Haalands going to play 90% of games. He's the face of the club on a half a mill a week 10 year deal. Isak can go to Liverpool and be the undisputed main man. Its impossible to have two strikers worth over 100 million in the same team with one spot in the starting line up.
Now if we had never sold Delap and he was at his current level in the squad, great that would be useful, but we don't.
Marmoush is perfect as he can play on either wing or in the 10 when Erling is starting and the 9 when he isn't. Is he better off the left? Sure, but he's a much better striker than Isak or Ekitike are left wingers.
For me I don't really give a shit about any of Liverpool's signings. Only Kerkez improves them. I don't think Wirtz has the physicality to succeed in England, Diaz and Jota used to give me kittens so I'll take anyone coming in for them as a big downgrade. Frimpong is about as good a defender as TAA but nowhere near the creative influence.
They might all work out great, might not, same as us.
Do you really believe Haaland would be pissed if he was left out of the squad for a rest, as we face Ipswich, Sheffield Utd or Burnley et al at home in the PL, or Lincoln City away in the Carabao Cup?
Big players want to play in the biggest games. That's why we need to utilise our squad to its fullest extent so they can be rotated & rested for lower profile matches.
Regardless of some fans believing that every player wants to play every minute of every game, otherwise there'd be a transfer request incoming, this isn't borne out by the facts. After the treble, Rodri warned that he feared for his health because of the amount of games he was expected to play. His worst fears were realised.
Several players lamented about taking part in the CWC because they needed a rest. Akanji said most of our squad would've preferred the summer off instead of competing in the CWC.
Foden complained about the physical & mental fatigue he was suffering from last season. Bernardo said the players would prefer a larger squad to ease the playing pressure on them.
The only City player I can recall kicking up a proper stink about not playing every game was Cancelo. But he's a mental case who kicked off over the same thing at most clubs he's played at.
Other players who'd fallen out of favour so were not playing as often as they'd like, so wanting a move for more hame time, is a different matter. Players like Sterling, Zinchenko, Jesus, Laporte etc come to mind.
Our players are human beings, not robots. The only person ever to state they prefer a small squad is Pep. I've never heard a player state a small squad was their preference.
If Pep wants to compete for the four major trophies every season, we'll need a bigger squad. We saw the effect that rinsing out a small elite squad season after season had throughout 2024-25. It devastated our squad & made our season imploded.
We can't continue to do this. Something has to change.
