Our 25 man squad in full

[Fernandinho]

Chelsea have lost a lot of quality players and if they were to have 3 injuries to strikers/midfielder like we suffered last season I think they will struggle to field a good 11 with anything decent on the bench

[Redspin]

Agree with the above. I think Kuyt and Jova are both a bit iffy at the moment but if their performances can pick up it can work. I think Kuyt complements Johnson's attacking game but at the moment Maxi could easily come in for him. I think Jova has a lot of potential and thinking about it having someone 'solid' like Konchesky behind him would probably benefit Babel's game but as Roy says he is going to be a striker I ruled that out.

I wouldn't like to see Cole out left though and I would prefer Stevie in the middle I think that is where he really runs games from. It will be interesting to see how Meireles can make an impact.

We have only played three league games so far so it's difficult to form impressions of who should be playing where based on so little evidence of individuals' merits, but if Kuyt and Jovanovic are "both a bit iffy at the moment" surely the same applies to Gerrard who has been quite dreadful so far in every game?

[lancinleeds]

We have only played three league games so far so it's difficult to form impressions of who should be playing where based on so little evidence of individuals' merits, but if Kuyt and Jovanovic are "both a bit iffy at the moment" surely the same applies to Gerrard who has been quite dreadful so far in every game?

Did I not put both Kuyt and Jova in my preferred starting 11 though?

[Fernandinho]

I think Maxi deserves his chance to start because he looked good and we played better when he was on. Watching him very closely, it wasn't just his intelligence on and off the ball when in attack it was when we defended, instead of running around like a crazy man (Kuyt) he uses excellent positional sense to close down angles for passes, we won a lot of possesion of WBA because of it.

[pondus]

We have only played three league games so far so it's difficult to form impressions of who should be playing where based on so little evidence of individuals' merits, but if Kuyt and Jovanovic are "both a bit iffy at the moment" surely the same applies to Gerrard who has been quite dreadful so far in every game?

I think Gerrard has had an ok start to the season, considering he returned late and didn't play in the pre-season games. Dreadful?

[Scratch]

So, where are we weakest...

GK:
Reina
Jones
Galusci (sp?)

RB
Johnson
Kelly
Darby

CB
Carra
Agger
Skrtel
Kyrgiacos
Wilson

LB
Aurelio
Konchesky
Kelly

CM
Gerrard
Merieles
Poulsen
Lucas
Spearing

RM
Kuyt
Maxi
Babel

LM
Jovanoic
Maxi
Babel
Cole

AM
Gerrard
Cole
Pacheco

Striker
Torres
N'Gog
Babel

Realistically, we've got good cover all over the pitch, apart from maybe upfront, altho i have high hopes for N'Gog and even Babel still.

What we do need however, is cohesion and team spirit, something that we showed in the first game against Arsenal, but that seemed to be extinguished by the horrible own goal that must have brought back memories of the number of points we lost after leading last season....me, as a spectator was thinking "oh crap, not this again" so god knows how it affected the players.

We will get fourth. We will. At least fourth.

In fact, **** it, we're gonna win the league, storm the Europa Cup, blitz the League cup with out young guns, reclaim the FA cup and then, to top it all off, win the CL.

Ok, maybe not that last one, but i haven't ruled it out yet.

[Mostar]

I think Maxi deserves his chance to start because he looked good and we played better when he was on. Watching him very closely, it wasn't just his intelligence on and off the ball when in attack it was when we defended, instead of running around like a crazy man (Kuyt) he uses excellent positional sense to close down angles for passes, we won a lot of possesion of WBA because of it.

Maxi should be featured imo much more than he's been thus far. He's better all around player than Kuyt and deserves a chance but I don't think he will be Roy's first choice.

I think Gerrard has had an ok start to the season, considering he returned late and didn't play in the pre-season games. Dreadful?

He wasn't definitely dreadful but he wasn't great neither. Decent start and bar the injuries he'll come through for us.

[pondus]

So, where are we weakest...

GK:
Reina
Jones
Galusci (sp?)

RB
Johnson
Kelly
Darby

CB
Carra
Agger
Skrtel
Kyrgiacos
Wilson

LB
Aurelio
Konchesky
Kelly

CM
Gerrard
Merieles
Poulsen
Lucas
Spearing

RM
Kuyt
Maxi
Babel

LM
Jovanoic
Maxi
Babel
Cole

AM
Gerrard
Cole
Pacheco

Striker
Torres
N'Gog
Babel

Realistically, we've got good cover all over the pitch, apart from maybe upfront, altho i have high hopes for N'Gog and even Babel still.

