Our strength in depth.

We need 3-4 players of high quality two in defence one in the middle and one up front over the next two windows and this will complete Peps line up as such.

In saying that we will always bring in new players each window to compliment but preferably strengthen what we already have.

Our depth is not what we or Pep would like but its not easy to do it in one window.

At least we have a stronger first team lineup than last season.
 
I think we're lacking both strength and depth. Depth wise we have one of the smallest squads in the league and probably Europe too. We've got around 16 first teamers when everyone is fit with a few squad fillers, there's definitely a need for a busy summer just to get the numbers we need, we're going to have to be very lucky with injuries for us to compete on all fronts this season, there's simply too few players Pep trusts compared to games.

The strength isn't as good as we perhaps think either, the team is picking itself most weeks now with the only real dilemma being which 3 from 4 play upfront and i suppose which 2 would play at the back if all were available at once. With the way Pep plays it's a case of us needing virtually all of our cogs in action at once in order for the machine to function as intended. We've seen this season when just 1 or 2 players are missing, the team lose something key and we struggle a lot more than you'd think despite the replacements seemingly top class players.

In the summer i think we'll see Yaya, Mangala, Danilo and possibly Bravo all move on, If Gunn is ready to claim our backup keeper spot and Maffeo comes back ready to be a genuine part of the squad there's effectively 2 extra free players due to their academy trained status and gives Pep a bit off leeway in terms of how he wants to shape his squad as getting rid of the players above means we'd have 5 extra free spots for foreign players (minus any potential January business) Without factoring in the development of the kids like Foden and Diaz, that's already 7 extra players that Pep can trust as he seemingly doesn't trust any of those right now, plus Mendy coming back. We could have anywhere between 8-10 viable extra options next season from as little as replacing 4 players. It's frightening that we've been this good so far this season yet there's so much scope to improve the squad without buying galactico's and become even more formidable.
 
I think we're lacking both strength and depth. Depth wise we have one of the smallest squads in the league and probably Europe too. We've got around 16 first teamers when everyone is fit with a few squad fillers, there's definitely a need for a busy summer just to get the numbers we need, we're going to have to be very lucky with injuries for us to compete on all fronts this season, there's simply too few players Pep trusts compared to games.

The strength isn't as good as we perhaps think either, the team is picking itself most weeks now with the only real dilemma being which 3 from 4 play upfront and i suppose which 2 would play at the back if all were available at once. With the way Pep plays it's a case of us needing virtually all of our cogs in action at once in order for the machine to function as intended. We've seen this season when just 1 or 2 players are missing, the team lose something key and we struggle a lot more than you'd think despite the replacements seemingly top class players.

In the summer i think we'll see Yaya, Mangala, Danilo and possibly Bravo all move on, If Gunn is ready to claim our backup keeper spot and Maffeo comes back ready to be a genuine part of the squad there's effectively 2 extra free players due to their academy trained status and gives Pep a bit off leeway in terms of how he wants to shape his squad as getting rid of the players above means we'd have 5 extra free spots for foreign players (minus any potential January business) Without factoring in the development of the kids like Foden and Diaz, that's already 7 extra players that Pep can trust as he seemingly doesn't trust any of those right now, plus Mendy coming back. We could have anywhere between 8-10 viable extra options next season from as little as replacing 4 players. It's frightening that we've been this good so far this season yet there's so much scope to improve the squad without buying galactico's and become even more formidable.
Excellent post mate.
 
Pep played a team that had not played much together and people make judgements on B.Silva and Gundogan. Knee-jerk comes to mind.
 
Our squad is great in most areas, but some problems exist. They way i see it, Yaya, Mangala and depth at LB is our main issues. For january we must buy a LB and it has to be a priority. By doing that, Delph can cover for Fernandinho a lot more often (like he did vs West Ham). Danilo will then mainly cover for Walker, who has played a lot of games already. I believe Gundogan and Bernardo will improve later in the season as they have the quality, just lacking a bit in confidence maybe. An improvement on Mangala, a LB and maybe Sanchez would leave us in an incredible position should we pull it off.
 
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It’s good for PL standards, not CL

This result is irrelevant, there’s still key positions that an injury would seriously hamper the squad vs any top CL side. Dinho injury, Delph, if Kompany is injured again while Stones is still out.

Would be nice to get Alexis (Pep can then rest/rotate Sterling or Sané more frequently as well), a CB (have a stable double rotation pair assuming Kompany is fit), a CM (rest Dinho) & another pacey LB (Will need that dynamic option on the left while Mendy is out).
 
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I've said this a few times in the Guardiola thread but I believe this team is still very much a work in progress. We've got rid of almost all our deadwood and we've developed a first team that at its peak is as good as any in Europe.

Right now we have a few players however who aren't fully 100% up to speed with the way we play or the roles they play within it. These are the new signings (some are getting to the standard required faster than others), youth players like Diaz and Foden, and players like Gundogan and Kompany who have lost time due to injury problems. Then there's also players like Sane and co who are still very young, and even the likes of De Bruyne and Delph who are adapting to playing previously unfamiliar positions.

Come the end of the season, I expect ALL these players to be at the right standard moving forward. Once this happens, we'll hopefully find ourselves in a position where there's not only depth but competition for first team places.

Moving forwards from there it's a case of bulking up in our lighter positions, but really it's only a case of three or four players. Most likely one inside forward (Sanchez), one CB (Evans), a backup LB (Bertrand?) and one DM (Weigl?). Not too many players, but enough to round off the squad without the need for too many players to adapt.

Then there's Mendy. He's barely featured and yet he's already super important. Playing him allows us to mix things up with our attacking options. If he's fit, then almost any combination of attacking players works one way or another. This helps us maximize the options in our squad.

The reason I say all this is so people understand why our squad is as it is. It's very much a work in progress and I believe the club already has a clear end game in sight as to how it develops. An easy way out would be for us to bulk up the squad unnecessarily but a key thing is that Guardiola has said many times in the past he likes to keep his squads to the minimum.


It might seem disadvantageous, but we're putting together a super competitive squad and I believe the goal is for it to peak in the 2019/20 season. There will be a few bumps in the road such as right now with seemingly insufficient depth but its a necessary hurdle. Just like last season when we played the way we did even though it wasn't necessarily the most immediately correct way, I believe we're putting our squad together with the same approach. Slowly, but surely.
 
If we’re lacking strength and depth then what the hell must supporters of other clubs think of their teams strength and depth?

We have a very well equipped squad in my opinion.

Some players are irreplaceable like Kevin De Bruyne for example and even Delph doesnt quite offers what Mendy does but all teams will have that problem should key players get injured.

Questioning our strength and depth when comparing it to other top clubs in Europe seems a bit silly.

Oh wait, we lost a game......
 

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