I didn't think he was amazing as some last night. I thought he was as good as anyone else on the pitch mind, but it was one of those games where nobody was really head and shoulders above the rest.
I think there is so much love for Fern, not just because of his immense contribution in the past but because when you see him create the 3rd goal with a driving run from midfield, it just emphasises what is missing from Rodri and Gundogan. They both have their own qualities but it is very difficult to look past the team we were in 17/18 with a CDM who offered pretty much everything.
I keep reading on here how great Gundogan is playing, and how Rodri brings something to the team that other fans aren't savvy enough to appreciate and all I can think is, if all of this is true, why have we regressed so much as a team? I mean, our current defence is no worse (arguably better) than 17/18 and apparently our midfield with Gundogan and Rodri is looking really good. That only leaves the front end, which we can probably all agree is a massive drop-off from 17/18. Are we really saying that we are levels below where we were because we lost Sane (who many on here say was inconsistent and not a big loss) and Aguero is perma-injured? I just don't buy that at all.
I don't think that Gundogan or Rodri are doing much wrong as individuals, they are what they are but there is something about adding those two into the midfield that has ruined the fluidity of our play. I would still rather have an aged Fern in there over either of them, for the overall good of the team.
The biggest reasons for our periodic regressions are a combination of things imo:
1) Losing Kompany and Stones in poor form are what made us defensively fragile, Dias and a return in form Stones has seemingly "fixed" this issue
2) Losing a pacy left footed winger in Sane, the 1-2 David-Sane quick ball absolutely tore defenses apart. But your right, Sane was inconsistent with us and it was hard to use against a low block, Pep's solution was to use David-Sterling on the left instead, where we won 13 games in a row.
The commonality between both devastating approaches is David Silva (so point 3 I guess), losing him had a huge loss on our ability to keep possession in the final third and not panic as much as we do now. We have no solution to this as Foden is more dynamic like Kevin, but I think Pep should force him to learn the role. Same with Bernardo imo.
4) Forwards not finishing their chances. We haven't been "as lethal" as our title winning seasons, where we often had 1-0, or 2-1 wins with the same amount of chances we are creating now.
One can look at the "quality" of the chances, but still, we have seen too many poor finishes this season, and I think one coud blame a lack of preparation for this atleast as a point.
This is just off the top of my head, could add a regressing Dinho as well, but I don't understand blaming Rodri or Gundogan as not fitting. Especially Gundogan as he has been vital for us these years (literally part of the 13 win game streak). Rodri is still young and needs to develop more, but he was never bought as the final package.
