Make up of the squad:

[IlsonDerby]

An interview with the people who run Charlton said that moving forwards they hope to have a squad with 3 groups. 

8 excellent L1 players ready to step up to the level above. 
 

8 decent L1 players who will need replacing eventually at the level above. 
 

8 academy products. 
 

Had me wondering - how does our squad compare to this profile? Do we have around 8 of each? I’d include Cash and Bird as first teamers rather than academy products for the purpose of this as they’re fully established. I see academy products being not yet established. Maybe a D Robinson or a D Brown perhaps a Fapetu. 
 

Anyway again how do we think our squad stands up to that sort of profile? It makes sense to me to aim for something like that and then you aim to do it again in the championship… 

[IlsonDerby]

Tried to do this for our squad. 
 

Obviously this is really subjective. I was undecided on a few so kept them between strong L1 and average L1. 
 

Elder was in team of the year last time he was at this level but hasn’t had opportunity to get a run of games. The keepers? Both could do a job in the division above but haven’t seen them play regularly at that level. Hourihane has quality and has done it before at that level but is getting older. Barkhuizen has purple patches where he looks very capable of stepping up but then has the opposite of purple spells too. 
 

Have included Thompson Fornah and TJJ on the prospects as I think there’s enough there to not be writing them off as league 1 players yet but haven’t shown enough to be strong L1 players like Cashin etc. 

[Anag Ram]

Paul Warne swears by it

https://www.revlon.co.uk/

[Papahet]

Excellent L1 players ready to step up to the level above:

 Mendez Laing, Nelson, Cashin, Wilson, Wildsmith,  Nyambe

 Decent L1 players who will need replacing eventually at the level above:

Forsyth, Hourihane, Waghorn, Collins, Bird, Barkhuizen, Washington, Smith, Rooney, Bradley 

 Academy products:

Brown, Weston, Robinson, Hawkins, Fapetu, Bardell, Cox, Wheeldon, Thomspson, Radcliffe 

[IlsonDerby]

41 minutes ago, Papahet said:

Excellent L1 players ready to step up to the level above:

 Mendez Laing, Nelson, Cashin, Wilson, Wildsmith,  Nyambe

 Decent L1 players who will need replacing eventually at the level above:

Forsyth, Hourihane, Waghorn, Collins, Bird, Barkhuizen, Washington, Smith, Rooney, Bradley 

 Academy products:

Brown, Weston, Robinson, Hawkins, Fapetu, Bardell, Cox, Wheeldon, Thomspson, Radcliffe 

What about the players your lists are missing? Ie elder / Sibley etc? 
 

Think the Bird rating is a bit odd considering championship clubs are interested in him? 

[Scott129]

14 minutes ago, IlsonDerby said:

What about the players your lists are missing? Ie elder / Sibley etc? 
 

Think the Bird rating is a bit odd considering championship clubs are interested in him? 

And he has already played in the Championship and proved that he was good enough.

[Blondest Goat]

A lot of posters on here seem to expect us to have a squad filled with excellent League One players.  The likes of Bradley, Ward and Elder whose careers indicate they are clearly decent L1 standard aren't good enough for them.

Edited January 14 by Blondest Goat

[Wolfie20]

4 minutes ago, Blondest Goat said:

A lot of posters on here seem to expect us to have a squad filled with excellent League One players.  The likes of Bradley, Ward and Elder whose careers indicate they are clearly decent L1 standard aren't good enough for them.

Not sure I'd say 'a lot' - more likely a few myopic posters maybe?

[Tyler Durden]

I heard they favoured Rimmel or Garnier

[Millenniumram]

Not sure I subscribe to that squad profile. This is coming from a club in Charlton who find themselves in mid table, so to be honest, I’m not sure why we should be following their model.

For what it’s worth, this is how I’d roughly assess our squad:

Top class players who are clearly capable of stepping up to the Championship: Cashin, Mendez-Laing, Hourihane, Wilson

Good League One players: Nelson, Forsyth, Bird, Nyambe, Collins, Barkhuizen, Wildsmith, Smith, Sibley, Vickers, Embleton, Elder

Poor League One players: Waghorn, Fornah, Washington, Bradley, Thompson, John-Jules

Players not capable (or not ready) at League One level: Rooney, Ward

Note: This is based on our squad from the first half of the season, so I have included Embleton and John-Jules, but not Oduroh.

