13 hours ago, Zeta Orionis said:

I've always thought you should have 3 players who can cover each position. 2 experienced, first team players, and 1 young prospect who can be given the odd game here and there.

 

GK: Courtois, Begovic, ???   Eduardo

Hardly a young prospect at the age of 33 but he's there as our number 3 keeper. 

 

 

I think the squad is deffo good enough to compete my only thing is, I'm hoping RLC and Aina get a good amount of game time too, help their development and fight for their first team place. 

If anyone wants to make a comparison here are 25 of Man Utd's finest ..

 

GK

De Gea

Romero

Johnstone

 

FB

Shaw

Darmian

Rojo

Valencia

 

CB

Bailly

Blind

Smalling

Jones

 

CM

Carrick

Schneiderlin

Fellaini

Pogba

Herrera

 

AM

Depay

Lingard

Mata

Young

Mkhitaryan

 

CF

Rooney

Ibrahimovic

Martial

Rashford

United have a very strong spine but a few injuries to guys like Pogba, Zlatan, De Gea and Bailly then I can see them struggling.

City's squad is interesting, 23 players plus Jesus who joins in Jan, unless there are youngsters I'm unaware of. Guardiola has Kolarov playing CB so they seem okay for numbers in defence, they're stacked for attacking midfielders and they currently have only 2 strikers.

 

Very strong squad but they better hope nothing happens to Aguero ..

 

GK

Bravo

Caballero

Gunn

 

FB

Sagna

Zabaleta

Glichy

Kolarov

 

CB

Kompany

Otamendi

Stones

 

CM

Fernando

Gundogan

Fernandinho

Toure

Delph

 

AM

Sterling

Silva

Nolito

De Bruyne

Navas

Sane

 

CF

Aguero

Iheanacho

Jesus (doesn't join till Jan)

Based on squad's alone, City should walk the title this year.

Dont think City or Uniteds squads are anything special, especially City who are an Aguero injury away from being in big trouble

1 minute ago, pacquiao said:

Dont think City or Uniteds squads are anything special, especially City who are an Aguero injury away from being in big trouble

Could say the same with us with Costa tbh.

 

4 minutes ago, Zeta Orionis said:

Based on squad's alone, City should walk the title this year.

We usually say that every season these days. 

Difference is they now have a very good manager in place who is used to winning leagues.

Will be an intriguing season.

1 minute ago, Chelsbear said:

Could say the same with us with Costa tbh.

 

I think Batshuayi looks good enough to lead the line for us, in the absence of Costa, Iheanacho looks a decent talent, but i dont think he would be good enough to lead the line for City on a regular basis, If Costa if out for us we still have the best player in the league in our team, with Aguero out for City i think they become a lot easier for teams to park the bus against them successfully.

We are also reliant on Hazard don't forget, he gets injured and that's any title hopes we have up in smoke. I would say City's squad is the strongest, but I don't think our squad is too far behind theirs and Utd's when I compare them. We have an advantage in that we don't have any European football don't forget. We have more depth than we've had in ages yet we get to play less games. Sadly it looks like City have bought two great youngsters in Jesus and Sane, but whether they make an impact this season remains to be seen.

1 minute ago, pacquiao said:

I think Batshuayi looks good enough to lead the line for us, in the absence of Costa, Iheanacho looks a decent talent, but i dont think he would be good enough to lead the line for City on a regular basis, If Costa if out for us we still have the best player in the league in our team, with Aguero out for City i think they become a lot easier for teams to park the bus against them successfully.

To be fair to Iheanacho he too has impressed whenever played in the EPL just like Batshuayi so I don't really see one being overwhelmingly better than the other at this stage.

The fact we both have only 2 out and out top team strikers shows that should one of them suffer an injury we could be in trouble.

8 minutes ago, Chelsbear said:

To be fair to Iheanacho he too has impressed whenever played in the EPL just like Batshuayi so I don't really see one being overwhelmingly better than the other at this stage.

The fact we both have only 2 out and out top team strikers shows that should one of them suffer an injury we could be in trouble.

Batshuayi has proven himself at Marseille, he has shown he can handle the pressure and responsibility of leading the line at a big club. 

Michy has had a few full seasons of playing regularly under his belt, so that places him in a better position (in theory) to lead the line with more competence and consistency than Iheanacho.

From what I've seen so far, I honestly don't think Costa will be as badly missed as we think if Batshuayi was to deputise for him. He seems to have a better all-round game than Costa, who, apart from his superior finishing and big-game experience is hardly miles ahead.

If both are out, then you have a serious problem.

Edited September 2, 20169 yr by Kante Conte

1 hour ago, Davey Baby said:

We are also reliant on Hazard don't forget, he gets injured and that's any title hopes we have up in smoke. I would say City's squad is the strongest, but I don't think our squad is too far behind theirs and Utd's when I compare them. We have an advantage in that we don't have any European football don't forget. We have more depth than we've had in ages yet we get to play less games. Sadly it looks like City have bought two great youngsters in Jesus and Sane, but whether they make an impact this season remains to be seen.

If Hazard is ever out for a long length of time then that would be the perfect time to switch to a 3-5-2 Azpilicueta - Zouma - Luiz at CB Willian and Alonso as wingbacks, Kante, Matic and Oscar/Cesc in midfield and Costa and Batshuayi up front.

Edited September 2, 20169 yr by pacquiao

Tbh I don't think any of the big clubs have particularly Stellar squads at this moment.

I think our biggest hindrance will be the goals of for some reason the likes of Costa or Hazard drop form/injury/toys out of pram etc. Batshuay has looked good but we re only a few games in. 

He has impressed me with how he has seemed to slip nicely into the team.snd English football so far though.

I think we should be battling for a top 3-4 finish. 

