It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[blueparrot]

We haven't got any home grown talent in those positions to block and the lack of top level cover in this very small squad is glaringly obvious. Plenty of talent out there ready to join us with 70+ games ahead and £270m in the kitty. No further strengthening in this window is asking for trouble.

It's a stronger squad than we started last season with.

 

[mancboy]

We haven't got any home grown talent in those positions to block and the lack of top level cover in this very small squad is glaringly obvious. Plenty of talent out there ready to join us with 70+ games ahead and £270m in the kitty. No further strengthening in this window is asking for trouble.

are you bonkers, the lack of top level cover is very small?

Ederson 1 st choice,gk, ortega walks into any other pl team as 1st choice

Defence - Ake, gvardiol, dias, stones, akanji literally 5 top class centre halves 3 of which who are more than happy playing at left or right back and add to that lewis and walker.

Midfield - gundogan, kovacic, rodri, bernardo, foden, kdb all established internationals, one is the current pl player of the year, one is recognised as one of the best midfielders to ever player the game and one is the currently recognised best midfield in the game, their cover is a player who was widely recognised as one of the best mfs in spain last year and who knows our system inside out, a 4 time cl and double prem winner and bernardo who there isnt enough superlatives to describe add to that lewis and stones can also play there.

Upfront - haaland (enough said) yes i agree we are maybe a striker light but pep has won a pl without a striker before now and foden etc could fill in there at a pinch, other than that we have savio, grealish, doku, and bobb to come back not to mention foden and bernardo are more than capable of playing outwide.

But absolutely lets just spend a 100m in case all these multiple pl and european winners just all of a sudden forget how to play football, i despair i really do.

 

[Gabriel]

We haven't got any home grown talent in those positions to block and the lack of top level cover in this very small squad is glaringly obvious. Plenty of talent out there ready to join us with 70+ games ahead and £270m in the kitty. No further strengthening in this window is asking for trouble.

If we simply add more players to the squad, then they need game time, and that inevitably eats into what is available for those we are developing. We would just be repeating the situation that developed with Alvarez and the drop off from Rodri to Nunes/Phillips shows how difficult it is to find a suitable replacement for Rodri. I sense your frustration, but I can also understand the club’s reticence. We’ve clearly decided that this will be the season where youth- Lewis, Bobb, McAtee, and, subsequently, Echeverri- will be trusted and given a chance, and exploiting the energy and talents of those players should keep the senior players fresher for longer. It’s going to be a risk, granted, but it could pay huge dividends.

 

[johnny crossan]

are you bonkers, the lack of top level cover is very small?

Ederson 1 st choice,gk, ortega walks into any other pl team as 1st choice

Defence - Ake, gvardiol, dias, stones, akanji literally 5 top class centre halves 3 of which who are more than happy playing at left or right back and add to that lewis and walker.

Midfield - gundogan, kovacic, rodri, bernardo, foden, kdb all established internationals, one is the current pl player of the year, one is recognised as one of the best midfielders to ever player the game and one is the currently recognised best midfield in the game, their cover is a player who was widely recognised as one of the best mfs in spain last year and who knows our system inside out, a 4 time cl and double prem winner and bernardo who there isnt enough superlatives to describe add to that lewis and stones can also play there.

Upfront - haaland (enough said) yes i agree we are maybe a striker light but pep has won a pl without a striker before now and foden etc could fill in there at a pinch, other than that we have savio, grealish, doku, and bobb to come back not to mention foden and bernardo are more than capable of playing outwide.

But absolutely lets just spend a 100m in case all these multiple pl and european winners just all of a sudden forget how to play football, i despair i really do.

It may be helpful for you to understand that the absence of cover in question is specifically for Erling & Rodri. (Gundo, Kova & Stones are not CDMs btw)

 

[Cobwebcat]

Let’s not forget that we start this season with a fit Haaland and KDB. Sometimes you have to look at the players you have and how they are playing. Grealish looks better too.

It will be one hell of a team that finishes above City. Good luck.

 

[Cobwebcat]

It may be helpful for you to understand that the absence of cover in question is specifically for Erling & Rodri. (Gundo, Kova & Stones are not CDMs btw)

We should have gone for Rice instead of Phillips but better to wait for a new Rice than sign another Phillips.

 

[Gabriel]

It may be helpful for you to understand that the absence of cover in question is specifically for Erling & Rodri. (Gundo, Kova & Stones are not CDMs btw)

Do you have a couple of players in mind that would be happy to serve as ‘cover’?

