Our squad is NOT sh*t

[NoLogo]

They are not shit but we certainly need to fix our defense and the personal behind Pogba also could do with one or two quality additions.

Imo we need one van Dijk, a top class right FB and a quality, mobile defensive midfielder like Kanté.

That being said another top quality talent in the CB position and on the left FB position couldn't hurt either.

 

[JPRouve]

We're a 2 or 3 players short of mounting a serious title challenge next season not more.

That was my opinion before the sacking, one starter per line depending on Sanchez's level.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Last 3 games have been great but let’s not get too carried away. Two easy home games and a poor Cardiff team.

I just like that finally we have a settle first 11, something Mourinho never did. And playing Pogba, Matic and Herrera in the midfield. I think Mourinho only played these 3 together a handful of times.

Solskjaer has done what most fan would do with the team but Mourinho for whatever reason couldn’t see it.

 

[Random Task]

we are a rare breed

We're just better than everyone else.

 

[Pace Abuser]

It was bleeding obvious to anyone who didn't have their head up Jose's backside. The guy needs rehab as a human being and if you fell for his verbiage and other deflections then you need to re-evaluate your propensity to be fooled.

Yes it's by no means perfect and our defence needs a world class defender and other additions. But to believe they're a poor bunch was laughable. Especially laughable when Klopp and Poch have shown what good coaching, tactics, and imbibing belief in players' can do for their performances.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

We're a 2 or 3 players short of mounting a serious title challenge next season not more.

Maybe wait til the end of the season to evaluate this? I will not start to build up any hopes yet...

 

[arthurka]

Oh really? Crazy to think he almost managed to repeat it often enough

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

I don't see how anyone has changed their mind really, the flaws in our squad are still very obvious. Our defence is shit and we're a 2nd/3rd placed team.

I've not seen many claim our squad was below a top 4 team so not sure where the 'shit' is coming from.

I'm not privvy to how much you browse the caf and that, but our players have been slaughtered in recent times with regards to their quality, 'not playing for the badge' and other Mourinho concoctions.

 

[Someone]

It's not a great squad but it's far from shit.

Mourinho was toxic. His defensive approach to games made every game a struggle. I'm not sure how this team will fare against top teams, but at least we're getting the basics right and winning games against weaker teams.

Any manager that fails to get the best out of his players is a failure.

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

We're just better than everyone else.

Not gonna argue with that boss

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

You can see the outline of our next core developing between Pogba, Rashford and Martial. We need some long term solutions for right wing, full backs and defense but after a long time you can see the skeleton of a rebuild in progress.

 

[Ekeke]

That's just the typical overreaction to this season. Lukaku is still getting slaughtered.

You will find many 'anti-Jose' people were slaughtering our squad as a stick to beat the manager with. This idea that this was a way to excuse him is unfounded, it was often used in the opposite way to criticise his recruitment.

Nonsense. Mourinho himself was saying players like Rashford arent good enough up front and thats why Lukaku plays all the time. It was him complaining about a defense that had the 2nd best record last season and kept messing about with putting midfielders in defense and didnt play our CB partnership from last season.

 

[Sylar]

Jose was right in that we needed a CB. However the way he went around it meant we were handicapped. Our biggest strength is our attack and midfield yet it was always complicated.

Solskjaer isnt doing anything special. We all wanted to see a 3 man midfield of Pogba, Matic and Herrera and we are getting that now. We wanted to see a three man attack of pace and power and we are getting that.
We are still conceding goals, but now when we are doing it, its after weve scored a few and have been attacking.

This squad imo is not good enough to be winning the PL and CL. However imo its good enough to challenge. Sure it might come short, but thats where we need the right investment (ie Defence).

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

12 goals in 3 games

i've honestly not been this pleased in ages

 

[Van Piorsing]

The squad is not enough and still doesn't fully reflect the might of this football club. There's definitely little group in need of a clearout but also there are pillars like Pogba who simply needs better players around him.

The good news is future looks good with Martial, Rash and Dalot. Hopefully Ole or someone else will build this forward with reasonable depth.

I won't demand too much from them against PSG or other CL team but at least they're scoring loads against average size PL clubs for a start.

 

[Red_Aaron]

Our club does NOT have less European heritage than Sevilla

Mou talked a lot of shit in an attempt to cover his shortcomings

 

[Moonwalker]

They'll have nowhere to hide!

 

[redshaw]

When Solskjaer come in he said we've got unbelievable quality. When you see what Pogba Rashford and Martial can do he's not wrong and also other players are very good too.

We do have a mediocre defence but I've seen them do okay at times. We have a bunch of backup players for years that would never get in ahead of Vidic Rio and Evra.

 

[Infordin]

Mourinho certainly has a gift for convincing fans that talented players are actually shit. Pogba, Martial, De Bruyne, Salah... probably a few more I’m missing

 

[Crackers]

Mourinho certainly has a gift for convincing fans that talented players are actually shit. Pogba, Martial, De Bruyne, Salah... probably a few more I’m missing

It's almost criminal how much he hoodwinks them. He's a fraud.

