Are we in danger of having too many players?

[Hookeysmith]

Surely we have to consider releasing some players and even if we can move on

El Ghazhi
Trez
Traore

How do we keep Luiz/ Ramsey / mcginn/ Bailey / Young / Marvellous if talk of Bassouma is correct.

Are we in danger of having too many players to try and keep happy

[Smirker]

No. Successful clubs have big squads. We need strength in depth.

[not3bad]

This is the challenge for any manager of an ambitious club, no?

[richtheholtender]

As well as strength in depth the better run clubs always have their replacements in before they sell. Something I am liking about this ownership.

[The Edge]

No. Successful clubs have big squads. We need strength in depth.

Is the correct answer.

[Hookeysmith]

I agree with squad depth etc but where do players like Bailey fit in?
If we get Bissouma what happens with Nakamba  or Luiz
I can't see either  being happy with being benched

[eamonn]

At the moment I agree. We're shit in the cups/and or get really difficult draws and we're not in Europe. It'll probably be another 40 game season for us, the minimum amount possible.

Too many senior players especially when the owners apparently want to have the best youth set-up in the country. Bidace, Archer and Chuck will all be crowded-out.

[Ad@m]

We're going through transitions on two fronts with the squad at the moment - 1: from a lower mid table team to a European challenging team and 2. from Smith's team to Gerrard's team, so we're bound to have more players than we need short term.

The key though is to move those on who aren't good enough as quickly as possible for sensible fees so that we don't break the financial model.

[bilsim]

I think a quick look at our substitutes bench for the majority of games this season answers this question, we have simply not had enough to make effective changes in game.

I understand the desire to bring through young players and the concern about keeping players happy, but I think a lot of that feeling comes from the fact that we've never, ever had a big squad of quality players, given that it's a relatively new thing. (The last time we won a trophy you had three subs including 1 keeper.)

The game has changed and big squads with 15 or so players that could be regular starters is essential if you want to be challenging in all areas.

[Mister E]

Surely we have to consider releasing some players and even if we can move on

El Ghazhi
Trez
Traore

How do we keep Luiz/ Ramsey / mcginn/ Bailey / Young / Marvellous if talk of Bassouma is correct.

Are we in danger of having too many players to try and keep happy

We also need to keep people like Chuky on these lists of players needing gametime, otherwise he and others will go elsewhere.

[Ad@m]

Surely we have to consider releasing some players and even if we can move on

El Ghazhi
Trez
Traore

How do we keep Luiz/ Ramsey / mcginn/ Bailey / Young / Marvellous if talk of Bassouma is correct.

Are we in danger of having too many players to try and keep happy

We also need to keep people like Chuky on these lists of players needing gametime, otherwise he and others will go elsewhere.

Send the kids out on loan. That's how Chelsea built a squad to win the European cup. Let them prove themselves in the Championship the same way the likea of Mason Mount did.

[sickbeggar]

Not too many players, just a poor distribution. I'm old fashioned so I want 11 players and then 11 reserves. That leaves 3 spaces for specialists, and utility players, plus U21 players above the 25 man squad. So obviously we are short in defence with mainly unproven youth as cover  and overloaded in other positions. The key is developing the youth players to the standard where they are at least the recognised reserve by 22/23 or getting rid  - that will hopefully save us money in the long term. Digne arriving will bring much needed strength in that position, and obviously he has to start shifting some of the reserve players elsewhere in the team and making the decision whether the bought-in reserves are a better bet than the youth players.

[Dante Lavelli]

No. Successful clubs have big squads. We need strength in depth.

There are plenty of unsuccessful clubs that have big squads, Man U are a prime example where the squad is so flabby that good players are rotting the club from within.  Man City and Liverpool’s squads are full of quality but they’re not that big with players often playing out of position.

There’s a balance to be struck and I think we are in danger of having a few players ostracised from the team whilst potentially blocking the pathway for our youth players.

[Drummond]

Everyone calls for better players. We can't leave ourselves in a situation where we haven't enough cover.

There will be players leaving, AEG, Trez, perhaps Traore. I even think we may lose the likes of Luiz in time. Targett, Hause may not stick around and Tuanzebe has gone, with Davis out on loan.

We are building to mount a definite challenge for Europe for next season and, with a decent run this, we could still qualify.

[Villan82]

I sometimes wonder, do we have a sort of 'fear of success'?

This thing of having a quality squad is the one leap we didn't make when we had good teams in 1997, the 00s and again under MON.