Is the squad worse than last season?

[urz13]

There's been a common thought that this season was supposed to be a 'building' season becuase of a younger, inferior squad to the one we had last year. But is it really worse?

Le Fondre - replaced by Murray, who most would agree adds more to the team and is a better player. Even if not, he's hardly much worse.

McAnuff - replaced by Mackie, who again I think most would agree is better. Has a higher work rate and more quality.

Leigertwood - didn't really play last year, so can't be seen as much of a loss. Norwood has come in and done well too.

Morrison - replaced by Ferdinand (jury out, but looks like a poor replacement so far), and Hector, who has stepped up reasonably well.

Gorkks - didn't really play, but see Morrison.

Drenthe - not sure you can call losing him a loss.

McCarthy - Federici has been superb so far this season and I'm not sure McCarthy would've done any better. Even so, the GK position isn't overly influential.

We've essentially replaced all of the players who left with better or at least equal quality replacements. Morrison is perhaps the exception to that. However, in addition to those mentioned above we've added Cox, who's been a good signing, and youth players have played well enough to force themselves into contention. Players such as Blackman and Akpan have also looked far better than last season. Whilst we've had our fair share of injuries, I don't think anyone can really say that we had a better squad than last season, and in fact I believe it is much improved.

The fact that this is a 'building' season just isn't true and it cannot be used as an excuse for Adkins failings. We should be doing AT LEAST as well as last season, if not better.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I'd say it's about the same, perhaps marginally worse to be fair to Adkins:

GK = worse

Defence = worse

Midfield = about the same (missing McCleary, McAnuff & Leigertwood but Norwood & Mackie have improved the squad). Adkins has not really been able to select Karacan, Guthrie & Williams much in either season so for the purposes of comparison I've excluded them altogether.

Strikers = definitely better

[SCIAG]

Hector isn't as good as Morrison yet.

We've only been able to start two of our first four central midfielders in two matches.

We haven't replaced Bridge. Gunter has gone backwards.

Our wingers haven't played as well as McCleary, Drenthe and McAnuff (I think Mackie is of approximately equal quality to McAnuff). We've had to play Ryan Edwards. We've seen some uninspiring performances from Mackie and Taylor (both have improved recently) and Blackman has impressed but without much end product. HRK is in poor form.

I've been a big supporter of Federici but he is nowhere near his best right now and we would probably be better off with McCarthy in goal.

Cox is an improvement on Drenthe behind the striker. Murray is an improvement on Pogrebnyak but isn't clinical enough right now.

The squad we've had so far is worse than the squad we had last season. Once our injured players are fit and some others regain form, we'll have a better squad than last season.

The only position where this is a "building season" is at centre back, where Hector looks like he needs a few months to get up to scratch. Taylor was probably only a stop gap but I guess you could include him. Kuhl has only made six appearances, Cooper five, Edwards seven. The other young players have barely featured. If Kuhl and Tanner and Tshibola and Stacey had played every week then we'd be rebuilding, but I think this has been evolution rather than revolution.

[joeroyal]

Hector isn't as good as Morrison yet.

We've only been able to start two of our first four central midfielders in two matches.

We haven't replaced Bridge. Gunter has gone backwards.

Our wingers haven't played as well as McCleary, Drenthe and McAnuff (I think Mackie is of approximately equal quality to McAnuff). We've had to play Ryan Edwards. We've seen some uninspiring performances from Mackie and Taylor (both have improved recently) and Blackman has impressed but without much end product. HRK is in poor form.

I've been a big supporter of Federici but he is nowhere near his best right now and we would probably be better off with McCarthy in goal.

Cox is an improvement on Drenthe behind the striker. Murray is an improvement on Pogrebnyak but isn't clinical enough right now.

The squad we've had so far is worse than the squad we had last season. Once our injured players are fit and some others regain form, we'll have a better squad than last season.

The only position where this is a "building season" is at centre back, where Hector looks like he needs a few months to get up to scratch. Taylor was probably only a stop gap but I guess you could include him. Kuhl has only made six appearances, Cooper five, Edwards seven. The other young players have barely featured. If Kuhl and Tanner and Tshibola and Stacey had played every week then we'd be rebuilding, but I think this has been evolution rather than revolution.

