Strength of your squad on paper compared to rest of league?

[BrianSwan]

How would you rank it on paper in the division?

 

Would you say your squad is stronger than Everton, Wolves, Arsenal?

 

I'd say on paper the top 10 are..

 

1. Man City

2. Liverpool

3. Chelsea

4. Man United

5. Spurs

6. Leicester

7. Arsenal

8. Everton

9. Wolves

10. Villa

 

I think Villa, Southampton and West Ham are close on paper. 

[Aus Fox]

35 minutes ago, BrianSwan said:

How would you rank it on paper in the division?

 

Would you say your squad is stronger than Everton, Wolves, Arsenal?

 

I'd say on paper the top 10 are..

 

1. Man City

2. Liverpool

3. Chelsea

4. Man United

5. Spurs

6. Leicester

7. Arsenal

8. Everton

9. Wolves

10. Villa

 

I think Villa, Southampton and West Ham are close on paper. 

I’d say top 6 you have there is spot on, Everton I would say have a better squad than Arsenal.

Nothing between the rest Arsenal, Villa, Wolves, Southampton all have big strength but major weaknesses too.

[Fish]

Footballs played on grass . 

[surrifox]

We have a better squad than any of the sides that have beaten us at our place this year 

[shailen]

If you say squad I think we may have one of the best. We've pretty much got 2 players for every position that can come in and do a decent job. Chelsea are the only team I'd say have a far better squad on paper than us. 

 

Liverpool don't have the same although their first XI is probably the best in the league, Spurs have decent most depth in their squad, Man City's squad isn't that great and United have a very limited squad with a couple of very good players. 

[Corky]

Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Man United have better squads. We're on a par with or better than the rest.

[volpeazzurro]

6 hours ago, BrianSwan said:

How would you rank it on paper in the division?

 

Would you say your squad is stronger than Everton, Wolves, Arsenal?

 

I'd say on paper the top 10 are..

 

1. Man City

2. Liverpool

3. Chelsea

4. Man United

5. Spurs

6. Leicester

7. Arsenal

8. Everton

9. Wolves

10. Villa

 

I think Villa, Southampton and West Ham are close on paper. 

I think that's quite a fair assessment. Unfortunately the players we've had out are potentially our most influential one's. 

[Charl91]

5 hours ago, shailen said:

If you say squad I think we may have one of the best. We've pretty much got 2 players for every position that can come in and do a decent job. Chelsea are the only team I'd say have a far better squad on paper than us. 

 

Liverpool don't have the same although their first XI is probably the best in the league, Spurs have decent most depth in their squad, Man City's squad isn't that great and United have a very limited squad with a couple of very good players. 

Liverpool have proved they can batter us with half of their first XI out though, to be fair.

[Finnegan]

9 hours ago, BrianSwan said:

How would you rank it on paper in the division?

 

Would you say your squad is stronger than Everton, Wolves, Arsenal?

 

I'd say on paper the top 10 are..

 

1. Man City

2. Liverpool

3. Chelsea

4. Man United

5. Spurs

6. Leicester

7. Arsenal

8. Everton

9. Wolves

10. Villa

 

I think Villa, Southampton and West Ham are close on paper. 

 

 

[Charl91]

2 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

 

Can you really argue that?

 

They beat us to top 4 last year with basically 0 management.

[Vazman]

I'd say where we finish in the PL, will determine how good our squad is, its performance on the pitch that counts as opposed to bits of paper with lots of different people's opinions and perspectives, excuses, injuries etc etc, as it stands on evidence we have the 5th best squad at present, this might change at the end of the season for better, or for worse.

[fuchsntf]

1 minute ago, Vazman said:

I'd say where we finish in the PL, will determine how good our squad is, its performance on the pitch that counts as opposed to bits of paper with lots of different people's opinions and perspectives, excuses, injuries etc etc, as it stands on evidence we have the 5th best squad at present, this might change at the end of the season for better, or for worse.

Agree

League position Always the best Measuring stick.... 

[murphy]

We have a good enough squad that most teams will come to the KP and park the bus, but it's often not good enough to break those teams down.

[Fox92]

1 hour ago, Charl91 said:

Can you really argue that?

 

They beat us to top 4 last year with basically 0 management.

Fernandes really does improve their squad. It's still a decent squad but he is genuinely World Class.

[Charl91]

2 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Fernandes really does improve their squad. It's still a decent squad but he is genuinely World Class.

That's what I'm thinking.

 

If I'm looking at us vs. Man U, I'd say...

 

Defense - I'd say us, with full strength. De Gea used to be World Class, but is a bit iffy at the moment, so genuinely not sure about keepers (my heart says Kasper, but I'm a little biased). Ricardo is better than any of their full backs hands down. Not seen enough of Timmy/Telles to compare just yet. I'd say our CB's edge it, but for all the stick they get, Maguire and Lindelof certainly aren't bad (just maybe not the quality that Man U are used to).

