It is always quoted as 4 best players but Turner never played (and Wood is OK anyway) for Thorn, Westwood conceded more goals per game than Murphy and correct me if I am wrong but Gunnarson was highly criticised last season. So actually King is the difference as he was a class apart - and why did he sign for us? - Boothroyd. He may have stayed if he was still manager - he was never going to stay once Thorn was appointed.
We only played well under Boothroyd when Turner was the best CB in the division. We'd have been in trouble without him sooner, and his form for Cardiff implies that he is a great loss.
To an extent, we only realise how good Aron was now he's gone. He did a lot of closing down, and was capapble of moving off the ball. He scored 4 goals last season-do any of our present midfielders look like scoring 4? He was pretty experienced for a youngster, and is playing superbly for Cardiff with better players around him.
I'd chuck Doyle and Carsley into the mix: we got most of our points under Boothroyd with them in the side, and they have not been replaced in terms of experience.
Wood played under Boothroyd and was terrible. He has looked 3 times the player-when at CB-under Thorn this season.
We even had a 2nd LB in the squad in O'Halloran; OK he was weak, but at least having an other left-sided defender option is a luxury that Thorn doesn't have. There is a solitary LB in the ENTIRE SQUAD.
King was very poor under Boothroyd; it was Thorn who got the best out of him, and the King-Lukas partnership was flourishing. Anyone remember him running to Thorn to celebrate after scoring? If Boothroyd had stayed, we wouldn't have even made an offer for King, as we'd have been in L1!
I think I can state that Westwood was and is a better goalkeeper than Murphy without having to say anything more. You can claim what ever statistics you like, Westwood is clearly massively superior. I'll even say that Scunthorpe conceded more goals than anyone last season, and Murphy was their keeper-that makes him worse, no?