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Post by Trouserdog on Apr 29, 2023 19:38:33 GMT
I can't think of anything as bad as this lot since Brian Little unleashed his 5-3-2 wingback wonders in what's now League One.
The kindest thing I can say about the goalkeeper is that he's not as bad as Gordon Marshall, Jakub Haugaard...or Joe Bursik. However, we haven't had many worse in the last 20 years.
I'm not sure we've ever had a worse pool of CBs than what we've got now: a 40 year-old, a young kid, a crap converted left back and a bloke who's won player-of-the-season even though he can't pass a football 10 yards.
The midfield is better than some we've had, even though Smallbone's gone back to being useless. Have we ever had a squad though that has NO wingers in it? Even Brian Little had an ageing Kevin Keen to call upon.
Up-front, we have a has been who can't move, a bloke who certainly can move but can't be arsed to most of the time and someone who can't control a football. Brilliant. They haven't got a goal in them.
I honestly think they're worse than anything I've seen this century. Gudjon's team, despite being a league lower, would easily turn them over with Thorney up-front and Shtaniuk at the back; TP's binary team was pretty ropey but would keep us at bay in their sleep and nick a 0-1 like every team down here does; Boskamp's erratic collection of foreign mercenaries and Rudge-picked freebies were a strange bunch to watch but could be brilliant on their day...nope, we are definitely, 100% worse now than at any point in the last 23 years. Even the team Nathan Jones put together proved that it could do the business as soon as they weren't being led by a total idiot. This lot, however- they'd fail to perform for any manager because they're that poor.
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Post by bunnyscfc on Apr 29, 2023 19:39:17 GMT
agree apart from Bonham. The worst goalie we've ever had.
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Post by Trouserdog on Apr 29, 2023 19:41:53 GMT
agree apart from Bonham. The worst goalie we've ever had. No. He's bad, but Haugaard, Marshall and Bursik were all worse. |
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Post by loosestools on Apr 29, 2023 20:08:57 GMT
I can't think of anything as bad as this lot since Brian Little unleashed his 5-3-2 wingback wonders in what's now League One. The kindest thing I can say about the goalkeeper is that he's not as bad as Gordon Marshall, Jakub Haugaard...or Joe Bursik. However, we haven't had many worse in the last 20 years. I'm not sure we've ever had a worse pool of CBs than what we've got now: a 40 year-old, a young kid, a crap converted left back and a bloke who's won player-of-the-season even though he can't pass a football 10 yards. The midfield is better than some we've had, even though Smallbone's gone back to being useless. Have we ever had a squad though that has NO wingers in it? Even Brian Little had an ageing Kevin Keen to call upon. Up-front, we have a has been who can't move, a bloke who certainly can move but can't be arsed to most of the time and someone who can't control a football. Brilliant. They haven't got a goal in them. I honestly think they're worse than anything I've seen this century. Gudjon's team, despite being a league lower, would easily turn them over with Thorney up-front and Shtaniuk at the back; TP's binary team was pretty ropey but would keep us at bay in their sleep and nick a 0-1 like every team down here does; Boskamp's erratic collection of foreign mercenaries and Rudge-picked freebies were a strange bunch to watch but could be brilliant on their day...nope, we are definitely, 100% worse now than at any point in the last 23 years. Even the team Nathan Jones put together proved that it could do the business as soon as they weren't being led by a total idiot. This lot, however- they'd fail to perform for any manager because they're that poor. I think you are bang on. |
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Post by Gob Bluth on Apr 29, 2023 20:35:38 GMT
I think they're better than the team that were relegated to the third tier, these have delivered some performances but this team is the worst I've seen for application. They go up against the teams from the past 5 years.
