Was just thinking about our relative strengths arond the park, and would be. Interested to compare views as to how our various units compare to other prem teams'. I'll get things started : Goalkeeper : League Champions Full backs : Top 6 Centre backs : Relegation candidates Midfield : Mid table Wide players : Top 8 Forwards : Top 6 I came up with some pretty random categories, but please feel free to use your own as you consider appropriate.
GK: League Champions - In my opinion the best keeper in the league, only De Gea's recent form comes close. FB: Mid table - Not really much to get excited about when it comes to full backs. We'll wait and see how Walker is playing by the end of this month before committing an answer, Rose is alright, Davies (from the same village I played football for) is alright, Naughton is crap etc. CB: Mid table - Vertonghen and Fazio keep their current form up, we could have a tidy foundation to build a top 4 threat on. As it stands, they've not been quite that good, but I live in hope. Players that can come in don't really offer much else, Kaboul weakens us, as disappointing as that is, though Dier might yet come good. CM: Top 6 - Youth being the order of the day, give Mason and Bentaleb a few years and they could be top 4 material, Eriksen I think is already there. Dembele, Stambouli, Capoue and Paulinho have all been kept out of the side by two players from the youth squad with no top level experience, which tells you all you need to know really. WM: Top 6 - Depending on who you use and what form they're in. Chadli is a revelation, Llamela just isn't working yet, but he's getting there, Lennon and Townsend are both good players to have in the squad, in fact Townsend has actually been looking like a decent player recently, less headless running, more passing. ST: Relegation Fodder - Two misfiring less than useless aging strikers and a home grown prospect that would be leaving in January if we actually were relegation material.
If Cleverley and Wes Brown can get Premier League winners medals then I think the categories are more open than we think. Fitting into the style can make a huge difference, I don't think anyone can doubt that Ibrahimovic is a top player but at Barcelona he struggled as he didn't fit in with what they wanted from their players. Fabregas is similar, although Barcelona was a bit more of a chaotic club whilst he was there, which didn't help. For me there are question marks over a number of players' ability to play how Pochettino wants us to, and some I'm just not sure are good enough full stop. In terms of that I'd say Naughton, Chiriches, Dier(simply because I've hardly seen him play at centre back), Fazio, Kaboul, Capoue, Stambouli, Dembele, Paulinho, Lennon, Townsend, Soldado, Ade. Now that's quite a lot of players, some of which I like, but whilst I've always thought we had strong depth in the squad, what's becoming clearer is the difference between players that get what we're supposed to be doing and those that don't, or are unreliable. Most of them I'd keep and see how they do as the season progresses but I'd write off Ade for his attitude and I wouldn't be disappointed if Lennon, Naughton or Dembele left because I'm getting tired of waiting for them to come good.
Goalkeepers: Excellent. Not quite as good as Chelsea, but better than everyone else. Fullbacks: Very good. Walker and Davies are both solid enough and good going forward and we've got decent backup, too. Centre-halves: Mixed. I'm quite happy with the Vertonghen/Fazio combination, but the rest aren't up to scratch so far. Chiriches has had some very poor games, but I think he'll come good, as will the young Dier, but Kaboul could do with replacing. Centre-mid: Mixed. Loads of depth, but inexperienced or unfancied by the manager across the board. Wingers: Good. I'm happy with them, but Pochettino clearly doesn't want at least one of them. Chadli and Townsend are improving and adjusting, Lamela still has plenty of potential and works hard, but Lennon looks to be on the way out. Strikers: Desperately need reinforcing. Kane's been superb recently, but both Soldado and Adebayor look unsuitable. Two in, two out, please.
I'm finding it quite hard to define our squad in units, in each area we have players that are worthy of playing for a title challenging side and some that would be ok for mid-table at best. An example being Vertonghen as a player worthy of playing at the top yet the current Kaboul being mid table, so grading those sections as a whole is quite difficult for me. Like YV said, it's also dependant on how the players fit into Poch's philosophy. There are admittedly a couple of players who I feel just aren't good enough for what we want to achieve but then there are players that are on the bench/ not in the squad who quite frankly, on paper, should be first teamers but their poor form and inability to fit into Poch's system has seen them lose their place. At the start of the season, who realistically would have said we'd have lined up against the strongest Chelsea side in years with Mason, Bentaleb and Kane in the first XI? But take nothing away from the 3 academy players, they're rightly considered first choice now in my opinion and in one of them we have what could well turn out to be a huge star. So although as I said I can't really define each area of the squad by a grading, as a complete team I'd consider us a top 4 challenger to top 6 definite, with great potential both in the playing and coaching department to maybe do something special in the future.
From the outside... GK: Top 4 - Lloris is somewhere in the league's top 4 keepers (Chelsea have two of them) FB: Mid-table - only real quality is Walker and he's usually injured CB: Top 6 - Vertonghen and Fazio aren't brilliant but better than most - not many good CBs in the league right now MF: Mid-table - Very average apart from Eriksen, who wouldn't start for Chelsea, United, Arsenal or City. Not sure about Mason - works hard but lacks quality, can't shoot for toffee which has cost you (eg v United). What has happened to Dembele? Wingers: Top 8 - Chadli is coming good, could count Eriksen here, Lamela is inconsistent but you don't see his ability outside the top clubs. ST: Top 8 - Kane will be very good if he keeps going. Promising that he looks to link play as well as poaching. Adebayor is brilliant on his day. The key for you is Pochettino's insistence on work ethic which will raise your side above the sum of its parts. There is a nice balance of quality (Eriksen, Chadli, Vertonghen etc) and hard workers to make it work. Would be surprised if you finish above 5th though. Chelsea, United and City will finish higher, Arsenal are stronger and always get there... feel 5th/6th will be between yourselves and Liverpool if/when we get our act together. Maybe Southampton.
I also think we'll get 5th/sixth, but I'd rate our groups of players a bit higher. GK: Top 4--maybe second after De Gea. FB: Top 6, maybe top 4. While Walker's the only top 4 starter, we have backups just about as good as the starters ATM, which is very handy. Chriiches was fantastic his last couple of starts. CB: Top 6, agreed. But they're getting better. Vertonghen's good. Fazio's great in the air, but still makes too many mistakes. MF deep-lying 2: Top 6? Midtable? Very up and down. Bentaleb has mostly been quite good this year, but he's had a few anonymous games, like against Leicester. Mason's directness is invaluable, but his overall skills are not that great. Dembele has more quality, but tends to slow our buildup. Stambouli is a solid DM, but Mason helps us more. MF forward 3: Top 4. Eriksen scored more non pen goals than any other PL mid in 2014. He's created the second most chances of all PL players this year. Fabregas has been better recently, and that's about it. Chadli's got very good scoring numbers, seven goals and four assists, I think, but hasn't had much presence till the Chelsea game, when he was outstanding. Dembele has done well replacing Chadli on occasion. Lamela is very talented, but hasn't really gotten into gear yet, even though he's won a number of Cup games this year, and set up the goal against Arsenal. Townsend will never be a big scorer, but he works hard, gives defenders problem and seems to do fairly well in the system. I don't quite see what the difference is between him and Willian, TBH. (And if I had Schirrle, I'd start him in a heartbeat.) Striker: TBD. If Kane keeps putting them in at the second highest rate in the league, then top two. If he gets hurt or goes on a drought, midtable at best.
