Crystal Palace (A) - Sat 7th Dec, 15:00 | PL | Pre-Match Thread

[kaz7]

Ok I take your point. When I say tiny squad I am conflating several issues into one that I don't really have a name for. One is we are unbalanced with so few defenders.

Another is we have players in the squad who Pep refuses to play in normal circumstances, like McAtee, now even if he isn't as good as our other midfielders, I find it hard to believe that surrounded by our normal squad we would lose if he played more against Ipswich, Southampton, Bratislava, Prague etc. Him playing one minute every two weeks doesn't help reduce the burden on the first team of help him develop.

Thirdly we don't use to seems subs that much, when we can change half the outfield each game. We also don't seem to use the academy as much as other clubs. We also go too strong in the league cup, and is still affecting us now, despite Pep saying it was unimportant. Plus more games at club and national level means we need a bigger squad, even if just using the academy more.

You must tell pep this as he has been doing it wrong for nine years

 

[Gone for a Burton]

You must tell pep this as he has been doing it wrong for nine years

Shadow squad at spuds in the cup which Pep said was the lowest priority.

That game had no bearing on what has happened since.

 

[Tico Warrior]

You must tell pep this as he has been doing it wrong for nine years

The issues I'm talking about with now having five subs and expanded champs league and a club world cup weren't around in 2015 though? Him playing important players in a tournament he said wasn't important and them getting injured, leaving us weaker and dropping out of the title race is a decision he made this season.

 

[kaz7]

The issues I'm talking about with now having five subs and expanded champs league and a club world cup weren't around in 2015 though? Him playing important players in a tournament he said wasn't important and them getting injured, leaving us weaker and dropping out of the title race is a decision he made this season.

Say we buy a rodders backup , once rodders is back he will never play again because rodders is our main man and we have players that can make a fist of it for the odd games

Do that for every player currently injured then we end up with a bloated squad that pep has to keep involved somehow and we go above the number we are allowed anyway

Our squad is big enough , pep knows what he is doing and i think you are over reacting

We have won four titles in a row , we are due an off season

 

[Tico Warrior]

Say we buy a rodders backup , once rodders is back he will never play again because rodders is our main man and we have players that can make a fist of it for the odd games

Do that for every player currently injured then we end up with a bloated squad that pep has to keep involved somehow and we go above the number we are allowed anyway

Our squad is big enough , pep knows what he is doing and i think you are overacting

I don't think we need a backup for every injured player, I think we have enough midfielders other than defensive and thought Grealish did well last night. We have enough on the wings. Going without any backup to Rodri and Haaland is an issue though that is now costing us.

I don't think they need to cost a lot, or be amazing. Our last backup strikers were both from South America, didn't cost a lot and we sold them on for a good profit. In the case of a Rodri backup, they would easily get games in the cups, europe, when Rodri is injured, suspended etc. Plus sub appearances, can play alongside him etc. Rice for arsenal who we were after plays alongside merino and partey at times.

 

[kaz7]

I don't think we need a backup for every injured player, I think we have enough midfielders other than defensive and thought Grealish did well last night. We have enough on the wings. Going without any backup to Rodri and Haaland is an issue though that is now costing us.

I don't think they need to cost a lot, or be amazing. Our last backup strikers were both from South America, didn't cost a lot and we sold them on for a good profit. In the case of a Rodri backup, they would easily get games in the cups, europe, when Rodri is injured, suspended etc. Plus sub appearances, can play alongside him etc. Rice for arsenal who we were after plays alongside merino and partey at times.

We had jules and he got fed up of being second to thor and pissed off

We are not the arses

 

[Tico Warrior]

We had jules and he got fed up of being second to thor and pissed off

We are not the arses

But he made us a massive profit and contributed goals and assists while he was here. I would be fine spending £14 m on a young striker who got 20+ goals and assists each year and then we sold for £80m after two years

 

[kaz7]

But he made us a massive profit and contributed goals and assists while he was here. I would be fine spending £14 m on a young striker who got 20+ goals and assists each year and then we sold for £80m after two years

I was meaning that you said we need back up for thor and jules was played out of position and not as a striker , i loved him and was sad he left but that is what happens to the back ups to world class players

 

[supercity88]

Palace were shite against Ipswich, so I am confident we will give them a beating. Puts us in a better position than we were after 15 games last season which seems crazy.

A win builds the confidence ahead of tougher games with the rags and Villa to come.

 

[Tico Warrior]

I was meaning that you said we need back up for thor and jules was played out of position and not as a striker , i loved him and was sad he left but that is what happens to the back ups to world class players

Ok I get you. I just meant that if anything happened to Haaland we could have easily played him and be confident that he might score. Now there is nobody at all, and I don't think false 9 would be work as it has before.