Hodgson Discusses Squad Size

I`m still miffed about us having only played two Premier League games since the season started.

The three week delay between our last game and our next one is proving to be a tedious one.

News is scarce and what news does break suffers from overkill.

But, one thing that has emerged this weekend is the fact that Roy Hodgson may be forced to blood one or two youngster this season.

After trimming the squad down from the massive thirty it was when he arrived to a more manageable twenty-three now, the first rumblings of the squad being too small are starting to emerge.

Thankfully, Roy doesn`t buy into that philosophy remarking,

'I think what I'm most happy about is that we've changed the squad around and we've got a small squad now, a squad that we really believe in and is well-balanced."

'When I came in January we really had far too many players and lots of them just trebling or quadrupling up for positions, never getting a game and obviously costing the club a lot of money, but not playing any football."

'Whereas now, with a squad of only 23 players, of which three are goalkeepers, it will give the younger players, like (Robert) Milsom and (Wayne) Brown, a chance to push forward and show what they can do in the first-team squad."

'It will give the players on the fringes a greater chance of playing, and although the squad is at the limit in terms of size, at least it's full of the right type of players that we want to be at the club and not just players that one has inherited and that are here really by default rather than anything else.'

Nice to see Roy, as ever, has his finger well and truly on the pulse.

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