25 Man Squad

[Gutter Boy]

Would Sigurdsson count as "homegrown"?

Yes he does.

We've named 12 overage homegrown players: Walker, Naughton, Dawson, Sig, Parker, Hudd, Livermore, Jenas, Bale, Lennon, Bentley and Defoe, plus we could have named Obika too.

 

[Notmegov]

It looks so much weaker after the absence of Modric and VdV.

That looks a top 6 squad at best. I can't believe we shipped out so much class and spend half the money on raiding Fulham.

We did not ship them out...they jumped ship!! there is a huge difference.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

We did not ship them out...they jumped ship!! there is a huge difference.

VDV didn't jump ship. VDV was sold because he didn't fit in with the plans. VDV would have stayed if he did.

 

[Rossi22]

We did not ship them out...they jumped ship!! there is a huge difference.

Agreed.

 

[Jordinho]

Remember U21s don't have to be registered in the 25 man squads.

Arsenal 23 players

Arshavin, Arteta, Cazorla, Chamakh, Santos, Diaby, Djourou, Fabianski, Gervinho, Gibbs, Giroud, Koscielny, Mannone, Mertesacker, Podolski, Ramsey, Rosicky, Sagna, Squillaci, Szczesny, Vermaelen, Walcott, Eastmond.

Aston Villa 25 players

Agbonlahor, Albrighton, Bannan, Bent, Clark, Delph, Dunne, El Ahmadi, Given, Guzan, Herd, Holman, Hutton, Ireland, Lichaj, Lowton, Westwood, Marshall, N'Zogbia, Petrov, Stevens, Vlaar, Warnock, Bennett, Benteke.

Chelsea 20 players

Cech, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Cole, Luiz, Ramires, Lampard, Torres, Mata, Moses, Mikel, Malouda, Ferreira, Marin, Turnbull, Sturridge, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand, Hilario.

Everton 19 players

Anichebe, Baines, Gibson, Hibbert, Jagielka, Neville, Osman, Coleman, Distin, Fellaini, Gueye, Heitinga, Howard, Jelavic, Mucha, Naismith, Pienaar, Mirallas, Oviedo.

Fulham 21 players

Schwarzer, Somogyi, Stockdale, Etheridge, Riether, Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland, Senderos, Riise, Duff, Dejagah, Davies, Baird, Sidwell, Diarra, Ruiz, Richardson, Petric, Rodallega, Berbatov.

Liverpool 20 players

Agger, Allen, Assaidi, Carragher, Coates, Cole, Doni, Downing, Gerrard, Gulacsi, Henderson, Johnson, Jones, Enrique, Kelly, Lucas, Reina, Sahin, Skrtel, Suarez.

Emirates Marketing Project 22 players

Hart, Richards, Kompany, Zabaleta, Lescott, Milner, Nasri, Dzeko, Sinclair, Kolarov, Aguero, Barry, Silva, Clichy, K Toure, Wright, Pantilimon, Tevez, Y Toure, Maicon, Garcia, Balotelli.

Manchester United 24 players

Anderson, Bebe, Buttner, Carrick, Hernandez, Cleverley, De Gea, Evans, Evra, Ferdinand, Fletcher, Giggs, Kagawa, Lindegaard, Nani, Rafael, Rooney, Scholes, Smalling, Valencia, Van Persie, Vidic, Welbeck, Young.

Saudi Sportswashing Machine 22 players

Amalfitano, Ameobi, Anita, Ba, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Cisse, Coloccini, Elliot, Gosling, Harper, Gutierrez, Krul, Marveaux, Obertan, Perch, Simpson, R Taylor, S Taylor, Tiote, Williamson, Xisco.

Norwich 25 players

Barnett, Bassong, E Bennett, R Bennett, Bunn, Butterfield, Fox, Garrido, Holt, Hoolahan, Howson, Jackson, Johnson, Lappin, C Martin, R Martin, Morison, Pilkington, Ruddy, Snodgrass, Surman, Tettey, Tierney, Turner, Whittaker.

Queens Park Rangers 25 players

Green, Diakite, Traore, Derry, Ferdinand, Hill, Park, Johnson, Cisse, Taarabt, Wright-Phillips, Mackie, Onuoha, Mbia, Nelsen, Dyer, Fabio, Ephraim, Hoilett, Murphy, Zamora, Cesar, Faurlin, Granero, Bosingwa.

Reading 25 players

Church, Cummings, Gunter, Guthrie, Harte, Karacan, Le Fondre, Leigertwood, McAnuff, McCarthy, McCleary, Mariappa, Pearce, Roberts, Robson-Kanu, Shorey, Tabb, Taylor, Andersen, Federici, Gorkss, Gunnarsson, Hunt, Kebe, Pogrebnyak.

