Small squad...

[Juggy 0]

We find ourselves in a spot of bother don''t we....

... whatever the reasons for that (bad luck, or fitness coaching/instruction issues, etc).

It is well worth pointing out that we have a very small squad. There are plenty of teams who make full use of the 25 player limit + have numerous under 21''s of decent ability at their disposal.

We have a squad of 22 I believe, and 2 decent under 21''s who are being exposed to the first team.

One of those 22 players was long term crocked long before the window closed.

Is this lack of depth a failure by the club? Is McNally being tight? Has Hughton chosen to work with a small squad?

We had the same problem in 2004/05, a very small squad which led to full backs being played in centre midfield, the very inexperienced Shackell having to be played at centre back, and at one point a centre back being used up front.

We appear to be down to bare bones. The winger situation is particularly alarming, we had time to bring somebody in to replace Bennett.

It''s a problem. Our injuries can probably be put down to bad luck, but any struggle to deal with those injury problems cannot be. We haven''t protected ourselves against an injury crisis as well as many other teams have.

The club or somebody at the club has to surely shoulder the blame for that... Lambert had a bigger squad, by the way.

Even Surman would look a decent option on the bench right now.

[city4eva 207]

I was with you until the last line.

I liked Surman but he wouldn''t be a good option, he cant even get in the Bournemouth side

[HampsteadCanary 0]

Surman was a part of some of our best football in the first season, such as the Swansea and Wolves games. And who would rather have Fox than Johnson in the middle at the moment!? I think Fer Howson and Fox have enough good attributes between them to boss a poor Crystal Palace team. This was supposed to be the squad with the most depth that we''ve had for years, now its being tested to its limits and coming up short. Any way, we''ll see a return to 442 against Palace, with Elmander and Hooper upfront, and we''ll probably see Redmond on the left, Johnson and Fer in the middle and Howson played wide right like that joke of a line-up we saw against Hull.

[Juggy 0]

Well I''d rather have Fox circa 2011/12 over Johnson, but Fox now is a shadow of that player after hardly playing for 18 months.

I don''t think you can get away with that and then perform at this level, Hughton has wrecked him, like he will have wrecked Becchio.

The failure to rotate players causes us unnecessary hardship.

People can try and argue that people like Fox and Becchio just aren''t good enough, but Becchio scored 19 goals in half a season in the Championship - Holt and Morison have 3 goals between them with a month to go until the halfway point.

But who can argue that Whittaker is just as good if not better than Russell Martin? What is the excuse for not rotating those players?

At this rate unless Martin gets injured we will see Whittaker become deadwood too.

I think deadwood is created, players don''t just become less talented or capable overnight - they lose their motivation and enjoyment of the game. Fox said he needed to go and enjoy himself again too.

We saw it last season, failure to rotate.

Hoolahan may be spared the same fat that fell on Fox due to this injury crisis, he will probably get some football now - but he was very close to being cast onto that same scrapheap.

[Juggy 0]

It would be interesting to see who a new manager decides is worthy of another try.

Perhaps a new manager would want to give people like Fox, Becchio and Ayala an opportunity.

I don''t rate Ayala though, Lamberts worst permanent signing - looks like a headless chicken on the best of days.

[Salopian 1]

The squad gets smaller with injuries, of course - the loss of Bennett and Tettey for months, and perhaps Pilks or Snodgrass. It gets smaller still when important players are off form - what''s happened to Bassong?

 

I think that the point made about banks of very good U21 players on the books is a good one. Last week our U21s were beaten by opposition who included at least three eligible players who had Premiership experience. The big boys are scouring the world for promising youngsters, and producing young players who are very little short of Premiership quality at a young age.

 

Our problem is that we have few players who could not be replaced by much better players, if we had the money. We had hopes of RvW and Hooper, but currently all except Fer would struggle to get into one of the top sides.

[Sussexyellow 55]

[quote user="Le Juge"]Well I''d rather have Fox circa 2011/12 over Johnson, but Fox now is a shadow of that player after hardly playing for 18 months.

I don''t think you can get away with that and then perform at this level, Hughton has wrecked him, like he will have wrecked Becchio.

The failure to rotate players causes us unnecessary hardship.

People can try and argue that people like Fox and Becchio just aren''t good enough, but Becchio scored 19 goals in half a season in the Championship - Holt and Morison have 3 goals between them with a month to go until the halfway point.

But who can argue that Whittaker is just as good if not better than Russell Martin? What is the excuse for not rotating those players?

At this rate unless Martin gets injured we will see Whittaker become deadwood too.

I think deadwood is created, players don''t just become less talented or capable overnight - they lose their motivation and enjoyment of the game. Fox said he needed to go and enjoy himself again too.

We saw it last season, failure to rotate.

Hoolahan may be spared the same fat that fell on Fox due to this injury crisis, he will probably get some football now - but he was very close to being cast onto that same scrapheap.[/quote]

Agree, and it is a double whammy - not only do we have players that fall off of match speed and become increasingly less likely to make an impact if called upon, but failure to rest players increases the risk of injury to those starting every week.