Finalised squad...how strong are we?

[stubbo-admin]

So Lopetegui states he wantes two players competing for every position.  We also all wanted to see young players integrated into the first team.

On the basis of his usual formation, that means we wanted:

2 x GK
2 x RB
2 x LB
4 x CB
2 x DM
2 x CM
2 x AM
2 x LW
2 x RW
2 x CF
And some utility players to make up the 25...so where are we:

GK - Areola, Fabianski (Foderingham)
We look good in this area.  Areola I suspect won't go down as one of our greatest between the sticks, but we've had worse number 1s and Fabianski remains a fabulous no. 2.

RB - Wan-Bissaka, Coufal
Definitely upgrades in this area and Wan-Bissaka looks a class signing. Which is fortunate as Coufal looks on his last legs (like Cresswell).

LB - Emerson, Cresswell
As you were. Probably one of the slightly weaker areas of the squad, with few crosses prevented from coming in on the left side of defence, and not much rampaging going forward, but Emerson is neat and tidy in possession, and we had bigger areas to resolve.

CB - Kilman, Mavropanos, Todibo (Casey, Luizao?)
Weird to me we let Aguerd and Zouma leave (essentially pushed them out) with no 4th senior CB to come in. Definitely gives Casey a chance to be involved, and Luizao if he's around will have to be named in the squad, but we need fitness to be strong here. Alvarez offers some cover as does Wan Bissaka and could Soucek 'do a job' in a pinch? Kilman looks a massive upgrade and time will tell with Todibo.

DM - Rodriguez, Alvarez
Looks like it might take a short while for Rodriguez to find his EPL.legs, but promising early signs, and Alvarez is more than up to it. An area of strength now.

CM/AM - Paqueta, Soler, Soucek, Irving (Orford)
Handling these two together as it's not clear what the blend will be. Paqueta looks like playing deeper as an 8, but is also our most obvious no. 10. Soucek playing at 10 so far but seems mostly a 'special teams' player for the boxes. Irving remains an enigma we know little about, and Soler seems more like a 10.  Orford signed a new deal and still here and the most likely youth backup.  We've got the numbers, but feels a bit square pegs in round holes in some circumstances.

RW/LW - Bowen, Kudus, Summerville (Guilherme)
A little like the central midfield position, it's a mixed bag. The players are extremely strong, without being quite clear that they truly fit the roles. Kudus being asked to play LW when clearly stronger on the right. Bowen nailed on to play. Summerville good output last season but looks lightweight, and Guilherme talented but unlikely to contribute much this season. Heavily reliant on our first choices, and need to hope their excellent fitness record continue. We've seen Emerson used in the advanced left position on occasion and that could be needed, as could Antonio.

CF - Füllkrug, Antonio, Ings
Another window goes by, another striker comes in, and the position continues to cast doubts. Antonio looks like his 'beast mode' strength is on the wane aling with his pace, judging by the early weeks. Fullkrug will only be effective if Lopetegui gets us playing his style effectively...until then he's in danger of being another (less effective?) Scamacca or Haller. Ings is the unwanted gift you just can't seem to get someone else to take off your hands. And of course the pace, power and raw talent of Duran the 'what might have been'.  Still feels one of our weakest links, with an arguement to say Bowen could still be considered our best centre forward subject to style of play.

Utility players/youth players not mentioned.
Somewhat frightening, but we don't seem to have any not referenced above in filling out the squad already. Cornet, JWP, Aguerd, Zouma, all departed as senior squad players. Irving and Soucek probably our closest to being 'utility' players like Johnson or Kehrer were. Time will tell.

And that's the squad until Christmas.  8 'Home Grown', 3 U21s that don't need registering, and 16 senior overseas pros. One open squad place, one taken up by Luizao who likely will never see game time, and one taken up by Ings.

Are we stronger? Yes. Are we more balanced? It looks it. Are we better setup to play a passing game? Unquestionably. But doubts remain in the squad depth and effectiveness across the defence with big drop offs or open questions at full back, centre midfield, and striker.

Squad looks like a B+ overall, and being objective, a 7 to 10th place finish feels about right as a target.  

Huge turnover and rebuild job and fair play to Steidten for getting through the balancing act of that much in and out without the Paqueta money to play with...but striker remains a failing with our top target available but not secured, and lingering doubts elsewhere, and our outs loans rather than guaranteed income.  More to do in the Winter window and next Summer if we're to stay in the top half and challenging for Europe.

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[Fauxstralian]

Scarles will be a left back option I’d expect
Should be on the bench today with Cresswell injured

We are stronger than last season with AWB, Kilman & Rodriguez 
Fullkrug, Summerville & Todibo still to prove their worth & we will see Soler after the international break

[Sydney_Iron]

This is maybe the strongest we have ever been in the PL era?

Cant really see a big weak spot, although depth a bit thin when it comes the CB area, especially if Kilman gets injured, think he has a very good record though, unlike Mavros who does have spells out with injury, not sure about the new fella Todibo, think hes decent but if we get more than 2 out it could be a problem?  Would imagine AWB is seen as cover in this area though? Coufal would then start as RB unless the youngster (Casey) are rated higher than we think?

[fraser]

Can definitely see Bowen ending up playing up front. 

Also Edson playing centre back if we get injuries there, but there are still a couple of free agents we can sign there too.