[Faithful Son]

This is a difficult question to answer really. Going on results I would have to say yes, we are worse than last season but from an entertainment point of view I would say we have been better this season. We had 20 shots yesterday. Admittedly we still didn't look like we would score but at least we had shots. I don't think we had more than one or two shots per game last season.
I know nowadays winning is the be all and end all of football but I still like to be entertained. There were games last season which we won but I came away disappointed with what I had seen and I seriously considered not renewing my season ticket this year.
This may seem strange but I am enjoying this season much more than last so far. Obviously my opinion would change if we were relegated but I like to think we're too good to go down.
Potentially though I would say we have got a better squad than last season. Given time the youngsters will only improve and providing we can hold onto them, next season should be better. K.T.F.

[Martin41]

I don't think it's worse.......but they are underperformimg so often it's hard to really tell at times.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Our Championship opponents are raising their stakes (and squads) in sync with us maybe?

So few Premier places for the home grown and British/Irish players to aspire to (yes, I know, it's that old chesnut again).....

The payback being....quality players competing in the second tier with us.

[Ian Royal]

GK: McCarthy & Federici > Federici & Andersen
RB: Gunter, Cummings, & Kelly = Gunter, Cummings & Kelly
LB: Bridge & Obita > Obita
CB: Pearce, Morrison & Gorkss < Pearce, Hector, Ferdinand & Cooper although it needs a little time to settle down
RW: McCleary & Blackman < McCleary, Mackie & Blackman
LW: McAnuff & HRK > Taylor & Obita
ST: Pogrebnyak & Le Fondre < Murray, Cox & Pogrebnyak

So ignoring central midfield, which is hella complicated comparison wise, I make that 3-3
Of course, as McCleary hasn't been fit all season, you can switch that one round for what we've had available so far.

In terms of midfield. Guthrie < Norwood. Williams = Williams, Karacan = Karacan, Akpan = Akpan. So again, if Karacan and Williams can spend most of the season fit, then we're up there too.

This year we look much weaker because of all the injuries. But by the end of the season it could all look very very different. Hopefully it will.

So essentially, yes the squad has been worse so far, but it's well on its way to being better.

[AirRaidSiren]

I don't think you can compare last season to this season with us only being in November.

Ask it at the end of this season to have a fairer comparison.

[Martin41]

GK: McCarthy & Federici > Federici & Andersen
RB: Gunter, Cummings, & Kelly = Gunter, Cummings & Kelly
LB: Bridge & Obita > Obita
CB: Pearce, Morrison & Gorkss < Pearce, Hector, Ferdinand & Cooper although it needs a little time to settle down
RW: McCleary & Blackman < McCleary, Mackie & Blackman
LW: McAnuff & HRK > Taylor & Obita
ST: Pogrebnyak & Le Fondre < Murray, Cox & Pogrebnyak

So ignoring central midfield, which is hella complicated comparison wise, I make that 3-3
Of course, as McCleary hasn't been fit all season, you can switch that one round for what we've had available so far.

In terms of midfield. Guthrie < Norwood. Williams = Williams, Karacan = Karacan, Akpan = Akpan. So again, if Karacan and Williams can spend most of the season fit, then we're up there too.

This year we look much weaker because of all the injuries. But by the end of the season it could all look very very different. Hopefully it will.

So essentially, yes the squad has been worse so far, but it's well on its way to being better.

That's a lot of words to say worse, but getting better......

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

We have a very good squad that are under performing by a long way.

This is down to the tactics that Adkins continues to use.

[tee peg]

^ This.

[paddy20]

Adkins may come over as a pleasant affable man but looking at the players body language they all look scared stiff of him. Whenever they take a free kick they look over to him to see what to do. I think after a while this type of hairdryer management wears off. I think the players have lost faith in him and don't want to play for him anymore. We also lack a strong character that can drive the players on the pitch. Add to that a lack of any visible leadership from the owners and we end up with a rudderless team with rock bottom morale.

[Wycombe Royal]

Central Defence and central midfield have been worse than last season, not just due to the players but also because the partnerships have changed so frequently. A good team is as much about the quality of the players as it is the understanding between the players in key positions, and when there has been so much disruption in the spine of the team then it is no wonder we aren't doing that well.

Add to this the ineptness of Gunter being able to stop a cross coming in then it is just a recipe for disaster. Kelly at right back, Obita at left back in the next game please.