Options...or mediocrity?

[DesertRam]

For me we are about 3/4 players short of an assured automatic place, but these have to be

players that stand out, because of their consistency and effort in every match, who are they

just look to the latest purchases by Newcastle and Aston Villa. Gayle, Shelvy, Ritchie Diame

Hourihane Adomah  etc... it won't be cheap but we can do it!!

[rammieib]

47 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

Back on topic, I think this question gets to the absolute heart of Derby's failed quest for promotion these past few years. For me, the squad is good and strong but it is a little too big, without enough exceptional players meaning there is no clear best eleven. We have consistently spent on quantity over quality. Yet things started so well. After the playoff final when we were able to sign Thorne permanently in the summer, I genuinely thought that was the missing link and our guarantee of promotion the following season. We bought quality that we didn't previously have. Eustace was good in the role but George was transcendant. Then he got injured and that shows the risk of buying quality over quantity.

• GK: Carson, Mitchell, Roos (the only area where we have an exceptional starter and very weak replacements)
• RB: Christie, Baird
• LB: Olsson, Lowe, Forsyth (i)
• CB: Keogh, Pearce, Shackell, Rawson (l)
• CDM: Johnson, De Sart, Thorne (i), Hanson (l)
• CM: Hughes, Bryson, Butterfield, Guy (l), Elsnik (y)
• Wide forwards: Ince, Russell, Anya, Camara, Blackman
• Central strikers: Bent, Nugent, Vydra, Martin (l), Vernam (l), Zanzala (i)

Obviously some people can be swapped into different positions and I'm likely to have forgotten one or two. It looks as if we have 20 available (not long-term injured) senior pros for 10 outfield positions and 6 places on the bench. we seem top-heavy with forwards, 8 being available for 3 starting places, compared with 7 defenders for 4 slots and 5 midfielders for 3 slots. Who are our guaranteed starters if everyone is fit and in reasonable form? I would suggest Carson, Keogh, Hughes, Ince. Should Thorne recover fully then he would be the fifth name on the list. Then I think the rest are interchangeable.

Looking at that squad, we could play any 11 against 11 in training and have very littlle idea which team would win. We have the best defence in the Championship because we have good players but also because we try to change it as little as possible (barring injuries) so everyone's used to playing together. We have one of the worst attacks in the Champioinship because it's unclear who we should play and how we should play. We have a better plan B than the era when we relied totally on Martin to link things together, but our plan A is much poorer.

Whichever 11 has Ince in it will win.

[Sir Ramalot]

4 hours ago, Sir Ramalot said:

Is he really a footballer?.... you wouldn't tell tbh

Still stand by this.... awful player