- Feb 21, 2006
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With a few weeks to go until the start of the season I wanted to see how our 1st XI Is shaping up against the other top5. I know there will be more signings which may effect the below and also some players aren't in the right positions but the below is a rough guess based on each of the top 6's strongest XI's.
While other factors should obviously be considered such as how well these players work as a team, the strength of each manager and experience of each squad as well as the strength in depth it does give us a good indication of where we are perhaps a bit weak still.
Many of the other top teams have had years of spending big bucks and paying big wages to big name players who we couldn't attract or afford so hopefully our new strategy based on youth can do its best to bridge that quality gap in time without having to spend hundreds of millions.
Top6 1st XI Comparison:
GK:
Courtious 1
De Gea 2
Lloris 3
Hart 4
Cech 5
Mignolet 6
We compete well here and on their day the top 5 on this list are pretty similar.
RB:
Ivanovic 1
Zabaleta 2
Clyne 3
Monreal 4
Tripper 5
Darmian 6 * unknown in PL
Hard to call this one as Darmain is unknown and if Tripper steps up he could be a top top player but realistically we will be slightly lacking in this area vs say Clyne Ivanovic and Zabaleta for example.
CB pairings:
Terry & Cahill 1
Mertsrsacker & Koscielney 2
Vertongthen & Alderwield 3
Kompany & Mangala 4
Rojo & Smalling 5
Skrtel & Lovren 6
Again this is hard to predict but hopefully Jan and Toby can use their experience at Ajax and with Belgium to form a solid partnership, based on their experience together and attributes I would say we should compete well here and Toby was a very astute and much needed quality signing in this area.
LB:
Rose 1
Azpiliqueta 2
Shaw 3
Kolarov 4
Bellerin 5
Monreo 6
Some may disagree but I genuinely think we have the best LB in the league which considering some of the abuse Rose got a few seasons ago is a credit to him and Potch, for me none of the others mentioned were as consistent as him last year except perhaps Aspilelequeta or whatever his name is but arguably he had far less to do that Rose who for me was outstanding pretty much every game I saw.
CM1:
Fabregas 1
Ramsey 2
Toure 3
Bentaleb 4
Blind 5
Henderson 6
Don't think we compete too badly here as Bentaleb is young and is an incredible talent, Toure is ageing and only really Cesc and Ramsey would be firmly ahead of him for me. Hard to compare as all quite different players.
CM2:
Matic 1
Milner 2
Schniderlin 3
Fernandiniho 4
Coquelin 5
Mason 6
As much as I like Mason and think it's great to promote youth and that he had a fantastic break through season for me he is a level below the 5 above and this makes a huge difference. Imagine if we swapped him for Modric in this list we'd go from 6th to 1/2nd. So either we give Mason one more season to see if we can continue to improve OR we sign a CM of real quality which is what I hope we do and let Mason and Ali develop alongside this player and Bentaleb.
RWF:
Hazard 1
Sanchez 2
Sterling 3
Schweinstiger 4
Ferminiho 5
Lamela 6
This is where we really lack, and again it's a tale of 2 choices, do we let Lamela have another season as he does show a lot of promise especially towards the end of last season and hope he can score more goals and be more of a constant threat,if not we need to sign a new player in this position as we are way behind and it hurts us. We shall see, again Potchs call...
CAM:
Silva 1
Coutiniho 2
Eriksen 3
Ozil 4
Mata 5
Oscar 6
Some quality players here, if Eriksen was more consistent he'd be world class but apart from Silva Id not personally swap him for any of the others.
LWF:
Walcott 1
Navas 2
Depay 3
Chadli 4
Willian 5
Lallana 6
I'm not Chadlis biggest fan and never have been but he proves me wrong each season and most games he comes up with the goods + he's had a tough time off the field last year. He scored 10 goals and while he's MABYE not as exciting and pacey as some of the others here, he certainly offers a real threat and seems to pop up with goals at crucial times. Again could do with being more consistent but certainly making that LWF spot his own and no immediate need for us to improve here if he can keep up and even improve his current form.
ST:
Ageuro 1
Costa 2
Rooney 3
Sturridge 4
Kane 5
Giroud 6
Some may put Kane above Rooney and Sturridge based on last season but not for me. Both of them have proven themselves on a longer basis. IF and it's a fairly big if Kane can come close to his form last year and stay fit we'll have a great player on our hands and it's so sweet he's English and one of our own however I think as many people have pointed out he's not an unknown in his 2nd season so it'll be much tougher. For me we need to sell Soldado and Ade and bring in one striker of real quality and experience who will fight with Kane for the n.o1 spot but primarily will be used as a sub and in other competitions.
If he's happy with that Llorente would seem ideal and perhaps be someone Kane can actually learn from and continue his development with + if Kane goes off the boil or gets injured for any length of time which are both more than likely then it is imperative we have someone of real quality who can adequately fill his boots.
Overall ratings: (lowest is best)
Defence:
1st CHELSEA 5
2nd Tottenham 12
3rd Man.City 14
4th/5th Man.U / Arsenal 16
6th Liverpool 21
Some may disagree with this but on an individual basis I actually think with the new signings and keeping Lloris we compete very well here, but we shall see.
Midfield:
1st Man.City 13
2nd/3rd Chelsea/Arsenal 14
4th Man.U 20
5th Liverpool 21
6th Tottenham 23
CM and RWF let us down hugely here and either Mason and Lamela need to step up or we need to replace them otherwise this will cost us.
Strikers:
1st Man.City 1
2nd Chelsea 2
3rd Man.U 3
4th Liverpool 4
5th Tottenham 5
6th Arsenal 6
We need a back-up for Kane of real quality otherwise we're screwed.
OVERALL 1st XI:
1st: Chelsea 21
2nd: Man.City 28
3rd: Arsenal 36
4th: Tottenham 38
5th: Man.U 39
6th: Liverpool 46
So by my reckoning we have around the 4th strongest squad and if we address CM/RWF And back-up ST positions then with our current crop of talented youngsters I'm optimistic we will compete well this season.
I still anticipate we will come 5th but you never know and hopefully we can win a trophy this year!!
Thoughts on this? Agree/disagree? Where are our strengths and weaknesses and what other factors would you consider in how well we may compete this coming season.
COYS!!
While other factors should obviously be considered such as how well these players work as a team, the strength of each manager and experience of each squad as well as the strength in depth it does give us a good indication of where we are perhaps a bit weak still.
Many of the other top teams have had years of spending big bucks and paying big wages to big name players who we couldn't attract or afford so hopefully our new strategy based on youth can do its best to bridge that quality gap in time without having to spend hundreds of millions.
Top6 1st XI Comparison:
GK:
Courtious 1
De Gea 2
Lloris 3
Hart 4
Cech 5
Mignolet 6
We compete well here and on their day the top 5 on this list are pretty similar.
RB:
Ivanovic 1
Zabaleta 2
Clyne 3
Monreal 4
Tripper 5
Darmian 6 * unknown in PL
Hard to call this one as Darmain is unknown and if Tripper steps up he could be a top top player but realistically we will be slightly lacking in this area vs say Clyne Ivanovic and Zabaleta for example.
CB pairings:
Terry & Cahill 1
Mertsrsacker & Koscielney 2
Vertongthen & Alderwield 3
Kompany & Mangala 4
Rojo & Smalling 5
Skrtel & Lovren 6
Again this is hard to predict but hopefully Jan and Toby can use their experience at Ajax and with Belgium to form a solid partnership, based on their experience together and attributes I would say we should compete well here and Toby was a very astute and much needed quality signing in this area.
LB:
Rose 1
Azpiliqueta 2
Shaw 3
Kolarov 4
Bellerin 5
Monreo 6
Some may disagree but I genuinely think we have the best LB in the league which considering some of the abuse Rose got a few seasons ago is a credit to him and Potch, for me none of the others mentioned were as consistent as him last year except perhaps Aspilelequeta or whatever his name is but arguably he had far less to do that Rose who for me was outstanding pretty much every game I saw.
