Our Squad-how many are Premiership level?

[toshes mate]

Mentioning touch, quick feet and good footballing brains, Denis Odoi has the latter but not quite so much the former two, although he does have some impressive skills and a few tricks up his sleeves.  I really like his attitude and wonder if an extended run at left back would work wonders for him. Of course we'd still need a central defender in addition to Ream and Kalas if Odoi became our first choice left back, and that tricky to get off the ball striker we have been praying for far too long for.  We are not far off PL lower half quality even when not at our best and I think a couple of good additions could make all the difference.

[hovewhite]

Its a hell of a jump,we beat easily Huddersfield and the Geordie's 4 times between them last year ,I know I was at the games and they are OK (just)
So it would be close.
Would we win 10 games ? might not but reckon we would win 8 or 9,
Would it be enough to stay up.?

[Woolly Mammoth]

That is the key, " good additions ", we are three outfield good additions shy of a side that could and should make the top six.
No time for milky players who need some convalescing before they might come good. It's quality players who are currently orthodox players in the positions which need strengthening, and will make an impact from the kick off. Bit part players will not get us anywhere.
23 days to go, although we need them now, but I shan't hold my breath.

[hovewhite]

Its a hell of a jump,we beat easily Huddersfield and the Geordie's 4 times between them last year ,I know I was at the games and they are OK (just)
So it would be close.
Would we win 10 games ? might not but reckon we would win 8 or 9,
Would it be enough to stay up.?

Sorry to the OP, the first season and surprise value with the exception of the strikers in the club(who wouldn't) the other positions just about.
The best hope the young players and fingers crossed we could score 45 goals.

[Bassey the warrior]

Cairney, Johansen, Kalas, Sess, Odoi, Kebano, Piazon and potentially AK47. Fredericks to make the bench.

[HatterDon]

I don't think any of our players could make us competitive in the PL.

Having said that, I think our overall current squad -- and one damn striker -- could get us promoted. We shouldn't confuse the two.

If/when we get promoted, the majority of our players -- the kids excepted -- won't be retained.

Remember the club Lawrie Sanchez put together when Cookie was stupidly fired. The players he signed were good enough to lead us to a finish in the top two of the Championship, but nowhere good enough to keep us in the Premier League. God bless Roy.

[toshes mate]

There is obviously a big difference in standard within the PL from top to bottom let alone the difference in standard between Championship and PL football.  The factors required to make a decent impact upon PL football have already been touched upon in this thread but I don't believe for one moment that 'none' of the current squad would be fit for purpose.  It's still a team game and as Roy demonstrated in his reign the key is in turning out a team that can hold their own and challenge the best.  Certainly we would need better quality players in certain key positions to stay secure but I don't believe we'd need to change the side wholesale.  To my eyes some of our squad have a lot more to offer than we have been seeing in a season that has been marred by injury.

[filham]

I would expect to see the following players in our first premiership line up:-
Fredericks, Sess., Johansen, Cairney, McDonald.  Plus the left back, centre half and striker that we have to sign in this window in order to get promotion.