Install the app
How to install the app on iOS

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

 

Our squad is way to big

Status
Not open for further replies.
The problem isn't the size, as we've potentially had a lot of games this season so needed a deep squad. The problem isn't the quality, as we're by and large the same squad that got 7th at a canter, minus Lukaku but with significant improvements on paper in a number of areas.

The problem is that we signed more players this summer than any other team in the league. In most of our games this season we've had at least 5-6 new signings in the team at any one time. I challenge you to find any other club in the league that have had such a fundamental change to their starting lineup. Against Arsenal, for instance, we had 6 newbies in the team, 7 if you include DCL. What's more, coming off the bench was another couple of youngsters (Davies and Lookman) and a guy that's barely seen the rest of the first team, let alone built up an understanding with them (Niasse).

Add in to this mix the fact that Koeman changed both the team every week, but also often the formation they played, and it's no surprise that we have played so poorly this season. I really do think that if Unsworth (or whoever) picks a settled team over the next two months then we'll see a much better Everton in the new year.
 
BillLovesRoo said:
For a while now i have thought our squad is way to big for us to actually function properly as a team.

You ask any manager and they would much prefer to work with a core of 18-20 outfield players on a training day.

Then you get to match day and you have no injury concerns, even with 18-20 outfield players you are still leaving 4 players unhappy.

How does that effect moral? How does that effect the actual plan the manager is trying to get accross to the players.

I have always thought at most you should have 18 outfield players for your squad for the season, then you can pad the rest out with kids (21 or under, as they will jsut be happy to be in and around the first team).

If you look at our rediculously unbalanced squad we have the following over the age of 21

Pickford
Stekelenberg
Robles

Coleman
Martina

Williams
Jagielka
Keane
Mori

Baines

Besic
McCarthy
Schneiderlin
Gueye
Klaassen

Bolasie
Lennon
Mirallas

Rooney
Sigurdsson
Sandro
Barkley
Niasse

I havent added the likes of Garbutt, Browning, Pennington etc either

Add to that some of the most talented kids in hte league, who some of them you would say are first team regulars now, and probably to good to go back to the u23s

Calvert Lewin
Holgate
Kenny
Davies
Lookman
Vlasic
and now Banigime emerging

Thats 27 players the manager will be working with on a day to day basis (if everyone was fit) how can you get your plan and strategy accross to them with that number of players?

We all know we need to add a centre forward, centre back and left back to the squad in january that would take us up to 30 players expected to be in hte first team.

We have to be looking at ditching atleast 10 of these lot to get the squad size down.
Click to expand...


Agree with this post......sell....McCarthy, Mirallas, Lennon, Niasse, Besic, Sandro to go out on loan, Barkley needs to sorted too... .....buy a striker & Centre back in Jan.....
 
Bruce Wayne said:
The problem isn't the size, as we've potentially had a lot of games this season so needed a deep squad. The problem isn't the quality, as we're by and large the same squad that got 7th at a canter, minus Lukaku but with significant improvements on paper in a number of areas.

The problem is that we signed more players this summer than any other team in the league. In most of our games this season we've had at least 5-6 new signings in the team at any one time. I challenge you to find any other club in the league that have had such a fundamental change to their starting lineup. Against Arsenal, for instance, we had 6 newbies in the team, 7 if you include DCL. What's more, coming off the bench was another couple of youngsters (Davies and Lookman) and a guy that's barely seen the rest of the first team, let alone built up an understanding with them (Niasse).

Add in to this mix the fact that Koeman changed both the team every week, but also often the formation they played, and it's no surprise that we have played so poorly this season. I really do think that if Unsworth (or whoever) picks a settled team over the next two months then we'll see a much better Everton in the new year.
Click to expand...
The problem is even with this massive squad, Koeman didn't have a rotation. He ran players into the ground and made them unhappy. I was perplexed as to why he went for all this depth in the first place if he wasn't going to use it.
 

Having a squad of 27 isn't a bad thing as long as everyone has an expectation of who is in the core 15-20 (based on 11 + 7 on the bench) and who isn't.

With 18 needing to be named on a matchday, and allowing for 3 or 4 injuries at a time that already gives a squad of 21/22. When a manager wants to start playing around with different starting or sub options based on type and form of players, anything around 25 seems ideal.

Ok, so we have 27. That's not far enough off to worry about. It's the players that make up that number and the people responsible for choosing them that have been the problem - even more so for the first 11.
 
This is not 1987 when you can win the league with 14 boys. If we include hopeful youngsters, I would prefer a number closer to 30. If we exclude them then the current PL squad cap of 25 list A players is a very good guideline of how big teams should be.
 

Abraders said:
We need to trim in a little in certain areas but apply quality to others. Think the actual size of the squad isn't so bad, it's how it's distributed.

Obviously need more quality in there too.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. As an example, take out Besic, Klaassen and Martina, and replace with a top striker, good quality left-back and a central defender, and all of a sudden we would have a reasonably balanced squad.
 
Moomin said:
Name a list of managers who have said that.

Now you have changed 23 to 22-23, backtracking from your error.
Click to expand...


He never said any manager said it.

He said “ask any manager and they will tell you”.

lol


Like we are going to ring round the clubs asking their managers :dance:

It is a piece of sophistry worthy of your good self, Moonster.

You have been Moomined :pint2:
 
This was an appropriate amount of players when we were in contention for Europe, League Cup, and the league itself. What would happen if we ditch 10 of these players as you proposed is we would qualify for Europe next year and not have enough players.

I have no problem with the depth of the squad but the talent is debatable. Less is more if we have the talent. We don't have enough of that so we need the depth.
 
Minimum 22 to play 11 v 11 in training which means a replacement in all positions, we should be at 25 though to cover injuries
 
Osamabindiesel said:
That really doesn't mean much when they feature one game every blue moon. If you compared the minutes with the usual starters it wouldn't be close.
Click to expand...

I had a look at that. It's fairly arbitrary, but lets say appearing in 25% of the total possible minutes is a fair contribution to our league season to date, we've used 16 players in that sense, with Niasse not far outside it. You've also got 19 players that have played in at least 1/3 of our total minutes in the Europa League.
 

Status
Not open for further replies.

Welcome to GrandOldTeam

Get involved. Registration is simple and free.

Register
Back
Top