The most impressive thing about Roy's start has been his tendency to do the blatantly obvious. Too many times last season we looked disjointed and holes were made in the team thanks to not going for the startling obvious choices in the lineup.
Even when players were missing, like Torres, there were times when people were calling for us to play one defensive midfielder, drop Gerrard into the centre and play Aqua or Yossi in the hole. It never happened and because the balance was completely wrong in the middle of the pitch it had a devastating effect on the rest of midfield and our attacking play. Ditto the left back problem, one player caused so many issues across the backline by being caught out of position constantly. Johnson is ultra attacking too which just added to the problem and the centre backs were continuously exposed and made to look worse than they actually are.
So despite a few additions this term, in reality the actual depth of the squad isn't THAT different, a few sensible decisions have been made, a few players have returned from injury, the dross has been sold (more or less) and replaced either with incoming players or the couple of youngsters we were crying out to see more of last season, like Kelly and Pacheco.
So all in all, it begs the question whether the problems last season were solely down to a lack of squad depth or just as much down to a lack of positive thinking and making sense of the situation. It seems the problems were magnified by the manager over-complicating issues on the pitch.
This is our current squad by position and who can cover what. I'm not suggesting we don't need a left back and striker and the odd addition here and there, but it doesn't look half as bad or thread bare as it seemed a few months ago (bare in mind that some players cover a few positions too):
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Goalkeepers: Reina, Jones
Right Back: Johnson, Kelly, Carragher
Centre Back: Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, The Greek, Ayala, Wilson.
Left Back: Aurelio, Agger, Wilson, Kelly
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Defensive midfield: Poulsen, Lucas, Spearing. (I don't particularly rate Spearing, and it's clear Mashers days may be numbered so for arguments sake I'll leave him out)
Centre midfield: Gerrard, Aquilani, Lucas
Attacking midfield/hole: Gerrard, Joe Cole, Aquilani, Pacheco
Right attack: Kuyt, Maxi, Pacheco
Left attack: Johanovic, Joe Cole, Babel, Pacheco, Maxi
Striker: Torres, N'Gog, Kuyt, Jovanovic
Clearly we look very likely to at least add a striker to that and maybe even a left back, much hinging on Mascherano who could also end up staying, but by and large, it's not that bad, given the versatility of a lot of those players, the biggest issue I guess will be how we fare with injuries this season, with the likes of Aurelio, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Torres, Cole and Aquilani all having fairly poor injury records.
That said, with a bit of luck on that front we could be in for a very successful season, regardless of the depth of City's squad, the team has to gel first and foremost and our first XI is largely VERY good.
Even when players were missing, like Torres, there were times when people were calling for us to play one defensive midfielder, drop Gerrard into the centre and play Aqua or Yossi in the hole. It never happened and because the balance was completely wrong in the middle of the pitch it had a devastating effect on the rest of midfield and our attacking play. Ditto the left back problem, one player caused so many issues across the backline by being caught out of position constantly. Johnson is ultra attacking too which just added to the problem and the centre backs were continuously exposed and made to look worse than they actually are.
So despite a few additions this term, in reality the actual depth of the squad isn't THAT different, a few sensible decisions have been made, a few players have returned from injury, the dross has been sold (more or less) and replaced either with incoming players or the couple of youngsters we were crying out to see more of last season, like Kelly and Pacheco.
So all in all, it begs the question whether the problems last season were solely down to a lack of squad depth or just as much down to a lack of positive thinking and making sense of the situation. It seems the problems were magnified by the manager over-complicating issues on the pitch.
This is our current squad by position and who can cover what. I'm not suggesting we don't need a left back and striker and the odd addition here and there, but it doesn't look half as bad or thread bare as it seemed a few months ago (bare in mind that some players cover a few positions too):
------------
Goalkeepers: Reina, Jones
Right Back: Johnson, Kelly, Carragher
Centre Back: Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, The Greek, Ayala, Wilson.
Left Back: Aurelio, Agger, Wilson, Kelly
-----------
Defensive midfield: Poulsen, Lucas, Spearing. (I don't particularly rate Spearing, and it's clear Mashers days may be numbered so for arguments sake I'll leave him out)
Centre midfield: Gerrard, Aquilani, Lucas
Attacking midfield/hole: Gerrard, Joe Cole, Aquilani, Pacheco
Right attack: Kuyt, Maxi, Pacheco
Left attack: Johanovic, Joe Cole, Babel, Pacheco, Maxi
Striker: Torres, N'Gog, Kuyt, Jovanovic
Clearly we look very likely to at least add a striker to that and maybe even a left back, much hinging on Mascherano who could also end up staying, but by and large, it's not that bad, given the versatility of a lot of those players, the biggest issue I guess will be how we fare with injuries this season, with the likes of Aurelio, Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Torres, Cole and Aquilani all having fairly poor injury records.
That said, with a bit of luck on that front we could be in for a very successful season, regardless of the depth of City's squad, the team has to gel first and foremost and our first XI is largely VERY good.