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Post by Gods on Apr 29, 2023 20:42:11 GMT
I can't think of anything as bad as this lot since Brian Little unleashed his 5-3-2 wingback wonders in what's now League One. The kindest thing I can say about the goalkeeper is that he's not as bad as Gordon Marshall, Jakub Haugaard...or Joe Bursik. However, we haven't had many worse in the last 20 years. I'm not sure we've ever had a worse pool of CBs than what we've got now: a 40 year-old, a young kid, a crap converted left back and a bloke who's won player-of-the-season even though he can't pass a football 10 yards. The midfield is better than some we've had, even though Smallbone's gone back to being useless. Have we ever had a squad though that has NO wingers in it? Even Brian Little had an ageing Kevin Keen to call upon. Up-front, we have a has been who can't move, a bloke who certainly can move but can't be arsed to most of the time and someone who can't control a football. Brilliant. They haven't got a goal in them. I honestly think they're worse than anything I've seen this century. Gudjon's team, despite being a league lower, would easily turn them over with Thorney up-front and Shtaniuk at the back; TP's binary team was pretty ropey but would keep us at bay in their sleep and nick a 0-1 like every team down here does; Boskamp's erratic collection of foreign mercenaries and Rudge-picked freebies were a strange bunch to watch but could be brilliant on their day...nope, we are definitely, 100% worse now than at any point in the last 23 years. Even the team Nathan Jones put together proved that it could do the business as soon as they weren't being led by a total idiot. This lot, however- they'd fail to perform for any manager because they're that poor. Your withering assessment of our CB options did make me laugh! |
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Post by callas12 on Apr 30, 2023 0:23:16 GMT
& to put the title of this thread into abit of perspective, the squads are definitely as bad on paper & delivered output, but its important to highlight & remember that the Brian Little era was dicated to by no funds for transfers or much else for that matter, aside from free transfers as the club literally had no money and had just suffered a humiliating relegation from the Championship after a really shocking season under the Chic Bates, Chris Kamara and Alan Durban managementships. Keith Humphreys was literally steadying a ship that the outgoing & previous Coates era (Part 1) had left him to deal with.
Littles hands were tied to some degree and he had to call on the services of old sweats/previous players who had served under him who had been there and done it in the main & were happy to help an old manager out in a time of need. The club was in a rotten state both from where we'd just come from and where we were going, there was no real direction, it was definitely hit & hope stuff! Littles appointment was seen as a big coup at the time, but realistically whilst we had a proven winner at the helm, there was only so much he could do with the squad he had been able to assemble with such limited funds.
Our squad today is an assembled bunch of highly paid players of varying degrees of experience & ambitions, and results and current league position are suggesting that these are no better than the squad Little had charge of in 1999.
Which is some doing considering the fiancial backing our club now has and the endless promises & claims of having learnt lessons & not to make the same mistakes again going forwards.
Nothing ever seems to change despite the board talking the talk, it's as though we're sleep walking back to where we were in that 1998/99 period all over again, whereas at that time we were skint and lacked genuine ambition, we're now minted, but still lacking genuine thought & ambition to the task in hand!
I really worry that in the last 23yrs we've gone full circle, have definitely peaked & are now returning to those poor and trying times of the late 90's! Perhaps an Icelandic consortium with fresh ideas are waiting in the wings 🤔😉🤣!
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Post by onionman on Apr 30, 2023 4:47:02 GMT
Quick shout out to the pool of centre backs in the Mick Mills/Alan Ball era.
A decrepit George Berry or Noel Blake in the Jagielka role alongside Andy “Leek Town” Holmes or Lee “Jimmy Somerville” Fowler.
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Post by callas12 on Apr 30, 2023 15:08:19 GMT
Quick shout out to the pool of centre backs in the Mick Mills/Alan Ball era. A decrepit George Berry or Noel Blake in the Jagielka role alongside Andy “Leek Town” Holmes or Lee “Jimmy Somerville” Fowler. Mark Higgins aswell 🫣 |
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Post by thevoid on Apr 30, 2023 15:12:36 GMT
There's just nothing about this group of players. No fight, no identity. Beige as hell. A lot of them being loans and not our own doesn't help with identifying with them either.
Wilmot won player of the season and I'd genuinely struggle to pick him out in a line up. In fact, I can't even be arsed to check if I spelled 'Wilmot' correctly, and I'm usually anal AF with these things
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Post by Staffsoatcake on Apr 30, 2023 16:45:18 GMT
There's just nothing about this group of players. No fight, no identity. Beige as hell. A lot of them being loans and not our own doesn't help with identifying with them either. Wilmot won player of the season and I'd genuinely struggle to pick him out in a line up. In fact, I can't even be arsed to check if I spelled 'Wilmot' correctly, and I'm usually anal AF with these things Our player of the season cost us a few goals this season along with a few others, just goes to show how shite our squad is. |
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Post by greystokie on Apr 30, 2023 18:04:29 GMT
This is so true. The team is disjointed,
Some of the players are uninterested and too many of them are very poor footballers as well. In spite of this a lot of the posters on this board are calling for the managers head! He can only work with what he has at his disposal and the reality is that there just isn't very much there, at all. Given the task ahead of AN in rebuilding the squad I think that it is far too much to expect us to transform into a promotion contender in one season. A significant improvement is the best we can hope for next season and a shot at promotion in the season following. I'm sure that's not what a lot of posters on here want to hear but, sadly, that's the reality.
