Our squad now compared to 2008/2009

Was just looking at our team that went down, this was it:


Harper

Beye Taylor Coloccini Enrique

Jonas Butt Guthrie Duff

Owen Martins


Also had : Nolan,Cacapa,Barton,Bassong,Gonzalez,R.Taylor,Smith,Xisco,Geremi,Ameobi,Loverman,Kadar,Carroll,Edgar,Viduka



Looking back, this was a pretty awesome squad (excluding Butt)


Reckon our squad is stronger now then in the season we shall not speak of?
Personally I think the major difference is team spirit.

Your views?

 

I think we had a better strength-in-depth squad then, but a better first team now, mostly down to team spirit as you say.

Also, a season in the fizzy pop league has vastly improved a number of players, eg. Collo, Jonas, Nolan and many more

 

In paper it(relegation squad) looks better but in terms of PLAYING as a team(which we have been doing very well this season) the relegation team hasn't got a scratch on this team.

 

The actual "Team" part of our squad the year we went down was shocking, absolutely no structure to our play.

I imagine 4 different managers trying to impliment their own style didn't help, especially when one of them was around at the same time Hadrians Wall was built.

 

Well if you compare this team to a few years ago, I think this team actually play better and pass the ball well instead of panicking and playing a bad/easy pass or smashing it up the field

 

Our existing one is better apart from the strikers imo. Our current midfield with Tiote, Barton and Nolan pisses all over that one.

 

Oh and don't forget Geremi and Raylor had to play in the centre of midfield for a couple of games back in that horrid season.

 

Looking at the starting XI's of now and 2 years ago:

Harper -> Harper
Improved by playing regular games

Beye -> Simpson
Ok Simpsons not as good as Beye was then, but he's way better than Beye is now
Taylor -> Williamson
Improvement, proved by the fact he is keeping Taylor out of the side. But if Taylor was playing he's better now than he was then anyway.
Colo -> Colo
Miles better, completely different player
Zog -> Enrique
Zog's a good winger, but he's got nothing on Enrique as a defender. Enrique has also improved on his past self

Duff -> Barton
Better in most, if not all aspects
Butt -> Tiote
As if I need to say anything
Guthrie -> Nolan
Nolan's better than old Guthrie
Jonas -> Jonas
Slight improvement since being moved to the left

Owen -> Ben Arfa
Ben Arfa's way better, he's exactly what we wanted of Owen in ability and attitude
Martins -> Best
Havent seen a lot of Best yet, but looking more consistent than Martins, could say he's worse though

 

Harper

Beye Bassong Coloccini Enrique

Jonas Butt Guthrie Duff

Owen Martins

vs.

Best
Ben Arfa

Jonas Nolan Tiote Barton

Enrique Coloccini Williamson Simpson

Harper​

Reckon the new lot would piss all over them. Colo, Jonas and Enrique have improved dramatically since then.