The Squad

[metalgear]

So GDS has only had three Managers his entire career? Interesting. And all three of them managed him at a club where he was based in the bright lights of London?

And even IF it is true, who gives a brick? Redknapp has demonstrated time and time again, if a player does it on the pitch he usually retains his place. GDS (not just under Redknapp) hasn't demonstrated that he is good enough.

how does he keep bale in the centre of the attack when he has failed to register any presence there for half a season?

 

[africanspurs]

Well you did say that, you were the one that changed my mind, you said if they did not like it they could leave.

By the away I agree that Fergie did not build a squad where everyone were excellent players, there has to be a mixture. However even the ones that are not top notch are introduced into the winning mentality of the locker room. Those players have a resilience. Also those top teams have a better team than us and the only way we are able to catch them is with an influx of more quality/potential.

Funny so many pundits said Man utd were poor last season and Emirates Marketing Project were by far the best team in the division, funny that because while they won the league they could only do on goal difference, and that was suppose to be a weak Utd team.

I have suggested we focus on two types of players, the first type being the kind of player that is better than what we have and would automatically improve us, and the second type be young players (22 and under) that my not necessary be better than what we have right now but most importantly will improve us in the future with their vast potential.


anderson was very much surplus to requirements and was being rumoured to be sold
cleverly though a very talented footballer was hardly awe inspiring at wigan
the brazilian fulbacks dont offer the greatest of technical abilities and arent the best passers
smalling barely had a senior appearance at fulham
Jones was talented but hardly top four or CL material
De gea started of crap
Hernandez

Well I would suggest the above mentioned players fall into my second category

the bit in bold? well yeah i guess, it does fit in line with what i would have said. I.e we get tevez and just bench someone...and knowing full well that we would lose people because of it is fine by me. so not surprised i would say that for carlos tevez

interesting though that you have your bases covered with young fringe players that would come in to do a job. would you have been happy with any of those people that Ferguson bought? speaking of which Jarvis isnt ancient...why wouldnt you want him?

and how would you identify the young players with vast potential considering that you're against some signings because they arent he calibre to forcefully take us into the CL ?

if you pick up the paper now and it says that tottenham are in for mayuka or haruna or ibrahim...what would you say?

 

[THFC6061]

As far as I can make-out, these are our squad numbers for 2013-14...

1 GOMES Heurelho
2 WALKER Kyle
3 ROSE Danny
4 KABOUL Younes
5 VERTONGHEN Jan
6 CHIRICHES Vlad (12)
7 LENNON Aaron
8 PAULINHO
9 SOLDADO Roberto
10 ADEBAYOR Emmanuel
11 LAMELA Erik (33)
12
13
14 HOLTBY Lewis
15 CAPOUE Etienne
16 NAUGHTON Kyle
17 TOWNSEND Andros
18 DEFOE Jermain
19 DEMBELE Mousa
20 DAWSON Michael
21 CHADLI Nacer
22 SIGURDSSON Gylfi
23 ERIKSEN Christian
24 FRIEDEL Brad
25 LLORIS Hugo
26
27 FALQUE Iago
28 CARROLL Thomas
29 LIVERMORE Jake
30 SANDRO
31
32 ASSOU-EKOTTO Benoit
33
34
35 FRYERS, Zeki
36 KHUMALO Bongani
37 KANE Harry
38 MASON Ryan
39 SMITH Adam
40
41 COULTHIRST Shaquile
42 BENTALEB Nabil
43 FREDERICKS Ryan
44 CEBALLOS Cristian
45 OBIKA Jonathan
46 DAWKINS Simon
47
48
49
50
51
52 COULIBALY Souleymane
53 LANCASTER Cameron
54 DOMBAXE Laste
55 PRITCHARD Alex
56 ARCHER Jordan
57 MILES Jonathan
58
59 STEWART Kevin
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71 McEVOY Kenneth
72
73 PRIESTLEY Liam
74 VINCENT-YOUNG Kane
75 ODUWA Nathan
76 OGILVIE Connor
77 LAMEIRAS Ruben
77 MILLER William
78 AKINDAYINI Daniel
79
80 SONUPE Emmanuel
81 LESNIAK Filip
82
83 CAMPBELL-YOUNG Channing
84 BALL Dominic
85 VOSS Harry
86 WALKES Anton
87 WALKER-PETERS Kyle
88 AMOS Luke
89 GEORGIOU Anthony
90 GODDARD Cy
91 ONOMAH Joshua
92
93
94
95
96 VIGOUROUX Lawrence

I'm not sure which numbers these players have been given...

