Squad Depth/Injuries mounting up

Its not just the size of the squad though its who you have in it - this should have been a game for Yaya to come on hold the midfield together and dictate tempo - but it is clear that Pep doesn't think he can do that any more (and from what we have seen this season, I would tend to agree) so you wonder quite what he is doing there and on what sort of occasion he will get to play.
 
cyan said:
Its not just the size of the squad though its who you have in it - this should have been a game for Yaya to come on hold the midfield together and dictate tempo - but it is clear that Pep doesn't think he can do that any more (and from what we have seen this season, I would tend to agree) so you wonder quite what he is doing there and on what sort of occasion he will get to play.
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You're right of course, with a small squad, everyone should be used or at least usable, but the reluctance to send on Yaya, does make you wonder why he's still here. However, where we're really short is attacking players. It was much commented on at the start of the season that going into a long campaign with only Jesus and Aguero was risky. We now have no options but to run Sergio into the ground as there's no-one else, so his form fluctuates a little and then he gets unnecessary grief. It w 1st as poor planning at the outset, if there was no money left for a striker then at the least Nmecha should have been training with the 1st team since the start of the season?
 
Really sad to see that from certain players’ situations.... that Pep would rather nominate a non-full squad’ with all the injuries, than to nominate the likes of Tosin.....what should the young man make of that decision ????
 
dom said:
Really sad to see that from certain players’ situations.... that Pep would rather nominate a non-full squad’ with all the injuries, than to nominate the likes of Tosin.....what should the young man make of that decision ????
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Tosin was on the bench you loon, lol.
 
dom said:
Really sad to see that from certain players’ situations.... that Pep would rather nominate a non-full squad’ with all the injuries, than to nominate the likes of Tosin.....what should the young man make of that decision ????
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at least get your facts right lol
 
bellsouth said:
the main problem is our starting squad wasn't big enough to begin with and perhaps we should have had more EDS train with the first team all the way through, especially as Pep himself says the level of the EDS league isn't high enough, then why bother having them play in it, let them train with the first team and maybe we'd have a few extra youngsters who could step in.
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You do realise that a player being in the EDS squad, doesn't mean they don't train with the first team, of course they do, practise games will have to include some of them (especially with injuries). In any case a lot of our EDS age players are out on loan, and the current EDS squad is made up of many 17/18 year olds.
 
dom said:
Really sad to see that from certain players’ situations.... that Pep would rather nominate a non-full squad’ with all the injuries, than to nominate the likes of Tosin.....what should the young man make of that decision ????
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The EDS played on Friday evening, you can't use a player even as a sub if they played less than 18 hours earlier.

It was stupid from whoever agreed to that EDS scheduling, and I'm sure Pep has made that point strongly behind closed doors.
 
bellsouth said:
You're right of course, with a small squad, everyone should be used or at least usable, but the reluctance to send on Yaya, does make you wonder why he's still here. However, where we're really short is attacking players. It was much commented on at the start of the season that going into a long campaign with only Jesus and Aguero was risky. We now have no options but to run Sergio into the ground as there's no-one else, so his form fluctuates a little and then he gets unnecessary grief. It w 1st as poor planning at the outset, if there was no money left for a striker then at the least Nmecha should have been training with the 1st team since the start of the season?
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Obviously it was risky going into this season. Compare our squad to last season's squad though...and then imagine what next year's squad will look like (Fred for Yaya; Additional winger; possibly another striker). This has been a long thought out process. It is impossible to change the entire team in one or even two years.
 
Looks like the situation has improved:

Stones: Fit
Foden: Fit
Jesus: 10 days to 2 weeks as per Pep
Sane: sooner than expected, already running so my guess is 7 to 10 days, maybe on the bench against Wigan????
Delph: Back in training. Could possibly be ready to start soon???
Mendy: Expected to be back training in March
D.Silva: out for Leicester. Possibly back for Basel??
 
Easy said:
Looks like the situation has improved:

Stones: Fit
Foden: Fit
Jesus: 10 days to 2 weeks as per Pep
Sane: sooner than expected, already running so my guess is 7 to 10 days, maybe on the bench against Wigan????
Delph: Back in training. Could possibly be ready to start soon???
Mendy: Expected to be back training in March
D.Silva: out for Leicester. Possibly back for Basel??
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Six internationals out, half to me world class to.. Had we have had that amount of regular first teamers out in the last three years we'd have been fckd... When we buy players and people say "but why", now we know why.
 
CIES have carried out a study of squad average ages

Average age of a football squad across Europe is 25.9

Average age of a successful trophy winning squad across Europe is 26.5

City's average age is 26.5 according to transfermarkt though Foden was missed out

City's average age is 26.1 when Foden is included

City's average age including Foden but with Yaya gone (contract up at the end of the season) is 25.8

However, the average age of an EPL squad is 27.4

Liverpool have the youngest in the EPL at 25.9 (which is just average across Europe) while we have the 4th youngest in the EPL

So those that think we have a young squad are correct in terms of the EPL but incorrect if you look across Europe (where ours is a little older than average)

This is because the top leagues tend to have more experienced players playing for them.

Hope you all followed that ;-)
 
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Think up until Sergio got his knee injury we had a squad with no injuries and everyone training.

Still caution over Kompany. Noticed in Abu Dhabi he was wearing trainers whilst others were in boots.
Mendy is a tricky one. Sharp in training routines and now fully involved in practice matches. But injury was a very serious one for a footballer.
 
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