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Post by SamB_SCFC on Apr 30, 2023 18:16:19 GMT
Is this squad worse? Even the Brian Little squad had players like Peter Thorne, Graham Kavanagh, Larus Sigurdsson and an admittedly ageing Kevin Keen. There isn't anybody of that quality in this squad. Pearson maybe, possibly Smallbone. But neither of those are our players either.
I think we've been extremely lucky to not get relegated this season. And had it not been for some good loan deals in January and the March purple patch that followed then we probably would have been. The quality of The Championship has been dreadfully poor this season and that's probably saved us. Had it been of an average standard we'd have dropped with this team. There's a serious amount of work to do this summer because surely the league can't be as bad again next season.
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Post by Trouserdog on Apr 30, 2023 18:40:06 GMT
Is this squad worse? Even the Brian Little squad had players like Peter Thorne, Graham Kavanagh, Larus Sigurdsson and an admittedly ageing Kevin Keen. There isn't anybody of that quality in this squad. Pearson maybe, possibly Smallbone. But neither of those are our players either. I think we've been extremely lucky to not get relegated this season. And had it not been for some good loan deals in January and the March purple patch that followed then we probably would have been. The quality of The Championship has been dreadfully poor this season and that's probably saved us. Had it been of an average standard we'd have dropped with this team. There's a serious amount of work to do this summer because surely the league can't be as bad again next season. Other than the big names though, the rank and file in the Little squad were worse than what we've got now. David Oldfield, Bryan Small, Jason Kavanagh, Ben Petty, Kyle Lightbourne etc were so shite they make the likes of Jacob Brown and Josh Tymon look like world beaters. |
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Post by AlbertTatlock on Apr 30, 2023 18:45:52 GMT
This squad (bar Hoever and Pearson) is full of players of limited ability, limited desire, limited passion, limited skill, limited pace, limited endeavor, limited football intelligence and limited grit. I'd say we we're bang average but I don't think we're that good. And now we seem to have a manager that seems to be trying his best to prove to us he has limited tactical nous. Gouranga.  |
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Post by numpty40 on Apr 30, 2023 19:01:22 GMT
Is this squad worse? Even the Brian Little squad had players like Peter Thorne, Graham Kavanagh, Larus Sigurdsson and an admittedly ageing Kevin Keen. There isn't anybody of that quality in this squad. Pearson maybe, possibly Smallbone. But neither of those are our players either. I think we've been extremely lucky to not get relegated this season. And had it not been for some good loan deals in January and the March purple patch that followed then we probably would have been. The quality of The Championship has been dreadfully poor this season and that's probably saved us. Had it been of an average standard we'd have dropped with this team. There's a serious amount of work to do this summer because surely the league can't be as bad again next season. Other than the big names though, the rank and file in the Little squad were worse than what we've got now. David Oldfield, Bryan Small, Jason Kavanagh, Ben Petty, Kyle Lightbourne etc were so shite they make the likes of Jacob Brown and Josh Tymon look like world beaters. I'd take Kyle Lightbourne over Dwight Gayle any day. To be fair I'd struggle to choose between Tymon and Bryan Small |
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Post by blackpoolred on Apr 30, 2023 20:09:25 GMT