Southampton 23 players

Butterfield, Chaplow, Cork, K Davis, S Davis, De Ridder, dingdongson, Do Prado, Fonte, Forte, Fox, Hooiveld, Lallana, Lambert, Lee, Mayuka, Puncheon, Ramirez, Richardson, Rodriguez, Schneiderlin, Seaborne, Yoshida.

Sunderland 21 players

Bardsley, Bramble, Brown, Campbell, Cattermole, Colback, Cuellar, Fletcher, Gardner, Johnson, Kilgallon, Larsson, McClean, Meyler, Mignolet, O'Shea, Rose, Saha, Sessegnon, Vaughan, Westwood.


Swansea 22 players

Aguestien, Britton, De Guzman, Dyer, Chico, Gower, Graham, Hernandez, Ki, Lita, Michu, Monk, Moore, Obeng, Routledge, Shechter, Tate, Taylor, Tremmel, Vorm, Williams, Rangel.

Tottenham 25 players

Gomes, Cudicini, Friedel, Lloris, Kaboul, Gallas, Adebayor, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Sandro, Falque, Sigurdsson, Dempsey, Lennon, Walker, Naughton, Dawson, Dembele, Huddlestone, Parker, Livermore, Jenas, Bale, Defoe, Bentley.

West Brom 24 players

Brunt, Daniels, Dawson, Dorrans, El Ghanassy, Fortune, Foster, Gera, Jara, Jones, Long, McAuley, Morrison, Mulumbu, Myhill, Odemwingie, Olsson, Popov, Reid, Ridgewell, Rosenberg, Tamas, Thomas, Yacob.

West Ham 22 players

Benayoun, Carroll, Cole, Collins, Collison, Demel, Diame, Diarra, Henderson, Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, Maiga, McCartney, Noble, Nolan, O'Brien, O'Neil, Reid, Spence, Taylor, Tomkins, Vaz Te.

Wigan 20 players

Al-Habsi, Alcaraz, Beausejour, Boselli, Boyce, Caldwell, Crusat, Di Santo, Figueroa, Gomez, Jones, Kone, Piscu, Maloney, McArthur, McCarthy, Pollitt, Ramis, Stam, Watson.

Stoke are waiting for PL approval of the signing of Michael Owen.

 

[monkeybarry]

VDV didn't jump ship. VDV was sold because he didn't fit in with the plans. VDV would have stayed if he did.

Are u just wum or have u genuinely been asleep for the past few weeks?

Vdt wanted out,to return to Hamburg for the sake of his family life.
(He just didnt whine like a child to get it. He acted professionally)

 

[Golfball]

Are u just wum or have u genuinely been asleep for the past few weeks?

Vdt wanted out,to return to Hamburg for the sake of his family life.
(He just didnt whine like a child to get it. He acted professionally)

It was very much because he didn't fit into the plans. It was clearly different to the Modric situation, we could have kept him and he would have got on with things no problem - as shown by playing him. He was obviously willing to go, but it was down to the club to have the last say.

Had he been in the managers plans he would still be here. AVB lost Modric through no fault of his own. Any other player leaving was because he allowed it.

 

[ArcspacE]

VDV didn't jump ship. VDV was sold because he didn't fit in with the plans. VDV would have stayed if he did.

lol

 

[jts1882]

RvdV didn't exactly jump ship but when he started looking over the edge he got a nudge.

We know it's true that he was looking at the possibility of returning to Germany for family reasons, but he didn't seem to be pressing this urgently as his comments indicated a willingness or intent to stay. It seems to me that when the offer come from Hamburg the club were happy to sell and that, if AVB had really wanted him, he could have been persuaded to stay another year fairly easily.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

It was very much because he didn't fit into the plans. It was clearly different to the Modric situation, we could have kept him and he would have got on with things no problem - as shown by playing him. He was obviously willing to go, but it was down to the club to have the last say.

Had he been in the managers plans he would still be here. AVB lost Modric through no fault of his own. Any other player leaving was because he allowed it.

Exactly. If VDV was integral to AVB's plans, and VDV knew that, then he wouldn't have left. The bottom line is AVB plays 4-5-1 and in the Premiership VDV isn't suited to that formation. The fact that AVB is also keen to ship out Huddlestone & Dawson proves that he wants a pacey athletic team capable of defending at a high tempo. Something else VDV doesn't fit in with.

VDV would have stayed if AVB had wanted him to.

 

[ArcspacE]

It was very much because he didn't fit into the plans. It was clearly different to the Modric situation, we could have kept him and he would have got on with things no problem - as shown by playing him. He was obviously willing to go, but it was down to the club to have the last say.

