We've used less squad players than anyone else in the PL

I've maintained all season that our squad is nowhere near as in-depth as what people keep writing about, quoting etc

"Massive squad" "In-depth squad" "They'll win it because of their squad"

We've all heard that over and over from pundits, journo's etc all season and I just don't get where they keep plucking it up from!

Just read this in the MEN from Stuart Brennan:

The Blues have used less players than any of their title rivals so far this season, rendering accusations regarding an overly large squad foolish.

At the start of the season, we were told that Citywere about to overpower the Premier League with their gargantuan squad.
They would win it through sheer weight of numbers, the argument went, another example of how their vast spending power was warping the fabric of the top end of English football.
Only, it has not quite worked out that way.
Indeed, here we are six weeks from the climax of the season, and the Blues have actually used LESS players than anyone else in the competition.
They have utilised 23 players, as opposed to the 25 used by Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, while United have used 27.
Of course, those figures in themselves do not prove a lot, because they could indicate that some clubs have suffered horrendous injury problems, or are more liberal in introducing players from their youth ranks. So MEN Sport also worked out how many of the used players have turned out for ten or more appearances – the cut-off point for earning a winner’s medal.
In that list, City have still used less than the three other title contenders, and four less than the Reds.

The MEN has consistently exposed the myth that City have a huge, unwieldy squad – Manuel Pellegrini’s aim at the start of the season, like all top managers, was two quality players for each position.
There have been times in the past when the Blues have had extraneous players coming out of their ears, when they had Danny Mills or Wayne Bridge on their books.
But that was a natural consequence of the turmoil of the takeover. In the rush for the top, quality players were brought in, but existing players were not so easily shifted.
That situation has been addressed, so that the Blues’ first-team squad is now honed down to a tight, quality outfit, smaller than those of Arsenal, Liverpool and United.
The City stats are slightly skewed by the fact that Stevan Jovetic, Richards and Jack Rodwell – all through injury – and out-of-favour Lescott – have not played enough league games to register.
But the same goes for Arsenal with Abou Diaby, Nicklas Bendtner and Serge Gnabry, United with Darren Fletcher, Alex Buttner, and Nani, and Liverpool with Jose Enrique, Tiago Ilori and Luis Alberto.
Given the fact that Pellegrini has pretty much managed with 23 players and a hard-core of 17, it is even more remarkable that he named an unchanged team for the first time in Saturday’s draw at Arsenal.
The manager would argue that he does not have a first-choice eleven, only a squad, interchangeable and interdependent.
But, based on the number of times they have been selected when fit, he favours the following side: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Kolarov, Nasri, Fernandinho, Toure, Silva, Aguero, Negredo.
That has evolved to the point where Gael Clichy and Edin Dzeko were picked ahead of Kolarov and Negredo in the big clashes with United and Arsenal.
The Blues are not likely to add to their squad significantly in the summer.
Indeed, the squad is set to be shaved again, with Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry and Scott Sinclair set to go, and Micah Richards’ future uncertain.

I saw the same article at lunchtime, it's very interesting to see we've used so few players in the league. Not sure what it all means, maybe a couple more players aren't necessary, just a few better ones.

As I said...we've nowhere near the squad that Chelsea have...I'd even argue that Liverpool have better sub players than we have.

blueboy wrote:As I said...we've nowhere near the squad that Chelsea have...I'd even argue that Liverpool have better sub players than we have.

But their starting 11 (on paper) is nowhere near as good as ours.

We've got an excellent first 11, but some of the backup players aren't all that.

Well here are the 3 official squads. If you could pick a starting 11 from both squads, how many Chelsea players would get into ours? Then do the same with Liverpool's squad. 4-4-2 formation.
We know some of the players have been loaned out so the figures for the squads are slightly less now.

Chelsea(4) vs City(7)

Hart
Zaba Vinny Cahill Aspilicueta
Oscar Silva Yaya Hazard
Negredo Aguero

Liverpool(5) vs City(6)

Hart
Zaba Vinny Skrtel Flanagan
Silva Gerrard Yaya Sturridge
Aguero Suarez

I think our starting 11 players are better players individually, but our 'B', support players are not as strong as Chelsea's, and only marginally better than Liverpool's IMO.