As you might expect, most of our players fall within the “good” category - which is why we’ve found ourselves in and around the top six. And that’s not a problem - you need enough of those players to create a strong squad depth. 

But I think it’s those players in the top category that are the difference makers in getting top two. They’re naturally hard to come by of course, since they really shouldn’t be playing at this level, so you would never expect too many players in that list. But I do think a couple of additions of that quality would propel the entire team to one that is too good for this league - and that is the level you need to show to achieve automatic promotion.

The trouble for me is, finding top quality players on a budget is hard. And looking at those players in the bottom two lists - there are a lot signed under the current regime. I had a lot of hope for the new recruitment team, but so far they’ve performed very poorly. That needs to change this window.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Maybe Warne's born with it, or maybe is maybelline.

[Ghost of Clough]

Based on the players Warne includes in his first team squad...

Group 1 (good enough to be a Championship regular): Wildsmith, Nyambe, Nelson, Cashin, Bird, Mendez-Laing

Group 1.5 (good enough to be a regular in a top 6 team): Forsyth, Hourihane, Collins

Group 2 (top 6 squad players): Vickers, Ward, Wilson, Bradley, Elder, Fornah, Barkhuizen, John-Jules, Washington, Waghorn

Academy (graduates not yet regular starters): Rooney, Thompson, Sibley

None of the above: Loach, Smith

[IlsonDerby]

8 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

Not sure I subscribe to that squad profile. This is coming from a club in Charlton who find themselves in mid table, so to be honest, I’m not sure why we should be following their model.

For what it’s worth, this is how I’d roughly assess our squad:

Top class players who are clearly capable of stepping up to the Championship: Cashin, Mendez-Laing, Hourihane, Wilson

Good League One players: Nelson, Forsyth, Bird, Nyambe, Collins, Barkhuizen, Wildsmith, Smith, Sibley, Vickers, Embleton, Elder

Poor League One players: Waghorn, Fornah, Washington, Bradley, Thompson, John-Jules

Players not capable (or not ready) at League One level: Rooney, Ward

Note: This is based on our squad from the first half of the season, so I have included Embleton and John-Jules, but not Oduroh.

As you might expect, most of our players fall within the “good” category - which is why we’ve found ourselves in and around the top six. And that’s not a problem - you need enough of those players to create a strong squad depth. 

But I think it’s those players in the top category that are the difference makers in getting top two. They’re naturally hard to come by of course, since they really shouldn’t be playing at this level, so you would never expect too many players in that list. But I do think a couple of additions of that quality would propel the entire team to one that is too good for this league - and that is the level you need to show to achieve automatic promotion.

The trouble for me is, finding top quality players on a budget is hard. And looking at those players in the bottom two lists - there are a lot signed under the current regime. I had a lot of hope for the new recruitment team, but so far they’ve performed very poorly. That needs to change this window.

That isn’t the make up of their squad now. It’s what the owners hope to move towards to get them up. 
 

 

Also Rooney not ready? Ward not ready? I know Ward made the mistakes that led to penalties but considering he’s played a number of seasons at this level I don’t see how he isn’t ready for it… also on Rooney - he was doing well before his injury. A breathe of fresh air. He got spanked by Borges for Man City U21 but I reckon most premier league full backs would have had issues against him never mind a league 1 centre back. 

 

 

[CapeTownRams]

20 hours ago, Papahet said:

Excellent L1 players ready to step up to the level above:

 Mendez Laing, Nelson, Cashin, Wilson, Wildsmith,  Nyambe

 Decent L1 players who will need replacing eventually at the level above:

Forsyth, Hourihane, Waghorn, Collins, Bird, Barkhuizen, Washington, Smith, Rooney, Bradley 

 Academy products:

Brown, Weston, Robinson, Hawkins, Fapetu, Bardell, Cox, Wheeldon, Thomspson, Radcliffe 

I would agree with that bar Bird, who i think can step up. 

[BatRam]

Its tough, as the likes of bird and co perform better in championship because of the style of football. I think thats why we havent seen a deal of sibley in this league as its too physical. I think the current team we have is championship standard i think its more the style of football the league predominantly plays. Another example of this clash of style of plays is when we was in championship we always lost against relegation fodder but beat or played well against teams that played nice football. Think of the teams like Sheff wednesday that have been swallowed up in this league who had champ standard players. Then look at the garbage that has been promoted out of this league that play like league 1 teams but cant adapt in championship? 