None of the Manchester teams look like strong squads at European level, in comparison with R Madrid, Barsa or Bayern, but they have some of the best coaches, and their lies their strength. We don't look on paper a worse team (hoping the last signings perform) and we have a great tactician as coach, so I expect a good challenge to the title. To be honest, either Spuds, leArse or Liverpool haven't got either bad teams, but they have worse coaches in my opinion. I think this season is going to be competed between the usual teams, and we have a good chance to get into the CL at least.

not being in the CL gives us a good advantage and we have a manager in conte who will be thinking of one thing only and that is winning the PL. we have the experience in the squad to win it and a coach more than capable of installing the belief. I will be surprised if we are not there a bouts.

34 minutes ago, RMH said:

None of the Manchester teams look like strong squads at European level, in comparison with R Madrid, Barsa or Bayern, but they have some of the best coaches, and their lies their strength. We don't look on paper a worse team (hoping the last signings perform) and we have a great tactician as coach, so I expect a good challenge to the title. To be honest, either Spuds, leArse or Liverpool haven't got either bad teams, but they have worse coaches in my opinion. I think this season is going to be competed between the usual teams, and we have a good chance to get into the CL at least.

 

I think City's and Utd's squads are probably the strongest, that's why I posted them, but I'm not discounting those other sides, as we all saw last season what can happen. I also think you might be underestimating Klopp's managerial ability. Hope I'm wrong but he looks a good'un to me.

30 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 

I think City's and Utd's squads are probably the strongest, that's why I posted them, but I'm not discounting those other sides, as we all saw last season what can happen. I also think you might be underestimating Klopp's managerial ability. Hope I'm wrong but he looks a good'un to me.

I think that City has a stronger AM but don't rate its CM and defense as better than ours. Also, ManUtd hasn't got any lineup that strikes me as superior to ours, except maybe it's CM with Herrera and Pogba, but I don't think they are better than ours. I think that these games are going to be very tactical and we have good chances to get the three points if Conte wins the battle to Guardiola and Mourinho (which I think he can). By the way, I rate Klopp, but I think that they have worse team overall and that Conte is a better tactician. In any case, I think it is going to be an interesting season and I hope to enjoy at the Bridge some victories.

Edited September 2, 20169 yr by RMH

I'm  quite confident with our squad, we got the player of window in Kante, Conte will knock the 'Clowning out of Luiz, Batshu is going to be a big talent, and Alonso is Solid, not overly impressed with Manyoo so far, Citeh though are purring nicely, and we are going to have a fabulous season......

Pep in the league scares me, people who think he will fail in England are in for a very rude awakening.

However I believe Conte can keep chase, but he is going to have to make us super consistent, because Pep's brand of football sweeps away flat tracks.

In fact, we are very lucky Conte is here, apart from Simeone, I can't think of any other manager capable of keeping us up with Pep or pre third season Jose.

I believe we can do it, but we also have to adapt to our competition, the 'best of a bad bunch' winner will not be applicable this time.

29 minutes ago, Argo said:

Pep in the league scares me, people who think he will fail in England are in for a very rude awakening.

However I believe Conte can keep chase, but he is going to have to make us super consistent, because Pep's brand of football sweeps away flat tracks.

In fact, we are very lucky Conte is here, apart from Simeone, I can't think of any other manager capable of keeping us up with Pep or pre third season Jose.

I believe we can do it, but we also have to adapt to our competition, the 'best of a bad bunch' winner will not be applicable this time.

 

Must admit I'm one of those who doesn't buy all the hype regarding Pep, but we will see. If he does do well at least it will irk Jose, and that'll be fun to watch.

 

Jose has bought well. Bailly is a brilliant defender, I'd noticed him before in Spain. I think he's possibly the best buy of the bunch. Along with Pogba and Ibrahimovic (and De Gea of course) they appear to have a very strong spine on paper. Mkhitaryan looks to be a top bit of business. Jose rejected the chance to buy Shaw and now he's fallen into his lap. Massive Chelsea fan, Shaw would have jumped at the chance to join us but it wasn't to be, and now it appears to be Jose's good fortune, although I suspect he will curtail Shaw's natural attacking instincts. Don't know how the injury has affected him but at Southampton he looked fantastic. I always suspected he passed on Shaw because he was young and because he was so attacking. Jose wanted Azpilicueta behind Hazard, because being right-footed, Azpilicueta gave us little going forward and tended to stay back, just as Jose liked.

 

Utd have a lot going forward, if you factor in Martial, Rashford, Rooney and Depay. That's a lot of talent. Oops, and I almost forgot Mata, another player Jose rejected. You may be right and Jose's only a short-term manager but he's given himself every chance of winning things in the short term.

On 01/09/2016 at 22:08, g3.7 said:

Good work davey. 

 

This squad is balanced, fit and premier league ready.  What excites me is the potential conte could yet wring out of people like Willian, Oscar, pedro etc.

For example, and it is too small a sample to get too excited about, Hazard is taking more than double the shots per game he ever had for us. I think he could squeeze more out of players assumed to have nothing more to offer. 

Just goes to show what a really top class manager can do. Signing of the summer.

Btw my personal view on the squad is that it is stronger than it was last season for sure. Not getting that really top class centre back probably costs us. But it gets us back to a level keel and is something we can build on after we get back in the top four, which we should with this squad. 

I'm reserving judgement as to whether we can win it. We'll know after we play Liverpool and Arsenal in a few weeks if we are contenders or whether it will be an all Manchester affair.

Squad still seems unbalanced to me. We now have loads of defenders but are still short of attackers, including just two strikers, one injury and suspension prone and the other a 22 year old new to the club and the league. An Anelka type who can play as a winger or a striker would have been ideal.