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Ernie

16 Midfielders and counting!

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Just looked at the NCFC official players profiles and we have 14 midfielders listed! If you add Josh Murphy and Godfrey to that we have 16 plus some other youngsters potentially coming through. I think this is an area in general AN needs to improve in we seem to sign too many players of a likeness in all areas of the pitch hence his difficulty in selecting a settle side. It also makes it very difficult to keep everyone happy. Just too many choices, wood and the trees and all that. Likewise we list 5 CB''s including Martin, 6 strikers, 3 Keepers. That''s 14 players and in truth how many of them would you say are stand out even in this league? For me Klose, Bennett (only when played with alongside Klose), Jerome, Naismith (although the Jury''s still out, needs to really prove his worth this season) and to be honest if I was really pushed Ruddy just pips it for Keepers. Of course not everyone''s going to agree with me just my opinion, but even AN has said he prefers quality over quantity.

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Championship football is very much a squad game - and i''d expect that we''d need experienced cover for all positions. Next April, when exhaustion and injuries start to mount up - we''ll need those additional squad members.

As there are no squad limits in the Championship, my preference is a squad of around 29 (a full matchday squad of 11+7, plus another full 11 to cover all positions).

Also it''s pretty obvious that some of those midfielders are either for the future (e.g. Maddison) or may be leaving (e.g. Andreu, Vadis, Thompson, Mulumbu).

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I think Maddison is for now tbh- sure he won''t be starting every week but I''d be surprised if we loaned him out.

We need to offload a few of the central players- Andreu, Mulumbu and Vadis could all leave and I don''t think we''d need to sign a single replacement.

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[quote user="A Load of Squit"]Remember the days when we we''re skint and we had a ''paper thin squad''?

[/quote]

I remember the days when you could name your best 11 with maybe 1 or 2 differences of opinion plus 3 subs and struggle to name a squad of any more than 17/18 players!

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Logically you could argue that we want at least 2 players for each position/role, with maybe a 3rd or even 4th option to cover long-term injury/suspensions etc.DM: Tettey, Mulumbu, ThompsonCM: Howson, Dorrans, VadisAM: Wes, Maddison, Vadis, AndreuLW: Brady, Jarvis, Josh Murphy, Jacob Murphy, OlssonRW: Canos, Jacob Murphy, Jarvis, Josh MurphyNow there is a chance that Brady will be going, possibly Mulumbu and maybe even Vadis as well. Add onto this Andreu who just doesn''t seem at the right level tbh and you get this:DM: Tettey, ThompsonCM: Howson, DorransAM: Wes, MaddisonLW: Jarvis, Josh Murphy, Jacob Murphy, OlssonRW: Canos, Jacob Murphy, Jarvis, Josh MurphySo just 11 midfielders in reality, although there is a fair bit of inexperience in there when we get to the wings and in Wes'' usual position.I''d argue that 10-11 mids is the minimum we need for a long, hard champs season, so if we keep Vadis that''s back to 12 and maybe 1 more ''proven'' addition and I''d be pretty damn happy with those options.

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You''re missing Naismith from your AM''s there Indy.

If Mulumbu, Vadis, Andreu and Brady all leave I''d only think we needed to buy a winger to replace Brady.

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I don''t think Mulumbu will leave.

Partly due to needing better cover for Tettey''s inevitable injury than Thompson and partly due to it being unlikely anyone would want him.

The players the club really need shot of are Turner, Vadis, Andreu, Lafferty and sadly RvW. Dread to think of the amount of wages the club are sinking into that lot.

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Our squad so far, apologises if I miss anyone.

GK Ruddy, Rudd, McGovern

RB Ivan, Whittaker, Martin, poss Godfrey

CB Klose, Bennett, Bassong, Turner, Martin

LB Ollson, Toffolo, Whittaker, Brady

RM Canos, Josh Murphy, Jacob Murphy, Vadis

CM Howson, Dorrans, Vadis, McGrandles, Godfrey, Thompson, Tettey, Andreu, Mulumbo, Maddison, Hoolahan, Naismith

LM Brady, Jarvis, Josh Murphy, Jacob Murphy

F Jerome, RVW, Lafferty, Morris, Naismith, Josh Murphy

Being ruthless (yes I know it not''s going to happen) but personally the senior players that I deem are not good enough for the first 11 or even squad players I would move on/sell would be (and its a long list) Whittaker, Bassong (to many game changing mistakes), Turner (obvious one), Martin (borderline, ok cover CB, decent RB at Championship level), Andreu (obvious again), Mulumbu, Vadis (isn''t working out unfortunately), McGrandles (hasn''t exactly set the world on fire when on loan), RVW (enough said), Lafferty. There are others I feel are just treading water and will need to pull their fingers out this season to stay off my list! So I believe in a perfect world we still need 2 strikers, CB and if we loose Brady LM. I did also want a new Keeper and would have preferred someone who has something to prove, younger, rawer, poss lower league with potential but hey ho what do I know. AN knows what he''s doing................or does he?

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How can someone say Russ is a ''ok cover at centre back''. He played centre bac in our promotin season and was voted in the team of the season. No, he probably isn''t good enough to play centre back in the premier league, but in the Championship, he is one of the better defenders. As weak as our defence was last season, fo the championship, it looks like a very strong defence

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[quote user="Lynn Canary"]How can someone say Russ is a ''ok cover at centre back''. He played centre bac in our promotin season and was voted in the team of the season. No, he probably isn''t good enough to play centre back in the premier league, but in the Championship, he is one of the better defenders. As weak as our defence was last season, fo the championship, it looks like a very strong defence[/quote]

No offence but in the season we got promoted it wasn''t through having a strong defence it was more through out scoring the opposition. Regardless I still feel his best position is at right back not CB although he can play there. Hence the desperate need to strengthen at the back last summer which almost every Norwich fan could see, however we didn''t, nor did we improve up top, end result, relegation. If we had brought in the quality we needed like Klose in the summer we might still have avoided it.

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It is also forgotten that we had to bring Bassong back in to the fold due to our defence being shaky in the first half of the season. There is more to how well a defence plays than just looking at the ''goals conceeded'' column.

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We could lose a few midfielders without it being any hardship. Lets hope its the right ones.

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