How Good is Our Squad?

I - no doubt like many others - have been feeling extremely comfortable knowing we have a strong bench, particularly in the manner in which RM uses that bench, it has been in the main impressive.

However, when you look at the squad and read your take on the those in contention, it does send a few shivers up the spine and has me reaching for the gin!

Naismith - With the ball at his feet it's fingers-crossed time and no doubt about it. His work-rate is terrific, though, so I'd like to see him in against Spur.

Stuart, good summary. I think, however, you're too impatient regarding Stones and Deulofeu. In order for Stones to have "more of a chance" you'd have to sit down one of the regular backliners, and that sort of experimentation would look like a really bad idea for our upcomng fixtures. As for Deulofeu, he'll get plenty of playing time when injuries start to take a toll on the first team.

All in all I'd say our squad is as healthy as it's been in a long while, but, yes, only a few injuries away from the team picking itself.

The problem is the money liverpool have spent over the last 12 months plus their financial clout in playing hardball over Suarez is bearing fruit.

Arsenal have at last spent shedloads as their fans have been demanding and Spurs have splashed the Bale cash on some cracking players.

Yes we are better but so are they.

On the other hand Oviedo still haven´t played a good game for us either.
I think he has been pretty below average on the few chances he has had so far. Ooozes mediocre for me.

Robles
Hibbert Alcaraz Stones Oviedo
Heitinga Gibson
Deulofeu Naismith Kone
Jelavic

No too many is my guess!

Could I ask all who are posting to carefully hit/click/touch the Submit Comment button JUST ONCE....

And then wait patiently until the internet, ISP, servers, etc have processed that one message?

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding!

When you saw Chelsea's changed 11 the other night you saw how far we have to go. In fairness though they're the only ones along with City who have that privelige. If you take the best players out of teams like Liverpool Arsenal and Spurs then the quality of their replacements fall drastically just like ours.

For me we need another midfielder (especially with Gibson injured) and another two wide players consdering we only have three at a push, one of which would prefer to play in the middle, one of which would prefer to play upfront, and one of which has no conception of anything to do with the defensive side of the game.

IF and big If, we did go 3 at the back the defensive part would(?) be well served by Alcaraz, Jags and Hibbo, it does nothing for the PIOFTB aspect.

We can only hope that Untd keep under performing and the CL carrot looks further away there than here. If we lose the best wingback in the world it makes 3ATB pointless.

With all due respect ot any replacement ( unless we unearth another one ) it was and is only ever viable WITH Baines and A.N Other on the left...with Baines as the main man and Coleman as support, not Coleman as the main man and an unknown in support.

Glad you are in receptive mood: here's a couple to work on:

1) It's called the Premier League... (not 'premiership') — has been for many years now. Get with it!

2) I have it on good authority that Heitinga does not like to see his name spelt 'Heitinger' — that sounds too Germanic for his liking!

3) And as for Deulofeu... well it seems to be hard to pronounce so is that an excuse? Not if it is 100% phonetic: Dey-you-lo-fey-you in bastardized English phonetics (sorry, I can't do the real thing).

Hope this helps!

Osman's only position in the team should be behind the striker, he's definitely not suited to playing further back in the positions Gibson and Barry currently occupy.

I'd love us to try and Sign Tom Ince in January if the price is right.

A top CM on loan would be okay to cover while Gibson is out.

If Baines has to go, then all the proceeds should be made available to try to plug the gap and strengthen where needed.

I like this post, pretty accurate views and interesting subject, well done, Stuart.

I think you made some quick judgements on Vellios and others, but otherwise I agree.

It will be interesting to see what Martinez decides to do with them.

Naismith will be kept because he doesn't moan about sitting on the bench and will work his socks off when asked to do so.

Mirallis is a different kettle of fish altogether. Very talented. Very inconsistent. Needs to be molly coddled. Definitely not a Martinez type team player but can cause lots of damage when in the mood.

The rest of the squad look pretty reliable and I hope we can hang on to Barry next season. Lukaku I'm not worried about. He'll be off to pastures new and we might replace him with someone who is genuinely thrilled to wear the Everton shirt.

