[Albion] RDZ exploring the depth of his squad

[Bold Seagull]

With Caicedo needing to serve a bit of time on the bench, MacA suspended, Ferguson injured, Webster carrying a bit of a knock, Saturday did delve into the depths of our squad with 5 subs used, and a debut for 18 year old Buonanotte who we might have been forgiven in thinking they would be going into the development side of things for a few weeks, first, not straight into a premier league game.

We obviously had discussions on here during the window, and RDZ had said he wanted players in, then said he was happy etc. but it felt like on Saturday we pretty much saw with the injuries, suspensions etc. what the full depth of our squad looks like at present.

When losing Bissouma for example, Caicedo and Mwepu were flying and you suddenly felt his departure wasn't going to be so hard felt. Now, the cover in midfield appears to be Gross and Gilmour. The right back slot is Veltman / Lamptey / Gross, but Saturday that was reduced to Lamptey as the other two were required elsewhere.

Really exciting when Sarmiento, Enciso and Buonanotte came on, some real flair and excitement, but really could do without MacA and Caicedo being out at the same time again.

 

[dazzer6666]

With Caicedo needing to serve a bit of time on the bench, MacA suspended, Ferguson injured, Webster carrying a bit of a knock, Saturday did delve into the depths of our squad with 5 subs used, and a debut for 18 year old Buonanotte who we might have been forgiven in thinking they would be going into the development side of things for a few weeks, first, not straight into a premier league game.

We obviously had discussions on here during the window, and RDZ had said he wanted players in, then said he was happy etc. but it felt like on Saturday we pretty much saw with the injuries, suspensions etc. what the full depth of our squad looks like at present.

When losing Bissouma for example, Caicedo and Mwepu were flying and you suddenly felt his departure wasn't going to be so hard felt. Now, the cover in midfield appears to be Gross and Gilmour. The right back slot is Veltman / Lamptey / Gross, but Saturday that was reduced to Lamptey as the other two were required elsewhere.

Really exciting when Sarmiento, Enciso and Buonanotte came on, some real flair and excitement, but really could do without MacA and Caicedo being out at the same time again.

DeZ was clear from the start that Buonanotte was going straight into the first team squad…….they’ve clearly seen something exceptional about him.

 

[Icy Gull]

I am finding it very hard to moan about ANYTHING at the Albion at the moment. We are punching so far above our weight that I expect everything to go pear shaped every game. Except I don’t, I am now disappointed when we don’t win…against anybody

Those three young South Americans coming on could have been a disaster, it wasn’t, they all did a good job and Sarmiento got an assist for the goal with one of the very few decent crosses we put in all game.

Heady times

 

[Bold Seagull]

DeZ was clear from the start that Buonanotte was going straight into the first team squad…….they’ve clearly seen something exceptional about him.

Yes he was, the days of us signing 18 year olds and us not seeing / hearing from them for a while appear to be gone. We need to get used to it!

 

[Bozza]

I still think we look very thin, as I don't think most of those on the bench on Saturday are ready to be regular starters yet.

But, you can't argue with what De Zerbi is getting out of the players at his disposal and, hopefully, we're through the worst of it and missing players will start to become available again.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I still think we look very thin, as I don't think most of those on the bench on Saturday are ready to be regular starters yet.

But, you can't argue with what De Zerbi is getting out of the players at his disposal and, hopefully, we're through the worst of it and players will start to become available again.

Hopefully you're right for this Season, but (whisper it) Europe ? Unless all these players sold is TB's cunning plan for a summer of incoming if we get there

 

[Bold Seagull]

I am finding it very hard to moan about ANYTHING at the Albion at the moment. We are punching so far above our weight that I expect everything to go pear shaped every game. Except I don’t, I am now disappointed when we don’t win…against anybody

Those three young South Americans coming on could have been a disaster, it wasn’t, they all did a good job and Sarmiento got an assist for the goal with one of the very few decent crosses we put in all game.

Heady times

Who is moaning? Just an observation. I think I stated above it was really exciting to see those 3 come on.

 

[BBassic]

but really could do without MacA and Caicedo being out at the same time again.

Next season will be interesting if we're to believe both of them will be off in the summer.

 

[Stat Brother]

I didn't know who to boooooo first.

