PRW. 5,631 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Something Warburton heavily believes in is a lean squad, so its interesting to see this table for players used by BPL teams. The current top 4 in England are also the top 4 for least players used. [ Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoGeo7 11,285 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 What makes it more interesting is Rangers, aka the tinkerman, was rebound for making too many changes. i believe that the smaller the squad the more closer it they become, something that was Morgan said about his Leicester teammates saying they are like brothers. You can see signs of that this year and hopefully any new additions will also fit in well ( something that MOH appears to be struggling with). Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tannerall 25,935 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Think there's a lot of truth in this. Aston Villa famously won the league title in 1982 using only 14 players all season. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperPapac05 3,383 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Lean squads can read each other a lot better and can thrive on a state of stability. I totally support MW ethos on this and believe it's the correct way forward. Additional numbers (if needed) can be made up by the kids who can use it as a tool and motivation to break into the team. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
piperpete 3,186 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 When Dundee united won the league they used 13 players, how the mighty have fallen Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeparateEntityMyArse 55,399 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 For it to work each squad player must be very capable and the youths must be well enough equipped to hold their own when called upon. This season that wasn't the case with too many of our fringe players, and as a result of the mass loaning of the youths. Imo we got lucky with injuries otherwise we could have been in trouble if a couple more key performers were out. Hopefully time and transfer windows will give MW the players he needs for his lean squad to cope with or without injuries, suspensions etc Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HG5 12,257 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 9 minutes ago, piperpete said: When Dundee united won the league they used 13 players, how the mighty have fallen Problem is, they were on 4 pence a week & tied in to 38 year contracts - they're all a bit past it now! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courtyard Bear 41,357 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 He's already said if we win the Scottish Cup and therefore Euro football he will need a larger squad. So not that lean. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
piperpete 3,186 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 14 minutes ago, HG5 said: Problem is, they were on 4 pence a week & tied in to 38 year contracts - they're all a bit past it now! And used to get fined 5p for leaving marsbars wrappers on the training pitch. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWAC 2,353 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 26 minutes ago, Sportingintegritymyarse said: For it to work each squad player must be very capable and the youths must be well enough equipped to hold their own when called upon. This season that wasn't the case with too many of our fringe players, and as a result of the mass loaning of the youths. Imo we got lucky with injuries otherwise we could have been in trouble if a couple more key performers were out. Hopefully time and transfer windows will give MW the players he needs for his lean squad to cope with or without injuries, suspensions etc Agree with this, losing just Forrester has seemed to cause a huge slump in RM attacking play and he was only a 6 month tryout deal. I think we need backup for full back positions, ideally a player that could play left or right with Halliday as extra cover, we could handle losing Tavernier (IMO anyway) but not Wallace. We need more strength in attack as well as defence. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.T.G 10,773 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 9 minutes ago, jim white's a bear said: Agree with this, losing just Forrester has seemed to cause a huge slump in RM attacking play and he was only a 6 month tryout deal. I think we need backup for full back positions, ideally a player that could play left or right with Halliday as extra cover, we could handle losing Tavernier (IMO anyway) but not Wallace. We need more strength in attack as well as defence. I'd rather a youth was used instead of relying on back ups, can't have too many players who don't play Agree with what you say though, losing Harry definitely caused us issues on add in Waggy too I'd like to see some more youth players given a chance, I just hope we have those who can perform Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilly86 722 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 20 minutes ago, A.T.G said: I'd like to see some more youth players given a chance, I just hope we have those who can perform I think Warburton thinks the same way, but it's obvious he wants them to be good enough and seriously apply themselves to making it as a pro. The occasional lack of a full compliment of subs, combined with the likes of Clark being retained in the squad over Hardie, suggests to me that he's not yet been convinced. A slight concern given it's Scotland they're playing in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.T.G 10,773 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Just now, Hilly86 said: I think Warburton thinks the same way, but it's obvious he wants them to be good enough and seriously apply themselves to making it as a pro. The occasional lack of a full compliment of subs, combined with the likes of Clark being retained in the squad over Hardie, suggests to me that he's not yet been convinced. A slight concern given it's Scotland