 

[mancboy]

It may be helpful for you to understand that the absence of cover in question is specifically for Erling & Rodri. (Gundo, Kova & Stones are not CDMs btw)

And it may be helpful for you to understand that we are not going to cover rodri, i have said this about a 100 times at this point, players that START at other clubs wouldnt be adequate backup for rodri that is just the way it is like it or not, that was always phillips problem he was not an inherently bad player his main problem was that he wasnt rodri and that is the curse when you have players of that quality there is no such thing as adequate and seamless backup so you change the system accordingly as you have seen in the first two games, same with erling you are not going to get a world class striker to come and sit on the bench and play 20 mins here and there and as just in case so you change the system when you need to but hey whatever works for you.

 

[Gabriel]

Let’s not forget that we start this season with a fit Haaland and KDB. Sometimes you have to look at the players you have and how they are playing. Grealish looks better too.

It will be one hell of a team that finishes above City. Good luck.

If Rodri doesn’t feature until Brentford, he will have had two whole months off, which is probably the longest break he’s had in years.

 

[Trickyblues]

If Rodri doesn’t feature until Brentford, he will have had two whole months off, which is probably the longest break he’s had in years.

And definitely benefits us. Don’t know how people can’t see that.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

We’ll likely find out the Haaland alternative against Watford.

 

[Gabriel]

And definitely benefits us. Don’t know how people can’t see that.

Saturday’s fixture is a big one. If we can return with all three points having again not played Rodri, we’ll have proven ourselves capable of winning away from home at Chelsea and West Ham United and at home to Ipswich Town. It not only gives the other players confidence in their own collective ability, sans Rodri, but also allows him maximum rest and recovery.

 

[johnny crossan]

It's a stronger squad than we started last season with.

We squeaked the title by a fingernail and wouldn't have won it without Alvarez. The drop off without Rodri was alarming and has not been remedied either.

 

[blueparrot]

We squeaked the title by a fingernail and wouldn't have won it without Alvarez. The drop off without Rodri was alarming and has not been remedied either.

You can't say it hasn't been remedied,Pep remedies things with tactics sometimes. From the first 2 games looks like he might have again.You can't say having a fit KDB plus Savinho plus later Bobb instead of Alvarez makes us weaker,that remains to be seen.Gundogan gives us many options we didn't have last season as well.

 

[BlueMoonie]

We squeaked the title by a fingernail and wouldn't have won it without Alvarez. The drop off without Rodri was alarming and has not been remedied either.

Could have sworn we just won our last 2 games without rodri.

 

[johnny crossan]

And it may be helpful for you to understand that we are not going to cover rodri, i have said this about a 100 times at this point, players that START at other clubs wouldnt be adequate backup for rodri that is just the way it is like it or not, that was always phillips problem he was not an inherently bad player his main problem was that he wasnt rodri and that is the curse when you have players of that quality there is no such thing as adequate and seamless backup so you change the system accordingly as you have seen in the first two games, same with erling you are not going to get a world class striker to come and sit on the bench and play 20 mins here and there and as just in case so you change the system when you need to but hey whatever works for you.

Phillips isn't a 6, he's not got the skillset to play that role - Pep wanted Guimaraes we still don't know what went wrong there but there are others available of the right quality if we are prepared to pay - I'm sure of that.

 

[Cobwebcat]

We squeaked the title by a fingernail and wouldn't have won it without Alvarez. The drop off without Rodri was alarming and has not been remedied either.

Why are you so down?

If Alvarez wasn’t there a different player would have played and there is no way of knowing what would have happened points wise.

The drop off without Rodri hasn’t been alarming this season so far and we have Gundo back.

It’s all good. I’m not saying we will win five in a row but if I had to put my house on a team it would be City. As things stand I take it you are going for Arsenal? I might have gone for them this season but then we got Gundo and I can see Haaland and Kev flying so I’m not concerned now. All squads get injuries.

 

[johnny crossan]

Could have sworn we just won our last 2 games without rodri.

I think you'll find most of the games ahead will prove rather more testing than our first 2 if he's not playing.

 

[johnny crossan]

Why are you so down?

If Alvarez wasn’t there a different player would have played and there is no way of knowing what would have happened points wise.

The drop off without Rodri hasn’t been alarming this season so far and we have Gundo back.

It’s all good. I’m not saying we will win five in a row but if I had to put my house on a team it would be City. As things stand I take it you are going for Arsenal? I might have gone for them this season but then we got Gundo and I can see Haaland and Kev flying so I’m not concerned now. All squads get injuries.

Where can I buy a pair of your blue tints? Mine are not working properly ;-)

 

[mancboy]

Phillips isn't a 6, he's not got the skillset to play that role - Pep wanted Guimaraes we still don't know what went wrong there but there are others available of the right quality if we are prepared to pay - I'm sure of that.

okay so say we get guimaraes for 100m and he 100% has to play alongside rodri who do you drop to make sure he gets the relevant game time and quite frankly from what ive seen of guimaraes hes nowhere close to being a 100m player and if hes the best who else is there?