The only players that were disappointing for me—given the context of the game—were Mahrez and Gomez; the former because he didn’t look particularly arsed, the latter because he just doesn’t seem to be the required level (and he seems to be aware of that, which affects how he plays).
Otherwise, it was what it looked to be before kickoff: a training match for mostly fringe players, as most of our first team rest and recover.
I thought Foden looked fairly sharp (and didn’t get any help from the ref) and Laporte looked quite good generally. Phillips also wasn’t too bad, if not as imperious as Rodri, which is no shock.
And there were no obvious injuries, which was the main goal.
I understand the concerns about losing a bit of momentum and rhythm, especially given what happened in 2021, but I am sure Pep and the coaching staff are trying to manage fatigue and prevent injury and think that is priority over rhythm and match fitness.
We won’t know if that that was good gamble or not until next weekend.
For now, in Pep we trust.