An apt description. Regardless of the media or anyone else blowing smoke up his arse, I see a just above average PL midfielder.Not at £100m +. He is incapable of being a straight replacement for Rodri as he needs someone to hold his hand. Unlike Rodri, he cannot do the holding role on his own so we would have to leave out De Bruyne, Foden or Bernardo. Also, he's a plodder and cannot think quickly enough for the way we play. He needs three touches whereas most of our squad need one.
We had Alvarez to back up Haaland so objectively it's not. We are as strong or stronger everywhere else...It's a stronger squad than we started last season with.
Overall the squad is stronger,remains to be seen whether playing a false 9 is weaker or stronger than Alvarez when Haaland doesn't play.We had Alvarez to back up Haaland so objectively it's not. We are as strong or stronger everywhere else...
It may be helpful for you to understand that the absence of cover in question is specifically for Erling & Rodri. (Gundo, Kova & Stones are not CDMs btw)
We had Alvarez to back up Haaland so objectively it's not. We are as strong or stronger everywhere else...
It's not his job to find the player. That's Txiki's job. He has every right, however, to question our need for a back up to Haaland. Many of our supporters feel the same, myself included. It's a valid concern...there's no need to be condescending when this is far from a cut and dried decision being made by the club...Do you have a couple of players in mind that would be happy to serve as ‘cover’?
Of course we have options. Are those options good enough to see us through were we to lose Haaland for any period of time? By see us through I'm talking about winning the Prem/CL. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.Although we do have Savinho to free up the position Foden or Kev would play, pushing them in either behind haaland, or instead of (with others like Grealish Gundo then also taking up different roles).
Look I want a second striker, and have committed to saying I expected one by the end of the window. If we don't end up with one though, we have options. And we also have January not far off if they happen to not work as expected.
I wasn’t being condescending, that’s your inference. I’m just intrigued as to what players other posters would have liked. I would have liked us to have signed Neves and Gimenez as cover, for example, but recognise that they would have been too expensive and unlikely to have been utilised ahead of others when Rodri and Haaland were available.It's not his job to find the player. That's Txiki's job. He has every right, however, to question our need for a back up to Haaland. Many of our supporters feel the same, myself included. It's a valid concern...there's no need to be condescending when this is far from a cut and dried decision being made by the club...