Squad Comparison

The first round of games is done and a little less than a fortnight remains before which all clubs, including ourselves, have to finish our moves in the transfer market. But it is a good idea to take a step away from being absorbed with our own transfer dealings to look at where we stand with respect to the other three usual suspects in the title race, and Spuds for the heck of it. Oh and Man City; I've been told that they think Aguero is going to win them the title.

Me and Ali have compiled a list of players in the squads of these 6 teams in a spreadsheet. Have tried to sort them in more detailed manner than just gk/def/mid/att formats.

What do you think of these other teams and how do you think we fare against them, in a position to position manner and as a squad?

Here is the link to the compilation.

Did you know that only 15 players in our whole squad are over the age of 21? This is going to create problems down the line and is the reason why I think we have one of the worse squads amongst the top six.

If I were to rank them from worse to best, I'd go with this:

Tottenham
Arsenal/Liverpool
Chelsea
United
City

Reason why I put us and Liverpool on the same level is because we're both relative unknown quantities now. Liverpool have a lot of new players that are still gelling, while we're not sure how Arsenal are going to fare without Fabregas.

You forgot our 16mil winger and also Spearing is a DM.

I still think United's squad is better than City's

GKs: I'm going to go with City on this simply because Joe Hart has been playing very well, but obviously Cech and Reina are more than capable of changing my opinion when it comes to the best GK. However, I feel we have a lot of potential in this position right now and each one of our GKs is capable of greatness, so both in terms of depth and long-term success I rate us the best believe it or not. We just need one guy to excel if we want to match the other clubs, and Szczesny might be just the man to do it.

Defence: I actually feel, man for man, Chelsea and Man Utd both have better defences than City. Difference is that City plays deeper and stocks their midfield with defensive players. We have potential here, but right now I rate us tied for 4th with Liverpool, ahead of the Spuds. Well, except for on set pieces

Midfield: I felt we had the best midfield in the EPL before we lost Cesc, but with him gone and Nasri potentially leaving, I'm not so sure. I guess it all depends on who we replace them with and how well they do here. Man Utd have great wingers but their center doesn't impress me so much, and Chelsea is the exact opposite. City has potential but they defend too much, and Liverpool has good players everywhere but I wouldn't say "world class" for all of them. I guess I'd say Man Utd is the best here, but like I said if we can get some good players in to replace the ones going out we can take this for sure.

Forwards: RvP is the best in the EPL in my opinion, but since we only play with one striker I can't give us the advantage here. Man City have too many good strikers, and Chelsea have tons of firepower too so I'd say one of those two win it here. A lot of people praise Man Utd's forwards, but honestly Chicarito is just a poacher atm and Berbatov is lazy; if their only world class forward is Rooney they can't be considered the best I don't think.

Now, considering we didn't win any of those I guess it might sound like I don't rate us highly enough, but this isn't true. I honestly believe that if we can get some good midfield signings in to replace Cesc and maybe Nasri, buy a good CB (better than Cahill), have Gibbs and Szczesny consistently play as well as we know they can, and defend better collectively like we all know we can, we can compete in all competitions. Our team is so reliant on midfield creativity that if we can get everybody gelling, we can score more than any other team, and not concede nearly as many goals as we did last year. Of course, this isn't some perfect game-plan, and it leaves a lot to chance, but our team can be the best IMO

Eman wrote:GKs: I'm going to go with City on this simply because Joe Hart has been playing very well, but obviously Cech and Reina are more than capable of changing my opinion when it comes to the best GK. However, I feel we have a lot of potential in this position right now and each one of our GKs is capable of greatness, so both in terms of depth and long-term success I rate us the best believe it or not. We just need one guy to excel if we want to match the other clubs, and Szczesny might be just the man to do it.

Defence: I actually feel, man for man, Chelsea and Man Utd both have better defences than City. Difference is that City plays deeper and stocks their midfield with defensive players. We have potential here, but right now I rate us tied for 4th with Liverpool, ahead of the Spuds. Well, except for on set pieces

Midfield: I felt we had the best midfield in the EPL before we lost Cesc, but with him gone and Nasri potentially leaving, I'm not so sure. I guess it all depends on who we replace them with and how well they do here. Man Utd have great wingers but their center doesn't impress me so much, and Chelsea is the exact opposite. City has potential but they defend too much, and Liverpool has good players everywhere but I wouldn't say "world class" for all of them. I guess I'd say Man Utd is the best here, but like I said if we can get some good players in to replace the ones going out we can take this for sure.

Forwards: RvP is the best in the EPL in my opinion, but since we only play with one striker I can't give us the advantage here. Man City have too many good strikers, and Chelsea have tons of firepower too so I'd say one of those two win it here. A lot of people praise Man Utd's forwards, but honestly Chicarito is just a poacher atm and Berbatov is lazy; if their only world class forward is Rooney they can't be considered the best I don't think.

Now, considering we didn't win any of those I guess it might sound like I don't rate us highly enough, but this isn't true. I honestly believe that if we can get some good midfield signings in to replace Cesc and maybe Nasri, buy a good CB (better than Cahill), have Gibbs and Szczesny consistently play as well as we know they can, and defend better collectively like we all know we can, we can compete in all competitions. Our team is so reliant on midfield creativity that if we can get everybody gelling, we can score more than any other team, and not concede nearly as many goals as we did last year. Of course, this isn't some perfect game-plan, and it leaves a lot to chance, but our team can be the best IMO

Great post mate, exactly what I was looking for!
What do the rest of you think?

GoonerJay29 wrote:Did you know that only 15 players in our whole squad are over the age of 21? This is going to create problems down the line and is the reason why I think we have one of the worse squads amongst the top six.

If I were to rank them from worse to best, I'd go with this:

Tottenham
Arsenal/Liverpool
Chelsea
United
City

Reason why I put us and Liverpool on the same level is because we're both relative unknown quantities now. Liverpool have a lot of new players that are still gelling, while we're not sure how Arsenal are going to fare without Fabregas.

Another thing I was looking to find an answer to is where we are the weakest and which positions specifically do we need to strengthen, in comparison.

I think LB is a very critical position now. Traore is injured. That leaves us only with Gibbs. The chap who played LB for reserves yesterday, Meade (?), has quick feet and a great dribble but is something like 5 feet, attacks too much and is consequently caught out, while Pogba toyed around with him. It was like watching Gibbs all over again, just a couple of years earlier.

BeautifulGame wrote:You forgot our 16mil winger and also Spearing is a DM.

Lol.. will add..

I cant be happy of our attack until we see a couple of big 3 to 4 goal wins which usually we got in the beginning of last season... In the Newcastle game and in preseason too.. There was surely a lack of sharpness...