Is Our Squad Stronger Or Weaker Than Last Season

[Reds73]

Maybe the pertinent question is not stronger or weaker than last season but” is the squad strong enough to get promotion?”

Most would agree we started our strongest 11 against Fulham. As back up arguably Yates and DaCosta are of equal quality along with Dawson and Carvalho (if he is ever picked or indeed interested).
The rest of them? Not so much.

So we have 15 players who are good enough for top 6. That doesnt leave much in reserve if injuries and simple match fitness problems kick in. Man for man a team like Fulham are considerably stronger and probably have a bit more in reserve too. Personally I think we are a bit short.

So stronger or weaker then???

Stronger for me - simply on the basis that Sabri has got the whole club invested in the project.
look how engaged the bench are during games, this can make a huge difference. There are plenty of twists and turns and I don’t believe any team will relish playing us.
Sow is building his fitness up, we are looking very organised. 
very interesting month coming up

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Stronger than last year. Yes
Strong enough for top 6. Yes
Strong enough for promotion. No

[Jacksbadhobbits]

Stronger than last year.  Yes
Strong enough for top 6.  Yes
Strong enough for promotion. No

Sabri has improved Cash, Worrall, Yates, Lolley, Ameobi and maybe Grabban. Joao has probably gone backwards a bit. Thiago has strengthened us but Semedo and Diakharby have not really improved the squad. We are stronger than last season. Let's see if it is enough to get promoted.

[wassy04]

Hmm, not that clear cut. I would say Samba, Cash, ribeiro, Sow are upgrades so yes improved.

I feel like the main improvement has been the management though. Sabri is getting a lot out of this squad. Definite room for improvement in wing forward area and central midfield. Grosicki looked good for WBA today, shame we couldn't get that one in

[Plymouth red]

We are certainly better than last season. We have the odd awful performance like sheff wed, Millwall and Fulham but point to me one team in the league who doesn't.

What impressed me the most this year is our away form. Compare this season to the last few. We have lost just 3 away all year and won as many away as we did over last two seasons combined.

Also been impressed with how some players have come on leaps and bounds. Cash, Worrall, Yates have all improved while Watson has to be a player of the season contender. I was guilty, like many of writing him off last year but under Lamouchi he has become essential.

To counter that, our home form hasn't been as good and if there is an area to improve on its how the team sets up at home. Sabri's tactics help us away as we can counter but not so good when playing mid to lower teams.

My other concern is squad depth. Cannot say we came out of January stronger than we went in. Not sure how many outside our first xi can come in and do as good a job and we've seen how a few injuries can impact us.

Would love to see us make the playoffs and love it even more if we could get to the final after so many disappointments. If we go up great. If we miss out then I hope we can keep most of the squad together (perhaps sell one or two - Carvalho for example - to further strengthen) and challenge next year.

And hopefully with lamouchi in cjarge

[ThePromisedLand]

Stronger than last year.  Yes
Strong enough for top 6.  Yes
Strong enough for promotion. No

In one. 
Regret to say that Nixon called it several months ago - decent first X1 but supporting cast just not good enough.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Stronger than last year.  Yes
Strong enough for top 6.  Yes
Strong enough for promotion. No

In one. 
Regret to say that Nixon called it several months ago - decent first X1 but supporting cast just not good enough.

The best film doesn't always win the Oscar though...

[zicorice]

Stronger than last year.  Yes
Strong enough for top 6.  Yes
Strong enough for promotion. No

In one. 
Regret to say that Nixon called it several months ago - decent first X1 but supporting cast just not good enough.

The best film doesn't always win the Oscar though...

I think that's probably how I see it. The group of 14 or 15 players gave done really well, helped by some great management. Other than Sow, we have been quite fortunate with injuries so our squad has not been stretched. That said, when Sabri has wanted to rotate it has been a massive down grade. Grabban is class but has had to be overplayed this season. Full backs are class but back up? Not so much. Watson has been class, but Bostock? Unknown. Granted at CB Daws is quality.  We lost Osborne, Colback, Robinson later and various CFs. (I thought Ansarifad looked decent enough, especially compared to Mir).

Club look better, team definitely achieving better, but I think squad is very similar, but so far we haven't really had to worry about that.  

If we do go up, I would rather let the lads who got us there primarily have their chance with a couple of signings to add to starting line up. Team spirit and togetherness has got us this far. Besides, buying virtually whole new team at great expense can destroy what got you there in the first place- just ask Fulham

Edit: obviously not getting ahead of ourselves. IF is a massive two letter word and would be a nice problem to have.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Surely our league position tells us that the squad is stronger. We have been in a play off place almost the whole season and even had a flirt with the top two, we even went top after winning at Stoke but that was very early in the season.

[ThePromisedLand]

Not sure that’s the reason Sniff.
I can answer that in just 2 words - Sabri Lamouchi.
The sum of the parts...

[optimistic_red]

Surely our league position tells us that the squad is stronger. We have been in a play off place almost the whole season and even had a flirt with the top two, we even went top after winning at Stoke but that was very early in the season.

Agree with above, and that fact we already have more points than last year with 4 games remaining.

I think the squad is stronger than last year, it also has a better team spirit and has benefited from having the same manager all year.

[zicorice]

Surely our league position tells us that the squad is stronger. We have been in a play off place almost the whole season and even had a flirt with the top two, we even went top after winning at Stoke but that was very early in the season.

Agree with above, and that fact we already have more points than last year with 4 games remaining.

I think the squad is stronger than last year, it also has a better team spirit and has benefited from having the same manager all year.

Last season we lost Grabban for a while through injury and he wasn't 100% when he came back. How would our squad have coped with that this season? Especially before Christmas. Also lost our first choice full backs at various times and in terms of centre backs how many did we get through? Last season injuries hit at various times quite hard. Last year both Norwich and Sheffield United had relatively injury free seasons, where as our squad was tested to the full. We also had unbelievably bad refereeing decisions hit us at the crucial time during the run in costing us the points that may have taken us into top 6. 

The squad depth was tested alot more last season and fell short just. 

This season the squad depth when tested for rotation has fallen short, but thankfully hasn't really been tested for injuries.

We haven't had many games where the ref has completely killed us compared to last year either.

What isn't debatable is the team has achieved better especially away from home. We have definitely made progress as a team-albeit some of the home games have been tough to watch.

Would you feel confident if (fingers crossed) we lost Cash, Worrall, Figs and Grabban through injury for the rest of the season. Replacements Jenkinson, Dawson, Benololoune/Heff and Walker/DaCosta.  

Thankfully our squad has only really been used when Sabri felt like it.