Injuries - 2023/24 | Ederson cleared to return to training (p 146)

Don't need a huge squad when the players coming in slot in pretty much seamlessly without any real drop in quality or approach

Years ago, we'd have shit ourselves at the thought of Yaya or Fernandinho being unavailable, as we had 'no replacement'

The reality is, there's not a player that we can't do without for a couple of months. At the moment we've got a few out, but it won't hamper us.

The alternative is having a much larger squad where players feel they aren't really part of the squad, and all of a sudden you're relying on them to fill in; doesn't work like that at City, and we've reaped the rewards from that.
 
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It isn’t though, because back then we had a number of academy players to fill it out. We’ve sold them all now. This season we have only Bobb. Nobody else is ready to play a small part. We also have more competitions this season.

We still have academy players. Quite a few. As we did before. The only one that had left is Palmer, replaced by Bobb. McAtee wasn't here last year, the ones we sold weren't part of the squad.
 
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We'll be fine. If we hadn't gone and got Nunes and Doku then we' might be in trouble, but the squad is really strong. We have so many versatile and physical players that we can grind our way through even a deeper injury 'crisis' than this.

If it was Christmas time or the run in it might be a different challenge.
 
Don't need a huge squad when the players coming in slot in pretty much seamlessly without any real drop in quality or approach

Years ago, we'd have shit ourselves at the thought of Yaya or Fernandinho being available, as we had 'no replacement'

The reality is, there's not a player that we can't do without for a couple of months. At the moment we've got a few out, but it won't hamper us.

The alternative is having a much larger squad where players feel they aren't really part of the squad, and all of a sudden you're relying on them to fill in; doesn't work like that at City, and we've reaped the rewards from that.
I agree but the alternative isn't a much larger squad we are one player off having the maximum allowed.
 
Don't need a huge squad when the players coming in slot in pretty much seamlessly without any real drop in quality or approach

Years ago, we'd have shit ourselves at the thought of Yaya or Fernandinho being available, as we had 'no replacement'

The reality is, there's not a player that we can't do without for a couple of months. At the moment we've got a few out, but it won't hamper us.

The alternative is having a much larger squad where players feel they aren't really part of the squad, and all of a sudden you're relying on them to fill in; doesn't work like that at City, and we've reaped the rewards from that.

Cancelo doesn't like this post :)
 
These injuries could be a blessing in disguise. We've won our first 6 games and have given plenty of minutes to Doku, Gvardiol and Nunes which will help them build confidence and experience throughout the season when it gets tougher.

All 3 of them are Internationals, no confidence needed not to mention experience
 
Carson between the sticks, Eddie at DM and move Rodder's further forward.
Did you see the Lazio keeper scoring that last minute header against AM? Quality!

In an emergency we could happily have Ortega in net and Ederson outfield. He started his career there. I bet he's got a brilliant set piece delivery on him! ;-)
 
A bigger squad wouldn't help that.

And the maximum we could increase it by anyway, is just 1 additional player. 1 player below the limit, that is where we are and how small our small squad is.
Exactly. If it had been a mix of experienced & bench players it wouldn’t even be mentioned (like some clubs who are forever using injuries as an excuse) but these 5 players are the spine of the team.

But hey- we’re good enough to cope & hopefully Kovacic will be back this week followed soon by Johnny & Jack
 
It happened when Phil missed his header from five yards and the rebound fell to Bernardo who after shooting felt his thigh. He moved back to the right wing and shouted over to Pep who tapped his thigh (Pep's not Bernardo's) and a minute later Bernardo came off. I am hoping it's a minor pull but recon he could miss the next few games including Arsenal. Need Jack and Kova to be back for that game to take work load off everyone else.
More like 5 minutes from when he first signalled to the bench.
 
I agree but the alternative isn't a much larger squad we are one player off having the maximum allowed.
We've quite a number of inexperienced players within that squad though, but we'd be having a pop at not giving the younger players a chance to flourish if we filled their places with more experienced players.

It is what it is, and we'll be just fine.

Now over to the Haaland thread to counter argue his inability to score goals this season!
 
So what do we do? Have a squad blotted like Chelsea and imagine we did and didn't have injuries every game we would have players not even making the bench earning massive wages not to mention what we would have to pay for them. It is what it is on the plus side when the injured players come back the others can be rotated and have a rest.
No something in between, we were immensely fortunate last season with injuries, given the world cup. But it's worrying that we have a lot so quickly now.
We sent too many out on loan. Too much of a gamble for me.
 
I’m predicting Gvardiol will play the Johnny Boulders role in midfield this weekend. Newcastle game will be a mix of first team squad and Academy players, then hopefully at least Kovacic, Stones and Jack should be available for the squad.
 

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