Notts County 2013-2014: Squad Analysis

Hello again dear friends, welcome back! I still can’t believe what we achieved last season, a fantastic treble that enriched Notts County‘s trophy room with some shiny silverware: the Premier League title, the Europa League and last but not least the FA Cup. The club has gained a respectable status in Europe but now we had to prepare for the future challenges, defending our title and also facing the tough teams in the Champions League.

First let’s take a look at the player stats, you can see them in the screen shot sorted by the average rating.

Our best performer was Brazilian striker Rafael Sobis, he banged in 32 goals in 38 appearances and I can say that the last month of the season would have been a lot easier with him on the pitch. He will recover from his injury before the start of the new season and I hope he will be a top player again.

Rafael Sobis

Belgian central midfielder Steven Defour was crucial for the team’s progress, he played no less than 55 games and made an incredible 23 assists! He is probably the best signing that I made last season, he came in for free and he surely deserves every penny that we pay him in wages and bonuses.

Steven Defour

Argentinian goalkeeper Sergio Romero was fantastic again, I don’t know how many points he earned with his miraculous saves but I reckon there were quite a few. He is one of the club’s most loyal players now and I hope he will stay here for a few more seasons.

Sergio Romero

Last but not least I have to acknowledge Simon Kjaer‘s contribution to tightening our defense, he is a reliable player and a leader that could bring even more honors to the club.

Simon Kjaer

Now let’s see where we need to strengthen the team in order to bring even more glory next season. The goalkeeper role is pretty much covered, Romero will probably perform well again while his backup, young Luis Guilherme, is showing good signs of progress. Gergely Varga was picked in the Premier League team of the season for the right back role, he is probably one of the best in Europe. I could use a better backup player for him but it’s not a priority.

The left back role is more of a problem, Joe Barton is great and he will be staying but I have no backup since I couldn’t make Dodo‘s move permanent. It’s very important to bring in another left back, I have my eyes set on Manchester United‘s Fabio but we’ll see if they’ll agree on a reasonable price tag.

Going further to the centre backs, Kjaer and Nordtveit team up well in the middle of the defense while Caceres is a reliable backup. Djourou is probably one of the worst transfers I’ve ever made, I paid 10 million pounds for him and he constantly failed to live up to that price tag. I will try to sell him but there is a problem as we only have 8 home grown players, Djourou included, so I have to focus on England for the transfers.

Moving on to the wingers, I have two wonderkids on the right flank, Hinshelwood and Bonetti, and two good players on the left, Agnaldo and Sneijder. The right flank seems a bit better than the left one in terms of quality and depth, so I think that a classy left winger could boost the team’s value. I am looking at Ashley Young from Aston Villa, he is a great left winger that can also play on the right flank but the price tag might be pretty steep as Aston Villa will surely be looking to keep such a good player.

We’re pretty well covered in the central midfielders zone, Biglia and Defour have been the key to our success while Thomson, Tinga and Smallwood did well when covering for the two. So I guess all five of them will be staying with us for at least one more season.

Our strikers are fantastic, Sobis and Guilherme produced 61 goals between them last season while Demba Ba and Moreno provided good backup whenever I needed them. Moreno had a few problems in adapting to life in England but now he announced me that those days are over, he is happy and looking forward to a new season. Sabrin Sburlea will probably be allowed to leave, he served the club well for a long time, he deserves a chance to play first team football elsewhere.

So I think that I have to bring in a left back and a left winger, those are the two main targets for the transfer window. I don’t know how much money I’ll have to spend but judging by how pleased the board is I hope for a tidy sum.

We have the youngest squad in the league but if I’ll have any money left after bringing in the two players I told you about I will look to spend all of it on under 20 or even under 18 players, I want to build a solid future for the club. That’s my analysis, I would be grateful if you would share your suggestions and correct me if some of my assumptions are wrong. Before closing the post I want to remind you that there’s another exciting challenge ahead of me, going to the World Cup with Uruguay! I hope to play that World Cup today and tell you everything about it tomorrow ;)

• If you like the story subscribe to the RSS feed, the future episodes will come to you fast as lightning!
  
• You can also subscribe to the Email Newsletter, the new posts will be sent directly to your inbox!
• Want to stay in touch? Download and install our community toolbar, it works on Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari!