Remember the squad before Levy/ENIC took over....

[Adam456]

Originally posted this at the end of another thread late Monday night. Since we've had another few anti-Levy/Enic threads over last 48hrs......

Just cast you mind back to the squad we had before ENIC took over.

Ian Walker
Neil Sullivan
Taricco
King (hardly played a game at that point)
Scumball
Perry
Thatcher
Carr
Young
Thelwell
Doherty
Poyet
Etherington
S Davies
S Clemence
Sherwood
Freund
Korsten
Leonhardsen
Piecy
Fenn
Rebrov
Anderton
Armstrong
L Ferdinand
Iverson
McEwen

How many of them were/are really any good and where are they now? Scumball, Poyet, Anderton, Sir Les, and, of course, King but the rest distinctly average

...and who would you put in the company of these 5 now ? Well Gomes, King, Woodgate, Hutton, Bale, Modric, Jenas, Bentley, Bent, Lennon, Dos Santos, Hudd, Zakora, Berbatov/replacement, Pavluchenko ?

Well you can debate these but clearly there are 2 to 3 times more and average age is much lower.

How have they managed this transformation ? By wheeling and dealing. Buying young and cheap and selling old and high. And we'll have to keep doing that until we're in the CL. Yes they've made a couple of mistakes but FFS compared to where we were...

 

[Defsta]

Freund would be needed now

 

[t7ny]

I think the biggest assessment of the value and depth of our squad is if you look at adding a player, what value of player would you have to buy to improve that squad?

In defence it would take a player of £10m+ to improve it, in midfield a player of £15m+ and the same amount up front which is probably considered our weakest position.

How many teams in the EPL can say that? ManUre, L'Arse adn the Chel$ki probably. Even though Liverpool have Torres and Gerard they've just bought a £5.5m left winger who never really impressed at his time at Man City.

It's worth thinking about.

 

[Kyras]

Freund would be needed now

I always think about having Freund now, but I can't really think whether that's because I'm looking through my lilywhite tainted specs or not, as I, as most, loved him, mainly for his attitude and tenacity, but I don't know whether he would do such a good job for us now, or whether he'd disrupt our play too much.

 

[joey55]

Ignoring the whole Enic/Levy angle, when you look at that squad and compare it's strength relative to our rivals at the time, we really did under achieve in those days. We were always finishing between 9th and 14th, when we should have been challenging for a UEFA spot.

Also, I'm not sure that is the squad before Enic took over. Enic appointed Hoddle and he bought Poyet.

 

[gibbs131]

------------Ferdinand----Rebrov-------------

Etherington--Poyet----Freund-----Anderton

Thatcher----King------Campbell--------Carr

--------------------Sullivan------------------

Every bit as good/bad as our current team.

And cost relatively half of what Levy/DC have shelled out.

 

[idlepete]

Yeah, Joey's right, Poyet shouldn't be in there.

 

[yiddobrett]

Gus should get his boots back on. He was classy is just about every department, even at his age.

Carr, Taricco, Davies and Anderton would be the only ones close to the fringes of our current team I think. Judas doesn't count.

They were dark days.

 

[Greavesy]

I always think about having Freund now, but I can't really think whether that's because I'm looking through my lilywhite tainted specs or not, as I, as most, loved him, mainly for his attitude and tenacity, but I don't know whether he would do such a good job for us now, or whether he'd disrupt our play too much.

I think people wanting Freund back do have a serious case of lilywhite tainted specs. Even Zokora, who no one on here seems to rate, is a big upgrade on Freund. There would've been a lot of 'Freund is sh*te' threads on here if this place existed in those days.

Don't get me wrong though, loved is attitude and tenacity and he did a great job for us in those dark days. Wish he could've scored for us though. Maybe Zokora will to make up for it!

 

[Greavesy]

------------Ferdinand----Rebrov-------------

Etherington--Poyet----Freund-----Anderton

Thatcher----King------Campbell--------Carr

--------------------Sullivan------------------

Every bit as good/bad as our current team.

And cost relatively half of what Levy/DC have shelled out.

Not sure if you're joking or not. Probably just hoping to provoke a reaction. If you can honestly say that the majority of those players are better than our starting 11 now you are going a bit loco :duh:

If I could be arsed I'd go through player by player but that would be a waste of time.

Even if the 11 were comparable, which they're not, we probably have two teams from our squad capable of beating those lot.

 

[Adam456]

Ignoring the whole Enic/Levy angle, when you look at that squad and compare it's strength relative to our rivals at the time, we really did under achieve in those days. We were always finishing between 9th and 14th, when we should have been challenging for a UEFA spot.

Also, I'm not sure that is the squad before Enic took over. Enic appointed Hoddle and he bought Poyet.

You're right

www.zanziball.it/en/28/2646.html

I took it from this site and I think there's a footnote about Poyet joining mid-year (although I can't get on to the site from work)

 

[Adam456]

------------Ferdinand----Rebrov-------------

Etherington--Poyet----Freund-----Anderton

Thatcher----King------Campbell--------Carr

--------------------Sullivan------------------

Every bit as good/bad as our current team.

And cost relatively half of what Levy/DC have shelled out.

No way - even at first glance that's nuts but also:

1. Poyet not actually signed until after as pointed out by others and noted in my last post

2. Was literally King's first few appearances as a 18/19 year-old then. Although we know he turned out to be world class his equivalent to then would prob be Dawson now (or maybe less)

3. I'm talking about squad not first 11

 

[Blue_Mauvey]

We have a very talented and promising squad of players now. Pav is going to be a goalscoring phenomenon who's tally will make (for those who insist on the comparison) Berba's look pedestrian.

Shit, I've done gone and did a prediction.

 

[SpurSince57]

No way - even at first glance that's nuts but also:

1. Poyet not actually signed until after as pointed out by others and noted in my last post

2. Was literally King's first few appearances as a 18/19 year-old then. Although we know he turned out to be world class his equivalent to then would prob be Dawson now (or maybe less)

3. I'm talking about squad not first 11

It is Gibberishy. You have to make allowances.

 

[Chimbo!]

------------Ferdinand----Rebrov-------------

Etherington--Poyet----Freund-----Anderton

Thatcher----King------Campbell--------Carr

--------------------Sullivan------------------

Every bit as good/bad as our current team.

And cost relatively half of what Levy/DC have shelled out.

Whether you are joking or not its fun to do a comparison:
Sullivan Gomes
Carr Hutton
Thatcher Bale
King King
Campbell Woodgate
Freund Zokora/ Jenas
Poyet Modric/ Jenas
Anderton Bentley
Etherington GDS
Ferdinand Pavlyuchenko
Rebrov Bent

1-7. Its no contest.

 

[Has1978]

Whether you are joking or not its fun to do a comparison:
Sullivan Gomes
Carr Hutton
Thatcher Bale
King King
Campbell Woodgate
Freund Zokora/ Jenas
Poyet Modric/ Jenas
Anderton Bentley
Etherington GDS
Ferdinand Pavlyuchenko
Rebrov Bent

1-7. Its no contest.

0-8 King now is somewhat better than King then. And I loved Fruend but I don't think he was better than Jenas is now.

 

[Bronno]

Carr at his peak was better than Hutton, as was Anderton over Bentley when he was fit.

But I agree our current squad is a vast improvement over what it was then. Though I suspect so are most of the Premiership sides.

 

[norflondon]

Whether you are joking or not its fun to do a comparison:
Sullivan Gomes
Carr Hutton
Thatcher Bale
King King
Campbell Woodgate
Freund Zokora/ Jenas
Poyet Modric/ Jenas
Anderton Bentley
Etherington GDS
Ferdinand Pavlyuchenko
Rebrov Bent

1-7. Its no contest.

Carr, in his time at Spurs, was quality. I rate Hutton highly, but remember how gutted we all were when he left? Even stevens for me there.

I also think Anderton/Bentley is pretty even. Again, before the Sicknote tag he was an England regular, and continued to be picked on the rare occassion he was fit later on.

On the flip side, Zokora is clearly better than Freund and I'll give Pav the benefit of the doubt, as Ferdinand was a proven scorer in the PL.

Today's squad is definitley an improvement, though 6-0 as I've got it above is probably generous.

 

[Chimbo!]

0-8 King now is somewhat better than King then. And I loved Fruend but I don't think he was better than Jenas is now.

It was difficult to make a comparison because weve been playing a 4-5-1 recently and we do not know Ramos's favoured 4-4-2 line-up. The comparision was more zokora against Freund but you're right JJ is definately better then freund and imo any of those midfielders, as is modric and Bentley is better then Anderton when we are comparing him to that particular year.

 

[gibbs131]

Not sure if you're joking or not. Probably just hoping to provoke a reaction. If you can honestly say that the majority of those players are better than our starting 11 now you are going a bit loco :duh:

If I could be arsed I'd go through player by player but that would be a waste of time.

Even if the 11 were comparable, which they're not, we probably have two teams from our squad capable of beating those lot.

Lol. Okay. I am sure the team I listed could not get one point in three games like our current one.

And I didn't say they were better by the way.