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Salopian

Is the squad large enough?

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Unless he''s making some sort of smoke screen to cover further activities, Worthy seems to have settled for the present squad.

Most people will feel that in terms of quality the squad is better than it was two years ago. But there must be some concern about numbers. Leaving aside the academy players, the squad is smaller than last year, with more games in prospect.

There seems to be a calculated risk that we could make up any long term injuries or loss of form by loans, or by buying in the January window. Perhaps there is also the hope to hold on to any money (e.g. from the Fancis sale) for essential team re-inforcement if we gain promotion.

It is a risk, nevertheless, with only one wide right player, apart from Henderson or a converted full back, two centre backs about whom many have doubts and central midfielders who seem injury-prone, (- and one of whom will be missing for weeks in Africa and perhaps less fit during a religious period.) When one central midfielder is out, then there will be no choice, unless a player from some other position is considered. Surely we would not play 4-3-3, where the central three are two wide men and two wide players.

The squad is wafer thin - we said that before, and injuries like last year would mean places for a few of the academy players!

Are we mounting a serious challenge in the face of normal injury incidence?

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its thin. But, i think we have enough quality in the core of the team to build round it every now and then with players who may be average. It is thin but we will be ok

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If we break down the squad we can see that we have a damn fine 1st Div squad:

Green, Ward, Gallacher

Drury, Charlie, Doc, Shacks, Flem, MLJ, Colin

Marney, Hughes, Saf, Jarratt, Brennan, Hucks, WLY

Leon, Deano, Thorne

Goalies -Fine.  Defence - IMO fine as long as we have the right partnership in the middle.  Midfield - Hmm.  I still think we are a central midfielder light.  With Saf being injury prone, suspension prone and having Ramadan and African Cup, I don''t think we''ll see much of him this year.  I''d like another central midfielder.  Strikers - Of course, fine

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I think we could do with one more quality midfielder then we would have a strong squad with lots of cover. If the squad size is any bigger, then it will be hard to keep everyone happy and it seems pointless bringing in squad players who are not going to add to what we already have.

If we have lots of injuries then its time to blood some youngsters - Rossi Jarvis, Henderson and Ryan Jarvis have good potential! If injuries are still a problem then we can make more signings in January and perhaps another loan move would be sensible!

We have cover in all departments:

Goal - Green, Ward, Gallagher, Lewis

Right back - Colin, Louis-Jean

Left back - Drury, Charlton, Brennan

Centre back - Doherty, Shackell, Fleming with Colin and Charlton also able to play there

Right mid - Marney, Hughes, Henderson, Louis-Jean

Centre mid - Jarrett, Safri, Hughes, Marney with Rossi Jarvis and Charlton as possibilities

Left mid - Huckerby, McVeigh, Brennan

Strikers - Ashton, McKenzie, Thorne, Jarvis, Henderson with McVeigh and Huckerby also possibilities

Seems like pretty strong on cover to me!

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Whilst I am very happy with the quality of our squad I have to say that I too am worried about our actual numbers.

A few weeks into last season Wolves had no less than 12 players out injured and it absolutely stuffed them (shame..not).

We all know that this division is a real battle at the best of times and there''s a hell of a lot of games to play before the transfer window opens again. Some teams in this league are going to get seriously caught out by injuries this season and I just pray that it isn''t us.

I know its been discussed on another thread, but could someone from the web team please confirm what the rules are for loans this season.

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IMO we have a great squad - better than last season even, and one that could certainly win this league - but we are certainly several players light. 

Last season we all thought we had a thin squad. It only just coped with the injury problems we had....well, we are going into the new season with 4 less than we finished last season with: 10 have left (ok we will mss some more than others) but we have signed just 6.

I''m worried that the depth we might need isn''t there  though fortunately it is only ''might'' - if we are lucky we will not have a problem.....but that said, look at tomorrow: the season hasn''t started but injuries are already leaving us ready to maybe rely on playing people out of their normal position - this is ok for odd games, but not for any prolonged period (and does anyone remember Charlton playing r/b at Ewood?!).

As I say, we have a great squad which could easily win this league, and hopefully it won''t be an issue.  But the fact that we''re already relying players playing out of position is a little bit worrying!

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As I have said elsewhere, lets assume we buy a few more decent championship players, then we get promoted. That means we are saddled with more players that are going to be useless to us in the premiership, a problem we had last season. I think we can definitely get by with this squad, then we should have a bit extra money/squad size to improve SHOULD we go up, which is surely our aim.

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[quote]As I have said elsewhere, lets assume we buy a few more decent championship players, then we get promoted. That means we are saddled with more players that are going to be useless to us in the premier...[/quote]

The problem is that you presuppose we''ll win promotion with the small squad we have - whilst I have no doubts that it is good enough, I do have doubts that with the current squad size we would be relying too much on good fortune on the injury front.  Why take this chance? 

Of course it would be great to save the money, but the £1.5m we''ve got from Francis, invested in 2 good quality players to add depth to the squad, could be the difference between going up and staying down.  We can easily offload any surplus players when we go up - this is perhaps what we should have done more of last season, but I think we all felt we owed something to the players that got us there..

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Anyone who winessed the "journeyman" crap that was served up against Coventry will know that we need to invest in some quality in midfield and at the back. Failure to do so will result in us not gaining promotion - you have been warned

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