This squad vs. 2 seasons ago

[SeattleCanary 0]

With the transfer window now shut, and some of the players having left we can properly reflect on what was deemed 2 years a go as the best squad to date. Despite keeping the nucleus of the squad together last summer, have we got a better squad this season than 2 seasons ago? I mean judging players on their merits and form at the time (for example its no good looking at Pilks now and saying he is too injury prone or not up to the Prem) as everything has to be relevant to the time period.

2013/2014 squad:

1 John Ruddy

2 Russell Martin (club captain)

3 Steven Whittaker

4 Bradley Johnson

5 Sébastien Bassong (captain)

6 Michael Turner

7 Robert Snodgrass

8 Jonny Howson

9 Ricky van Wolfswinkel

10 Leroy Fer

11 Gary Hooper

12 Anthony Pilkington

13 Mark Bunn

14 Wes Hoolahan

15 Jonás Gutiérrez

16 Johan Elmander

17 Elliott Bennett

18 Javier Garrido

19 Luciano Becchio

20 Carlo Nash

22 Nathan Redmond

23 Martin Olsson

24 Ryan Bennett

25 David Fox

26 Joseph Yobo

27 Alexander Tettey

31 Josh Murphy

As of today for this season:

1 John Ruddy

2 Steven Whittaker

3 Andre Wisdom

5 Russell Martin

6 Sébastien Bassong

7 Lewis Grabban

8 Jonny Howson

10 Cameron Jerome

11 Gary Hooper

12 Robbie Brady

13 Declan Rudd

14 Wes Hoolahan

15 Harry Toffolo

17 Elliott Bennett

18 Graham Dorrans

22 Nathan Redmond

24 Ryan Bennett

27 Alexander Tettey

28 Gary O''Neil

#? Mbokani

#? Jarvis

Loans out this window: (eight)

Remi Matthews

Carlton Morris

Jacob Murphy

Josh Murphy

Michael Turner

Ricky van Wolfswinkel

VOO

Andreu

Released and sold this window: (eight/two)

Luciano Becchio

Mark Bunn

Kyle Callan-McFadden

Carlos Cuéllar

Javier Garrido

Sam Kelly

Ignasi Miquel

---------------------------------------

Cameron McGeehan

Bradders

Its been a pretty awful window, most of us agree on that. Is this team stronger or weaker than the relegated team of 2 seasons ago bearing in mind of players ability and expectation at the start of that 3rd straight season in the Prem? I think we have a weaker squad with less harmony, but a better manager now. If not for AN, I''d almost say we are nailed on for relegation. At least with him we have a hope, but I think the squad is much weaker with less quality. Thoughts?

[ricardo 8,034]

My confidence has all but drained away.

[Lewis DW 30]

The squad of two years ago has a more impressive attack.

The current squad looks thin and tactically predictable - no plan b

[nutty nigel 7,902]

This squad is better by far. Just look at the strikers!

[AmericanNorwichFan 0]

Only one I would take from the 13/14 squad would be Fer, but I don''t think he would fit in with Neil''s style

[ruthers1 0]

You missed one crucial point in your summary - our peers'' squads almost without exception are stronger now than what we were coming up against 2 years ago.

Even with AN at the helm we will have our work cut out staying up :(

[Beetley Yellow 57]

The squad strengths look similar to me, with the big thing (stating the obvious) being our defencive choices have not changed... And it wasn''t good enough back then! The problem is, taking it on a step, other clubs have spent and dramatically strengthened, with the likes of Bournemouth, Leicester etc making several £6m-£10m buys- there are no ''go with what we have'' clubs (e.g. like Burnley last season). Our failure to ''kick on'' (for whatever reason) is going to be a problem for us I fear.

[York Canary 29]

The manager, the coming of age of Redmond, Brady instead of Pilks and the acquisition of Mulumbu makes me happy.

The fact we haven''t particularly upgraded the defence, on the other hand, makes me very anxious. Also the lack of a clinical striker (I have a horrible feeling Mbokani won''t be as good as hoped.. I just cannot shake this)

[nutty nigel 7,902]

Of course what will clinch it in the long run is whether we have a better team than we did last time. I think so. But then I think if we''d had these strikers last time we''d have finished halfway.

 

 

[norfolkbroadslim 225]

Don''t forget we still have the January window to look forward to.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

We got some games to look forward to before that though ''slim.

