I think if you're going to include Arsenal in that 3 then unfortunately you have to include Chelsea too. The clown show has ended there I'm afraid and there's a good chance they'll finish third above Arsenal. For what it's worth I think we have the capability of finishing above both (although it is obviously unlikely). I say this because finally I'd have to say our squad as a whole is as strong as we've ever seen. It's not actually that different from either of those club's squads.
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[Albion] How close is this squad to being top 4?
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ElectricNaz
Well-known member
I don't think our squad is a top 4 squad based on talent alone
However I believe our management, coaching and other associated attributes means we are lifted from in my head, about 8th in terms of telent. How we will end up is a guess but it's still a much stronger *squad* than the one that finished 6th. But even that was a season where lots went our way in terms of the perfect storm of others being in transition.
However I believe our management, coaching and other associated attributes means we are lifted from in my head, about 8th in terms of telent. How we will end up is a guess but it's still a much stronger *squad* than the one that finished 6th. But even that was a season where lots went our way in terms of the perfect storm of others being in transition.
- Oct 12, 2022
- 2,683
I agree that the outright comedy has (sadly) ended at Chelsea, though I still think Sanchez may raise an occasional chuckle this season.
I’m not entirely convinced by Maresca however, I don’t think he always gets it right, and think there will be some matches that Chelsea’s supporters “expect” to win where that doesn’t happen.
I agree they have lots of good players, but you still have to set them up right for the opposition, and Maresca is still learning. We’ll see how the season pans out.
um bongo molongo
Well-known member
I think he’s closing fast on that level. Been brilliant the last few weeks. Raya and Allison the standouts in the league. Ederson I don’t think is at the levels of a year or two ago. No one else I’d swap him with. Still baffled why RDZ chose hologram Steele over him.
aolstudios
Well-known member
& the fact our manager had lost the plot completely
aolstudios
Well-known member
No doubt I'm biased but yes, I think our best *team* is better. It's the squad depth that'll do for us
Not sure about Arsenal. Their entire back 4 is probably better than ours. Odegaard and Saka would get in our team. Would have to think about the rest.
Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo
I believe in Joe Hendry
- Oct 4, 2003
- 12,022
Ridiculous to compare Bart to those three without a lot of context. For a start they are all a lot older than him and have played a lot more football.
Alisson, Ederson and Raya are all in their 30's (well Raya is 29). They were nowhere near the level that Bart is when they were 22. When they were that age Alisson wasn't a regular start in club football in Brazil and was at least a year from his first international game. Ederson had just moved to Benfica and was still 2 years from making his international debut. Raya was at Blackburn not long off a loan move to Southport. He was a long way from being in the Spanish international squads.
Bart at 22 is first choice for his club in the Premier League and for his country. His improvement over the last 2 seasons has been staggering. He was the youngest goalkeeper at the Euros (and the third youngest to ever play in the competition). He's arguably the best young keeper in the game right now and the gap between him and the other top 4 keepers you mention isn't anywhere near as big as you claim.
Silverhatch
Well-known member
The question to be answered is whether (on our day) there are 4 better sides in the PL. Prime DeZerbi we were pretty close. We now have a better and deeper squad. Put money on us being Top 4 and am happy with our prospects.
Mustafa II
Well-known member
Your post is all very fair - but the discussion was about how far we are from being a top 4 side now, I was merely pointing out that Verbruggen is some distance away from being a top 4 standard keeper, using top 4 keepers as examples.
I highly rate him, I think he'll continue his development to become a top keeper within the game, but I do think goalkeepers are one position where experience is particularly important, and that takes time.
Ok. Could you name your best starting 11?
Brian Munich
teH lulZ
- Jul 7, 2008
- 199
It’s amazing what being given a consistent run of games does for a young keeper’s confidence and sharpness, isn’t it?
The way RDZ rotated Steel and Verbruggen for most of last season did neither keeper any favours. If Massive kept rotating Beadle in and out of their starting 11 we’d recall him in January.
It’s going to be top 4 at the critical run in stage of the season because our strength and depth is massive. Other teams will have injuries and fatigue, especially those with European commitments.
We could be struck by some very big injuries to the vast majority of the players who performed so well last night too. But could still finish the season with a line-up like this (of players not involved yesterday) which is pretty, pretty, pretty good:
—-—Enciso ——Ferguson————Minteh-—
March——-—-Milner—Gomez——-——Lamptey
———-Kadıoğlu—-—Dunk—-Webster————
——————-——Steele——————————-
Our squad depth is astonishing. Rutter, Kadıoğlu, Gruda and O’Riley are starting to look quality. Our young midfield triplet of Baleba, Ayari and Hinshelwood are developing fast also. I’ve a feeling this season is going to be special.
We could be struck by some very big injuries to the vast majority of the players who performed so well last night too. But could still finish the season with a line-up like this (of players not involved yesterday) which is pretty, pretty, pretty good:
—-—Enciso ——Ferguson————Minteh-—
March——-—-Milner—Gomez——-——Lamptey
———-Kadıoğlu—-—Dunk—-Webster————
——————-——Steele——————————-
Our squad depth is astonishing. Rutter, Kadıoğlu, Gruda and O’Riley are starting to look quality. Our young midfield triplet of Baleba, Ayari and Hinshelwood are developing fast also. I’ve a feeling this season is going to be special.
aolstudios
Well-known member
I think we have 2 or 3! (although probably with a common 7 or 8).I'm not talking about individuals. I'm talking about how we perform as a team
tigertim68
Well-known member
- Sep 3, 2012
- 2,619
Should of beat them down here , they were down to 10 men last 20 mins , we didn’t look like scoring against 10 men,
and were the better team throughout the match
Aren't these two posts at odds with each other? If we have a clear best starting 11, then it's our squad depth that's the issue, but if we have 2 or 3 best 11s, then surely we've got some good depth?
Anyway, who would your starting 11 be, and if you've got 2 or 3 options, what would they be (this isn't a test or a challenge, I'm just interested in the discussion)
We don't need anything. We're not Chelsea, we're not trying to buy everyone. The players we have need the chance to play. A couple of weeks ago plenty on here were saying how shit Igor was and we should have bought a centre back, and now they think Dunk is our backup. Buonanotte had to leave to get game time and he's tearing it up. There's a good player in Enciso and he can't get in the team. We have Fergusson to compete with Welbeck, we don't want to consign a player with that much potential to the bin.
Let's keep the team together and see how far we can go.
Never too early to be wasted.