BROWN Zodel
GALLIFUOCO Giancarlo
GOMELT Tomislav
HALL Grant
HARRISON Shayon
McENEFF Aaron
McGEE Luke
McQUEEN Alexander
McQUEEN Darren
MICHAEL-PERSIL Roman
PRITCHARD Jo
ROSS Lloyd
VELJKOVIC Milos
WARD Grant
WINKS Harry

 

[NaijaSpurs]

While some young players will obviously be added to our first team squad this season according to the official first team squad page the make up of the squad is as follows:

Lloris
Vorm

Walker
Trippier

Rose
Davies

Alderweireld
Vertonghen
Wimmer

Wanyama
Dembele
Dier

Dele
Eriksen
Carroll
Son
Njie (to be replaced by Nkoudou)
Lamela

Janssen
Kane

Personally I think 1 or 2 outfield additions would not go amiss

 

[AdamB]

Personally I think 1 or 2 outfield additions would not go amiss

Yes, the glaring gap is in CM. Bentaleb, Mason and Carroll gone or likely to go and suddenly we're very short of CMs who can pass a ball. Even Alli isn't someone who keeps the ball moving quickly. We really desperately need cover for Dembele in the last 24 hours of the window

 

[SpurSF]

I also think we are one light in CAM. For me, Carroll isn't an attacking midfielder, and I'd be surprised if he wasn't moved on sometime tomorrow.

Think we have four guys who we can depend on: Eriksen, Dele, Lamela, Son
And two that have potential but are unproven: Nkoudou, Onomah
And one that can be used as a sub in the Carling Cup etc: Edwards

For me, we need one more that could go into that top bracket. Whether it's Isco, Meyer, Zaha, or whoever. I think we need one more that Poch really wants, and we'll be ready to go.

 

[Gutter Boy]

If you ignore Caroll, we are on 22 dead:

-------------------Lloris
-------------------Vorm

Walker-Alderweireld-Vertonghen-Rose
Trippier-Wimmer----2CV--Davies

------------Dier--------Dembele
--------Wanyama-------Winks

-----Lamela-----Alli -------Eriksen
------Njie-----Onomah-----Son

-------------------Kane
-----------------Janssen

 

[SpurMeUp]

Yes, the glaring gap is in CM. Bentaleb, Mason and Carroll gone or likely to go and suddenly we're very short of CMs who can pass a ball. Even Alli isn't someone who keeps the ball moving quickly. We really desperately need cover for Dembele in the last 24 hours of the window

Nor does Dembele. Toby ends up picking passes. Maybe we'll see more of the CBs switching with the CMs to play forward? In the first few games Toby has played that roll of firing the ball with longer passes. We could do with finding the next Carrick. *Awaits post mentioning a talented young French-Algerian with an eye for a pass, currently playing in the Bundasleaga.

 

[AdamB]

Nor does Dembele. Toby ends up picking passes. Maybe we'll see more of the CBs switching with the CMs to play forward? In the first few games Toby has played that roll of firing the ball with longer passes. We could do with finding the next Carrick. *Awaits post mentioning a talented young French-Algerian with an eye for a pass, currently playing in the Bundasleaga.