Chelsea Squad (26 players)

• 1 Petr Cech
  
• 2 Branislav Ivanovic
  
• 3 Ashley Cole
  
• 4 David Luiz
  
• 7 Ramires
  
• 8 Frank Lampard
  
• 9 Fernando Torres
  
• 11 Oscar
  
• 12 John Mikel Obi
  
• 14 Andre Schurrle
  
• 15 Mohamed Salah
  
• 16 Marco van Ginkel
  
• 17 Eden Hazard
  
• 19 Demba Ba
  
• 21 Nemanja Matic
  
• 22 Willian
  
• 23 Mark Schwarzer
  
• 24 Gary Cahill
  
• 26 John Terry
  
• 27 Nathan Ake
  
• 28 Cesar Azpilicueta
  
• 29 Samuel Eto'o
  
• 33 Tomas Kalas
  
• 46 Jamal Blackman
  
• 40 Henrique Hilario
  

Liverpool Squad (32 players)

• 1. Jones
  
• 2. Johnson
  
• 3. Enrique
  
• 4. Toure
  
• 5. Agger
  
• 6. Alberto
  
• 7. Suarez
  
• 8. Gerrard
  
• 9. Aspas
  
• 10. Coutinho
  
• 11. Assaidi
  
• 12. Moses
  
• 14. Henderson
  
• 15. Sturridge
  
• 16. Coates
  
• 17. Sakho
  
• 20. Cissokho
  
• 21. Lucas
  
• 22. Mignolet
  
• 24. Allen
  
• 25. Reina
  

• 26. Ilori
  
• 29. Borini
  
• 30. Suso
  
• 31. Sterling
  
• 33. Ibe
  
• 34. Kelly
  
• 35. Coady
  
• 36. Yesil
  
• 37. Skrtel
  
• 38. Flanagan
  
• 43. McLaughlin
  
• 44. Smith
  
• 45. Sama
  
• 46. Rossiter
  
• 47. Wisdom
  
• 48. Sinclair
  
• 49. Robinson
  
• 50. Brannagan
  
• 51. Jones
  
• 52. Ward
  
• 53. Teixeira
  

Man City Squad (28 players)

• Goalkeepers
  
  
  
  • Joe Hart
    
  • Costel Pantilimon
    
  • Richard Wright
    
  
  
  
• Defenders
  
  
  
  • Dedryck Boyata
    
  • Gael Clichy
    
  • Martin Demichelis
    
  • Aleksandar Kolarov
    
  • Vincent Kompany
    
  • Joleon Lescott
    
  • Matija Nastasic
    
  • Micah Richards
    
  • Pablo Zabaleta
    
  
  
  
• Midfielders
  
  
  
  • Gareth Barry*
    
  • Fernandinho Luiz Roza
    
  • Javi Garcia
    
  • Marcos Lopes
    
  • James Milner
    
  • Samir Nasri
    
  • Jesus Navas
    
  • Jack Rodwell
    
  • David Silva
    
  • Scott Sinclair*
    
  • Yaya Toure
    
  
  
  
  
• Strikers
  
  
  
  • Sergio Aguero
    
  • Edin Dzeko
    
  • John Guidetti*
    
  • Stevan Jovetic
    
  • Alvaro Negredo
    
  • 
    
  
  
  

Jesus blue, you really do have too much time on your hands    

  I've been on my computer working since 03:30...had a conference call with the Far East...time for a break for a few hours...so came on here to make up shit!!

     

Let's just hope we'll be celebrating like this after the West Ham game:

Oh, now that's spooky, I was just thinking about that very moment half an hour ago!

I hope we are too. But let's hope it's not preceded by half an hour of sheer torment this time!!

Oh yes. Can't go through that again.

In fact, I'm kind of hoping we'll be celebrating on the Wednesday before, by beating Villa and becoming champions outright. Now that would be nice