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How many players in our squad are consistent top 4 quality?

Cochise said:
Top 4 quality these days is just a shade of consitency away from title chasing. We don't have a team containing players like Sanchez, Di Maria or Sterling. If we compare to the teams in the mix for 3rd and 4th we are found lacking in most departments.

1 - A top striker - Pelle, RVP, Giroud (I don't rate him, but his stats are good) & Sturridge. We have Kane so we check out there.

2 - Creativity from midfield - We have Eriksen with individual moments of brilliance, but do we have anyone else to rely on? Chadli has been clinical this season getting plenty of goals, but he can be quite ineffectual at times. Compare to the threat that other teams have from advanced positions and we fall way short. Southampton have Tadic and Mane in great form, though they aren't world class. UTD are all over the place so fair enough although one could argue Di Maria should be playing a bigger part. Liverpool have Sterling, Markovic and Coutinho all capable of changing a game, all quick and very technical. Finally you have Arsenal with Sanchez, Cazorla, Ramsey, Oxlade Chamberlain. Simply put we don't stand up to anyone in terms of the quality here, because we lack the pace and directness to make the most of the space we create.

3 - Solid midfield base - Bentaleb and Mason are hard workers and are good on the ball. If anything I feel we just lack the extra man at times. Southampton have Wanyama and Schneiderlin who are stronger and more powerful, but play more in a 3 these days. UTD have Blind in there alone and he gets overrun. Arsenal have Coquelin in the same position. Liverpool are the only ones for me who have this area locked up, with Hendersen and Gerrard/Lucas providing a solid screen & creativity.

4 - Defensive solidity - Clean sheets. Count them. We have so few whilst Liverpool, Arsenal and Southampton have made a very good habit of keeping them. Sakho and Skrtel are a dozy pair, but in the current 3 they look comfortable. UTD's back three on the other hand look all over the place, whilst we seem to ship goals all the time.

5 - A world class keeper - De-Gea and Lloris are in a class of their own here, yet play for teams who aren't keeping the ball out of the net.

Compare Emirates Marketing Project and Chelsea and you will see two teams who have it all. Each one of the chasing pack has a deficiency in one of the 5 area's and I would argue that we suffer in 2-3 of them whereas our competition have fewer area's of weakness.

Now we are a work in progress and we have made huge steps in the right direction. That said we are behind those teams and given another window, we may fall further off re: first team quality.
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Think you are overrating our competition a LOT in your comparisons

1. RVP at his best is a level above, Sturridge/Kane are probably similar, think Giroud is just below

2. Eriksen is as good as anyone else in creative midfield, I think the challenge is we only have 1 such player, our peers have a second that takes away some of the ability to mark out of game.

3. Weakness in all, Bentaleb has tons of promise, we need an experienced head alongside. Pool on the day, but Hendersen for me is vastly overrated and Gerrard is done and Lucas always injured. Everyone could do with a buy here

4. Agree, biggest problem, fact is we shouldn't concede two against Wet Spam at WHL, I can't for the life of me truly figure out if it's the players/style/what that is the root cause

5. Agreed.

Net, everyone outside Cheat$ki/City have gaps in their squad, hence you really have an open fight for 2 spots

My prediction -> Southampton will stumble (big weakness in front line), Pool will flatter to deceive and fall short, Scum/Manure have the most experience, a little more quality and are likely to be there. We are the wild card, if we improve at the rate we did in Dec-Jan, we could certainly be there.

I do think we missed a boat with no purchases in January though .. right side looks light, would have been nice to have another goal option as well, maybe some experience in squad for run in
 
Raziel said:
Think you are overrating our competition a LOT in your comparisons

1. RVP at his best is a level above, Sturridge/Kane are probably similar, think Giroud is just below

2. Eriksen is as good as anyone else in creative midfield, I think the challenge is we only have 1 such player, our peers have a second that takes away some of the ability to mark out of game.

3. Weakness in all, Bentaleb has tons of promise, we need an experienced head alongside. Pool on the day, but Hendersen for me is vastly overrated and Gerrard is done and Lucas always injured. Everyone could do with a buy here

4. Agree, biggest problem, fact is we shouldn't concede two against Wet Spam at WHL, I can't for the life of me truly figure out if it's the players/style/what that is the root cause

5. Agreed.

Net, everyone outside Cheat$ki/City have gaps in their squad, hence you really have an open fight for 2 spots

My prediction -> Southampton will stumble (big weakness in front line), Pool will flatter to deceive and fall short, Scum/Manure have the most experience, a little more quality and are likely to be there. We are the wild card, if we improve at the rate we did in Dec-Jan, we could certainly be there.

I do think we missed a boat with no purchases in January though .. right side looks light, would have been nice to have another goal option as well, maybe some experience in squad for run in
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With a caveat that I didn't see more than the MOTD highlights of the West Ham game.

We purposely play a high-risk high-reward strategy. Erisken, Mason, Bentaleb, Lamela etc. (and all future Poch midfielders) will continue keep giving the ball with our defenders overcommitted elsewhere.

It's the whole point of Poch-ball. Quick, assertive transitioning. High risk passing, rather than slow ponderous safe passing.

Under Poch we will generally win games 2-1, rather than 2-0 or 1-0. We will continue to concede/never look totally secure at the back, but it's a probability game and we will win more games than if we didn't try to transition so aggressively.
 
Fortunately it's a team game and it's possible for a team to perform better than the sum of it's parts...
 
billyiddo said:
Fortunately it's a team game and it's possible for a team to perform better than the sum of it's parts...
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It's becoming more an more the case too. The era of the individual is over. Look at the WC last summer - there were no standout individuals and the big names all largely flopped, there were just some great teams.
 
Lloris and Eriksen.

That's about it, really. Bentaleb and Kane have been amazing, but crucially, only this season. Verts has never really stood out as an absolute lock for a CB spot, and the rest barring perhaps Mason and Chadli are just bang-on average.

However, there is a lot to be said for a team being better than the sum of its parts, as above. So that doesn't necessarily write off our hopes.
 
DubaiSpur said:
Lloris and Eriksen.

That's about it, really. Bentaleb and Kane have been amazing, but crucially, only this season. Verts has never really stood out as an absolute lock for a CB spot, and the rest barring perhaps Mason and Chadli are just bang-on average.

However, there is a lot to be said for a team being better than the sum of its parts, as above. So that doesn't necessarily write off our hopes.
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Bit harsh .. massive difference between top 4 quality and WC

- Lloris, Verts, Eriksen are a given in my opinion
- Kane, Bentaleb, Walker (FB's are a harder position to fill) on this season would fit the bill (season 2 for Kane/Bentaleb will be telling)
- Dier, Mason, Chadli, Rose would all be "filler" level players that could fit in based on need (to me Chadli > Young any day)

Honestly, I think we miss a VDV type, Kane/Eriksen are great, but VDV had that level jump on the day (against Scum comes to mind), a true flair player to compliment the work ethic of a Poch side
 
parklane1 said:
All players make mistakes including the best, if you have never see King make one you either do not see him in real time or you are on a wind up.
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If you ever saw Ledley do a schoolboy error like the one in Florence, please feel free to let me know.

I am sorry but I do not see Verts as a consistent top defender; he does not have the concentration for it...
 
Maltese Falcon said:
And right on cue, Verthongen has another f**** brain fart - utterly schoolboy error - and costs us yet another goal. Top 4 - sell me another one!
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I would not try and sell you anything mate, after all you are the guy who said you actually saw King play 321 games for us and never make a mistake. :D
 
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