 

[RedB4ndiT]

We know this. Our manager was.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Agree that our squad isn’t shit but definitely need a couple of additions to get us back up challenging for the league and having a real good go for the CL.

Need to sort the defence out (a pair of CB’s are a must), 2 midfielders (one defensive and one attacking creative type) and also a right winger (Sancho is my dream muppet signing)

Having said that, we are on the right path. We got rid of the virus which was Jose Mourinho.

 

[RedB4ndiT]

It's almost criminal how much he hoodwinks them. He's a fraud.

Only reason he won league titles was because at the time, Wenger was the second best manager in the leauge. He wouldn't have won any title if the likes of Pep, Klopp, etc were in the Prem then.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

It’s easier getting talented attackers playing well, which we have, than getting slightly above average defenders which we also have, to be rock solid. I’m just happy that I’m enjoying football again and already looking forward to the next game but sooner or later we need to sort our defence out.

Great sides are built on a rock solid defence. If Ole and Ed have agreed that whatever happens Ole’s only here until the summer then we probably have to wait for that window to get more quality in

 

[Cloud7]

Posted this in the Ole thread but it is probably applicable here too.

It’s been discussed a million times already, but when I was watching the pre game interview Ole said “we have a bigger and better squad than most teams in the league”

It was such a simple comment that he probably didn’t even think about it, yet it was such a stark contrast from “Everton have very ambitious owners who have spent a lot of money”

You probably need to put more effort in to constantly denigrate your team than to just be positive about them. I’m so happy to see Ole and not have to look at Mourinho’s smug, stupid face anymore. His face makes me imagine a skin infection.

 

[IAmAWinner]

A Van Dijk type commanding centre-back would transform our defence. Question is who should we go for.

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

Posted this in the Ole thread but it is probably applicable here too.

It’s been discussed a million times already, but when I was watching the pre game interview Ole said “we have a bigger and better squad than most teams in the league”

It was such a simple comment that he probably didn’t even think about it, yet it was such a stark contrast from “Everton have very ambitious owners who have spent a lot of money”

You probably need to put more effort in to constantly denigrate your team than to just be positive about them. I’m so happy to see Ole and not have to look at Mourinho’s smug, stupid face anymore. His face makes me imagine a skin infection.

that comment struck me too, great post

 

[vidic blood & sand]

We need a leader in defence, someone to partner Matic in Midfield, and a proper right back, and I think we're good to go with a title challenge.

 

[kouroux]

The squad is flawed but like almost every squad, it never meant we couldn't play better and couldn't have won more games. When you see shit clubs play a coherent brand of football, that dumb excuse has no place

 

[Trizy]

Our defenders are shite, though.

I still think we can upgrade the starting XI.

Lingard, Rashford, Lukaku, Matic, Young, CBs can all be upgraded with better starters.

 

[Ban]

It's not. We need a new RB, RW and possibly a new CB and we're good. In the long run few more players need upgrading.

 

[Escobar]

Defence is a bit crap. We need a top class RB, at least one if not 2 CBs and potentially a LB. The rest is just fine imo, as long as Pereira and Fred come good

 

[Ayush_reddevil]

Gentle reminder that we went out at home to a woeful Sevilla team and had to watch our manager talk about our football heritage

 

[Raw]

Maaaaan Van Dijk would be so perfect for us

 

[simplyared]

Our squad is very strong, well intact and has great potential. Apart from the defenders that is.

 

[Ekeke]

It took a "Genius" to make them look so shit

 

[Devil81]

We've been playing well but this team is still well short of being a title-winning side.

We need improvements.

 

[Canagel]

The first step was to remove Maureen to really see where the deficiencies of the squad are because players were obviously being stifled. I believe the spine of our team is emerging now and we are much closer to knowing, who should be kept and who isn't up to standard .

A few observations:
1) Lukaku should be a squad player
2) we need new RB and commanding CB.
3) Lingard is decent but we need a goal threat - whether it'll be Sanchez remains to be seen but we need someone else that can score and assist.

 

[kr1s74]

We all knew the attackers were good (apart from Jose) and the defence could be good if Bailly wasn't so rash and Lindelof was consistently good.
Definately need a commanding central defender, one thing Jose was right about

 

[Adam-Utd]

Still think we need an upgrade on Matic. While he’s been much better I’d prefer somebody with a bit more recovery pace.

Another fullback to share the duties with shaw/Dalot once Valencia/young/Darmian go.

A RW who can dribble and take on a man 1v1. we’ve got plenty of wide men comfortable in possession but no killers. Somebody like Douglas costa would be great, maybe Chong if he can be show he’s ready.

a CB like Koulibaly would be amazing, I’d genuinely pay 75m for him no problem.

apart from that I like our squad, we need to evaluate everybody and then decide where to change in the summer.