Well unfortunately we may have to pay for the poor recruitment. That’s really my main point. I disagree with your opinion on Phillips to me it was very clear he was no where near the level, nunes was a panic buy and kovavic is good but his injury record is awful.We can’t go again with what we have, Rodri gets injured we are in trouble. When Rodri doesn’t play it’s like a basketball game our midfield has a massive hole in it. We’ve been very lucky that Rodri has been able to stay fit and not get injured but that news coming out of the Spanish camp is worrying.
We've spent money on players that can’t do what Rodri can. Kovacic isn’t aggressive enough , Nunes the same , they can dribble and keep control and are good at that, but breaking up play and tackling they can’t do it. Funny enough Kalvin was perfect but his decline we couldn’t see coming, the Kalvin at Leeds was exactly what we needed as a back up
So we desperately need a player that has the skill set like Rodri. No one will be as good as Rodri but we can try. Right now we are again one Rodri injury away from teams being able to cut us open at will.
The games Rodri didn’t play last season and Kovacic did we couldn’t control counter attacks we were cut open. The six is so important in Peps system Fernandinho was our most important player when he was here , Rodri is now.
This summer we need a back up or a player to push for the starting spot. Frenkie or Bruno would fit perfectly stat wise
We simply don’t have the space in the squad unless we get rid of 2 of those 3. We know pep likes a small squad and I can’t see that changing. Who is paying the money for Nunes not to mention his wages? Getting rid of Phillips will be hard enough!
We have the bodies but sadly we don’t have the quality to cover for Rodri. Letting gundo go, missing out on Bellingham plus rice and then paqueta to Nunes has left us in a very bad position