the true test is how we did against the same (or similar) teams. Wombwell Blades has done that and it shows that we have fared better this year.

 

[Darren]

This time last year we'd taken 8 points from a seemingly easier start. I guess the true test is how we did against the same (or similar) teams. Wombwell Blades has done that and it shows that we have fared better this year.

We'd taken 11 actually - in our first 8 games we beat QPR and Watford at home and Blackpool away, drawn with Cardiff and Coventry at home and lost to Birmingham, Derby and Norwich away. Of those 8 Birmingham and Cardiff turned out to be serious promotion/play off contenders, which you could say equates to Boro and WBA this season (I can't see Watford, Leicester, Reading, Derby, Coventry or Wednesday seriously troubling the top of the table), so you could say the starts are similar - however, we do have 4 more points this season, so your general point holds.

 

[Ollessendro]

Yeah fair enough Darren. You had included Watford which was the 8th game, but played on the 27th of September. So I was right in stating that this time last year we had 8 points, but in equivilant games we had taken 11. As you say though, we have 4 more points this year ..... and additionally Wombwell Blades thread (above the Radio Sheffield link) shows that against the same (or similar teams) we are faring better than last season.