Interesting post anyway mate

[Tamworthram]

10 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

Not sure I subscribe to that squad profile. This is coming from a club in Charlton who find themselves in mid table, so to be honest, I’m not sure why we should be following their model.

For what it’s worth, this is how I’d roughly assess our squad:

Top class players who are clearly capable of stepping up to the Championship: Cashin, Mendez-Laing, Hourihane, Wilson

Good League One players: Nelson, Forsyth, Bird, Nyambe, Collins, Barkhuizen, Wildsmith, Smith, Sibley, Vickers, Embleton, Elder

Poor League One players: Waghorn, Fornah, Washington, Bradley, Thompson, John-Jules

Players not capable (or not ready) at League One level: Rooney, Ward

Note: This is based on our squad from the first half of the season, so I have included Embleton and John-Jules, but not Oduroh.

As you might expect, most of our players fall within the “good” category - which is why we’ve found ourselves in and around the top six. And that’s not a problem - you need enough of those players to create a strong squad depth. 

But I think it’s those players in the top category that are the difference makers in getting top two. They’re naturally hard to come by of course, since they really shouldn’t be playing at this level, so you would never expect too many players in that list. But I do think a couple of additions of that quality would propel the entire team to one that is too good for this league - and that is the level you need to show to achieve automatic promotion.

The trouble for me is, finding top quality players on a budget is hard. And looking at those players in the bottom two lists - there are a lot signed under the current regime. I had a lot of hope for the new recruitment team, but so far they’ve performed very poorly. That needs to change this window.

It’s what Charlton are aspiring to, not what they have isn’t it?

[Millenniumram]

1 hour ago, IlsonDerby said:

That isn’t the make up of their squad now. It’s what the owners hope to move towards to get them up. 
 

 

Also Rooney not ready? Ward not ready? I know Ward made the mistakes that led to penalties but considering he’s played a number of seasons at this level I don’t see how he isn’t ready for it… also on Rooney - he was doing well before his injury. A breathe of fresh air. He got spanked by Borges for Man City U21 but I reckon most premier league full backs would have had issues against him never mind a league 1 centre back. 

 

 

Ah fair enough - I still don’t agree with it though, unless your academy products are all quality players at this level then you’ll be left with a very thin squad. 

On Rooney, it’s probably a bit harsh… but I just don’t see it with him yet. Now that’s likely in no small part due to him being generally played out of position at full back, where his pace is exposed. He's the reason why I put “not yet” on that category, I may feel differently once he’s been given a proper chance in his natural position at CB. Ward however I just think has been a rancid signing. He makes so many individual mistakes defensively that whatever good work he does going forward becomes kind of irrelevant. And the worst part is, he doesn’t even seem to care that much, the amount of times I’ve seen him gift possession away and just amble back… you’d be fuming if you were his manager / teammate. Until he starts putting in more effort and stops letting his team down, then he remains in that category for me, irrespective of his past performance at this level.

[Millenniumram]

17 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

It’s what Charlton are aspiring to, not what they have isn’t it?

Yeah I realise that now, but I still don’t really agree with it - you’d need a very strong academy to produce 8 League One quality players that you can rely on to provide your squad depth at this level.

[Dcfcsr92]

22 hours ago, IlsonDerby said:

What about the players your lists are missing? Ie elder / Sibley etc? 
 

Think the Bird rating is a bit odd considering championship clubs are interested in him? 

I think alot with bird is his consistency some weeks he works hard and other weeks its like hes not even there scared of a tackle and heading the ball. He has got the ability to step up he just needs to do it more often

[Ghost of Clough]

1 hour ago, Millenniumram said:

Yeah I realise that now, but I still don’t really agree with it - you’d need a very strong academy to produce 8 League One quality players that you can rely on to provide your squad depth at this level.

We already have Rooney, Thompson and Sibley who  I would put in that group. Put Evans, Bardell, Robinson, Weston and a Brown in for Vickers, Ward, Fornah, Washington and John-Jules and you have your 8. There's obviously a drop off in quality at this point in time, but it's not as if 4 out of the 5 I listed have had much game time in the league anyway.