How good is our squad?

[Blanchflower]

Our squad is far better than the performances have been under Mourinho, it's even better than the results, but far better than the performances.

Whether they are 'good enough' is a moot point, as Mourinho isn't turning the form around so we need a new manager first.

 

[Sir Archibald Crooks]

I think its very difficult to tell until we have seen what the new manager can do after 2 or 3 months in. Lets not forget similar accusations were levelled at the United squad 3 years ago and they've only really added 3 first team players, Maquire, Wan Bissaka and Fernandes. We need to sell a good 7 or 8 minimum and bring in 4 first team ready players but i don't believe we're anywhere near as bad as we've shown this season.

 

[TeamSpirit™]

Time for me to wheel up this set of Tweets from Mussolini’s previous victims:









For me, judging the squad is on hold (minus a few exceptions) until we get in a competent coach.

 

[Shotgunofmichalebrow]

There is some fascinating damning stuff doing the rounds regards the state Jose left United squad fitness wise. We look a very poorly conditioned as well as coached side. 5th best squad with a good coach who utilise our strengths we'd have made top four.

 

[Jenny Talia]

We are Wolves plus Harry Kane.

 

[Nabil Bentaleb]

We have a very good keeper
Shite defence
Average to good midfield, lo Celso and tangy really need to be the buys we thought they would be
Very good attack

a clown manager

 

[The Mercurial No.10]

So good that Moussa Sissoko has 200 appearances.

 

[LeeMcl]

So just how good do you think our squad is?

our squad is very good. And every player (every player) has talent.

problem is that a good squad does not equal a good team and throw in pathetic and risk adverse tactics you end up where we are.

 

[Lenny Hatchet]

The first 11 is ok but squad is poor .
Top 4 at best with a modern exceptional manager but still a long stretch.
We don't sign technical players in the same way Chaves /City do. Tanquay , Le Celso have been poor buys and would only be on the bench for silver ware clubs. The madness in signing a donkey like Sissoko shows we have no vision .
Bergy has been crap as is a limited player.
Our recruitment is measured by other requirements than the competing clubs , sell on is a priority , punts etc , rarely the finished article.
We will always be handicapped till we get another next prime Poch that can give us that extra 20% .

 

[LeeMcl]

Obviously every player in the Premier League has talent. We are talking about the distinction between top 4/title challenging/Champions League quality and Premier League midtable.

As a squad, probably better than Leicester, West Ham. Not as good as Chelsea or Liverpool. So I think, in a normal season about 6th.

 

[LeeMcl]

I would agree with about 6th. So should a manager be slated for failing to get us into the top 4? Mourinho or the next guy?

Depends. Would 6th and trash football be a good outcome?

Tim Sherwood gets slated to this day for decent (ish) football and finishing 6th.

Jose Mourinho should be the difference between 4th and 6th. He’s not. So he is not doing the job he is employed to do.

 

[CroSpurs]

5th in the league by squad strenght.

 

[Bazali]

Managed to catch a bit of the City Chelsea game and the level of football was a stark reminder of how far away we are from competing at the top level again.

Both teams were just filled with players that have the combination we so sorely lack: physicality and technical ability. From back to front both teams are full of quality on the ball and energy off it.

I think our league position at present pretty much aligns with our quality though we do have the X-factor of Kane which gives us a shot at overachieving in any given period.

This isn't meant to be a debate about Mourinho's failings or what X new manager could do with the squad but rather an honest assessment of our players without nostalgia tinted glasses or Spurs bias.

I will split out the squad into a few categories:

Technical high level (assured control and general play, reliable/measured passing):
- Kane
- Ndombele
- Lo Celso
- Bale
- Bergjwin (before reaching the penalty area)
- Alderweireld

- Kane
- Hojberg
- Son
- Lucas
- Lamela
- Reguilon
- Rodon
- Tanganga
- Sanchez

Neither:
- Aurier
- Sissoko
- Winks
- Dele
- Davies
- Dier
- Vinicius
- Doherty

For me the issue is we have very few players that fall into the first two categories. I would say probably only Kane and a fit Gio.

The highest level of modern football requires a team full of athletes who are technically sound and we simply don't have enough technical quality in our ranks - and certainly not enough combination of the two.

The other glaring issue is the amount of minutes the group in the "neither" category have seen for us in recent times. Any team giving any combination of those players significant minutes is not set up for success, it's as simple as that.