Heady times indeed.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I didn't know who to boooooo first.

Heady times indeed.

When Gross shaped to do a turn, then didn't, I was ready for a full booing.

 

[dazzer6666]

I still think we look very thin, as I don't think most of those on the bench on Saturday are ready to be regular starters yet.

But, you can't argue with what De Zerbi is getting out of the players at his disposal and, hopefully, we're through the worst of it and players will start to become available again.

Agree……it’s midfield cover especially - if we had Mwepu and Moder available would have looked quite different.

 

[Berty23]

I still think we look very thin, as I don't think most of those on the bench on Saturday are ready to be regular starters yet.

But, you can't argue with what De Zerbi is getting out of the players at his disposal and, hopefully, we're through the worst of it and players will start to become available again.

I agree to a certain extent but how big can a squad be and still be manageable?

Players who were unavailable on Saturday
Colwill
Lallana
Ferguson
Alexis
Moder

Plus of course
Caicedo was felt only prepared for the bench after the goings on.

In addition to caicedo we had internationals Enciso and Sarmiento plus Webster. The rest are a little young perhaps but if the squad was much bigger and we had a clean bill of health and suspension then that is a lot of players not playing.

It is a tricky one.

my biggest worry is what happens if Pervis gets broken.

As a comparison. I think arsenal are only missing Jesus at the moment. And their bench is not much better than ours. Remove 4 of their best side and what does it look like?

 

[Guinness Boy]

Hopefully you're right for this Season, but (whisper it) Europe ? Unless all these players sold is TB's cunning plan for a summer of incoming if we get there

I've been saying for a while that I believe it would be only sensible to have a different recruitment plan for if we get to Europe versus if we don't. Getting in will need a stronger in depth squad and will see us more likely to retain key players.

I can't work out where that leaves RDZ though. Getting the current squad into Europe would be an incredible achievement and could well see offers from other clubs. On the other hand, if we don't get in and he feels that was down to not strengthening in January, he might walk. IMO needs an improved contract the way we did with Potter.

Either way our best bit of business in the window was keeping Caicedo. Multiple pundits saying they admire the "not for sale" stance and looked fully re-integrated at the end of the game on Saturday.

 

[Zeberdi]

You’ll have to get used to life without iMackie and Moises because they’re both gone in the Summer window.

It was obvious back in August-November when we first started serious talks for Buonanotte that he would go straight into the first team and would be debuted very soon after signing - RDZ will likely be seeing him as our replacement for Mackie (who’s been playing much higher behind the forwards recently to great effect) and there was nothing in the Cherries cameo that would make me concerned here that Facu would not be up to the job by the Summer in that respect.

Pervis was excellent on Sunday and Sarmiento also showed great promise. We also signed Ayari in January (and don’t forget Moder may be back soon from his ACL injury if his rehab is still on course) - it’s half way through the season so not surprising there’s a few injuries - we have a lot of promise also out on loan too. There’s no cause IMO for complaining about Brighton’s recruitment strategy or our squad when we are doing so well - when we start loosing games and drop down to 11th place then I’ll jump on board with the moaning Minnie’s (or if we qualify for Europe, I’d then question whether the current depth of our squad will impact on our EPL season’s performance)

One thing that needs to be borne in mind is you need to keep players happy, that means them not sitting on the bench too much or not getting enough starts - the deeper the squad the tougher that becomes.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

With Caicedo needing to serve a bit of time on the bench, MacA suspended, Ferguson injured, Webster carrying a bit of a knock, Saturday did delve into the depths of our squad with 5 subs used, and a debut for 18 year old Buonanotte who we might have been forgiven in thinking they would be going into the development side of things for a few weeks, first, not straight into a premier league game.

We obviously had discussions on here during the window, and RDZ had said he wanted players in, then said he was happy etc. but it felt like on Saturday we pretty much saw with the injuries, suspensions etc. what the full depth of our squad looks like at present.

When losing Bissouma for example, Caicedo and Mwepu were flying and you suddenly felt his departure wasn't going to be so hard felt. Now, the cover in midfield appears to be Gross and Gilmour. The right back slot is Veltman / Lamptey / Gross, but Saturday that was reduced to Lamptey as the other two were required elsewhere.

