ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

2nd XI

Many people have commented on this being our strongest squad for many a year, whilst some have pointed out the need for a midfielder in the transfer window. I for one am under the opinion that searching for a young centre-half during the transfer window would be more apt. I'm of the belief you can judge the strength of a squad by the quality of the players waiting to take their chance, ie. the 2nd XI.

If we were to to decide upon a 1st and 2nd XI then the glaring absentee from a 2nd XI team would be that of a centre half, especially if Yobo goes to the African nations. If we took a 4-4-2 formation, the body of the 1st XI would probably be taken up by Howard; Neville, Yobo, Lescott, Baines; Cahill, Arteta, Jaglielka, Gravesen; Yakubu, Johnson. (This may not be everyone's starting XI, and positions may be up for debate but you get the picture).

This would leave a 2nd XI of Wessels, Hibbert, Stubbs, ??????, Valente; McFadden, Carsley, Osman, Pienaar; Vaughan, Anichebe. Now this, although some may argue otherwise, is a very good 2nd XI. Four of these played a good role in helping us to 4th a couple of years ago; two are very promising talents; McFadden's still an enigma; and two are new signings who could turn out to be anything (Piernaar's already looked promising on his full debut).

Personally I believe we are one centre-back short of having a squad big enough and with enough depth to seriously challenge for the holy grail of the top 4, and stay there. After all, how many of us could roll any of the so called Big Four's 2nd XI's off without some serious thought?
Kevin Prytherch, Oldham Posted 05/09/2007 at 18:15:03

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Comments

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Michael Kenrick

Uh? No Shandy Andy??? Jack Rodwell is coming along in the centre-back role... but we've had a lot of defenders, England U-19 captains and the like, coming up through the ranks only for them to be sacked off... Guess you might be right, Kevin.

Nick Entwistle
1 Posted 05/09/2007 at 21:35:14

Hence the multi positional signing of Jags with Pip also able to play centre back and in the midfield... but yes, a young centreback would be ideal, or perhaps Campbell in January while Rodwell comes through and Stubbs finally calls it quits.
And a dribler in the fernandes mould to complete the picture... darn that man.

Mike C
2 Posted 05/09/2007 at 21:40:09

I agree that we do need a young centre half. I dont understand why we got rid of Mark Hughes in January. He seemed a good prospect,and let him go for peanuts at Northampton. I dont understand that.

Anthony Jaras
3 Posted 05/09/2007 at 22:40:11

I posted comments about how strong we were last week.
Although I still stand by these comments, I do not feel that we have that much strength in depth that we could make a decent team form the remaining squad.
I feel we have a good bench.
I have now accepted that Shandy Andy is destined to be Shit!!!!

simon
4 Posted 05/09/2007 at 23:05:14

I disagree anthony avdm is one of the best players we have wait untill you see him have a run of games he will be a star, as for the need for a centre back why do you think moyes has bought players who can play in diffrent roles i.e jags,neville,lescott, we have a possible 5 players who can play there so untill stubbs retires he {moyes} wont get anybody in there, fairly simple.

David Barks
5 Posted 05/09/2007 at 23:42:27

I’m very pleased with our current squad and the options we have coming off the bench. But looking ahead to next season, it could be even better. I doubt very much that Stubbs, Carsley, and possbibly McFadden will be here next season. That frees up 2 or 3 spots on the roster for improvements. I don’t see us increasing our squad size much, it seems to be pretty adequate at this size. But two younger players with more skill to replace Carsley and Stubbs next season, that could put us in a very solid position for the following years. It appears that Moyes is very much in favor of not making wholesale changes to the team, preferring to keep the cohesion that exists year in, year out. So 2 or 3 improvements over players who are getting up their in age next season, Everton will be a very interesting team to watch.

Connor Rohrer
6 Posted 06/09/2007 at 00:25:58

I dont know why people dont understand that Jagielka’s strongest position is centre half. Both Moyes and the sheffield utd fans have commented on this.

Gary Tan
7 Posted 06/09/2007 at 05:48:23

Now that you’ve spelled out the names, it does look like we have a decent 2 XI. Esp with Jags in centre half and AvDM in the 2nd team. However, when you take a closer look, you would realise that we would lose 3 players to the African Cup. We need to pray that the remaining players stay injury/suspension free during that period.

Brian Noble
8 Posted 06/09/2007 at 10:13:03

How so many of us cling to the belief(hope)that Shandy Mandy will ever come good defeats me.He was a waster at his last club and even before his well documented family problems was an allround embarrassment to his profession.He is destined to see out his contract here because no other club will touch him with a barge pole.Another Moyes wonder signing!

D
9 Posted 06/09/2007 at 22:08:57

mike C, we didn’t let mark hughes go, we offerd him a contract which he turned down, He thought his best chance of progressing as a player was to play 1st team football week in week out, to be fair he wouldn’t be doing that with us for a few years yet IF he turned out to be good enough. fair play to the lad, but we didn’t LET him leave, we tried to keep him on.