This season squad-over hyped?

[TomTom85]

Every year we seem to think our squad is better than they are! Take last summer and MA's signings. The majority of us believed that MA had improved our team and that we had a squad that could get us in to the top 6! Well......that didn't quite happen now did it! But what of our Squad this year? how does it stand to other squads in the league? are any of our players the best in there given postions in the league?

Heres my L1 Best 11:

GK: Von Williams (Stockport)
DL: Jimmy Mc (The Albion)
DC: Paul Robinson (Millwall)
DC: Askou (Norwich)
DR: Muty (S"aints")

ML: Snodgrass (Leeds)
MR: Wes Hoolahan (Norwich)
MC: Kilkenny (Leeds)
MC: Racon (Charlton) or Kay (Hudders)

S: Beckford (leeds)
S: Lambert (B. Rovers)


So only one Albion player in my league 1 best 11! To me shows the scale of the task ahead of us this season. But i do think its possible to finish in the top 6. but it will come down to how we work as a unite, as in my opinion we can't rely on individual talent. What do you think?

 

[Easy 10]

How the hell do you formulate a League One Best 11 ? How much have you actually SEEN of all these players at other clubs to enable you to decide they are "the best" ? OK, in the case of strikers you have their goalscoring records to look at, but quite honestly if you were asking me to name the best rightback in the division, I would be seriously struggling.

 

[jharris]

Davis Southampton
Crowe Leeds
Llerra Charlton
Jaidi Southampton
Lewington MK Dons
Shelvey Charlton
Grant Southend
Lallana Southampton
Puncheon MK Dons
Beckford Leeds
Lambert Bristol Rovers

 

[pishhead]

And the fact that the Askou chap from Norwich hasn't played a game in this country!

 

[TomTom85]

of course you can name who you think is the "Best"! If i asked anyone who do you think is the best 11 in the prem is, I bet they would/could, Alot of these players i have seen, some on the pedigree (i.e having played at a higher level). My point is that there is a best 11! theres always going to be someone who is better than someone else and looking at our squad there our better players in the league than ours! for me having the best players goes a long towards sucsess.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

How the hell do you formulate a League One Best 11 ? How much have you actually SEEN of all these players at other clubs to enable you to decide they are "the best" ? OK, in the case of strikers you have their goalscoring records to look at, but quite honestly if you were asking me to name the best rightback in the division, I would be seriously struggling.

Easy, in your considered opinion, who would you say is the best right back in league one?

 

[Easy 10]

of course you can name who you think is the "Best"! If i asked anyone who do you think is the best 11 in the prem is, I bet they would/could, Alot of these players i have seen, some on the pedigree (i.e having played at a higher level). My point is that there is a best 11! theres always going to be someone who is better than someone else and looking at our squad there our better players in the league than ours! for me having the best players goes a long towards sucsess.

If you're glued to the saturated Premiership coverage on Sky then of course you could make an informed opionion on the best Premiership XI. But how much have you seen of (say) Von Williams, the Stockport keeper, to say that in your opinion he is the best there is in League One ?

 

[The Grockle]

I’m not sure I agree with your best league one team, it is impossible to tell at this stage I’m afraid.

I do agree with the fact people are overhyping our squad but I do believe it is only slightly. I reckon our squad should be capable of a top ten finish, maybe even play-offs but a more realistic finishing place for us would be around 12th.

Let’s face it though no one knows anything at this stage good teams can do poorly and the so-called crap teams can exceed expectations (Yeovil a couple of seasons ago) the proof as they say, is in the pudding!

 

[Icy Gull]

When we won the 2nd Championship I doubt more than one of our players would have got into the best team in the League pre-season, having the best players doesn't necessarily make the best team.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Well of course it remains to be seen how the squad performs; I was one of those that was optimistic going into last season, after all.

The big thing about the way Slade has gone about his business in the market is that I can see the point in all of our signings, and those that we let go, even his handling of the Lynch and Harding situations. The only anomaly is letting Sullivan go but it shouldn't be a big deal with Graeme Smith plus Kuipers.

Overall, in terms of addressing problems, getting rid of deadwood, bringing in good players I feel this is the best pre-season since Adams assembled the promotion team of 2000.

 

[Easy 10]

Easy, in your considered opinion, who would you say is the best right back in league one?

Ooooh, his name escapes me now. That one with the black hair who plays for that team with the red away shirt. Or was it green ? You know the one. Big fella.

 

[Brovion]

Every year we seem to think our squad is better than they are! Take last summer and MA's signings. The majority of us believed that MA had improved our team and that we had a squad that could get us in to the top 6! Well......that didn't quite happen now did it! But what of our Squad this year? how does it stand to other squads in the league? are any of our players the best in there given postions in the league?

I wouldn't want to pick a best XI but I agree with what you're saying, the squad could well be overhyped (remember last year). On the other hand it could be underrated, I genuinely don't know.

