How big is our squad? ....

[MR_BEN]

How many players did we register in January for our 25man squad?

I'm constantly reading on here that Harry is at fault for loaning out so many players in January, but I fail to see that it makes a grea deal of difference UNLESS we have a load of free spaces in our 25 man allowance.

We have been unfortunate with injuries in key positions, but I honestly do not believe the players we have loaned out would have changed that. Our problem isn't the players we loaned out who frankly aren't good enough to be in our squad.

Who would have known that Kaboul and Dawson would both get injured - we had 5 centre backs in January. Yep - we need cover on the wings - but the players we sent out on loan aren't that cover.

How many games honestly would Corluka have got instead of Walker? Maybe 1 or 2 max.

I fear a lot of you are barking up the wrong tree.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

We could have kept Townsend who would have been cover for the wing and wouldn't have counted as a spot in the 25. Pienaar too could have played on the wing or centrally and provided some decent cover but we loaned him and registered Bentley instead. I think the centre back one is more understandable because Bassong was 5th choice and very unsettled and as you said nobody could have predicted at that point that both Dawson and Kaboul would go down with season ending injuries so we added Nelsen as cover and let Bassong go. Caulker would probably be in our side now but he is on a season long loan which has been great for his development, so I have no qualms with that one either.

Huddlestone, Dos Santos, Bentley, Khumalo and Dawkins are all registered but of little use, so we are effectively at 20 players including 3 keepers.

Corluka, Pienaar and Townsend would have been more use to us I am sure.

 

[MR_BEN]

I didn't realise we had khumalo registered.

I agree Pienaar, Corluka and Townsend would have been better additions than the others you listed BUT - would Harry have given them game time? I really don't think he would have. Possibly Pienaar at a push when Lennon was injured.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

It depends. I think Corluka would have seen time for sure with the defensive injuries we've had. Townsend probably wouldn't have started many games but he could have been a great impact sub when we have struggled in games.

The registered list from Feb 1. is here, page 39:

http://www.premierleague.com/conten...ons/squad-lists/squad-lists-february-2012.pdf

 

[Singayid]

Look at the number on that list which are home grown & may not be with us next season (including Bale) - could be very tight

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Look at the number on that list which are home grown & may not be with us next season (including Bale) - could be very tight

Shouldn't be really. Walker will count next season and we could have Naughton back as an extra defender too. If we have 8 and someone wants to sign Bale his value goes up by about £10m or so simply because of the cost it would take to sign another homegrown player. Obviously we would have Caulker who we could include in the list if we needed to add one to make up the numbers. It would take a spot of the 25 which is unneccessary because of his age but when you consider the deadwood we have in the 25 now it isn't much of an issue. Oh and there is JJ too

 

[brasil_spur]

I would hope that next season our home grown contingent consists of:

Walker, Caulker, Lennon, Parker, Bale, Huddlestone, Livermore & Dawson.

We also have: Townsend, Rose & Naughton - any one of which could be brought into the squad if needed.

I've left King and Defoe out as i truly think that King needs to retire and Defoe needs to find new pastures.

Out of the 17 remaining squad places we lose 3 straight away to keepers. So we've 14 places to fill.

Kaboul, Ekotto, Sandro, Modric & VdV are the only players i can think of that we need to keep and Ade if we can do a deal with City that makes sense financially for us.

That then means we have 9 places to fill up, some of which no doubt will be made of up of our current players and some will be new signings.

Assuming we have Dawson, Kaboul & Caulker all fit for next season then we realistically need 1 new CB - Vertongen would be ideal.

We need cover at RB, which could realistically be Naughton.
We need cover at LB, which if no-one suitable is easily found could be Rose.

We need a player that can play out wide in competition for Lennon and as part of a 4-3-3 formation (Lennon very much a 4-4-2 player) - Hazard would be ideal, or perhaps Remy.

Assuming we keep Modric then our central midfield squad of: Parker, Sandro, Modric, Huddlestone & Livermore is very good, so no signings needed there.

On the left we have Bale but could do with a back-up option, i'm not sure Townsend, Kranjcar or Pienaar are made for that role but it might be hard to sell both those last two, in which case either we sign someone new if we can or we stick with one of them (not a preferred option).

Then up front, assuming we work a deal for Ade i think we only need 1 more striker, we can perhaps keep Saha as an emergency back-up player, but with VdV technically occupying a striker type role, Ade + one more striker is all we need - ideally for me it would Leandro, but there are quite a few others out there that would be good signings and cheaper.

 

[JimmyG2]

Corluka can play centre half which might have helped nurse Gallas and Ledley through the closing stages.
I would have kept Townsend who has shown he can play at this level.

Doesn't really matter though. If you only play the same 15 players until they drop
then a squad of 200 wouldn't make any difference.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

I would hope that next season our home grown contingent consists of:

Walker, Caulker, Lennon, Parker, Bale, Huddlestone, Livermore & Dawson.

We also have: Townsend, Rose & Naughton - any one of which could be brought into the squad if needed.

Caulker will still be U21 and wouldn't need to be registered so it is likely that Naughton and/or Rose would be included in the squad giving us effectively an extra player.

Corluka can play centre half which might have helped nurse Gallas and Ledley through the closing stages.
I would have kept Townsend who has shown he can play at this level.

Doesn't really matter though. If you only play the same 15 players until they drop
then a squad of 200 wouldn't make any difference.

Yes and no. I think that it's difficult to say whether Harry would have used those players if they had been available. If you look back to the season we finished 4th in 09/10 in the second half of the season there were some cameo's and even major roles played by players who weren't really involved in the first half of the season. It might have been a similar situation this season but in many of the difference making positions we haven't had another option.

 

[brasil_spur]

Caulker will still be U21 and wouldn't need to be registered so it is likely that Naughton and/or Rose would be included in the squad giving us effectively an extra player.

True, although that's also assuming that we don't keep Defoe (which might happen) or that we don't sign a home grown eligible player.