What we do need however, is cohesion and team spirit, something that we showed in the first game against Arsenal, but that seemed to be extinguished by the horrible own goal that must have brought back memories of the number of points we lost after leading last season....me, as a spectator was thinking "oh crap, not this again" so god knows how it affected the players.

We will get fourth. We will. At least fourth.

In fact, **** it, we're gonna win the league, storm the Europa Cup, blitz the League cup with out young guns, reclaim the FA cup and then, to top it all off, win the CL.

Ok, maybe not that last one, but i haven't ruled it out yet.

If Gerrard plays in the hole our central midfield looks like a pile of ****, not including Meireles as I haven't seen him play yet. Engine room, most important part of any team, etc etc. Think we will struggle unless Meireles is a big hit and Gerrard plays there regularly.

[lancinleeds]

If Gerrard plays in the hole our central midfield looks like a pile of ****, not including Meireles as I haven't seen him play yet. Engine room, most important part of any team, etc etc. Think we will struggle unless Meireles is a big hit and Gerrard plays there regularly.

Agreed, though I can see Meireles being pretty good....I hope.

[Fierce]

If Gerrard plays in the hole our central midfield looks like a pile of ****, not including Meireles as I haven't seen him play yet. Engine room, most important part of any team, etc etc. Think we will struggle unless Meireles is a big hit and Gerrard plays there regularly.

Solely based on performances for Portugal (and of course there's no guarantees he'll show that same form here) I think he's a shoe in for the central midfield spot alongside Poulsen:

----------- Reina

GJ -- Carra -- Agger -- Aurelio

----- Poulsen --- Meireles

--- Kuyt --- Gerrard --- Cole

----------- Torres

That would be my team, possibly Maxi in for Kuyt

Still leaves us with plenty of attacking options in Maxi, Pacheco, Jova, Babel, NGog.

[Scratch]

Solely based on performances for Portugal (and of course there's no guarantees he'll show that same form here) I think he's a shoe in for the central midfield spot alongside Poulsen:

----------- Reina

GJ -- Carra -- Agger -- Aurelio

----- Poulsen --- Meireles

--- Kuyt --- Gerrard --- Cole

----------- Torres

That would be my team, possibly Maxi in for Kuyt

Still leaves us with plenty of attacking options in Maxi, Pacheco, Jova, Babel, NGog.

That's what i mean tho, on paper it looks a strong side, first 11 wise. Even some of those left out provide good cover. The only area i see as a problem could be up front, as neither N'Gog or Babel are a patch on Torres, but who is? If Merieles is half as good as some posters feel, we may not feel the loss of Gerrard if he gets injured so much, with Cole and Meireles able to step in.

4th is obtainable. I know it. I feel it.

My predictions.

1st Chelsea
2nd City
3rd United
4th Liverpool
5th Arsenal
6th Spurs

[SB]

[QUOTE=Fierce;1699988
----------- Reina

GJ -- Carra -- Agger -- Aurelio

----- Poulsen ---

--- Kuyt --- Gerrard ---Meireles--- Cole

----------- Torres

That would be my team, possibly Maxi in for Kuyt

.[/QUOTE]

One holding mid for me and Raul more advanced

[Mostar]

One holding mid for me and Raul more advanced

Why not

[SB]

Why not

The way I see it, DM's seldom go past the oppositions centre circle, therefore not much chance of them scoring. We need players in and around the 18yd box not the CC.

[DannyMan2006]

Solely based on performances for Portugal (and of course there's no guarantees he'll show that same form here) I think he's a shoe in for the central midfield spot alongside Poulsen:

----------- Reina

GJ -- Carra -- Agger -- Aurelio

----- Poulsen --- Meireles

--- Kuyt --- Gerrard --- Cole

----------- Torres

That would be my team, possibly Maxi in for Kuyt

Still leaves us with plenty of attacking options in Maxi, Pacheco, Jova, Babel, NGog.

I think are squad is two players light.

I think we needed an extra midfielder and an extra attacker. How much better would that team look with Gerrard in CM and Van Der Vaart playing off Torres?

And how much better would the squad look with a quality striker as back up to Torres?

Obviously VdV wanted CL football so would never have come to us, but a player of his ilk is missing. I would have loved us to have been in for Diego or Felipe Melo from Juve as a straight swap for Aquilani.

Overall I don't think our squad is massively short and we'll be a real threat I think come November when we've had time to settle. As long as we can keep picking up maximum points from teams we are expected to beat we'll be in a strong position to challenge for top 4 and do well in the cups.