Team Balance

[Kojo 4,676]

No, it's all allegations, he's innocent!. None has been proven, Roman wouldn't do such a thing.

[Spike 12,049]

Why does that shock you? We're owned by a Russian mobster and our doctor is Spanish. It would be a surprise if it was the other way.

Shocked? Bloody hell, Cap you are good at putting words where there is nothing but silence. Where did I say I was shocked? Please tell me. No offense or anything Cap but it seems nearly everytime you quote me you put words in my mouth.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Shocked? Bloody hell, Cap you are good at putting words where there is nothing but silence. Where did I say I was shocked? Please tell me. No offense or anything Cap but it seems nearly everytime you quote me you put words in my mouth.

Apologies.

[coolhead23 1,147]

Torres wins the spirit with Mikel hands down, mate! The thing which were the positive about Torres from last season was that he was ready to backtrack (which he never did before) and he has not lost that pace which everyone thought he would. And anyways Mikel is far too lazy to even get into a spirit (yes he mite outrun the best in the world when it comes to renewing his contract , but that's a different story all together)

It is interesting to see the players slotted into different age groups as created above and concerns on the 25-29 bracket could be more or less correct. However most these players were a part of the squad last season as well with only Luiz and Ramiers getting promoted into it and they really did a good job as far as FA and Champions leagues goes. And to win major competition it is important that there is a blend of youth and Experience which i believe is in there(balance of upto 25 and beyond 25). I mean to get better than this set of group in the 25-29 bracket would be a little difficult to find. I guess what is important for me how well do they gel as a unit would determine the success of our existing team...

[manpe 10,861]

When was the last time a ream won a domestic cup without a 20+ goal striker?

Chelsea, May 2012, FA Cup.

It's a good topic to discuss. I think you can add Mata to the spine already, his intrumental debut season engraved him as the pinnacle of the team for years to come, he's 24 and visibly at the start of his peak curve on his development parabola.

Plus you have to take into consideration the nature of each position. For example central defenders generally hit their peaks later than wingers or strikers. I think Terry is still enjoying the best part of his career that started around 27 years of age, he'd just scored his record amount of goals and had many stellar performances in defence (aside from the crap high line period), best player for England too.

Same can be said of Cole, although not as quick as before. He's still somewhere around his peak, but on a downward curve.

But in general I agree. The players, who are supposed to be at their best age, are either not good enough or too few. The players who I think are enjoying their best or are close to it, are Mata, Terry, Cole, Ivanovic, Ramires. Seen too little of Cahill to evaluate, but by the looks of it, he's getting there. Luiz is not there yet, needs a year or two to be considered in that group. Same with Mikel. Note I left out Torres, I did it on purpose, because he's shown very little so far to indicate that he's not past his peak... Strikers are also the ones who can be early bloomers and thus early burners, especially those who depend on their pace.

So, the numbers are few, but they are important part of the team, all likely to be regular participants. Note that we are lacking attacking players at their peak, or experience in that area in general. But we got plenty of hunger there. Same with central midfield, we either lack quality there, have players past their best before or have inexperienced young uns... there's no inbetween.

Saying that we are building for the future is dangerously close to the route that Arsenal have been down for the past 7 years. Their lack of spine is key to their detriment. But the thing with Arsenal is that they did it too quickly, they disassembled their perfectly balanced team and replaced with a totally new one. We aren't doing that and by the looks of it we won't be.