Luton Town (A) - Sun 10th Dec, 14:00 | Pre-Match Thread

Match Result Prediction

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Ric said:
Big blow if the reports on Haaland are true, as is looking likely. At least we can play Alvarez in his natural position now, but the squad is looking more depleted than ever. Need the players to dig deep today to get the win.
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I know Pep likes working with a small squad but questions have to be asked as to why we have allowed our squad to become considerably smaller (and weaker) after winning a treble.
 
We have one genuine full back, one genuine winger, and only 2 strikers in our squad! The rest are either goalkeepers, centre halves or, with the exception of Rodri, diminutive or untrusted midfielders!

It's no wonder we are in such a muddle, and without sounding too depressing, I don't see us winning today.
 
MillsyTheMosher said:
I know Pep likes working with a small squad but questions have to be asked as to why we have allowed our squad to become considerably smaller (and weaker) after winning a treble.
Click to expand...
The squad isn't smaller: we replaced Laporte with Gvardiol, Gundo with Kova and Mahrez with Doku.

Palmer never played and his minutes have been replaced by Bobb.

Nunes is an extra player, which makes the squad bigger.
 
CatMan said:
We have one genuine full back, one genuine winger, and only 2 strikers in our squad! The rest are either goalkeepers, centre halves or, with the exception of Rodri, diminutive or untrusted midfielders!

It's no wonder we are in such a muddle, and without sounding too depressing, I don't see us winning today.
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How could you be more depressing do you think?
 
CatMan said:
We have one genuine full back, one genuine winger, and only 2 strikers in our squad! The rest are either goalkeepers, centre halves or, with the exception of Rodri, diminutive or untrusted midfielders!

It's no wonder we are in such a muddle, and without sounding too depressing, I don't see us winning today.
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The End Is Nigh.
 
If Haaland's not playing, obviously it would be a big loss to any team, but perhaps reverting to a 5 man midfield with Alvarez the most advanced 6th will return a solidity we've missed recently.

Don't buy this 'it's only Luton' crap. They'll scrap and fight and make it hard. 0-1 City, maybe 1-2, back in the points.
 
Bluewonder said:
The squad isn't smaller: we replaced Laporte with Gvardiol, Gundo with Kova and Mahrez with Doku.

Palmer never played and his minutes have been replaced by Bobb.

Nunes is an extra player, which makes the squad bigger.
Click to expand...

And by the way: I rated Laporte as a class player, and a player who gave his all when he was injured, at the end of the 2021-22 season. But I firmly believe that Gvardiol is a serious upgrade on him, and his ceiling (which we haven't yet seen) is much higher.
Doku is also an upgrade on Riyad. And I rated Riyad too. We don't have bad players at City. They don't get through the door.
Cole Palmer? Cole was in a hurry — that is his right, you never know how long a career is going to last as a professional footballer — a big PL club came in for him, and they were offering serious money and regular starts. We were not going to promise him minutes or starts, so the honest thing was to do the deal. No regrets.
That won't be the last time it happens, by the way.
 
CatMan said:
We have one genuine full back, one genuine winger, and only 2 strikers in our squad! The rest are either goalkeepers, centre halves or, with the exception of Rodri, diminutive or untrusted midfielders!

It's no wonder we are in such a muddle, and without sounding too depressing, I don't see us winning today.
Click to expand...
With such upbeat “fans” like you it’s amazing the atmosphere is sometimes flat at home games
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
And by the way: I rated Laporte as a class player, and a player who gave his all when he was injured, at the end of the 2021-22 season. But I firmly believe that Gvardiol is a serious upgrade on him, and his ceiling (which we haven't yet seen) is much higher.
Doku is also an upgrade on Riyad. And I rated Riyad too. We don't have bad players at City. They don't get through the door.
Cole Palmer? Cole was in a hurry — that is his right, you never know how long a career is going to last as a professional footballer — a big PL club came in for him, and they were offering serious money and regular starts. We were not going to promise him minutes or starts, so the honest thing was to do the deal. No regrets.
That won't be the last time it happens, by the way.
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You must be delighted.
 
Oh and for all the 'the squad is the same size as last season' merchants, yeah it may be but this time last year we had exactly the same issues. It took the greatest manager of all time finding a new system halfway through the year. A massive Winter break to help implement it. Incredible luck to have everyone bar Aké for periods fit for the second half of the season. The squad needed massive reinforcements even on how we finished the treble season and instead we made it worse!
 
MillsyTheMosher said:
I know Pep likes working with a small squad but questions have to be asked as to why we have allowed our squad to become considerably smaller (and weaker) after winning a treble.
Click to expand...
Palmer
Laporte
Gundogan
Marhez

All left in the summer and were replaced by

Doku
Nunes
Kovacic
Gvardiol
Bobb( promoted from the EDS)

So our squad is not smaller
 
Ric said:
Big blow if the reports on Haaland are true, as is looking likely. At least we can play Alvarez in his natural position now, but the squad is looking more depleted than ever. Need the players to dig deep today to get the win.
Click to expand...
I was frustrated by our lack of crosses into Haaland against Villa. Surely after an hour of getting no joy playing the ball on the deck then a more direct appraoch should've been tried? Time and again our wide men refused to put it in, and his marker was a good foot shorter than him.
If he doesn't start today it wouldn't be the biggest loss for the team.
 
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