 

We have good players at this club and we''ve added to it. I''m absolutely gutted to lose BJ but the move is probably right for him. Nobody seems to rate our players. Or the players we''ve brought in. But strangely so many rated RVW.

 

For me Hooper from first choice to third choice must be an improvement. Having Tettey, Mulumbu, Howson and dorans for centremid must be an improvement. Redders is a far better player than he was two years ago. Come on someone, hit me with some places the squad is weaker...

 

  

[sgncfc 1,330]

Like everyone else, I can''t believe we haven''t bought a centre back. We may well score more goals than two seasons ago, but we will let a lot more in too even without injuries.

What happens now if Bassong misses games - Martin and Bennett? They will get completely mullered.

We do now unquestionably have the weakest squad in the league - if AN pulls off a miracle to keep us up, he will deserve manager of the year.

[ruthers1 0]

"Come on someone, hit me with some places the squad is weaker"

I''ve got just the two for you Nigel, in defence and attack!

We haven''t improved anything at the back, and worse still our key personnel are now two years older. Even more significantly the forward lines they are up against this season are a lot stronger in quality than they were 2 years ago.

Then up front - Cameron Jerome has not been able to score goals at Premier League level in the past. This year for us he''s already missed a few easy chances and is on 0 from 4 currently. You may be right about Mbokani of course but like Jerome he is unproven at this level. Hooper at least managed to score 5 goals in the prem before (and under an incredibly negative manager) from memory so with question marks over the other two I''m not convinced how him moving from first to third choice in favour of two unproven strikers has strengthened us?

Everyone is comparing our squad now with that of two years ago but it''s not quite as simple as that. They''re failing to take into consideration the vast improvement of virtually every other squad over the same period of time.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

So you think RVW is better than these forwards. So you think Redmond two years ago is better than Redmond now. So you think Turner is better than Martin. And Garrido is better than Brady. I''ll be interested in your opening speech at The Andrews...

 

 

[Grant Holts Moustache 113]

It''s an interesting one because both squads have different strengths and weaknesses. 2013/14 was pretty weak on the wings, Redmond wasn''t ready to play as much as he had to that year and now is becoming a more consistently threatening player. Pilkington wasn''t ever quite a natural left winger but we had choices on the right side so he always ended up left, now we have a choice of Brady or Jarvis and that will give us more natural width and back up which we seriously lacked.

In the middle Tettey lacked competition and we know can''t play every game because he will have issues with his knees. We were crying out for a Fox type passer but he didn''t have enough of an all round game. This season we have got Mulumbu to compete with Tettey and Dorrans who can pass like Fox but offers more in the final third of the pitch. Fer would be very good to add to the current mix instead of O''Neil and would give us a different option as he was a very dynamic player when playing well.

Strikers, we look to have better options with players more suited to the teams style Jerome is an upgrade on Elmander, Grabban an upgrade on Van Wolfswinkel. Mbokani I will have to wait and see what he offers us as not seen him before but reports are good and I hope he can add goals. Hooper is a decent option when trying to get a goal and we will rely on a little less this time.

Defence is where we look lightest in comparison, the list of players is pretty much identical but Toffolo we are yet to see if he is ready for this level and Brady can be used to cover at left back but we looked stronger with a specialist in Garrido. Turner was a decent player to have as back up and after letting him go we really needed to sign a good quality replacement to look at improving the starting line up. Wisdom is meant to be a natural centre back and Elliott Bennett has been tried at right back so can be considered as options in those positions but would say the jury''s out.

To surmise the defence lacks depth in comparison to 13/14, midfield has a much stronger look out wide and in Redmond a potentially outstanding player, we have a better variety of options in the middle and strikers more suited to one up front.

We now just have to find a style that plays to our strengths, which looks to be through the midfield/ wingers and trying to attack. Should make for a much more exciting season than last time we were here.

[ruthers1 0]

"So you think RVW is better than these forwards"

No, but I did at this stage two years ago because he''d already scored a PL goal. You''re using hindsight - I''m comparing like for

like at the time in question.

"So you think Redmond two years ago is better than Redmond now".

No, he''s much better now - you asked me what areas were worse and I said defence and attack - not midfield.

"So you think Turner is better than Martin".

Yes I do.