Now compare that to say, Manchester City. Yeah Jovetic, Fernandinho, Negredo, and Navas are all nice players with hefty price tags, but do they really add much value to them? Is Fernandinho miles above Barry? Is Negredo better than Balotelli? Is Navas any better than Nasri or Milner? Will Jovetic ever get a game anyway? I think the answer to all of these questions is no. Yes, the team has strengthened, but have the replacements added more value than their predecessors? The team didn't have any major weaknesses in the first place so the new additions can only make so much of an impact.

Southampton is very similar to us in the way they've improved by fixing pressing issues. They desperately needed Wanyama, Lovren, and Osvaldo because they were weak throughout their spine like we were. They got these guys, addressed the problem and now they're the stingiest club in the league at present. Teams like Chelsea, City, and Arsenal don't really many pressing issues so picking up players like Schurrle and Willian doesn't mean much because they already have a wealth of talent at the same position. Every time I see the supposed depth of these super rich teams in the Capital One Cup, I see them struggle just as mightily to pick up the win as our backups. City with all their star studded players, needed extra time to defeat mainly Newcastle's backups. Spurs needed pens to beat Hull. Again. I just think the gap between the mega rich and the rest of us is much smaller than it used to be. League looks wide open.

If you're implying that Lukaku isn't genuinely thrilled to be wearing the Everton shirt, I would take issue. His passion, commitment and enthusiasm for the badge after scoring are clear for all to see.

The fact that his future and his dreams lie elsewhere is something I won't hold against him -- to my eye he is doing great honor to his Everton shirt every minute he's on the field.

The fact is, both last season and this season, we have created so many gilt edge chances that any decent striker, apart from Jelavic, would have scored a bag full. Lukaku is a good striker who cost Chelski £20mil but there are other good, more reasonably priced strikers out there who Martinez has probably earmarked. This is why I'm not worried about losing him. Our new boss has a definite plan and will not recruit a bummer.

In spite of that, Lukaku is bringing just enough to help us in most games and that is what we need from a striker.

I would be more pleased, however, if Martinez could get Vellios and Kone some playing time so they can act as proper back-ups when goals are needed and Lukaku is not up for it.

I'm still working on "wind your goat".

Distin is a marvel to me at 36 - you would back him against most players in a race for the ball. Eventually he will loose his edge and I don't know where we are going to get a replacement with his strength and pace.

The problem we had was OFM refusing to utilise the resources he had at his disposal. Constant reliance on his old favorites IMO cost us and i'm convinced he knocked the confidence out of some players.

Roberto on the other hand is trying to utilise the full squad and with the additions he's made I genuinely look forward to us playing anyone, anywhere, anytime.

I believe he will nuture the young talent we have at the club and IMO the confidence throughout the club is already growing.

We'll take a few beatings along the way but things feel and look a lot fresher on the pitch.

I wasn't going to comment on this thread, but this came up in the recent comments section.

I think the one place we're overstocked is at centre back. We've got Jagielka, Distin, Heitinga, Alcaraz, Stones and Duffy. I think we all expected Heitinga to leave in the summer, especially when Alcaraz came in.

The one place we're short is in midfield. With Gibson out, we have three central midfielders for two positions (Barry, McCarthy and Osman) with one of them (Osman) making his case to be considered one of the three attacking midfielders rather than a deep lying one. Unless Lundstram and Francisco Junior are smashing down the door in training and in the reserves, then that's where our next signing has to be, possibly even the next two.

The key thing about our squad is what's happened in the last two games. We have players who come off the bench and change the game. Pienaar and Osman have scored two and assisted one coming off the bench and turned two points into six in our last two games. Does anyone have any stats about how often that has happened in recent seasons? I'd be surprised to see many match winning goals/assists by substitutes over the last few years. And this is before Deulofeu has even had a serious chance.

Money is already available from the business done in the last window so Martinez has very possibly identified players he wants. If Baines insists on leaving then the money generated MUST be given to Martinez so that he can sign a proper replacement for him and not be left with a pittance to attempt to plug the gap.

I would not consider playing Heitinga again as he gives me the jitters every time he is opposed by someone fast and big. He should be out of any future equation and so should Gueye who has had more than enough chances.

If we are hopeful of competing for Europe then the board should give the manager financial support. I would love to see a few of our youngsters push for places but none seem to be doing enough.