I can't think of anything as bad as this lot since Brian Little unleashed his 5-3-2 wingback wonders in what's now League One. The kindest thing I can say about the goalkeeper is that he's not as bad as Gordon Marshall, Jakub Haugaard...or Joe Bursik. However, we haven't had many worse in the last 20 years. I'm not sure we've ever had a worse pool of CBs than what we've got now: a 40 year-old, a young kid, a crap converted left back and a bloke who's won player-of-the-season even though he can't pass a football 10 yards. The midfield is better than some we've had, even though Smallbone's gone back to being useless. Have we ever had a squad though that has NO wingers in it? Even Brian Little had an ageing Kevin Keen to call upon. Up-front, we have a has been who can't move, a bloke who certainly can move but can't be arsed to most of the time and someone who can't control a football. Brilliant. They haven't got a goal in them. I honestly think they're worse than anything I've seen this century. Gudjon's team, despite being a league lower, would easily turn them over with Thorney up-front and Shtaniuk at the back; TP's binary team was pretty ropey but would keep us at bay in their sleep and nick a 0-1 like every team down here does; Boskamp's erratic collection of foreign mercenaries and Rudge-picked freebies were a strange bunch to watch but could be brilliant on their day...nope, we are definitely, 100% worse now than at any point in the last 23 years. Even the team Nathan Jones put together proved that it could do the business as soon as they weren't being led by a total idiot. This lot, however- they'd fail to perform for any manager because they're that poor. I think a fair assessment - when the final whistle goes next week and all the loan players go back to their clubs we really do have a woeful looking squad. Defensively we wont have a decent wingback at the club, struggling for a decent keeper, 1 viable central defender with back problems and no real creative players forward of them - no height in there either and that is costing us consistently. Got to start from the back, we cant have a back three that we had yesterday - if we have ambition then arguably none of those three should be here next season. Other squads have 5+ central defenders in their squad so that would mean we need to bring in 4 central defenders alone at a minimum(never going to happen) - we will keep Jags & Taylor because they will be cheap and Fox will be retained as a square peg we can fit in there and that will be our lot if our past endeavours are anything to go by - the last window being a big indicator on how important he/they thought central defence was - we moved 2 players on and brought in 1 on loan with a long-term injury. We need some width and players who can excite going forward and take a man on and obviously a target man up front. More than all that we need some guts and desire in there - mixed in with some genuine talent - we have players that put in a good shift, but we have to be aiming higher if we want top half finish. Humongous job for the current manager, but he does have some decent loan players that he can try and acquire for starters - he has shown signs this season that he can put out a team that can perform well, as well as anything we have seen for a while, but he has also put out teams and formations that have been as bad as we have seen in some time - if the first window is anything to go by then I don't think he is the man to rebuild, but I think he is worth a shot. He and the club will be judged before a ball is kicked from me personally - this has to be a really good competent window - but if we have glaring gaps and a massively unbalanced squad come kick-off then it really is time to start looking at everything - not just the manager |
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Post by leicspotter on Apr 30, 2023 20:09:46 GMT
and yet we hammered Sunderland, Blackburn and Coventry, any one of whom might be in the PL next season...there IS something there...is it enough of a base for Neil to build on? Only time and a good Summer shopping spree will tell
One thing is certain, we MUST improve our home form
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Post by lordb on Apr 30, 2023 20:30:52 GMT
agree apart from Bonham. The worst goalie we've ever had. No. He's bad, but Haugaard, Marshall and Bursik were all worse. Muggleton, Horne, Sinclair, Pressman, the ex Spurs bloke we had who played in the 4.3 Albion game all worse |
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Post by Boothen on Apr 30, 2023 20:32:37 GMT
Nothing to add to the thread other than I read the title as 'The Worst Squad We've Had Since the Little Britain Season?'.