"And Garrido is better than Brady."

There you go again Nigel getting confused. Brady is a midfielder - I said defence and attack - not midfield.

As you brought it up though Brady''s been slightly disappointing for me thus far, especially his dead ball delivery which has been generally poor. I''ll give him the benefit of the doubt though and wait until he reverts back to his rightful position on the left of the midfield.

See you at St Andrews Hall - I''d advise you to sit at the front or the back of the hall - but definitely not in the middle as you may get confused! Lol.

[Alejandra 0]

[quote user="SeattleCanary"]With the transfer window now shut, and some of the players having left we can properly reflect on what was deemed 2 years a go as the best squad to date. Despite keeping the nucleus of the squad together last summer, have we got a better squad this season than 2 seasons ago? I mean judging players on their merits and form at the time (for example its no good looking at Pilks now and saying he is too injury prone or not up to the Prem) as everything has to be relevant to the time period.

2013/2014 squad:

1 John Ruddy

2 Russell Martin (club captain)

3 Steven Whittaker

4 Bradley Johnson

5 Sébastien Bassong (captain)

6 Michael Turner

7 Robert Snodgrass

8 Jonny Howson

9 Ricky van Wolfswinkel

10 Leroy Fer

11 Gary Hooper

12 Anthony Pilkington

13 Mark Bunn

14 Wes Hoolahan

15 Jonás Gutiérrez

16 Johan Elmander

17 Elliott Bennett

18 Javier Garrido

19 Luciano Becchio

20 Carlo Nash

22 Nathan Redmond

23 Martin Olsson

24 Ryan Bennett

25 David Fox

26 Joseph Yobo

27 Alexander Tettey

31 Josh Murphy

As of today for this season:

1 John Ruddy

2 Steven Whittaker

3 Andre Wisdom

5 Russell Martin

6 Sébastien Bassong

7 Lewis Grabban

8 Jonny Howson

10 Cameron Jerome

11 Gary Hooper

12 Robbie Brady

13 Declan Rudd

14 Wes Hoolahan

15 Harry Toffolo

17 Elliott Bennett

18 Graham Dorrans

22 Nathan Redmond

24 Ryan Bennett

27 Alexander Tettey

28 Gary O''Neil

#? Mbokani

#? Jarvis

Loans out this window: (eight)

Remi Matthews

Carlton Morris

Jacob Murphy

Josh Murphy

Michael Turner

Ricky van Wolfswinkel

VOO

Andreu

Released and sold this window: (eight/two)

Luciano Becchio

Mark Bunn

Kyle Callan-McFadden

Carlos Cuéllar

Javier Garrido

Sam Kelly

Ignasi Miquel

---------------------------------------

Cameron McGeehan

Bradders

Its been a pretty awful window, most of us agree on that. Is this team stronger or weaker than the relegated team of 2 seasons ago bearing in mind of players ability and expectation at the start of that 3rd straight season in the Prem? I think we have a weaker squad with less harmony, but a better manager now. If not for AN, I''d almost say we are nailed on for relegation. At least with him we have a hope, but I think the squad is much weaker with less quality. Thoughts?[/quote]

Last time i checked Martin Olsson was still our player :)

[nutty nigel 7,902]

Well it strikes me thge problem you have is with the manager. You see Hughton also thought Turner was better than martin. But Neil obviously doesn''t.

 

If Olsson is injured then Brady plays there. If Olsson was injured Garrido played there.

 

How is the attack worse? Who is RVW better than? Or Becchio? Or Elmander?

 

There''s no way you''ll man up and get out from behind your keyboard to organise The Andrews. You aint got it in ya...

 

 

[Branston Pickle 4,150]

How anyone can compare this squad unfavourably to the one relegated is beyond me - the current squad is far stronger.

This window has been far from ''awful'' overall - we are stronger than we were before it - just look at the ''outs'' vs the ''ins''. it is defence where we needed more strength and have been found wanting.

[ruthers1 0]

"Well it strikes me thge problem you have is with the manager"

Wrong, actually I rate AN as the best manager we''ve ever had. It''s all about opinions on players and quite happy for yours & his to differ to mine on a couple.

I would front St Andrews if I thought there were enough fans up for a debate. I think it will take a few adverse results to get us to that stage though so not there yet but come Oct/Nov we may well be - looking at the fixtures to come.