Sandy Pate Best Stag wrote:MTFCMusings wrote:I think the talk of failing squad depth is a little harsh. Yes it was a poor first half last night, but the eight players who came in last night have all been part of a winning starting eleven this season at least once, five of them in the league and three of them in the PJ Trophy.
Ok Mussy, I take that point but can you honestly say that in the positions they played, almost any of the outfield players are good enough for a top three finish if they played those positions on a regular basis and were regular members of the team?
I fully accept that there are occasions when your team is short and we can’t expect ready made replacements for every position thus having to use stop gaps. Which of the centre halves would you be happy to be regular first choice starters? To say they were pedestrian is being kind and that exposes the point many of us have been making for a considerable time. Make no mistake those players will have to start at centre half on a number of occasions throughout the season. We will need a lot of cover from midfield when they do.
Not on last nights performance no, but O’Toole and Perch played plenty of games in a top side last seasons, as did Quinn. Swan is a decent player and gives us a different type of option.
I’d be happy for O’Toole to be a regular starter, I wouldn’t discard him after a slow start to the season after an excellent one last term. But at the moment he’s not one of the starting centre backs.
I think it’s worth pointing out motivational factors for this game too. The players who came in for us were on a hiding to nothing, no chance of our starting eleven changing through choice and therefore little motivation to put in a brilliant display. Grimsby are at home on Saturday where they are yet to win a game in the league, so positions were more up for grabs.