How do you rate the squad now?

[paulrs]

Lots of depth, experience, stability, Very strong spine but lacking out wide and missing pace/flair. Still, ought to be enough there for a good manager to make play-offs and challenge for top 2.

 

Whether we have a good manager though....

[torryowl]

our biggest problem is how we play, we have a negative style of playing so it's understandable that some fans respond in a negative way if we don't achieve what they hope for  ....if we went out all guns blazing and finished 4th I doubt carlos would attract much criticism but he chooses to go a different way and boy does he cop some for doing so ....

 

[Owl999]

4 hours ago, Athelwulf said:

Carlos says that pace for pace's sake isn't the same as pace with the ball. Players who can do the latter aren't at this level for long.

Carlos is a baffoon .

 

[Beholder]

57 minutes ago, CLswfc said:

Beckham, Tommy Craig, John Sheridan etc didn't have pace and look how poorly they did. I think we definately need pace!!

But they aren't teams 

[Blue and white]

6 hours ago, Indoor Owl said:

 

 

One thing I know for sure is that we had a squad good enough to be top 5 last year, and we've just improved on the weakest part of the team.  

When did we replace Carlos.

[torryowl]

2 minutes ago, Owl999 said:

Carlos is a baffoon .

 

crying with laughter here .....that's made my day .

[poite]

39 minutes ago, areNOTwhatTHEYseem said:

 

I'm sure some managers would, and some managers wouldn't. Equally, I'm sure some managers would have guided us into the playoff places as Carlos did, and some managers wouldn't.

 

It's all hypothetical of course, but to suggest that every other manager would be doing a better job than Carlos is pessimistic beyond belief, and just isn't borne out by the fact that whereas Carlos has probably overachieved and then achieved par for the course in his first two seasons in English football, there are countless managers who have underachieved and paid the price for it up and down the country.

I don't think anybody is suggesting that every other manager in existence would have gone one better than Carlos. I just think people believe there are managers out there who could have done 

[Owl999]

1 minute ago, torryowl said:

crying with laughter here .....that's made my day .

Glad to be of service

[Owl999]

1 minute ago, poite said:

I don't think anybody is suggesting that every other manager in existence would have gone one better than Carlos. I just think people believe there are managers out there who could have done 

Bang on .

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

7 minutes ago, poite said:

I don't think anybody is suggesting that every other manager in existence would have gone one better than Carlos. I just think people believe there are managers out there who could have done 

 

Except the poster I was replying to, who was suggesting exactly that.

[slinger208b]

7 hours ago, Blue and white said:

The squad isn't and never has been the problem.

The problem is the manager and his negative tactics.

 

He said that was because of the defence so hopefully things will change with the new signings...

[Blue and white]

1 minute ago, slinger208b said:

 

He said that was because of the defence so hopefully things will change with the new signings...

Hope your right fella, time will tell.

[Beauchief Owl]

Mcmanaman to Sunderland. It will be interesting to see whether Grayson can use him effectively and get the best out of him as he has done with McGeady. If he does it will  vindicate the criticism Carlos has been getting re his man-management skills (or lack of them). The same can be said of McGugan who TBF has had problems wherever he's been other than when being on loan for us in the first instance when SG was in charge. 

[jonnyowl]

The only issue is that our midfielders are all a bit similar. Nobody with any power and pace in the midfield are or wide areas!

[damianb1]

I'll reserve judgement on the new centre halves but other than that it's hard to see how the squad has improved at all. Boyd maybe a marginal upgrade on Wallace but essentially the same player. Butterfield is a poor mans bannan and when lee and hutch fit butterfield unlikely to even make the bench. Winnalls departure now probably guarantees nuhiu a bench spot the vast majority of games so just for that it's a v poor decision. Still not a decent full back at the club, as others have stated we still haven't addressed most of the failings from Wembley i.e power and pace. You only improve the team/squad by buying better players than are already in the first team.THE biggest issue is clueless carlos and until he goes we won't progress in my opinion. If he's here much beyond mid October this will be another wasted season. I don't buy this theory that he's keeping money back to freshen the team up in January. If your house needs maintenance doing now and you can afford it now you don't say "well I won't do it now, I'll see if it needs doing in 4 months" it already needs doing now ffs!!!!!!

[Gildowl]

4 hours ago, Athelwulf said:

Carlos says that pace for pace's sake isn't the same as pace with the ball. Players who can do the latter aren't at this level for long.

Exactly. Pace with little or no end product is lunacy. True defences don't like to turn and chase players with genuine speed - but IMHO they hate even more pin point crosses be they delivered by full backs, midfielders or wingers.

[roland nilson]

7 hours ago, Mr Farrell said:

Squad is good enough to challenge for top 2.

 

The Manager isn't and will scrape the play offs again at best.

 

Squad lacks pace, genuine width and quality full backs. Still more than good enough though if used correctly.

 

[kingsidney]

5 hours ago, Athelwulf said:

Carlos says that pace for pace's sake isn't the same as pace with the ball. Players who can do the latter aren't at this level for long.

Carlos also says pass it all the way back to Lees and then lump it 50 yards into touch. 

[StudentOwl]

Seen a couple of comments about how our midfield is class... I think a few people are fooling themselves on that one

Defence is the sort you'd see in a top 6 side

Attack is the sort you'd see in a top 6 side

 

Midfield? It doesn't scream top 6 to me... looks like the sort that might come out for a side that finishes 10th. And that isn't necessarily down to individuals... more what they offer (or that they all offer essentially the same thing). Apart from Matias, and let's be honest here, he doesn't have this in spades anyway... there's no pace in that midfield either centrally or out wide. There's also that chronic lack of physicality we've often chatted about, although with players like Hutch and Jones it's more the lacking of a big bruiser rather than an issue of a midfield of actual midgets.

 

The only way we'll finish in the top 5 is by trying to overload teams in the midfield to maximise its strengths... ie nipping around with quick passing. That midfield will not work in a 4-4-2 IMO due to lack of physicality centrally and pace out wide... so in that sense we're exactly where we were before the window started. IMO, our weak link is our midfield, so we need to assume a style that will accommodate that weakness. We'll see eh!

[gurujuan]

To sum up, a squad that is ill equipped to challenge for automatic promotion Not enough strength, pace or energy to compete at the very top, but enough footballing ability to finish top ten