Watching Rodwell last night I just felt so glad that we had moved him away and got decent money for him. He showed no glimpses of class at all and is a mediocre player who I am sure will be leaving City soon. I really hope we do not take him back as he is far from the player we need. I just hope that one or two of the surplus top class players that are on the sidelines at Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Man Utd can be loaned out for next season. I would love Lukaku to remain for another season along with the acquisition of the likes of Mata, Moses etc etc.

We are presently looking season to season and the loan situation seems as good if not better as just spending whatever money we have on perhaps one player.

If we have a lad on loan then he's 'papering over the cracks', if we have top class youth players then who cares because they're off to Chelsea - and our best players are ditching us for Man Utd.

So why am I so happy about going to Goodison these days?

Players come and go, whether they are on loan or not. Our policy is to sell who we need to and improve the team with that revenue. It's working so far isn't it?

Kenwright is the villain and deserves all the abuse he gets. However I can't abide this criticism of the team who are actually performing remarkably well.

I personally don't like the idea of 3 CB's (if and when Alcaraz is ever available for selection)... reminds me of the Walter Smith days, and that was more depressing that OFM days.

My point about Lukaku was that if you swapped him for Jelavic say the results the team would be getting would be drastically different. If you can't score it doesn't matter how good the rest of the team is you won't pick up points.

As people have pointed out, with Gibson injured, we appear to be short of cover in midfield and there is not one natural, old fashioned winger in the whole squad. Deulofeu is supposed to be ahead of schedule but remains a mystery.

Whatever the state of things, we've surprised many this season, myself included, and long may it continue. Goodison Park, packed to the rafters, is a fearsome sight indeed.

But would this replacement really want to come to potentially be on the bench for a season or more? I would imagine Barry is the midfielder that "needs replacing" in question. He is playing well at the moment, and if Barry stays beyond the loan signing, then its going to be difficult for this new signing to play first team, if Barry maintains this form.

People have to look at it both ways.

But with regards to the original post, it's a very good summary. Not sure about Alcaraz coming in to replace Distin though. He may look good, but he's only played one pre season game this season, and Distin, though not in keeping with Martinez's style, is still a fantastic defender and is going to be hard to displace.

Where Spurs can look at a second XI spine of Kaboul, Sandro, Holtby and Defoe our is currently more like Stones, Heitinga, Osman and Jelavic. Not disastrous but not in the same league as lots of our top 4 competitors.

He's a similar type of player to Lukaku so he would be able to see the kind of service we can give him, and it wouldnt take much of an adjustment for our players to play with him. I know I'm in dreamland, but signing him is way more realistic than permane.ntly signing Lukaku who is younger, has more potential, and already plays for a massively succesful club

Absolutely correct we cant match the spending of Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal and Spurs latterly with the Bale money. So we cant possibly expect us to compete with our tiny transfer budjet compared to these clubs. And that's why we will struggle to make a Champions league spot, as it is usually the strength of your bench that deems which teams will be able to compete despite injuries. While we have a good starting 11 apart from 1 or 2 we would struggle to compete if we had injuries in certain key positions. I think even our wealthier neighbours will struggle in this department should they get long term injuries to both Sturridge and Suarez as their back up strikers are not as good as our back up strikers.

Obviously there will be movement in January as some players as yet untried by RM may seek pastures new, especially as the team continues to pick up points.

Some big games over the next few weeks may define the clubs position. Spurs and Redshite are our challengers for the top four positions and good results against them will really endorse the improvement.

http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/YLJ2MriBpke-zXMrADqyhw/Show/

The biggest surprise for me is that we appear to be hitting the same amount of long balls as the last 2 seasons...has Jags doubled his effort then?

James, at the moment, I don't think that Lukaku on loan is papering over the cracks. If we had our usual £4 transfer budget coming into the January transfer window I would agree with you in full. However, the net profit we made in the summer means that this cash, plus whatever we raise from selling fringe players in January, gives us a far better chance of buying outright a quality striker. I would prefer we bought in January but if we have to wait for the summer rather than rushing it in January then fair enough. Lukaku will for now give us the goals until we do sign a permanent striker. Yes, any team would struggle if they lose a player of his quality, but for once we seem to have the cash to buy a quality player, hopefully it will be a striker.

We badly need a top class fullback to replace Baines if he goes, we cannot just put Oviedo in and hope he does the job. Oviedo may be OK in a pinch to cover for injuries but I would worry if he was used long term as he is not proven.