 

Midfield - Man U. Attacking midfielders they take it -  Bruno Fernandes is head and shoulders well above anyone else from either team. Pogba is good on his day, but streaky - but I'd say the same of Maddison and Tielemans. N'didi is a better defensive midfielder than Fred or McTominay, but Fred is a little under-rated I think.

 

Attack - Man U edge this. Vardy is the best attacker out of either team. However, I'd then say Rashford and Martial are better than our wide options (until Under proves himself, at least). Cavani is a quality back-up striker compared to 'Nacho.

 

It's a close call. If they didn't have Bruno, then I would say our squad is better. Then again, that's like saying if we didn't have Vardy. But I think what swings the debate for me is the management. Ole isn't as good a manager as Rodgers (I don't think that's up for debate at all really), but Man U are generally around where we are, or above us in the table. So either they have a stronger squad, or you have to accept that Ole is doing a better job (though I accept that our injury crisis has also played a huge part in that).

[Jobyfox]

It depends what sort of paper it is really. 

[deanolegend1989]

Liverpool are on another planet. They have so many injuries to key men yet are still the best team in the league.

Chelsea I feel will get better, they have youth and depth and will improve. If they don’t win it this year, I think they will be favourites next year due to Liverpool’s cycle will be surely close to being on the way down. Mane Salah are at literal peak, they don’t have much longer at the absolute best before the slow decline begins.

Kante also is the worlds best destroyer. I hadn’t watched much of him for a year or 2 but I saw a stat today, most interceptions this season, who? Kante. He wins this every year I swear! One of the greatest DMs in history of the Prem for me.

 

City are currently in decline, they are in transition. 2 Of their greatest players of the Man City era, Aguero and Fernandinho are on the decline and De Bruyne is nearly 30. They have a decent CB paring now but they will need a year or 2 to transition and build a new team.

Spurs are a very average squad, but with 2 world class players up top and A coach who drills it into his defence to be hard to beat.

 

Id say when we’re fully fit we are as good as anyone bar maybe Liverpool and right in the mix with the 5 of the big 6(better than Arsenal).

 

Our problem is our squad is pretty weak.

Edited 19 December 2020 by deanolegend1989

[Leicester_Loyal]

The same people that call Ole clueless and out of his depth, then also slate the United squad. If that's the case, just how the hell are they 1 point behind us with a game in hand? If they win both their games in hand they'll be 2 points off a very strong Liverpool team at the top.

 

Fernandes is genuinely one of the best players in the world at the minute and has been for almost a year now, he's unreal.

[shailen]

2 hours ago, Charl91 said:

Liverpool have proved they can batter us with half of their first XI out though, to be fair.

Fair point, but I actually think it's more their mentality than anything else. They know how to win, kind of like United in the 90s and 00s and Klopp is making them into mentality monsters. I think that is a important point for us too, we don't have a winning mentality and seem to suffer in big games, when it isn't necessarily our quality that is the reason. 

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, Vazman said:

I'd say where we finish in the PL, will determine how good our squad is, its performance on the pitch that counts as opposed to bits of paper with lots of different people's opinions and perspectives, excuses, injuries etc etc, as it stands on evidence we have the 5th best squad at present, this might change at the end of the season for better, or for worse.

...I know logic dictates that we adhere to your take in regard to a skewed meritocracy!!!

  I do not adhere to where you finish determines your rosters strength. Belgium at present is on paper the strongest team in world football, but they are not going to win the European Cup or the World Cup.

 Closer to home had you put our roster up against the rest of the Premiership 2015/16, you would have found that we were a long way from the top of the list.

  You could give Neil Lennon the managers job at Barcelona and you would find, they would not be anywhere, that they should be.   There are other factors that will determine a teams success and a good roster is just a part of the reason.

[teblin]

3 hours ago, Charl91 said:

Liverpool have proved they can batter us with half of their first XI out though, to be fair.

Did we not have a fair few out too?

[Spudulike]

3 hours ago, Charl91 said:

Liverpool have proved they can batter us with half of their first XI out though, to be fair.

But half of our first XI were also missing. 

[Leeds Fox]

1 hour ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

The same people that call Ole clueless and out of his depth, then also slate the United squad. If that's the case, just how the hell are they 1 point behind us with a game in hand? If they win both their games in hand they'll be 2 points off a very strong Liverpool team at the top.

 

Fernandes is genuinely one of the best players in the world at the minute and has been for almost a year now, he's unreal.

I’m not disagreeing, but I tend not to watch Man Utd. What does Fernandes do that makes him so good? 

[Fox92]

2 minutes ago, Leeds Fox said:

I’m not disagreeing, but I tend not to watch Man Utd. What does Fernandes do that makes him so good? 

Without Fernandes in the side they are worse. His influence on the side is massive.

 

I don't get why he went there tbf. Yeah they are bigger than Porto but surely he could have moved to a side who would have a good chance of winning titles and potentially European trophies.

[BrianSwan]

Watching Everton vs Arsenal now and Arsenal's squad is really, really poor. I'd actually put Everton above them actually.