they're playing in. That concern also crossed my mind, if they were good enough they would be on, surely tho, a couple of them could have been on the bench if we are short, sometimes it just takes that one game to give a youngster confidence I'm sure there will be a gem or two in there and like McKay, MW will get the best out of him Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilly86 722 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 9 minutes ago, A.T.G said: That concern also crossed my mind, if they were good enough they would be on, surely tho, a couple of them could have been on the bench if we are short, sometimes it just takes that one game to give a youngster confidence I'm sure there will be a gem or two in there and like McKay, MW will get the best out of him Indeed. The lack of any defenders on the subs bench at times is a bit strange - we only seem to have two full-backs worthy of being anywhere near the first team. It's probably as simple as what MW says often, that he wants the first team squad to be involved as a group, given game time when possible. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thewhitesettler 2,714 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 If we qualify for Europe, don't we have to give UEFA a 23 man squad, that we have to keep until the Jan transfer window, when we can add, & subtract players from the squad, if we're still in the competition in the new year? If this is the case, then we'll need a good few youngsters to beef up our 23 man squad.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluepeter9 5,167 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Problem is lean squads don't cope well with multiple competitions ( and we expect to be on later stages of every cup) nor a run of injuries but to be fair to MW he has said if we get European football we need more depth - so he seems to have acknowledged the need. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcbear 10,932 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 injury prone players regardless of their skill level should be avoided at all costs (Templeton) for example must have cost the club many £££s per game, we would want to be signing guys with 40 plus games a season under their belt, I know sometimes due to not being picked etc (Forrester) it may be harder to guage but I would trust our staff to go into the nuts and bolts of every detail going back as long as it takes. Even if Lewis McLeod and Jamie Ness were still with us they would not have racked up many games, and these guys had it in them to be terrific players. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sket 13,610 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 8 hours ago, Courtyard Bear said: He's already said if we win the Scottish Cup and therefore Euro football he will need a larger squad. So not that lean. 1 or 2 extra were his words. Still pretty lean. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essandoh 21,889 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 8 hours ago, tannerall said: Think there's a lot of truth in this. Aston Villa famously won the league title in 1982 using only 14 players all season. That's incredible. Learn something new every day! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bears 796 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 9 hours ago, piperpete said: When Dundee united won the league they used 13 players, how the mighty have fallen have they still got that many? thought they'd sold more to a certain mob Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
K.A.I 36,183 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I think it depends on how lean is defined. I don't think we will ever go down the route of the taigs having on average of something like 2.5 capable players for each position and a fair chunk of them not making the bench. But we do need to bulk up this squad. Especially if we make Europe (Warburton confirmed this to be fair) Also we need more numbers in there to keep things fresh. It's obvious the players chucked it after the Celtic game - we can't allow that sort of stagnation to be acceptable. More squad options would reduce the risk of this happening. I'm not saying this would happen, either, but remember the Manchester season? we were in all 4 competitions until the end of the season and were running on empty. Ended up losing the 2 main prizes on offer. Then again, Walter Smith must take some blame for not utilising his squad options better earlier when he could. Guys like Alan Gow hardly played. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briton 394 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 The better a team is playing the less changes will be made over a season. (Injuries permitting). Of course the better teams use less players. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briton 394 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 10 hours ago, piperpete said: When Dundee united won the league they used 13 players, how the mighty have fallen I think another example of that was Aston villa in England in the early 80's...I think they used a squad of 14. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prso's headband 36,807 Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I don't understand this 'lucky with injuries' rubbish that the media and people use. We haven't been lucky it's down the fact were the fittest team in the country by a mile. We have had 3 serious injuries all season (Waggy, Holt and Forrester) and even then Holt was out for what 3 weeks? Not that serious and the other two were down to an awkward fall/poor tackle. I like the fact we have a lean squad. At least you know the players used as subs will come on and give 100% because the only thing between them and a starting place is essentially one player. I think it's worked great this season and next season when our bench is stronger I'll be full of confidence with someone like MoH or Forrester coming off the bench, knowing they'll give it their all to play their way into the managers thoughts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.