Interesting view point, and I like the thinking of having clear first-choice selections.
However, one thing I'd like to point out is that the clear hierarchy only worked in 2013/14 because we had only the league to focus on, so any backups or fringe players outside the first 13-14 names hardly played, especially in the second half of the season.
Also, when you're in a position like ours where you want to build a strong squad but aren't capable of attracting the very top talent for whatever reasons (Costa, Mkhitaryan, Sanchez, etc) then you're going to end up buying the next best thing. As a result your first XI will naturally be closer in quality to the backups if you're looking to build a strong squad. I don't think its worth sticking to the "hierarchy" at all costs if we could have stronger backups that are close to the quality of the first XI.
I do like the balance we have in the squad at the moment though to be honest. In contrast to last season I think roles for each player seem to be more defined, at least on paper, this season. You can clearly see who is competing directly with who for a spot in the first team, for example:
Sturridge vs Benteke
Firmino vs Lallana
Can vs Milner
Allen vs Lucas
Lovren vs Sakho
Gomez vs Moreno
In each respective position there is a clear first choice and a clear second choice, even though the difference in quality isn't necessarily massive.
The way I see 13/14, it's more of a reference how to do it. We had it right and a slight tweak was the way forward. You add a few European games, so add a few more squad players. Say a defender, a midfielder and an attacker. That's it.
Agree that when we miss out on the top targets, we'll end up with players of similar quality. That's natural, but I reckon we take it too far.
This may seem extreme, but there's a point to it. We have seen Suarez and Sterling leave. These are their replacements: Benteke, Lallana, Markovic, Balotelli, Lambert, Firmino. We tend to see this as an improvement to the squad, because we get more options. Thus we can handle more games. But in a team that worked, if you lose two players, you can't exchange them with six. You can only play two. Buy six and the effect is most of the money spent will be on the bench.
I have a slightly different take on the 1st/2nd pick for each position. The way I view our new arrivals this season, is that they're primarily first picks (Clyne, Milner, Firmino, Benteke). They're in the match day squad and most likely in the starting eleven. Which is good. So for me, I'd rather say it's (Benteke and Sturridge) vs (Ings, Origi & Co). Benteke and Sturridge are 1st picks and higher in the hierarchy, the others are 2nd picks.
Likewise, I see Firmino, Coutinho and Lallana as higher up than Markovic and Ibe.
The effect of this, is I believe we'll want to play three of (Benteke, Sturridge, Firmino, Coutinho, Lallana) in every game. The other two will be on the bench, also every game. Then there's perhaps one open spot for the rest. That's the hierarchy now for the front three.
The other side of this, is Ings, Origi, Markovic, Ibe (and Balotelli, Lambert and Borini) become more of a 2nd tier. They are what I call player 19-... in the squad and therefore, to be frank, they are not that important for our success. Those players there, we've spent >60M on them and we tend to think this will give us the edge.
But when you get all of Ings, Origi, Markovic, Ibe (and Balotelli, Borini, Lambert) fighting for one spot, we're not helping. You have a bit of everything, international players, an Academy player and none is really gonna get a lot of game time. They're all put on hold. If we then fall for the temptation and say these are all good enough to be in the match day squad, we shrink the responsibilities of those five (Benteke & Co) and we lose the hierarchy. Because those five get less games and others get more. The way I see it, we only need two of the seven in that 2nd tier and it should be Ibe because he's our own, plus one more.
If we go back to 13/14, it was the extensive use of a smaller group of players that got us to the title challenge. We should strive more in that direction, because it helps guide us in so many ways. Squad size, use of Academy, player roles, use of financial resources, speed of change,...