Ok, maybe I described Dembele wrongly but the first three games of this season have shown that Wanyama and Dier as a pair don't work. Delle is too hot headed and niggly for CM until he matures

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Ok, maybe I described Dembele wrongly but the first three games of this season have shown that Wanyama and Dier as a pair don't work. Delle is too hot headed and niggly for CM until he matures

No they have shown that they do work but only if the 3 in front actually turn up and play too

I agree it's not as a good a pairing as Dier/Dembele but we haven't lost any games

What were crying out for is some creativity from the attacking players

People are also forgetting quickly that in the two games we drew we lost key players very quickly in the game (Lloris and walker)

 

[NaijaSpurs]

If you ignore Caroll, we are on 22 dead:

-------------------Lloris
-------------------Vorm

Walker-Alderweireld-Vertonghen-Rose
Trippier-Wimmer----2CV--Davies

------------Dier--------Dembele
--------Wanyama-------Winks

-----Lamela-----Alli -------Eriksen
------Njie-----Onomah-----Son

-------------------Kane
-----------------Janssen

Please lets ignore Carroll

 

[Spurmac1974]

2 for each position, just unfortunate that most of the back ups aren't near standard required!

 

[Coys300]

No they have shown that they do work but only if the 3 in front actually turn up and play too

Imo them not turning up is also partly down to Dier and Wanyama not getting the ball to the offensive players fast enough and in the right positions. If we had a more crearive player in central midfield controlling the game that would enhance the performance from our attacking players imo. Makes it easier for them.

 

[Pandy]

Imo them not turning up is also partly down to Dier and Wanyama not getting the ball to the offensive players fast enough and in the right positions. If we had a more crearive player in central midfield controlling the game that would enhance the performance from our attacking players imo. Makes it easier for them.

Not to mention the opposition black hole that is Dembele.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Imo them not turning up is also partly down to Dier and Wanyama not getting the ball to the offensive players fast enough and in the right positions. If we had a more crearive player in central midfield controlling the game that would enhance the performance from our attacking players imo. Makes it easier for them.

Isn't that something that Dembele is normally accused of

 

[milo]

If you ignore Caroll, we are on 22 dead:

-------------------Lloris
-------------------Vorm

Walker-Alderweireld-Vertonghen-Rose
Trippier-Wimmer----2CV--Davies

------------Dier--------Dembele
--------Wanyama-------Winks

-----Lamela-----Alli -------Eriksen
------Njie-----Onomah-----Son

-------------------Kane
-----------------Janssen

I thought that this was a pretty neat way of showing the squad depth

https://twitter.com/x/status/770686408726118400

 

[Gutter Boy]

Imo them not turning up is also partly down to Dier and Wanyama not getting the ball to the offensive players fast enough and in the right positions. If we had a more crearive player in central midfield controlling the game that would enhance the performance from our attacking players imo. Makes it easier for them.

I'm sure I read somewhere this week (maybe another thread here) that Dier and Wanyama both average 45-50 forward passes per match, whereas Mason and Bentaleb were up at 80-90

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

I'm sure I read somewhere this week (maybe another thread here) that Dier and Wanyama both average 45-50 forward passes per match, whereas Mason and Bentaleb were up at 80-90

I never read it anywhere but I'm positive that I saw that our defence had little support when Mason and Bentaleb were playing. It always surprised me people kept suggesting Bentabel could play a DM role, he didn't seem to have the mind set to do it, perhaps Poch wanted him to play a tighter game and he was not responsive to that and preferred to have a more creative role. The only stats that really matter are the number of points the team get as Leicester proved last season. Anyone can produce stats to prove their point and if we lived our lives or our performances by stats we would stifle invention. They are a helpful tool but not the be all and end all.

 

[PochettinoPochettinoPochettino]

When is Dembele back? How many more games do we have without him?

 

[Gutter Boy]

I never read it anywhere but I'm positive that I saw that our defence had little support when Mason and Bentaleb were playing. It always surprised me people kept suggesting Bentabel could play a DM role, he didn't seem to have the mind set to do it, perhaps Poch wanted him to play a tighter game and he was not responsive to that and preferred to have a more creative role. The only stats that really matter are the number of points the team get as Leicester proved last season. Anyone can produce stats to prove their point and if we lived our lives or our performances by stats we would stifle invention. They are a helpful tool but not the be all and end all.

You need a balance though. Dier-Wanyama means we don't score goals, Bentaleb-Mason was maybe over-adventurous. It's a shame we never really saw Dier-Mason/Bentaleb

Personally I saw another Carrick in Bentaleb once he was fully developed