Hopefully Baines will stay until the end of the season at least, but who knows ? I trust that Martinez has made provision for any eventuality and I expect him to add at least two more players in January even if Baines stays. The club made good money with the transfers of Fellaini and big Vic but are spending far less on our acquisitions.

What a top quality thread this has turned out to be.

Clubs like EFC need top quality scouts out in the world looking for the gems we can afford, including the lower leagues.

We need a spread of top quality coaching from different cultures for the youngsters to see if we can bring them through all but ready for 1st team action.

Easy to write but not easy to achieve but for EFC at present, quality loan players (such as we have in Barry and Lulu) and the above strategy is our immediate tomorrow.

In terms of being able to compete with the properly resourced clubs and claim a European slot, I suspect we are behind at least six of the early pacemakers and that could be seven if Southampton maintain their early form.

Where we are so inferior to most of our rivals is in the quality of the back-up squad which Stuart Obee and many respondees seems to see through rose coloured spectacles. Of last Saturday's bench I see only Osman and Stones of true Premier quality and whilst we could possibly add a fit Heitinga and Hibbert to that list, reserves like Robles, Naismith, Gueye, Jelavic, Deulofeu, Oviedo and even Kone look nowhere near sharp enough to be relied upon to perform at top level if required.

It's true that Gibson and Alcarez have shown the quality required in the past but their fitness problems seem overwhelming and I do wonder whether we shall ever be able to see them at their best.

So, in this age when the 'money boys' can field two teams of outstanding quality, Everton are really up against it in breaking into their cartel and, once again, it will be up to the manager to 'make and mend' if we are to maintain a top third place. It may not seem overly ambitious but I think Roberto will have done very well if he pulls it off.

After the first XI things go downhill pretty quickly. The squad is definitely much much better than last season and we finally have some subs that can come in and improve the team as opposed to making it markedly worse (like your mcfaddens, nevilles, anichebes, straq etc). However, we don't have any real depth in quality.

I'd say we have about 14-15 quality players and the rest are a mixture of hopefulls for the future, hard working squad players, has beens and stocking fillers. In this I would include the likes of; Naismith, Oviedo, Vellios, Gueye, Jelavic (what on earth has happened to the player who came to us?) and Hibbert, with the jury still out on Kone and Alcaraz. I still think the last two will both turn out to be good signings, if they ever make it on the pitch!

The obvious headache for RM is that of the 14-15 quality players we have, 3 of them are here on loan. So come Jan or June he's going to have to show some magic again in the transfer market. But thats for then and not now...

Vast squad improvement on last year and if we keep improving year on year, then we'll all be happy.

Now I have had my balls chopped off too often to suggest we are certs for Europe although, for the life of me, I can see no reason why we shouldn't be serious contenders for a Thursday night slot.

It's not as though we can expect the complete first team to go down with the plague, so it will only be a question of having players to slot in for the odd injury or loss of form. What makes the situation better than in previous seasons is that all departments seem to be covered – at least for the short term eventuality.

The great blessing is that Martinez does seem to see beyond 'a chosen few' (although his fascination for Naismith as automatic sub belies that at times!) and he does have a knack – not visible in his predecessor – of knowing when and who to introduce into the game.

What's great about the present set-up is that they have all the fighting qualities of OFM's teams but a great deal more guile and variety. And we do have Lukaku!

It'll be tough but I'd say we're just as good if not better than Southhampton, Manu could still have a melt down and spurs are getting results via very lucky late goals at the minute.

I wouldnt rule us out of europe just yet, also depending on who wins the cups, 6th or 7th might be enough to get in (we could also win the FA cup!).

Beat spuds on Sunday and......

Our reserve players individually are inferior to our top 6 adversaries 2nd team because of one reason-- MONEY.

That doesn't mean we cant finish in front of them in the league though as its a team game, it will be very much against the odds if we do, but we can live in hope!

It could be our esteemed manager pulls another rabbit out of the hat, he'll need to.

Trevor Lynes, your statement regarding our little Costa Rican is true, but is a common angle I think is used far too often - "Oviedo may be OK in a pinch to cover for injuries but I would worry if he was used long term as he is not proven.". It's your right to worry, but how many players are proven before they're given their opportunity? How do you get "proven" if you haven't played much?

As I said, I understand the rhetoric, and accept it has some merit, but, personally, don't think it should be a valid detraction from Oviedo's chances.