So out of a Squad of 25, only 4 would get in a top 10 side on a regular basis, if you add Kouyate and Mitchell. This shows what a tough job Roy has or anyone who replaces him at the end of the season.
Our real problem is lack of youth and energy in the side. You also need experience, which we have in abundance, but the mix of both in the side is wrong.

Do you mean Thomas Frank at Brentford?

If we survive this season with Mr Hodgson at the helm he will have ensured that we have remained in the PL after 4 seasons.
Should this scenario unfold, there could be a significant proportion of our supporters who would yearn for our manager to continue.
Experienced,tried and trusted and proven.

It's not what Painter was saying I don't think, but for what it's worth I can't believe anyone might think half our team would get in top the ten best sides in the league.

Look at Liverpool, Man United, City, Chelsea, Leicester, Everton, Spurs, and even Arsenal. That's eight. Zaha could play for most of them probably, and Eze might have a chance, but otherwise we have nobody even close to good enough. Hence so few of our players ever being seriously linked with big transfers.

I agree that our current squad is better than the squads of at least four of the six clubs you list (not too sure about Leeds and Brighton overall), and of course we are currently higher in the table than five of those six, plus Newcastle and Wolves, but I'm really not sure that (Zaha and Eze aside) 'almost all' of our players would walk into all of those sides, much less improve them.

Consider also that nearly all those teams have, like us, at least one player who could probably play for a big club and I don't really see us having any massive advantage in quality.

I agree that staying up has become the baseline, but under Roy we've not just met that minimum, we've never been close to relegation, and that's with a few squads over previous seasons which were not obviously better than even three other clubs at the time.

Yes, RH has devised a strategy whereby beating the bottom 3, picking up a few surprise results, and some draws along the way is enough to ensure Premiership survival. 11th, 12th, and 14th placed finishes in that order, so stagnating and going backwards. I can say that under his watch there have been some performances that have been utterly spineless, clueless, and mind numbingly dull that I have to question his ability to lead us any higher.
8 seasons in the PL and still looking just to survive; targeting a 10th spot finish seems a million miles away. Time to freshen up by getting rid of the deadwood.

Indeed these are the finishing positions but during his time at the helm, the older players have got even older, we now have a 'Dad's Army' and there has been a minimal 'Net spend', around £10 Mill.
The squad has vast experience but many are in the 'Twilight' of their careers and the physical demands of the PL takes its toll.

Edited by Willo (13 Jan 2021 2.16pm)