Our Squad

[cream]

I'm not 100% sure thats correct.

Arbeloa was a very decent player and often overlooked. Above all, he was consistent and better defensively.

Alonso was the conductor on the pitch and brought out the best in Gerrard. Its no surprise that Gerrard has been quite anonymous so far this season.

Agger is not an improvement, how can he be? He's still not 100% fit. On his few performances last season his defending was diabolical, but we can put that down to returning after longterm injuries. Whether he returns to his best is yet to be seen and pure speculation and hope at this stage.

Johnson adds a new dimension in attack but defensively we're weaker for it (losses and goals conceded is proof of that).

Aquilani is completely unproven and hasn't kicked a ball since March. Better players than he have arrived in England only to fail, so I'll believe it when I see it. To say that he'll hopefully give us more of an edge than Alonso is clutching at straws to say the least. Alonso was the very best and distributing the ball and he had a great understanding with gerrard.

We're weaker than we were last season until the new lads prove otherwise.

Agree with the first part, we've been disjointed, our midfield at the moment is not capable of linking play between defence and attack.

Totally disagree with the second bit, Johnson has hardly done anything wrong, our defensive frailties should be blamed on Carra and Skrtel, they've been ****.

[red g]

[QUOTE=FatTony;1436345]I'm not 100% sure thats correct.

Arbeloa was a very decent player and often overlooked. Above all, he was consistent and better defensively.

Alonso was the conductor on the pitch and brought out the best in Gerrard. Its no surprise that Gerrard has been quite anonymous so far this season.

Agger is not an improvement, how can he be? He's still not 100% fit. On his few performances last season his defending was diabolical, but we can put that down to returning after longterm injuries. Whether he returns to his best is yet to be seen and pure speculation and hope at this stage.

Johnson adds a new dimension in attack but defensively we're weaker for it (losses and goals conceded is proof of that).

Aquilani is completely unproven and hasn't kicked a ball since March. Better players than he have arrived in England only to fail, so I'll believe it when I see it. To say that he'll hopefully give us more of an edge than Alonso is clutching at straws to say the least. Alonso was the very best and distributing the ball and he had a great understanding with gerrard.

We're weaker than we were last season until the new lads prove otherwise.[/QUOTE]

ok then if you look at it from the glass half empty angle i concur !

although Arbeloa looked solid i am not sure if Johnson gets caught out much more than arby, after all we have cursed arbeloa on many an occasion.

While i agree with you on Alonso i dont think its helped that Masher is not at his best and Lucas imo hasnt stepped up, so hopefully aquiliani will bring out the best in gerrard again/

also agree with the Agger statement, but football is ifs and maybe's if we get him back to his best and it seems by his own admission his injuries maybe behind him, we have our best centre half back with the goals sami used to bring us replaced to

[FatTony]

Agree with the first part, we've been disjointed, our midfield at the moment is not capable of linking play between defence and attack.

Totally disagree with the second bit, Johnson has hardly done anything wrong, our defensive frailties should be blamed on Carra and Skrtel, they've been ****.

Sorry, my bad, I didn't mean to put this on Johnsons shoulders (as I agree with you), what I meant was that defensively we're worse than we were last season. I think this is down to new personel (in Johnson and Insua) and the poor form of Carra, i.e. collectively the back four hasn't beenn impressive.

[BFG]

I'd keep the vast majority. A few quality additions would be nice but I think it's a pretty good squad at the moment, we just need a bit of balance and consistency.

[Fierce]

I guess it depends on what level we're talking about. Ie, if we're thinking 1st year Abramovich or the City Prince then there is an upgrade for almost every player, with the exception of Reina, Masher, Gerrard & Torres. And even Reina and Masher could potentially be improved upon

If we're talking a cash injection that would enable us to improve, but realistically, then:

------------------- Reina--------------------
Johnson-- Carra ------ ? ? ? ? --- Insua
--------------Mascherano----------------------
-------------------- ? ? ? ? ----------------------
------Kuyt--------Gerrard------- ? ? ? ? ---
-------------------Torres--------------------


Carra: I agree his best days are behind him, but I think he is still vital to our team in terms of personality and leadership (I know, massively overused term) qualities.
Skrtel: More than capable back up
Agger: I think if we're querying Carra, Agger has to be queried also. He could be one of the worlds best defenders given his qualities, but he's been injured too much to make him untouchable.
Riera: Agree, a very useful options to have
Aurelio: Agree, fitness questions
Aquilani: Could, should and probably will be one of those to be kept, somewhat unknown at the minute though
Yossi: This is difficult. I think he'd walk into any SQUAD in the world, especially on current form. I'm not sure we play the right position for him though, I like him in the Gerrard role, which obviously he isn't going to get. I don't think he's a winger at all. I think he'd suit Chelsea's formation down to the ground actually

For me, RIGHT NOW, we still haven't sorted out that left midfield position. The other 2 question marks, fitness prevailing, are filled by Agger and Aquilani

All in all, we're not looking too shabby at all. Kinda begs the question why we don't play as well as I would expect us to, given the players we have

Oh, and I think Lucas and N'Gog should both be kept as young developing players, without mentioning any other youth players

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

i bet you if you provided the same warped logic to arsenal and Scum you would get a similar outcome

Drunken

[red g]

Drunken

the best logic as its 100% correct at time of typing

[dww]

I actually think we have a pretty strong first XI and some good competition in a couple of positions if everyone is fit. The problem is that (at least until we have seen how Aquilani fits in) we don't have a combination in the middle that controls play in the way that we have been used too and which makes the best use of our forward players. We also have a lack of defenders who are dominant aerially.

I do think that some of these things are deficiencies in the squad - in that we lack height and aerial prowess throughout. However against Chelsea probably one of the most dangerous teams in the league in the air we coped well because the defensive unit was coordinated well.

We also don't have the depth in our squad to carry two long term injury worries in Agger and Aquilani. Hopefully when they come back they will both have been sorted long term.

I'd still list a number of our players as developing as well - Agger, Insua, Lucas, Babel and probably Johnson too. I'd argue that that is maybe too many in a team/squad which lacks leaders who help others more than try and dig the team out of a whole on their own.

While Babel and Ngog haven't proved themselves I think we also lack a goal threat to put on the pitch regularly enough. The impact, even from the bench, of someone who could grab a goal at any time would be quite large. I had hoped we might be able to use Kuyt and Benayoun to do this but while they are capable of getting the goals they need a platform to do it from and at the minute Mascherano, Gerrard and Lucas are not providing it in big games.

[Marky]

The frustrating thing is, i actually think the title is there for the taking.
Ok Man U always manage to be up around the top when it matters and we all know Chelsea have been the most impressive side thie season but our first 11 when playing to their max more than matches theres.
It's just the lack of squad depth, i mean we have Babel and Yossi to bring on while United sometimes have -
Valencia, Owen, Carrick, Giggs, Scholes. Chelsea - J.Cole, Kalou, Malouda and Deco. there's 2 or 3 more but can't think atm.

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

The frustrating thing is, i actually think the title is there for the taking.
Ok Man U always manage to be up around the top when it matters and we all know Chelsea have been the most impressive side thie season but our first 11 when playing to their max more than matches theres.
It's just the lack of squad depth, i mean we have Babel and Yossi to bring on while United sometimes have -
Valencia, Owen, Carrick, Giggs, Scholes. Chelsea - J.Cole, Kalou, Malouda and Deco. there's 2 or 3 more but can't think atm.

exactly.. we lack depth and having to sell to buy really doesn't help us to improve in that sense.

[Lee]

I guess it depends on what level we're talking about. Ie, if we're thinking 1st year Abramovich or the City Prince then there is an upgrade for almost every player, with the exception of Reina, Masher, Gerrard & Torres. And even Reina and Masher could potentially be improved upon

Reina? Who on earth could we (in reality) sign, that would be an upgrade on Reina?! Absolutely shocking statement

[red g]

Reina? Who on earth could we (in reality) sign, that would be an upgrade on Reina?! Absolutely shocking statement

we cannot upgrade on Reina. Full stop

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

we cannot upgrade on Reina. Full stop

[CincyRed]

With all this talk about being out of the title race with three loses, I havent seen anyone mention who the losses were too. I mean Spurs, Villa, and Chelsea are the only teams we have dropped points against. I'm not saying that we shouldnt expect to get maximum points from these games, its just that all three are probably Top 6 sides this year or last year. The chavs have dropped points to Wigan, and the mancs to Burnley and Sunderland. Personally, I think thats a big difference.

[Lee]

we cannot upgrade on Reina. Full stop

Eeeeexactly. So shockingly underrated.