KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Why is our Squad so Small ?

For the second season in a row we have submitted only 19 senior players to the Premier League when we are allowed 25 .

How are we supposed to compete with the sides above us if we dont even have a full squad ?

Truth is we are over performing to get anywhere near 4'th place .

People ask who should be moved on & who should be replaced & we have absolutely zero genuine competition for places as it is .

Surely its only when we have an acceptable senior squad of 25 that we should be talking about selling players ?

Theres no excuse for a club as rich as us to be relying upon kids as back up to senior professionals , kids should be 4'th choice or at best 3'rd choice .

That is of course if we want to challenge for honors ?

I ask that question seriously because it appears to me that with genuine stupidity running rampant amongst our support that our fans would rather see us be Chelsea's feeder club competing for a Europe League place with Stoke & Sunderland , which is exactly where we are at this moment in time .

we do have players who would be considered first-teamers who don't need to be named, such as kelly, coates, hendo, flanno, wilson, shelvey. so that's 25 players, i think we could do with 2 more players another winger and a CB and maybe another LB. our squad is a good size and when we get over these teething problems we're having the quality of the squad will become more evident, because believe it or not we do have some very good players. and an overall good team.

4th is not over achieving for this group of players.

I didnt complain about our quality & I'm very happy with who Kenny bought I'm complaining that we are one of the 10 richest clubs on the planet & we act like we have only just got promoted , in fact Norwich , QPR & Swansea have bigger squads than us .

My point is we havent won so much as an argument since 06 & for the 2'nd season in a row we have submitted only 19 senior players .

Even though your argument is irrelevant seeing as thay are all named as U21 players I disagree with you that Wilson , Shelvey & Flannagan are starting 11 quality at this time , they may be at Blackburn or Wolves or even Fulham at a stretch but for one of the worlds biggest & richest clubs who are supposed to be trying to get back into the Champions League they are far from 1'st choice , they arent even genuine competition for those who are 1'st choice .

The size of Man Utd or Chelseas squads are irrelevant to us at this moment because they have been swapping top spot for a few seasons while we havent even been close but City have a 24 man squad , Arsenal who have clearly slid have a 22 man squad & Spurs have a 25 man squad , all bigger squads than us & its those 3 who will be battling it out for the remaining Champions League places unless we fill our squad with genuine quality to the permitted size & genuinely compete .

If not we are going to aim to be the best of the rest , hope for a cup run & a Europe League place .

This is not the 1980's , winning leagues or even genuinely competing with 19 players is next door to impossible but yet here we are trying to pass ourselves off doing exactly that for the second season running .

If Stoke can afford to name 25 senior players & unlimited U21 players than surely we can afford to ?

Its a rip off by the board & its exactly what our board has been doing for years , giving us the bare minimum & then crying broke .

Top 6 will be an achievement in these circumstances .

Well, we sold Raul and loaned out Cole and Aquilani. There are three players that would have been named and would have given us good strength in depth on the bench.

Yea & we sold Ian Rush , Kevin Keegan & John Barnes too so whats your point ?

We still for the second season in a row have gone into a campaign with only 19 players , I didnt ask how , I asked why .

In this case the how and the why are linked. They revolve around controlling wages and dumping deadwood. There would never be the reserves in cash to flesh out the 25 as well, especially considering the number of 20 year olds on the fringe of starting positions. The why is more to do with giving these players the chance to grow into the first XI rather than buying older players of not much greater skill and therefore stunting their development. A lack of European competition allows this to not carry such a great risk, unlike last season where the numbers were against us AND these youngsters were a year younger.

stupid stupid thread
what ur sayin is bring in more deadwood??
we just got rid of it

In other words ,

"We are now a mid table club , get used to it "


That doesnt explain how come QPR , Norwich & Swansea , brand new to the RICHEST LEAGUE ON THE PLANET can afford to "Flesh out their Squads" .

When did we sign Dida?

The strenght of our reserve side isnt the point , the point is we havent won a thing since 06 & for this past 2 seasons we have named only 19 when we are allowed 25 .

Our rivals all have bigger squads than us so how can we expect to compete ?

BTW I think to name Fabio Injurio who even when he is fit cant complete more than 3 10 yard pass's in a row is clutching at straws , Koncheskey was twice the player he is in terms of consistencey & we got rid of him because we allowed the press to lead our fans into scapegoating him .

That aside , Shelvey is nowhere near ready to challenge Gerrard for a starting place , Coates hasnt been here long enough to even remember the name of the street he lives on let alone command a starting place in the most competitive league in the world at one of its highest profile clubs .

The jury is still out on Spearings quality as it is on Lucas's quality , for me Cattermolle is a better option than the pair of them at this time .

That aside , we still have a smaller squad than those challenging for our named ambition this season namely a Champions League place & we have named a very small squad for the second season in a row .

Surely if we cant afford to be in this league then its only a matter of a season or two before we are relegated .