I would not agree that the midfield is weaker. Under Ronnie we will only ever play two in the centre: Wallace has shown he is the match for anyone in the division in that position, regardless of a relative lack of experience; Palmer possibly is a bit raw, hence Wednesday letting him out on loan, but will probably be at least a match for Welsh in terms of ability. In the back up roles I do not see much difference between Harrison and the underperforming, underwhelming Labadie and Weir. Given games this season, Power could actually turn out to be better than either of those two.
Out wide we have Robinson, McGurk and Bakayogo on the left, and extra cover is not really needed as Robinson will play every game in that position if fit.
On the right we do need an extra man as we only have Akins who may / may not stay.
At the back I don't think we are as badly off as some suggest, although there is obviously a question mark over the number of games Goodison will manage in the season. McChrystal provides cover and is capable of doing an adequate job; I don't see how we can afford to have two senior, experienced centre backs sitting on the bench for the majority of the season given our limited resources, and major injuries would have to be covered by loans.
At left back, you can argue over the relative merits of Buchanan and Bakayogo, but we also have Black as cover.
I would agree that at right back we probably are a bit weak, with only Kay as back up. However, given that we are committed to Kay for another year I don't think it would be sensible to bring in a third RB and have two sitting on the bench / in the reserves all season.
I see the number two goalkeeping position as an irrelevance as injuries will always be covered by loans in that area, as was the case with Rachubka last season. We are only ever going to bring in a kid for peanuts in that role, in the hope that he develops in the coming years.