Looking at the sorry state of the squad is the reason I believe recruitment will be the key factor in how we progress over the next few years not a change of manager. I want to see better, progressive football but I don't want to give the new manager this rubbish to work with.

Realistically it takes time (and a lot of money) to put together a squad like City, Chelsea or even United so there is no quick fix for this. But we need to making incremental progress every window.

So just how good do you think our squad is?

Interesting thread subject

Agree with some of what you’re saying until I noticed Sanchez name in the

High-level physically (Pacey and or/dominating presence in one on one duels):

part

Surely you can remember him getting bullied by Gundogan and ending up on his arse in the ManC away game for their 3rd?

 

[CollyQC]

The squad quality is decent but we have too many samey players. Son, Dele, Lamela, Lucas, Gio, bale, Bergy, maybe even Tanguy too. These guys all seem to play a similar role. They are plonked anywhere in the midfield or forward line but have no nailed down roles, which means our movement is shite because they are all doing the same thing, floating all over the place, you never know where your teammates are.
We could do with some proper width with players that are actually proper wingers.

 

[Nuts]

Skills - I'd say we're top 6, our excellent attacking talent offset by a few cloggers.

Endurance - nowhere near Poch levels. 10th at best.

Mentality - 18th. Fighting to avoid relegation and fucking up.

Stadium, training grounds - best in the world.

The gulf between the last two is immense, maybe what winds me up the most. The ugly sister foot does not fit the glass slipper.

 

[halothagod]

Too many hopeless players. Kane & Loris are the only ones that will make it into any team in the world. The rest are going to have to really prove themselves.

No matter the manager, some of these have had really shocking games where you can just tell Harry & Hugo are disgusted to be on the same team as them:

Bale: excellent ability but appears washed or doesn’t care, which is worse?
Dele: ditto
Tanguy: what does he need? Why can’t he be professionally fit after more than a year?
Lo Celso: see above
Son: on fire, does nothing, scores a good goal, does nothing, rinse and repeat
Lucas: tries so hard but end product isn’t on par with Harry’s.

The rest of the players are not worth mentioning as these above are the ones that have the ability you can say should win you matches every week.

We need way more than Levy is willing to offer and I’m afraid Kane will leave.

 

[halothagod]

We have a very good keeper
Shite defence
Average to good midfield, lo Celso and tangy really need to be the buys we thought they would be
Very good attack

a clown manager

We won’t have the very soon. Looking forward to what excuses these players will have then.

You will still get 100% effort and skill from Kane & Hugo. The rest are always going to be a roll of the dice. You cannot build anything rolling dice.

 

[Nabil Bentaleb]

How you doing in Football Manager?

Started a save in Schalke a few days ago. What a god awful squad. And sold bentaleb right away. Cunt had only a year contract and wanted 150 a week

 

[Tomo]

Can everyone please stop talking utter bollocks.

Winks, Alli, Sissoko, Dier, Sanchez, Davies had no problem playing real Madrid off the park and concistently getting top 4 finishes year after year.

We lost our best player (Eriksen). The one who pulled the strings and made everything work. When he checked out, the entire team collapsed.

We have no play maker.

Mourinho had failed to come up with a system to suit the players he has. Son and Kane now feeding off scraps, hoping defenders misread a ball. He has failed to get our 2 most creative players Bale and Alli on the pitch.

Whomever signed Lo Celso and Ndombele expecting one of them to replace Eriksen should be strung up. We'd have been better off getting Sigurdson back.

Depends how you want to play. Liverpool don’t have an Eriksen type and didn’t last season either but spread the creative burden around the team.

We have a very good set of players at least in attack. We just need a manager with a system to use them just how Tuchel is at Chelsea. Our current attack plan is to boot the ball up to Kane and hope shit happens, it’s sometimes does but it means we don’t use our midfield in any constructive way.

 

[harry7]

Depends how you want to play. Liverpool don’t have an Eriksen type and didn’t last season either but spread the creative burden around the team.

We have a very good set of players at least in attack. We just need a manager with a system to use them just how Tuchel is at Chelsea. Our current attack plan is to boot the ball up to Kane and hope shit happens, it’s sometimes does but it means we don’t use our midfield in any constructive way.

Agree on Liverpool. They used their full backs to create for the strikers, and their midfield to push the oposition and win the ball back. Winks would actually be a perfect fit for Liverpool and I can imagine they would love Alli to replace Firmino.