Is our squad actually that bad?

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FunnyForumName

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Sep 12, 2012
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Been thinking about this after watching Reading's lacklustre display against Spurs. I imagine most people will have us and Reading down for relegation on maybe rightly so, but I thought I would take the task of comparing squads with other relegation 'candidates'.

So here's our Starting 11 and Bench from Saturday:

KD
Clyne-Fonte-Hooiveld-Fox
Morgan-JWP-Davis
Lallana-Lambert-Punch

Gazz,Yoshida,Richardson,Ramirez,JayRod,Mayuka

(I imagine Yoshida, Ramirez and hopefully either Jay or Mayuka will start against Villa and our probably considered our best players to choose from.)

Reading:
McCarthy
Gunter-Pearce-Gorkss-Harte
Karacan-Leigertwood-Guthrie-McAnuff
Pog-McCleary

Notable subs; Le Fondre, Hunt, Robson-Kanu

Villa:
Guzan
Vlaar-Clark-Lichaj-Lowton
Irelan-El Ahmadi-Bannan
Holman-Bent-Weimann

Given,Bennett,N'Zogbia,Westwood,Agbon,Benteke,Browery

QPR:

Julio Cesar(!)
Bosingwa-Nelsen-Ferdinand-Fabio
Park-Granero-Faurlin-Phillips
Johnson/Cisse-Zamora

Green,Onouha,Taarabt,Dyer,Mackie,Hoilett

Norwich:

Ruddy
Garido-Martin-Bassong-Bennett
Surman-Johnson-Howson-Snodgrass
Holt-Jackson

Tierney,Hoolahan,Morison

Wigan:

Al Habsi
Caldwell-Boyce-Ramis
Figueroa-McCarthy-Maloney-McCarthyr
Beausejour-Kone-Di Santo

Watson-Crusat-Gomez-Boselli-Miyaichi

This is an outline of the other teams starting 11's, I'm by no means an expert of any of these teams but this is there starting 11's from the W/E. I'd say at a quick glance we have a better squad than Reading, Wigan, Villa and Norwich. However, if we are to dive deeper, QPR have an incredible team, but with a poor cohesion considering the majority of that team don't even know each others names yet! Wigan have relied heavily upon a star player the last few seasons, Rodellega/Moses and they're now going to be looking on Kone or Maloney. And Norwich have a good team but now Lambert has gone they don't look as settled under Hughton. This is just a discussion starter and my opinion but just look at our front 4/5...

Lallana, Ramirez, Lambert, JayRod, Mayuka. They would arguably fit in a top 6 team. Just remember everyone, no one's ever been relegated in September, so even if we lose to Villa, we're still not down.
 
I don't think we are that bad, I do think we have had a harsh run of games though. A bit unlucky with the break timing, a couple errors, a couple evil deflections, but no, I don't think we are as bad as some are making out. Roll on the Villa, start putting things straight & letting the mongers condemn someone else for a while.
UTS
 
We don't have a bad squad, we just have too many drama queens as fans. The vast majority of which seem to have appeared since we got back to the Prem.

We do lack experience though but the players will learn. I'm supremely confident we won't go down.
 
We have a great squad of players concerning our midfield and attack, anybody in their right mind would have to admit this squad of defenders is weak compared to others .
 
We have a better midfield than a lot of teams, which is why I think the comparisons with Blackpool are a little unfair. Yes we'll probably score a lot and concede a lot, but unlike Blackpool we will actually be able to control games and get the majority of possession in a lot of our fixtures.

Reading don't look up to it this season and should be favourites to go down, and I'm glad people are now seeing that Villa are quite poor as well, because some disagreed with me before the season started when I said they could go down.
 
gomarchingin said:
We have a great squad of players concerning our midfield and attack, anybody in their right mind would have to admit this squad of defenders is weak compared to others .
Click to expand...

Look at the defences of the other teams in the OP. Those are just as bad.
 
But they are and some are quite a bit better .
We do have the worst defence/defense by some margin , negative I know (no I dont realistic more like) but also my opinion as well .
 
I'm sure you all know that football isn't played on paper. Neither is it about lining up your 11 most well known names and bashing them together. If the media want to look at our men and say "who?" then more fool them. We know (well most of us) that they can all do the business and Nigel will get the best out of the team.

PS Don't be scared of Julio Cesar, he's got a big name but Rickie will still be able to nod hit past him. That's if they haven't dropped him and brought in someone else for £80k a week by then.
 
Villa have one good defender in Vlaar, and the others should be at League One clubs on loan.

Reading, like us, have a Championship defense and have painfully slow fullbacks.

QPR's defenders are good on paper, but they're not right for the team. Bosingwa and Fabio have very attacking mentalities, and they didn't need to defend as much when playing for Chelsea and United. Their lack of defensive capabilities will show this season. Also Nelsen is past it and Ferdinand was never that great.

Norwich probably have the best defense of the six listed, but they lack quality all over the pitch and will concede lots of goals due to their inability to keep the ball.

Wigan practically play 5 at the back, which partially makes up for the fact that none of their defenders are any good. They're brilliant going forward though, so they'll be fine.
 
gomarchingin said:
So you think Fox , Hooiveld and Fonte would get into the other mentioned sides ? I dont think so .
Click to expand...

Reading: Fonte and Fox for Gorkss and Harte.
Villa: Clyne and Fox in for Lowton and Lichaj.
QPR: On paper probably none of our four would get in but we'll see how that holds up.
Norwich: Fonte and Clyne in for Martin and Bennett.
Wigan: Fonte and Clyne in for pretty much any of the back 5.

So yeah not exactly easily the worst.
 
gomarchingin said:
And you have not answered my question .
Click to expand...

I don't agree with the premise of the question. Like I said, this ain't a computer game and in real life it's not just about your most well known 11 names, but the team and getting them to play well together. So our players would not go straight into anyone elses team, and none of theirs would come into ours either. I know you wanted us to do a QPR and have nine new players, Lambert and Lallana, but it doesn't work as well as you think. They haven't won either, by the way.
 
Qwerty said:
I don't agree with the premise of the question. Like I said, this ain't a computer game and in real life it's not just about your most well known 11 names, but the team and getting them to play well together. So our players would not go straight into anyone elses team, and none of theirs would come into ours either. I know you wanted us to do a QPR and have nine new players, Lambert and Lallana, but it doesn't work as well as you think. They haven't won either, by the way.
Click to expand...

I respect your honesty but our team concerning the defence/defense are hardly firing on all cylinders are they , well oiled machine they are not .
 
Qwerty said:
I'm sure you all know that football isn't played on paper. Neither is it about lining up your 11 most well known names and bashing them together. If the media want to look at our men and say "who?" then more fool them. We know (well most of us) that they can all do the business and Nigel will get the best out of the team.

PS Don't be scared of Julio Cesar, he's got a big name but Rickie will still be able to nod hit past him. That's if they haven't dropped him and brought in someone else for £80k a week by then.
Click to expand...

Julio Cesar was and still is one of the best 'Keepers in the world. You'd be a fool to think otherwise. That is the one main reason I think QPR will stay up. I love KD but if we could have signed any of QPR's players it would be him without a shadow.
 
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