Is our squad of players good enough

[brontebilly]

Is our squad really as good as the likes of Southampton or Stoke even as some have been suggesting?

As a group of individual players how do you rate our squad? Our bench even yesterday seemed relatively strong but we have a decent number of players on a career downward spiral. Plus the initial young and hungry batch have hit a plateau and some like Lowton and Bennett have been found out.

Guzan (solid EPL keeper for sure but not having a great season imo)
Given (fine for backup anyway)

Right back
Hutton (rejuvenated this year but form is in a tailspin right now imo)
Lowton (really poor when given chances this year, finished at this level)

Centre back
Vlaar, Senderos, Baker, Okore, Clark - a decent quintet for sure but also include two of the most injury prone players in the division.

Left back
Cissokho (solid defender, hopeless footballer), Richardson (not a defender but has offered very little when given chances in midfield)

Midfield
Sanchez (inconsistent form but has added much need presence to our midfield in many games)
Westwood (tidy player but dont see much improvement in him)
Delph (not having a great season club wise but still one of the better midfielders in the league)
Cleverley (very disappointing for us, no goals or assists and doesnt look like changing these important stats)
Bacuna (not a great player by any means but could be very effective for us if given more of a chance instead of the twins)

Wide
Gil (new but looks very tidy if a little lightweight)
Weimann (very limited player technically and not a top division player imo)
Gabby (finished and on the Bent diet too seemingly)
Cole (.............)
Sinclair (too early to call)
Grealish (a lot of hype but little substance so far)

Strikers
Benteke (intermittent flashes of old self but very suspect temperament)
Kozak (career must be in serious doubt)

[Clampy]

Why must Kozak's career be in serious doubt?

[nigel]

I think the players mentioned above are easily good enough for a top ten finish, so I'm at a loss as to why we're where we are.
Injuries to key players haven't helped.
So you have to look at how they line up. This is down to Lambert.

[Ads]

It's good enough to compete with 75% of the league and is certainly capable of more than the 11 goals and awful results we have had so far.

[aj2k77]

Put it this way, you could stick a 1st division club in the premier league and they'd score more than 11 goals in 23 games, I'm certain of that.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Yes.

[berneboy]

Yes, indeed.

I don't think any individual player bought today would make us play any better.
We need new life in the management team.

Poor Paul needs to be put out of his misery.

[aj2k77]

Bradford scored as many goals in 90 minutes against Chelsea as we have in 2 months of League football and 10 matches.

[Boz]

Yes, indeed.

I don't think any individual player bought today would make us play any better.
We need new life in the management team.

Poor Paul needs to be put out of his misery.

Correct, it would be a kindness

[UK Redsox]

Looking on an individual player-by-player basis its a good enough squad for mid-table at least. It includes some players (eg Gil, Delph & Benteke) who, if they all hit form at the same time, could propel a team towards a challenge for a European place.

However, in some kind of reverse-synergy, the whole is currently less than the sum of the parts.

[PaulWinch again]

Our squad is comfortably good enough to be competing for 9th-12th.

[Villa in Denmark]

Looking on an individual player-by-player basis its a good enough squad for mid-table at least. It includes some players (eg Gil, Delph & Benteke) who, if they all hit form at the same time, could propel a team towards a challenge for a European place.

However, in some kind of reverse-synergy, the whole is currently less than the sum of the parts.

Which is actually some kind of achievement, as you'd think that 11 random half decent players would get more out of themselves than Lambert gets out of our squad.

It's almost as though the players look at Lambert, hear what he's saying, shrug their shoulders and say" well you're the boss."

I guess a decent number of us have worked for managers where everyone has known that their latest great idea is doomed to failure for any one of a number of reasons, but won't listen to any input that isn't self affirmation.  Sooner or later you get fed up with trying to talk sense, and say something along the lines of "if that's what you want, you're the boss." whilst muttering "this isn't going to end well" as you walk away shaking your head.

I get the distinct impression that that's where our squad are right now.  They've tried following the often baffling 180^o turns and have now just given up on him.

[villadelph]

Our squad is more than capable of competition in the 7 to 11 area of the table but it's just not going to happen with Lambert. He keeps complaining that he's tired of fighting relegation battles and such a big club shouldn't be in this position for so long, but on reality those words are more damning against him than anybody else.

Between the third and fourth goal yesterday there was a misplaced pass in the middle of the park and I saw three heads just drop, Gil's included.. I felt bad for him. To come from excess goods at Valencia to hands down the best player on a Premier club must have come as a shock to even him.

It has to get better somehow, but Paul seems to think with hard work our luck will turn around. I think otherwise. The same preparation, the same approach, the same training methods.. It doesn't matter how hard you work, because obviously Lambert's plan isn't.

[Des Little]

The squad is.  The manager clearly isn't. 

[Tom_Mc9?]

Absolutely. In fact, I'd say there's a fair amount of talent in there if you look hard enough.