CM1:
Fabregas 1
Ramsey 2
Toure 3
Bentaleb 4
Blind 5
Henderson 6
Don't think we compete too badly here as Bentaleb is young and is an incredible talent, Toure is ageing and only really Cesc and Ramsey would be firmly ahead of him for me. Hard to compare as all quite different players.
CM2:
Matic 1
Milner 2
Schniderlin 3
Fernandiniho 4
Coquelin 5
Mason 6
As much as I like Mason and think it's great to promote youth and that he had a fantastic break through season for me he is a level below the 5 above and this makes a huge difference. Imagine if we swapped him for Modric in this list we'd go from 6th to 1/2nd. So either we give Mason one more season to see if we can continue to improve OR we sign a CM of real quality which is what I hope we do and let Mason and Ali develop alongside this player and Bentaleb.
RWF:
Hazard 1
Sanchez 2
Sterling 3
Schweinstiger 4
Ferminiho 5
Lamela 6
This is where we really lack, and again it's a tale of 2 choices, do we let Lamela have another season as he does show a lot of promise especially towards the end of last season and hope he can score more goals and be more of a constant threat,if not we need to sign a new player in this position as we are way behind and it hurts us. We shall see, again Potchs call...
CAM:
Silva 1
Coutiniho 2
Eriksen 3
Ozil 4
Mata 5
Oscar 6
Some quality players here, if Eriksen was more consistent he'd be world class but apart from Silva Id not personally swap him for any of the others.
LWF:
Walcott 1
Navas 2
Depay 3
Chadli 4
Willian 5
Lallana 6
I'm not Chadlis biggest fan and never have been but he proves me wrong each season and most games he comes up with the goods + he's had a tough time off the field last year. He scored 10 goals and while he's MABYE not as exciting and pacey as some of the others here, he certainly offers a real threat and seems to pop up with goals at crucial times. Again could do with being more consistent but certainly making that LWF spot his own and no immediate need for us to improve here if he can keep up and even improve his current form.
ST:
Ageuro 1
Costa 2
Rooney 3
Sturridge 4
Kane 5
Giroud 6
Some may put Kane above Rooney and Sturridge based on last season but not for me. Both of them have proven themselves on a longer basis. IF and it's a fairly big if Kane can come close to his form last year and stay fit we'll have a great player on our hands and it's so sweet he's English and one of our own however I think as many people have pointed out he's not an unknown in his 2nd season so it'll be much tougher. For me we need to sell Soldado and Ade and bring in one striker of real quality and experience who will fight with Kane for the n.o1 spot but primarily will be used as a sub and in other competitions.
If he's happy with that Llorente would seem ideal and perhaps be someone Kane can actually learn from and continue his development with + if Kane goes off the boil or gets injured for any length of time which are both more than likely then it is imperative we have someone of real quality who can adequately fill his boots.
Overall ratings: (lowest is best)
Defence:
1st CHELSEA 5
2nd Tottenham 12
3rd Man.City 14
4th/5th Man.U / Arsenal 16
6th Liverpool 21
Some may disagree with this but on an individual basis I actually think with the new signings and keeping Lloris we compete very well here, but we shall see.
Midfield:
1st Man.City 13
2nd/3rd Chelsea/Arsenal 14
4th Man.U 20
5th Liverpool 21
6th Tottenham 23
CM and RWF let us down hugely here and either Mason and Lamela need to step up or we need to replace them otherwise this will cost us.
Strikers:
1st Man.City 1
2nd Chelsea 2
3rd Man.U 3
4th Liverpool 4
5th Tottenham 5
6th Arsenal 6
We need a back-up for Kane of real quality otherwise we're screwed.
OVERALL 1st XI:
1st: Chelsea 21
2nd: Man.City 28
3rd: Arsenal 36
4th: Tottenham 38
5th: Man.U 39
6th: Liverpool 46
So by my reckoning we have around the 4th strongest squad and if we address CM/RWF And back-up ST positions then with our current crop of talented youngsters I'm optimistic we will compete well this season.
I still anticipate we will come 5th but you never know and hopefully we can win a trophy this year!!
Thoughts on this? Agree/disagree? Where are our strengths and weaknesses and what other factors would you consider in how well we may compete this coming season.
COYS!!