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Post by newsteadst3 on Apr 30, 2023 20:34:37 GMT
Other than the big names though, the rank and file in the Little squad were worse than what we've got now. David Oldfield, Bryan Small, Jason Kavanagh, Ben Petty, Kyle Lightbourne etc were so shite they make the likes of Jacob Brown and Josh Tymon look like world beaters. I'd take Kyle Lightbourne over Dwight Gayle any day. To be fair I'd struggle to choose between Tymon and Bryan Small Agreed mate, the little season and this side on the whole have been about as exciting to watch. If anything we had a bit of hope with Little albeit a couple of months. |
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Post by mistergumby on Apr 30, 2023 21:15:31 GMT
Nothing to add to the thread other than I read the title as 'The Worst Squad We've Had Since the Little Britain Season?'. Bitty? |
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Post by westlandstokie on Apr 30, 2023 22:05:39 GMT
I can't think of anything as bad as this lot since Brian Little unleashed his 5-3-2 wingback wonders in what's now League One. The kindest thing I can say about the goalkeeper is that he's not as bad as Gordon Marshall, Jakub Haugaard...or Joe Bursik. However, we haven't had many worse in the last 20 years. I'm not sure we've ever had a worse pool of CBs than what we've got now: a 40 year-old, a young kid, a crap converted left back and a bloke who's won player-of-the-season even though he can't pass a football 10 yards. The midfield is better than some we've had, even though Smallbone's gone back to being useless. Have we ever had a squad though that has NO wingers in it? Even Brian Little had an ageing Kevin Keen to call upon. Up-front, we have a has been who can't move, a bloke who certainly can move but can't be arsed to most of the time and someone who can't control a football. Brilliant. They haven't got a goal in them. I honestly think they're worse than anything I've seen this century. Gudjon's team, despite being a league lower, would easily turn them over with Thorney up-front and Shtaniuk at the back; TP's binary team was pretty ropey but would keep us at bay in their sleep and nick a 0-1 like every team down here does; Boskamp's erratic collection of foreign mercenaries and Rudge-picked freebies were a strange bunch to watch but could be brilliant on their day...nope, we are definitely, 100% worse now than at any point in the last 23 years. Even the team Nathan Jones put together proved that it could do the business as soon as they weren't being led by a total idiot. This lot, however- they'd fail to perform for any manager because they're that poor. A massive thing we really need is a good Captain…someone who the players respect and who is willing and able to dish out mega bollickings when needed. After the QPR goal on Saturday I watched all of our players meander up the pitch like they had given up…not a one of them seemed bothered…that’s when a strong Captain is needed to give them a kick up the arse…over to you AN. |
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Post by hamsta2 on Apr 30, 2023 22:09:26 GMT
No.
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Post by roylandstoke on Apr 30, 2023 22:55:52 GMT
I thought we had a decent squad at the start of last season, but we weren’t good enough to cope with injuries to Souttar and Powell.
We have managed to weaken our squad in each of the last 3 transfer windows.
We currently have a decent first 11, on those rare occasions they can be arsed (and only against sides that try to play through us) and a pile of shite on the bench.
Dean Crowe would improve this squad.
Ben Petty would get a game now and again and David Oldfield would play ahead of the current version of Lewis Baker.
There are no excuses. We have suffered no unexpected injuries (Tuanzebe has actually played more than any sane person thought he would). To create this shower of shite with the resources provided takes a special type of incompetence.
Could Mad Nathan have done worse?
Alex Neil has very little credit in the bank and very little time to get a massive improvement in results.
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Post by sneydgreenstokie1 on May 1, 2023 6:15:35 GMT
Plenty of our current squad have ability
Plenty of our squad seem to have no desire at all
Plenty of our squad will heopfully not be in our squad in the very near future
Over the 40 years I have been a Stoke fan, I have seen so so much worse in terms of ability but little worse in terms of application
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Post by Northy on May 1, 2023 7:13:59 GMT
Most of them are a bunch of half arsed spineless mercenaries who can fook off out of this club, I've never been so disinterested in the club as I have this season.
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Post by shrewspotter on May 1, 2023 7:27:22 GMT
I think the 97/98 squad just beats it, but not by much
Best team were something like, that said Kav, Thorne and Griffin would walk into this team
Muggleton
Griffin
Sigurdsson
Tweed
Pickering
Wallace
Forsyth
Kavanagh
Keen
Stewart
Thorne
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Post by questionable on May 1, 2023 7:33:26 GMT
Surely it’s a managers job to get the best out of what he’s got, 40 games is it but AN has somehow remained at MON levels of results, probably just worse??
We can’t just keep saying it’s not his team/needs a few windows it’s plain daft we’re forever building to literally stay where we are and there’s no forward thinking at all.
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Post by CBUFAWKIPWH on May 1, 2023 7:47:23 GMT
It isn't a squad - it's a group of stop gaps designed to put out a first team that could stave off relegation.
Neil dismantled the squad O'Neil put together in January and those he couldn't get rid of he sidelined. There was absolutely no squad building done in January - this isn't a squad in any meaningful sense, it's just a temporary fix.
Whether O'Neil could have done better with the squad he had put together we will never know - certainly Neil could make it work but that doesn't mean O'Neil couldn't and it got disbanded in January anyway.
At the end if the day whether you think it is a squad or not (for me it's a list of names from which you can just about put a starting 11) the fact is it doesn't matter - most of that "squad" will walk out the door after the Watford match and will never come back. The squad that matters is the one we start next season with.
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