Improved Squad

I was reading another thread and saw a few line-ups for the Arsenal game and couldn't help but notice, we have a much stronger squad than we did last season.

We may have lost Nolan, and Barton could be on his way too, but even then we have great cover.

Lets say this is the starting 11 for the Arsenal game (hypothetically assuming Barton doesn't play:


--------------------Krul

Simpson-----Taylor-----Coloccini------Enrique

----------------Tiote---Cabaye

--------Gosling----Marvaeux----Jonas

--------------------Ba


This leaves a bench of:

Harper/Forster, Tavernier, Williamson, Shola, Best, Guthrie, Vuckic.


You may all have different starting 11's and benches but I think everyone would agree that this team is better than what we had last season. We have much more pace and creativity.


We also have Obertan. I haven't included Ferguson, Abeid, Sammy Ameobi, Smith, Lovenkrands, Ranger, Ryan Taylor and even Barton in that squad. We have a lot of youth in the team now, and although they lack experience, a lot of them will have benefitted from pre-season with the first team and some appearances from last season.

Vuckic has looked fantastic in pre-season, Abeid looks to be a potential star. We also have Ben Arfa to come back after the derby match. Sammy looks 3 times as good a player as his brother. Gosling will also be like a new signing.

We look a bit light in defence granted, but we have a lot of young talent which I am quite excited about and can't wait to see how they progress. We need a striker too, purely because our back up is pish. Ba will get us goals, and I have faith in Besty to do the business. Loverman is a good squad player and still has a bit of pace to trouble the lower prem teams. We just need some fresh legs up front, because I fear we are going to be all too predictable in the final third.

We need a short and nippy striker, a better Lovenkrands if you will. If we can get someone like that I will be pleased. A defender wouldn't go a miss, but I won't die in a ditch if that doesn't happen.

I am now feeling optimistic. Bring on next weekend!

 

If you look at all the different combinations we can have in midfield its impressive the flexibilty

 

Guthries injured. And awful.

Otherwise you're right though, looking forward to Saturday.

 

Yes, but I think I read somewhere he is back in training. And I don't want to get into a debate about Guthrie, I have defended him enough and he splits opinion on here more than any other player, I rate him.

 

after watching nolan today it looks like a good deal esp. compared to cabaye

 

Dont want this to turn into a Guthrie article but I rate him as well and him and Fergie will both be back in training soon.

 

Fergie will be back in training tomorrow if I remember correctly

 

I dont wanna reputation as Captain Bring down......but you stick Carroll in for Ba and Barton in for Gosling everyday of the week. Leave it up to the individual to decide if you wud put Nolan in for Marveuax in ur perticular line up. Id have Nolan....but id stick Marveuax on left for Jonas.

Wouldn't say we had a stronger team. Different tho certainly.

 

lol the guthrie debate. we must watch different games

 

who leads the team when it all goes tits up and we're 4-0 down?

barton and nolan were massive in the 4-4... on paper we have a quicker, more skillful, stronger squad, but does it have more team spirit than the lads who came up together last year? more heart? more fight? i dunno

and we haven't replaced carroll adequately yet.

 

Ben Arfa in the Nolan role, and a proper winger in Marveaux right. I like Barton but he's far better in the middle, but Cabaye looks a perfectly capable (if not superior) replacement.

 

They arent a bunch of kids who just break down at the concept of getting beaten, Cabaye and Ba etc are leaders and well and the 4-4 was an amazing freak result which the fans played a massive part in. Just having Nolan in the side would never be able to do that again, and having a better player there to start with means you probably dont concede 4 to start with.

Also Ba scored as many as Carroll last season and is a proven goalscorer in England and Germany. Carroll's only had 18 months of good football, could still end up being total ****e.

 

The team playing against Arsenal is much stronger than the team that faced Man United in the first game of last season. Much stronger. I cannot wait for it.

 

When Ben Arfa gets back, Barton is unlikely to be a regular anyway, sure he will challenge but he isn't the 'first name on the teamsheet' as was the case last season.

I agree on the Carroll comment but the reality is, are we ever going to replace him with someone of similar quality? I doubt it, we are going to have to settle for lesser strikers i.e. Long, Erding, or whatever the case may be.

 

Who had the better squad last season; Man U or Arsenal? Man U or Chelsea? Man U or City? Who finished first? There's this thing that people seem to ignore in football: resilience. Get some of that and we're sorted, if we don't then I can't see a big improvement on last season

 

ba the miraculous leader that dragged west ham away from relegation?

when heads drop, and they will, who picks them back up? you can't brush off the inevitable slump with a "they aren't a bunch of kids" and hope that better players means it won't happen. look at chelsea (far better players than ours) last season- terrible run with the yellow ball, look at arsenal (again, far better players) almost every season for the past 4 or 5 years - get knocked out of 1 cup and then quickly exit the others within the month.

who picks them up? don't you dare say pardew

 

Nolan looked absolutely **** for West Ham today. He looks miserable tbh. I think he was really happy here and wanted to stay. Even though he wasn't a very technical midfielder, he still played with heart and power, and played a part in the team.

Today his passing was off, he was slow, his performance was half arsed and he looked knackered at around 55-60 mins.

Can't believe West Ham were dopey enough to sign him for 55k a week, but it's early days. His fitness and speed i get, but his lack of desire should spark fear in West Ham's fans.

Parker should gtf0 out of West Ham while he has the chance, Sam isn't taking advantage of his creativity and quality, he's just tell his plays to keep thumping up long balls to Piqiuonne.

 

Agreed. I wish we offered 4 million plus Nolan for Parker, I loved him when he was up here!

 

Pardew, who's team talk inspired the 4-4 comeback? Yeah, him.

And Ba was West Ham's shining light, what more could he have done to keep them up?

And if you watched West Ham today you'd be ****ing thankful we sold Nolan, depressingly average player.