Nope. Always been a lame crutch of an excuse when everyone else's level has dropped.
Our whole midfield is finished.....besides Rodri
Ive been saying ths since the start of the season....Rodri returning helps but doesnt solve the issue...KDB is absolutely finished....if he is still here next season expect the exact same issues
Look at this game - KDB and Gundo both completely annonymous - we are wide open in there...Kova has done ok but he has never ever been at that top elite level and even in the short run now he also needs to be replaced.
Bernardo you can also add to the this.....at least he is running around and fouling people occasionally!
Our back 4 hasnt got the movement in front of them which is why teams are having so much joy in pressing us.
The other issue is fullback on the right...You cant blame Nunes - he aint a right back and yes he is making mistakes costing goals but this is on the club - we all saw the decline of Walker last season and we failed to plan ahead to plreace him leaving us with Rico Lewis who anyone can tell you aint good enough and that is it....so we end up with Nunes playing there who aint good enough in his own position let alone one he has no experience in playing
We deserve nothing from this game and Im more and more confident we wont make top 5 (which I also said at the start of the season)....two chances that Haaland had were gifts - one a penalty, one a wayward back pass from their player...the only chance we created was his missed header and a half chance for Gundo on the edge of the box..
Even if we get through we aint beating Forest or Villa who are far superior to us at present.
Say it again...the rebuild is WAY bigger than some want to admit and without CL it aint happening quickly