I take it you didn't read his tweets?

 

[Mr. Green]

4 goalkeepers and 12 midfielders?

If the sensible way in naming the 25-man squad if to have a cover for each position...

Can we play 2-3-5-1?

 

[monkeybarry]

I take it you didn't read his tweets?

why look at whole picture when you can look at the half that suits your agenda.

VDV said a year ago that it was hard to have his family elsewhere.

It is very likely that, if he were fundamental, then we would have kept him. But when you weigh up the personal feeling of the player and the fact he could be replaced (im not talking quality here - im talking function), then letting him go "back home" is the right thing to do.

Football fans need to get this arrogant notion of their heads and remember that players are people first, players second.

 

[Kingdawson]

Exactly. If VDV was integral to AVB's plans, and VDV knew that, then he wouldn't have left. The bottom line is AVB plays 4-5-1 and in the Premiership VDV isn't suited to that formation. The fact that AVB is also keen to ship out Huddlestone & Dawson proves that he wants a pacey athletic team capable of defending at a high tempo. Something else VDV doesn't fit in with.

VDV would have stayed if AVB had wanted him to.

100% correct imo.

It was clear as day AVB didn't really care one bit that VDV left. His press conferences alone where he stated if VDV left it would be his decision and nobody else's was him telling us that Levy wanting to get ££££ had no bearing on it. Of course Levy was probably a little bit happy he could make a decent profit on a player approaching 30 but AVB was the one that wanted him out (and VDV was happy enough to return to Hamburg).

 

[metalgear]

4 keepers! and we still can't keep a clean sheet!

 

[metalgear]

100% correct imo.

It was clear as day AVB didn't really care one bit that VDV left. His press conferences alone where he stated if VDV left it would be his decision and nobody else's was him telling us that Levy wanting to get ££££ had no bearing on it. Of course Levy was probably a little bit happy he could make a decent profit on a player approaching 30 but AVB was the one that wanted him out (and VDV was happy enough to return to Hamburg).

there's a possibility that you both are right - that VDV wanted to go and AVB wouldn't mind especially since Levy would sanction it and make a profit! But i think AVB was counting on Moutinho coming in!

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

100% correct imo.

It was clear as day AVB didn't really care one bit that VDV left. His press conferences alone where he stated if VDV left it would be his decision and nobody else's was him telling us that Levy wanting to get ££££ had no bearing on it. Of course Levy was probably a little bit happy he could make a decent profit on a player approaching 30 but AVB was the one that wanted him out (and VDV was happy enough to return to Hamburg).

I notice through quotes someone else is using VDV's tweets as evidence which is laughable in itself, but VDV is an excellent PR man for the fans and he kept a respectful silence on the matter until his fate was decided. Had he remained at Spurs we'd have seen tweets stating how much he loved Hamburg but that his work at Spurs wasn't done etc.

Being left on the bench for the opening game of the season proved everything. Anyone who thinks that AVB wasn't happy to let VDV go is way off the mark IMO.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

there's a possibility that you both are right - that VDV wanted to go and AVB wouldn't mind especially since Levy would sanction it and make a profit! But i think AVB was counting on Moutinho coming in![/QUOTE]

Different roles though. Basically in a 4-5-1 set up there is no place for a modern day "number 10" style player. Especially when the style of play for the 4-5-1 is a fast pressing game.

 

[elltrev]

I notice through quotes someone else is using VDV's tweets as evidence which is laughable in itself, but VDV is an excellent PR man for the fans and he kept a respectful silence on the matter until his fate was decided. Had he remained at Spurs we'd have seen tweets stating how much he loved Hamburg but that his work at Spurs wasn't done etc.

Being left on the bench for the opening game of the season proved everything. Anyone who thinks that AVB wasn't happy to let VDV go is way off the mark IMO.

No it didn't.

Still, I agree that Villas-Boas wasn't forced into letting Van der Vaart go, though I'm not sure I'd use the word "happy".

 

[elltrev]

there's a possibility that you both are right - that VDV wanted to go and AVB wouldn't mind especially since Levy would sanction it and make a profit! But i think AVB was counting on Moutinho coming in![/QUOTE]

Different roles though. Basically in a 4-5-1 set up there is no place for a modern day "number 10" style player. Especially when the style of play for the 4-5-1 is a fast pressing game.

I agree that Rafa's not suited to a high-tempo pressing game, but so far we've been playing with Sigurdsson as a no.10 - I don't know where "in a 4-5-1 set up there is no place for a modern day "number 10" style player" comes from ... Kagawa at United? Cazorla at Arsenal? Ozil at Madrid? Mata at Chelsea?