Are Gundogan, Laporte, Mahrez and Palmer missed at all?

Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
From what I’ve heard/ seen pep wanted him to stay, but he never keeps players who want to leave.

He’s been really good when he’s played for Chelsea so far. I think he would have been good for us and offered us goals and created chances
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He, Palmer felt he wanted more game time which is understandable but in a team of our brilliance that is incredibly difficult at his stage of his career.

He has backed his talent and taken a huge risk in leaving, fair play to him, let's see how he develops.
 
They are all gone we move on !
City under Pep are always evolving that is why we are so successful.
 
Gundo definitely. Although even that is largely down to the injuries (and suspensions) we've had. If Rodri and Bernardo are out, I don't think we have anyone who can dictate the game and be an utterly reliable person to pass the ball to in any situation while also having the vision to make stuff happen. Kovacic isn't that sort of player. He can do the first bit, but once he gets to the edge of the box, he doesn't have that spark of creativity that Gundo has.
 
On balance no, mainly because it’s giving younger star players more opportunity to shine. I’m thinking In particular of Foden, Alvarez and Doku. One way or another, we’re covering the loss of Mahrez.

Palmer never really established himself. While sorry he felt the need to go, I’m pleased at the progress of Rico and Bobb.

Gvardiol should prove an adequate replacement for Laporte, possibly more than that in the long run. We have other decent options too.

That said, we’d have benefitted from another year from Gundo, particularly in KDB’s absence.

In summary, we continue to evolve and adapt.
 
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Gundogan and Mahrez left at the peak of their careers, better them gone than watch their steady decline like we watched Yaya rapidly decline. In order to stay ahead we need players below their peak and keep them till they peak. Pep knows exactly what he's doing.
 
You're asking the question 10 games into our first season without all three. Let's see where we are in April/May and who out of the current squad steps up in those moments we would normally have seen Gundo and Mahrez do so.

We're off to a good start (let's ignore the Wolves game). Palmer is the one who has been replaced relatively easily so far by Doku, that's not a reflection on his ability but more the game time he got in the past season or two.
 
I think we're missing Gundogan's football intelligence. How many times was he always in the right place to score from rebounds or as a counterfoil for our attacking players?
I know it's still early days this season, but I can't see who is going to replace his goals.
 
Missed in the sense that I enjoyed watching them play? A few of them, yes.

Missed in the sense that I think we would have won at Wolves or Newcastle with Mahrez and Palmer playing? Absolutely not.

Missed in the sense that their spirit and experience at the end of the season can carry us through...we'll find out.
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
Gundogan certainly and to a lesser degree Mahrez
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Agree with this. Gundogan is absolutely missed as he could control the game , create opportunities for others against a tightly packed defence and weighed in with goals. Think his replacement was planned to be Pacqueta and we have to adapt and cover him with a combination of players to cover the goals he scored/created but the midfield intelligence that comes with experience is where we have an issue if one or two others drop out (Like Rodri, Bernardo and Silva). Kovacic/Nunes look decent players but nowhere as influential in changing a game yet.

Mahrez gave us something different with the ability to go past players and the goals with Palmer not convincing as a replacement but Doku certainly has started to look the part as a different option to Jack. Laporte was done and Palmer had not really started (although I liked the idea of Palmer breaking through the same as I like the idea of Bobb doing the same but no guarantees either will deliver on the potential)
 
Gundo definitely for his own individual bit of magic, either by assists, defence-splitting passes, or really important goals.

Laporte was a solid player and a good professional.

Palmer, I suppose we'll never know now what he might have achieved with our club.

Mahrez, a player I was never really fully convinced about, but appreciate his contributions, and also some important goals. The time was right for both club and player and we got a decent fee for him.

I notice also that Barcelona's winning goal at Porto last night, was scored by Torres, with the assist by Gundo!

He's still doing it!
 
They will all be missed to the new signings have bedded in properly. But what a decision pep has when everyone fully fit wow. Gonna be some disappointed players but I see our best team as.

Ederson

Walker
Dias
Stones
Garvdiol

Rodri
Kdb
Alvarez

Bernardo
Haaland
Foden

Would leave a bench of

Ortega
Lewis
Akanji
Ake
Nunes
Kovacic
Grealish
Doku
Phillips
Gomez
Bobb

And yet people were crying out for more signings.
 
Ste68 said:
Agree with this. Gundogan is absolutely missed as he could control the game , create opportunities for others against a tightly packed defence and weighed in with goals. Think his replacement was planned to be Pacqueta and we have to adapt and cover him with a combination of players to cover the goals he scored/created but the midfield intelligence that comes with experience is where we have an issue if one or two others drop out (Like Rodri, Bernardo and Silva). Kovacic/Nunes look decent players but nowhere as influential in changing a game yet.

Mahrez gave us something different with the ability to go past players and the goals with Palmer not convincing as a replacement but Doku certainly has started to look the part as a different option to Jack. Laporte was done and Palmer had not really started (although I liked the idea of Palmer breaking through the same as I like the idea of Bobb doing the same but no guarantees either will deliver on the potential)
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Quality of delivery from Mahrez as well. We used to score a lot of goals from his curling inswingers delivered from the corner of the 18 yard box to the back stick
 
The team needed to evolve and some younger talent brought in. Maybe short term we will miss particularly Gundo, but hopefully this is the next evolution of the squad and the start of the next brilliant team.
 
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