Smallest squad we've had?

[Spike 12,049]

I will never buy into the idea that Cahill is captain material, I'll have to see it to believe it. I think people get caught up with the fact that he is English and similar to JT, but the fact is: he isn't JT. JT was/is world class, Gazza is solid.

[Stingray 9,441]

Thought i would dig up my post at the beginning of the season where half the dickheads bagged me.. Now lets re-cap..

• 1 Petr Cech Was let down by his defenders. He is a goalkeeper, not a magician.. Best keeper in the world imo. WE miss him a lot when Fatbull is in goals.
• 2 Branislav Ivanovic Safe as a centre back only.. He should never play on the right again. Cesar has proved he is much better in this position. Cost us the Carling Cup and was shaky in the second leg.
• 3 Ashley Cole Our best defender no doubt STILL OUR BEST DEFENDER
• 4 David Luiz Needs to be put in the holding role. He cannot be the last line of defense. Way too risky. OH MY GOD! NO WAY!!! That fat fuck must have read my post..
• 6 Oriol Romeu Stuck behind Mikel and Meireles OUT FOR THE SEASON
• 7 Ramires Practically useless in the position he is playing CORRECT
• 8 Frank Lampard Let's face it, As much as we love him, his style doesn't suit what the club are trying to build. As much as i love Lamps and still agree to keep him, Must be our plan B..
• 9 Fernando Torres Maybe getting to his best, but is definitely no Didier Drogba.. NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO CLEAN THE MUD OUT OF DIDIERS BOOTS
• 10 Juan Mata Won't be long till he gets burn-out. Hmmm, won't be much longer
• 11 Oscar Got tons of talent but is still very young CORRECT
• 12 Mikel Don't get me started.. CORRECT
• 13 Victor Moses Pretty exciting prospect. Has talent but lets see how he goes in a top 4 club. Done well, needs to start every game when he gets back.
• 15 Florent Malouda Should have been sold. PRACTICALLY GONE
• 16 Raul Meireles Useful squad player GONE
• 17 Eden Hazard Best signing since Frank Lampard. Still settling. Has been awesome in most games we win.
• 19 Paulo Ferreira Useless CORRECT
• 21 Marko Marin When he is fit could be use full. Wrong, useless garden gnome that looks like a 10 year old girl.
• 22 Ross TurnbullUseless CORRECT
• 23 Daniel SturridgeWhen he learns to play for the team and not himself he can be useful. Until then, useless... GONE
• 24 Gary Cahill Will probably captain the side one day. I have no doubt
• 26 John Terry Needs to take his defense to an all new level. Our different playing style means he will be on the run most of the time. Copped and Injury, needs time.
• 28 Cesar Azpilicueta Hopefully the player we have been missing. Has been our best signing IMO. Hasn't let us down
• 34 Ryan Bertrand Good but needs a few years. Needs to believe in himself and make a pass that travels more then 3 yards (usually to Ashley Cole)
• 40 Henrique Hilario Useless CORRECT

Only Signing since

29 Demba Ba Good player that gives us depth. But replacing a striker with one that was second fiddle to Torres isn't exactly encouraging for Ba. Will always be a second option as long as Rafa is around.

So since this post, we have lost 2 players in transfers and one to injury. We have replaced them with one $7 million striker. Hazard is suspended for a few games, Mikel and Moses are in Africa, Marin is garbage, Mata is running out of tricks and Torres is still shite..

I shouldn't laugh but the comments are Hilarios :-)

[BlueLion. 21,491]

We had a smaller squad in 2006/07 in size terms. Remember Michael Essien playing everywhere but in goal; having Hilario as first-choice goalkeeper and having the legendary Magnus Hedman as our number two; Wayne Bridge playing as a striker against Wycombe...?

However back then we had more 'utility' players, like Diarra, Essien, Joe Cole, Kalou, Boulahrouz, Wright-Phillips, etc., who could play in a variety of positions. In the current set-up, we only really have Luiz who you could qualify as being a utility' player. We have so many like-minded players (Hazard, Mata and Oscar are all number 10s, for instance) now that whilst the squad is bigger in terms of numbers, it is smaller in terms of its overall utility.

That is not our biggest worry, though. Our biggest worry is Benitez and the board won't do anything about it. We've gone one-in-one-out. We need another striker, a central midfielder and a winger, in truth. But of course the board think otherwise and that 2-2 draws with Southampton and Brentford are acceptable.

[gary gordon 1,777]

We had a smaller squad in 2006/07 in size terms. Remember Michael Essien playing everywhere but in goal; having Hilario as first-choice goalkeeper and having the legendary Magnus Hedman as our number two; Wayne Bridge playing as a striker against Wycombe...?

However back then we had more 'utility' players, like Diarra, Essien, Joe Cole, Kalou, Boulahrouz, Wright-Phillips, etc., who could play in a variety of positions. In the current set-up, we only really have Luiz who you could qualify as being a utility' player. We have so many like-minded players (Hazard, Mata and Oscar are all number 10s, for instance) now that whilst the squad is bigger in terms of numbers, it is smaller in terms of its overall utility.

That is not our biggest worry, though. Our biggest worry is Benitez and the board won't do anything about it. We've gone one-in-one-out. We need another striker, a central midfielder and a winger, in truth. But of course the board think otherwise and that 2-2 draws with Southampton and Brentford are acceptable.

Let's not forgot, Drogba was killing it that year! When you have a striker that can pretty much score goals on his own, it makes a huge difference! We had just spent 35 million on Sheva, Lampard was owning the park and players like SWP were scoring goals too. We were pretty much in it until the Arsenal game. Jose was also a huge difference. The man got shit done. It's not easy winning 3 Premier League titles in a row, and we came very close. Jose even said in an interview, the second title was harder then the first because every team wants to knock off the Champs. To be honest, i think we were a better side in that season then the season before, It's just that everybody lifts to beat you.

[Kojo 4,676]

Board are idiots, and I don't want to hear all the bull shit about it's harder than it looks and signing a player is much harder than it seems, no It's never stopped City, but we don't seem to want to challenge for title anyway.

Instead we will end up playing Torres upfront and Mikel as our star midfielder in the year 2016 whilst battling in relegation...

In league one.

[J.F. 1,484]

Good squad, stupid manager.

[Kostas 1,468]

Apologies if this has been posted but I came by this incredible doc while having a quick read on cfcnet.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/46624244/PRODUCTION2012-13.pdf

Check the appearances of the 3 only Chelsea players on the list and try to find out how many players have played more. This is also (particularly) interesting in terms of the resulting defensive workrate that I've seen @SeB often emphasize.