Titus Bramble and Craig Moore are out of contract in the summer, and loan signing Oguchi Onyewu is uprooting no trees and looks likely to be on his way.
Roeder: "There are parts of the team that quite obviously need to be strengthened, and there is no doubt about it, we need to strengthen in the defence.
Roeders Case For The Defence
"We have one of the best three or four goalkeepers in Europe and Shay is asked at times to make too many saves. It is an area we are not strong in and I have been looking in that area of the team to strengthen.
"If you look at next year, Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins, Shola Ameobi, Antoine Sibierski, Kieron Dyer if we need him, the top half of the team looks very, very strong.
"In midfield, we are not too badly off, so before we move to any other part of the squad, I want to strengthen the defensive part first.
"Defensively, we let too many poor goals in. I cannot honestly put my hands in the air and conceded that many goals where we could not have done anything about it.
"We have contributed to too many of the goals we have conceded and that has to stop. That will stop with players of better quality.
"That is the first area of the team I would like to improve."