It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[Alan Harper's Tash]

I devoutly hope Savinho can be a back up striker for us if needed - nobody else in the squad has a good track record in that position. Gundo is a big bonus I agree but he is not a 6 and just renders Nunes completely pointless.

Trust the process. It generally works.

 

[bluemc]

I think the sample needs to be enlarged to be significant.

Agreed. So we have had three games without Rodri so far this season.

How many games did we play without Rodri last season by way of comparison?

 

[Coatigan]

yet your sample for us playing without rodri is FOUR games

We are halfway through that sample already, having won both.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

We are halfway through that sample already, having won both.

We won the dinner plate trophy too…

 

[mancboy]

Trust the process. It generally works.

dont be silly, weve only won the last four premier leagues and a treble and the club world cup , these in charge havent a fucking clue what they're doing

 

[Coatigan]

We won the dinner plate trophy too…

So we did. Feels like so long ago already.

 

[mancboy]

We are halfway through that sample already, having won both.

shhhh the figures dont suit the narrative

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

I devoutly hope Savinho can be a back up striker for us if needed - nobody else in the squad has a good track record in that position. Gundo is a big bonus I agree but he is not a 6 and just renders Nunes completely pointless.

Why Savinho over the others? never played there but we have 4 that have already.

 

[Gabriel]

A reason why we might not be desperate to replace Alvarez with another striker is because we anticipate that Bobb is capable of playing that role. He’s always had an eye for goal, 33 goals and 36 assists, and while most people have viewed him as a winger, he is adept at playing centrally. If his injury had ruled him out for the season, we might have felt pressured to sign someone, but if we anticipate him returning by Christmas and showing the same pre-season form, then it makes sense to be patient

 

[blueparrot]

Someone else said it earlier in the window. Had we sold Alvarez for 82m, and Then signed Savinho, we would all be saying we successfully replaced Alvarez with a player that smashed La Liga last year and is a starter for Brazil, while bagging a 50-60m profit. We didn't, but the net result is still the same.

And then we added Gundogan, who offers depth to midfield (and attack), to give options for playing without Rodri, along with Kovacic and other combinations.

Those two things have been addressed imo, and the minutes Alvarez played in midfield won't be missed, and can be shared by Gundogan amongst others. Would have been good to have signed a second striker that can take the smaller proportion of minutes he played up top, but those can be absorbed in different ways.

I am not unhappy with the squad one bit. If we don't sign anyone else which now looks likely, I admit my surprise (more at the overall size of the squad than specific positions), but certainly not worried.

The squad size thing is slightly blurred.Previous seasons we've had 20 in the main squad plus Foden, then maybe include Palmer and academy players that were hardly or never used so 22 ish. This season the main squad will be 19 plus Foden but also plus Bobb,Lewis, McAtee and maybe O'Reilly that could all get usefull minutes so 23/24 ish squad.