EDIT: Also the best PLAYERS don't necessarily make the best TEAM.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

of course you can name who you think is the "Best"! If i asked anyone who do you think is the best 11 in the prem is, I bet they would/could, Alot of these players i have seen, some on the pedigree (i.e having played at a higher level). My point is that there is a best 11! theres always going to be someone who is better than someone else and looking at our squad there our better players in the league than ours! for me having the best players goes a long towards sucsess.

But teams who have the best players often don't win the league otherwise Leeds would not be in this division still. Your team only has one player from each club except for Leeds I think so again we are not exactly far behind.

In my view, the best teams in this league gel as a team and work well together. In Slade I think we have a very good manager who will bring the best out of players and that gives us the advantage on what we had last year.

So, to answer your original question, I don't think we are over hyping. We have a decent squad which will hopefully be top half this year (if you look at the strength in depth compared to last year it is a lot stronger) and maybe pushing for top 6.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

I’m not sure I agree with your best league one team, it is impossible to tell at this stage I’m afraid.

I do agree with the fact people are overhyping our squad but I do believe it is only slightly. I reckon our squad should be capable of a top ten finish, maybe even play-offs but a more realistic finishing place for us would be around 12th.

Let’s face it though no one knows anything at this stage good teams can do poorly and the so-called crap teams can exceed expectations (Yeovil a couple of seasons ago) the proof as they say, is in the pudding!

Completely agree and who managed Yeovil to that position? Slade has done it before with what was probably a weaker squad.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Every year we seem to think our squad is better than they are! Take last summer and MA's signings. The majority of us believed that MA had improved our team and that we had a squad that could get us in to the top 6! Well......that didn't quite happen now did it! But what of our Squad this year? how does it stand to other squads in the league? are any of our players the best in there given postions in the league?

Heres my L1 Best 11:

GK: Von Williams (Stockport)
DL: Jimmy Mc (The Albion)
DC: Paul Robinson (Millwall)
DC: Askou (Norwich)
DR: Muty (S"aints")

ML: Snodgrass (Leeds)
MR: Wes Hoolahan (Norwich)
MC: Kilkenny (Leeds)
MC: Racon (Charlton) or Kay (Hudders)

S: Beckford (leeds)
S: Lambert (B. Rovers)


So only one Albion player in my league 1 best 11! To me shows the scale of the task ahead of us this season. But i do think its possible to finish in the top 6. but it will come down to how we work as a unite, as in my opinion we can't rely on individual talent. What do you think?

I VERY confidently predict that Murty will be a DISASTER. Old, injury prone, and wasn't actually much good to start with...

 

[Rookie]

What a random thread, how can you pick a best XI before the season has started aren't these things usually left till the end? Also as said above since when did having the best players mean you had the best team??

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Overall, in terms of addressing problems, getting rid of deadwood, bringing in good players I feel this is the best pre-season since Adams assembled the promotion team of 2000.

MA's team of course took two seasons to assemble. Some of the initial buys were great and became part of the promotion team - Cullip, Crosby, Oatway, Rogers, Watson, Freeman - whereas others were failures - Jamie Campbell, David Cameron, Darren Carr, Aidan Newhouse.

It took a couple of late season loans turned into full buys - Zamora and Brooker - and then a second summer spent clearing out the deadwood and filling the gaps - Carpenter, Kuipers, Nathan Jones and Matt Wicks - to get a promotion side.

If Slade can do this in one year he's a genius. But some of his 10 signings are bound to be crap, and it will surely take another summer to put a promotion-winning team together.

 

[QTarantino]

Depends on what you mean by over-rated.

Individually we are well below some teams but what we do have is a very solid squad with competition for places.

To get out of this league, it requires a solid squad, with a few classy players.
We potentially have this:

Solid back four and keeper
Dicker, Navarro, Crofts, Wright all solid league one players.

We haev Murray up front who has that added class. I think if we are going to get promoted, we need Cox or Thornhill to shine this season.

 

[NF9]

 

[y2dave]

MA's team of course took two seasons to assemble. Some of the initial buys were great and became part of the promotion team - Cullip, Crosby, Oatway, Rogers, Watson, Freeman - whereas others were failures - Jamie Campbell, David Cameron, Darren Carr, Aidan Newhouse.

It took a couple of late season loans turned into full buys - Zamora and Brooker - and then a second summer spent clearing out the deadwood and filling the gaps - Carpenter, Kuipers, Nathan Jones and Matt Wicks - to get a promotion side.

If Slade can do this in one year he's a genius. But some of his 10 signings are bound to be crap, and it will surely take another summer to put a promotion-winning team together.

Good points but don't forget Adams inherited only 3 or 4 players deemed capable for 1st team dutys (Mayo, Hart, Walton, Thomas). I think Slade has inherited a nucleus of players which give him a far better starting point with midfield the only major weakness. Dicker should settle straight back in and I'm confident the new signings will improve on Loft and Fraser.

It's a strong division but I'm optimistic a good start will see us in play off contention.