Written by : Jonathan Lee

After more than a season at the helm, Manuel Pellegrini now has more or less a squad of his own choosing – but is it one that can really excite and take us into the top 6/7?  For any team to deliver that, you need quality throughout, not just in parts. Here’s how our current squad measures up.

Keeper: There is no dispute here, in Fabianski we have arguably the best keeper since Ludo.

Defence: we can split these into full backs and centre halves. Neither full back area shouts out Top 6; unfortunately, Fredericks and Johnson are both still very raw (but do have potential), Zabaleta is nearing retirement, Creswell has not had a decent run in the team (although was back to somewhere near his best last Sunday) and Arthur is inconsistent and lacks concentration at times when defending.

The centre half positions are slightly more encouraging. Diop appears to have a big future (although why he stopped jumping up for corners against Huddersfield last season is still a worry), and Balbuena has the potential to do well. Ogbonna is also another inconsistent performer and age is against him, while Reid will never be the player he once was – and that is it, very thin in quality, and no real talisman like the big teams have in Maguire, Van Dijk et 

In the CDM role, we are blessed to have Declan who belies his years with strong performances week in week out. Noble has been a fantastic servant and is playing well currently but another for whom time is not on his side; Sanchez is also looking at winding down his career and does not have the quality required for a Top 6/7 push. If we include Wilshere in this category, he may become something of an enigma, who produces the odd decent performance but equally a player whose best years are arguably behind him.

That leaves our front four, where we seem to have an imbalance of numbers currently, carrying as we do: Snodgrass, Yarmo, Ajeti, Haller, Manuel, Anderson, Fornals and Antonio.  Which of these could walk into any of the Big 6 squads: only three – Haller, Anderson and Lanzini.

Snodgrass has been a great professional but another for whom time is creeping up. Antonio alas seems will never be far from the injury table which is a shame as there really is a talent in there; for Yarmo, many think that his return from long term injury is holding him back, but the fear is that what we have seen so far this season is about as good as it gets (although he too did well on Sunday).

For Fornals and Ajeti the jury has to be out as we have not had a real chance to see either of them shine, for the former let’s hope it’s a case similar to Dennis Bergkamp who any of you over 30 will remember took a good half season before he started showing what he was truly capable of.

So, in truth, we are probably four or five players (of real quality) short of having a realistic chance of pushing top 6/7.  Not that you need all eleven players to be stars necessarily. This writer was fortunate to be around in the 1985/86 season and that team was simply amazing, but not because they were superstars – far from it! The likes of George Parris, Neil Orr, and even our close friend Mark Ward could never claim to be international stars destined to play for Real Madrid or Juve one day, but what they had in abundance was heart, strength and most importantly, they played for the shirt and their team mates, not themselves.  

Get two or three of those sort of players in your team and you’re finally going places.