Really exciting when Sarmiento, Enciso and Buonanotte came on, some real flair and excitement, but really could do without MacA and Caicedo being out at the same time again.

Our reported attempt to sign RB Leipzig midfielder Amadou Haidara would suggest the club tried to mitigate for an absence of our best Midfield combination.

But the rest of the squad looks well balanced.

 

[CaptainDaveUK]

And to think Ferguson presumably would have started had he not been injured. So many young guns on the pitch, which is exciting but we really need Lallana and Mac back asap, to help balance the side. RDZ doing an amazing job with our current available squad.

 

[dazzer6666]

You’ll have to get used to life without iMackie and Moises because they’re both gone in the Summer window.

It was obvious back in August-November when we first started serious talks for Buonanotte that he would go straight into the first team and would be debuted very soon after signing - RDZ will likely be seeing him as our replacement for Mackie (who’s been playing much higher behind the forwards recently to great effect) and there was nothing in the Cherries cameo that would make me concerned here that Facu would not be up to the job by the Summer in that respect.

Pervis was excellent on Sunday and Sarmiento also showed great promise. We also signed Atari in January (and don’t forget Moder may be back soon from his ACL injury if his rehab is still on course) - it’s half way through the season so not surprising there’s a few injuries - we have a lot of promise also out on loan too. There’s no cause IMO for complaining about Brighton’s recruitment strategy or our squad when we are doing so well - when we start loosing games and drop down to 11th place then I’ll jump on board with the moaning Minnie’s (or if we qualify for Europe, I’d then question whether the current depth of our squad will impact on our EPL season’s performance)

One thing that needs to be borne in mind is you need to keep players happy, that means them not sitting on the bench too much or not getting starts - the deeper the squad the tougher that becomes.

Indeed….we need to learn to trust TB in all this.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

You’ll have to get used to life without iMackie and Moises because they’re both gone in the Summer window.

It was obvious back in August-November when we first started serious talks for Buonanotte that he would go straight into the first team and would be debuted very soon after signing - RDZ will likely be seeing him as our replacement for Mackie (who’s been playing much higher behind the forwards recently to great effect) and there was nothing in the Cherries cameo that would make me concerned here that Facu would not be up to the job by the Summer in that respect.

Pervis was excellent on Sunday and Sarmiento also showed great promise. We also signed Ayari in January (and don’t forget Moder may be back soon from his ACL injury if his rehab is still on course) - it’s half way through the season so not surprising there’s a few injuries - we have a lot of promise also out on loan too. There’s no cause IMO for complaining about Brighton’s recruitment strategy or our squad when we are doing so well - when we start loosing games and drop down to 11th place then I’ll jump on board with the moaning Minnie’s (or if we qualify for Europe, I’d then question whether the current depth of our squad will impact on our EPL season’s performance)

One thing that needs to be borne in mind is you need to keep players happy, that means them not sitting on the bench too much or not getting enough starts - the deeper the squad the tougher that becomes.

I agree that Buonanotte might be an Ali Mac replacement. We definitely don't have a Caicedo replacement though. We'd need to recruit one direct into the 1st team if / wen he leaves in the summer.

 

[Badger Boy]

I think we're shortest in the full back positions, especially given Tariq needs a run of games to maybe get back to something like his best. If Estupinan gets injured then we're going to have to play a square peg at left back which will undermine the ability of the team. I'm not sure why we've left ourselves so short at full back in the last few windows. It's one left back in, one out which is strange business considering how efficient we are in other areas of the pitch.

 

[el punal]

I am finding it very hard to moan about ANYTHING at the Albion at the moment. We are punching so far above our weight that I expect everything to go pear shaped every game. Except I don’t, I am now disappointed when we don’t win…against anybody

Those three young South Americans coming on could have been a disaster, it wasn’t, they all did a good job and Sarmiento got an assist for the goal with one of the very few decent crosses we put in all game.

Heady times

Lovely post, although I would dispute that we’re punching above our weight. Our progress over the last two years has shown that we can definitely mix it with the ‘big boys’. This progress has now culminated in our current league position and the plaudits we are receiving for our style of football. We are dining at the top table, we deserve that right for our achievements thus far.