The sum of its parts

[Hookeysmith]

A term often cited but I feel very relevant to our current plight. It is said that all good teams have a strong spine and i feel we have this in place.

Goalkeeper

It is said to start at the back and Guzan may not be the best but easily in the top 6 in the league and although not faultless has saved us more times than let us down. An excellent foundation to start with.

CH'S

When all fit we have a mix of experience in Vlaar, athletism with Okore and British bite with Clark and Baker who are more than adequate stand ins. The biggest negative with all of them is the inconsistent time they have had playing with each other due to injury to really strengthen any of the partnerships.

CM

Delph offers high energy, Sanchez is an excellent DM and breaks play up as well as some clever passing at times. In the right balanced midfield I think Westwood has an excellent eye for passing

Flair players

On his debut, Gil showed more attacking flair and nous as anything we have seen and might prove to be  great find. Grealish although flattering to deceive at present has the support of many that thinks he could be a great player in the future.

Cf

Although struggling at present, through equal measures of lack of confidence as well as lack of support has shown enough already that if handled correctly could easily knock in the coveted 20+ goals per season any decent team needs.

My point is being old enough to have witnessed our previous relegation I am hopeful that the nucleus of this current team is not just better than their predecessors and could stay up but actually there is the makings of a very good side.
Many previous  managers have criticised the tools they have to work with. For once that cannot be an excuse.

[aj2k77]

We have arguably 7 players in Guzan, Benteke, Okore, Vlaar, Delph, Gil and Sanchez who are top half players. We shouldn't be winning 2 in 18 and scoring 1 in 2. Lambert is the main problem.

The problem with being shit or so long and keeping such a dullard manager is Delph and Vlaar will be going and Benteke is fast losing his marbles leaving the core shrinking. It's what happens to shit teams. Would you be inspired by Lambert?

[Hookeysmith]

No I wouldn't, even if I could understand him

[Monty]

It's a perfectly fine group of players, though we're clearly lacking in flair (unless N'Zogbia is only playing badly because of managerial factors), and much of it is down to Lambert and his scouting team finding very good players on a very small budget. It's just a shame he shows very few signs of knowing exactly how to make them a real team.

[tomd2103]

Agree about having a strong spine, but would say that the restricted budget has probably prevented us from bringing in the ind of quality we need in the final third.  That's not excusing Lambert though, as we should be doing much better with the team we currently have.

If we could keep the spine of the team below and add a couple of quality attacking players, it's not a bad side:

                              Guzan

Hutton        Vlaar         Okore / Senderos      Cissokho

                    Sanchez            Delph
         
            ?                       Gil                        ?

                               Benteke

[PaulWinch again]

There's no doubt that we are performing worse as a team than we should be given the individuals we have.

[PaulTheVillan]

Agree about having a strong spine, but would say that the restricted budget has probably prevented us from bringing in the ind of quality we need in the final third.  That's not excusing Lambert though, as we should be doing much better with the team we currently have.

If we could keep the spine of the team below and add a couple of quality attacking players, it's not a bad side:

                              Guzan

Hutton        Vlaar         Okore / Senderos      Cissokho

                    Sanchez            Delph
         
            ?                       Gil                        ?

                               Benteke

2 proper wide men would really make a difference. Natural wide players, who know the defensive side of the game in terms of helping out the full backs.

[FranzBiberkopf]

If we could keep the spine of the team below and add a couple of quality attacking players, it's not a bad side:

                              Guzan

Hutton        Vlaar         Okore / Senderos      Cissokho

                    Sanchez            Delph
         
            ?                       Gil                        ?

                               Benteke

I tend to disagree. I'd say where we are now, is about right with the squad we have. That in no way is a misguided justification of Lambert as a manager - he's too cowardly a manager to get them any higher.

Its more a reflection of the fact that 5 of that spine have missed 6-12 months+ of regular football (ie Okore, Benteke, Delph, Senderos, Vlaar are possibly injury-prone crocks).

Gil has played < 1 game.
Cissoko and Hutton offer next to nothing going forward.
And Benteke seems to have had his fill of carrying the team. 
There's no "leaders" in the team.

Its certainly a 12th-16th team. As a squad I'd say it doesn't have a hope of being better than 14th.

[Hookeysmith]

How many players of that nucleus would walk into Hull, QPR, Palace, Burnley, Leicester, Sunderland, Baggies

There are not many in Stoke, Everton and Newcastle i would swap for many of them either if i am honest.

Our squad is easily good enough to be mid table at very least - no way should it be where it is and look so disjointed

* Apologies to Senderos, been out that long i completely forgot about him

[UK Redsox]

Agree about having a strong spine, but would say that the restricted budget has probably prevented us from bringing in the ind of quality we need in the final third.  That's not excusing Lambert though, as we should be doing much better with the team we currently have.

If we could keep the spine of the team below and add a couple of quality attacking players, it's not a bad side:

                              Guzan

Hutton        Vlaar         Okore / Senderos      Cissokho

                    Sanchez            Delph
         
            ?                       Gil                        ?

                               Benteke

Oh for those question marks to morph into Young & Downing.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Agree about having a strong spine, but would say that the restricted budget has probably prevented us from bringing in the ind of quality we need in the final third.  That's not excusing Lambert though, as we should be doing much better with the team we currently have.

If we could keep the spine of the team below and add a couple of quality attacking players, it's not a bad side:

                              Guzan

Hutton        Vlaar         Okore / Senderos      Cissokho

                    Sanchez            Delph
         
            ?                       Gil                        ?

                               Benteke

Oh for those question marks to morph into Young & Downing.

I'd rather have Messi and Ronaldo in the team.

[tomd2103]

Agree about having a strong spine, but would say that the restricted budget has probably prevented us from bringing in the ind of quality we need in the final third.  That's not excusing Lambert though, as we should be doing much better with the team we currently have.

If we could keep the spine of the team below and add a couple of quality attacking players, it's not a bad side:

                              Guzan

Hutton        Vlaar         Okore / Senderos      Cissokho

                    Sanchez            Delph
         
            ?                       Gil                        ?

                               Benteke

Oh for those question marks to morph into Young & Downing.

Not two of our more likeable ex-players, but yes, those two would be ideal and would make a massive difference.