Salopian 1 Posted December 29, 2008 We know the quality of some of the players, such as Hoolahan (who gave us the run around when playing for Blackpool, but perhaps we were not very good), Bell (who played well for Luton, but not outstandingly at Leicester), Russell ( who was important to Stoke for a season or two), Marshall who saved a penalty and Lita ( a prospect who may develop). Clingan seems to be highly regarded by many clubs, Croft was a young England player, but we signed him cheaply.For the rest, - Bretrand and Omuszi are young and prone to be inconsistent.Otsemobor we realised upon arrival was quick but not good defensively, while Fozzy had not made the grade in Europe. Pattison was a complete unknown. Sibierski had scored some good goals but was not a prolific scorer, and Lupoli had been excellent at Arsenal among the youth but had not done much since. Doherty can be a blunt defender/stopper, but is lost against pace and gets out of position.The above usually provide the present squad, with Nelson as reserve keeper.How many of these are consistent matchwinners? At best I would say only only Clingan. On his day Hoolahan still seems to have something, but has so many anonymous days. Marshall is inconsistent. The rest are a set of useful players but hardly match winners.If this is the case then we lack class to snatch goals and win games we do not deserve, and we lack defenders who will resolutely scramble a draw.We have played well once or twice, when everybody has played to the best of his ability, but all too often one or two players have made mistakes which have cost us.Looking down my list above, I do not think that we have a very good squad, and it may be that our present position is a fair reflection of this. GR may be right, that the squad is much better than last year''s, but it seems to me that we need one or two very good players if we are to rise up the Championship in any meaningful way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZLF 261 Posted December 29, 2008 How do we know we are under performing? Because we can compete and beat the best teams in this league - but cant beat those near the bottom. That alone shows that these players do have the ability to produce the game as a team when it suits them. What they seem to be lacking is the drive or awareness of the importance to them and the club in delivering that each week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thecanaryfan 0 Posted December 29, 2008 Very true. A sad fact of football is that match winners cost money. Our entire squad is built of 2nd rate talent for this league. We already know this because Roeder wasnt given any money to build his squad. That money has been spent on land, on ground, things that are designed to produce revenue for the club. But not on the squad, because the squad isnt guaranteed profits. Where this revenue goes is anyones guess because I havent seen a bloody penny of it spent on the squad for a long time. Its been a wasted excercise that has cost the squad and the more importantly the fans dearly and denied any progress on the field. In reality, there are no outstanding players in our squad. Only Lita has true quality but then again how many times does he get caught offside? An outstanding player knows how to turn performances into three points. We dont have any of them because they cant win as a team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites