Squad Depth/Injuries mounting up

Yates said:
And what about when he was through on goal tonight and missed? You do understand what unreliable means? It doesn't mean they can't score, it's that they can't be entrusted with day in, day out and if we had both Sterling and Diaz starting, it'd be a struggle on the goal front more than we'd want. I'm actually backing Diaz for more game time here but he's not infallible
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Even the seniors are prone in missing gilt edged chances. Give him a chance and a run of games and he will improve. We can't keep blocking any promising youngster's path with expensive stop gaps just because of injuries.
 
Definitely see the desire for an extra attacker and it may come back to haunt us that we weren't able to sort out a deal, though it may not.
I wouldn't however ever call it a mistake as you still have to have a structure in times of struggle as well as when things are going well.
On priorities, I would rather us go down fighting on all 4 fronts than throw our chances in the fa cup for example. Nor do I see Pep making excuses now or possibly in the future (certainly nothing like pellegrini did against chelsea).
Team spirit and faith in the manager gets teams through difficult periods and the loss of key players.
We've seen an abundance of it this year and I'm sure they'll fight for everything.
 
if we can get Delph back it would help a hell of a lot as he can cover the LB DFM CM and also free up Zinchenko up for LW as well. There is just no news on how long he's out for
 
I think some people have unrealistic expectations about how strong a squad any team can realistically have.

Ederson

Walker------Otamendi------Laporte------Zinchenko

Fernandinho
KDB------------------Gundogan
Bernardo-----------------------------------Sterling
Aguero​

That's the team we had out when we had 7 first team players injured. Obviously our bench didn't look particularly strong, but you no-one can expect to have that many injuries to key players and still put out a world class team with a game-changing bench. At least we could do the first bit.

Obviously, it would be nice to keep the momentum going, but let's be honest, if we had to risk a few league games to put out a stronger team in other competitions, then we've given ourselves a cushion to take that risk. Pep has shown that he's not afraid to play without a recognised striker in the past when he's needed to too.
 
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This is where our season gets very interesting. Pep will hopefully play masterful shellgames to keep getting the results we want. (but I fear that the CL will be too much of a stretch now).
 
TonyM said:
This is where our season gets very interesting. Pep will hopefully play masterful shellgames to keep getting the results we want. (but I fear that the CL will be too much of a stretch now).
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More injuries happen along the way surely but if we get past Basel then Jesus and Sané should both be back by the round of 8. CL like any other Cup, all about the draw.
 
Not bothered at all as I am sure we can cope.

When we have Jesus, Sane, Delph and Foden back in action we will have an embarrassment of riches at our disposal.

Bernardo can move inside to cover for Dave if necessary and Diaz or Zinchenko can play wide left with Laporte or Danilo at left back and Kompany central.

My only concern would be Fernandinho being absent as he has been outstanding playing defensive midfield and I can't see an obvious replacement.
 
No I'm not concerned about our squad size. But if players like Sane and Diaz keep kicking the fuck out of out of them and are not being protected by the officials.... yeah, that does worry me.
 
Gray said:
Not bothered at all as I am sure we can cope.

When we have Jesus, Sane, Delph and Foden back in action we will have an embarrassment of riches at our disposal.

Bernardo can move inside to cover for Dave if necessary and Diaz or Zinchenko can play wide left with Laporte or Danilo at left back and Kompany central.

My only concern would be Fernandinho being absent as he has been outstanding playing defensive midfield and I can't see an obvious replacement.
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Yep. If we ride out this next month we will be in great shape with players coming back.
 
Yates said:
And what about when he was through on goal tonight and missed? You do understand what unreliable means? It doesn't mean they can't score, it's that they can't be entrusted with day in, day out and if we had both Sterling and Diaz starting, it'd be a struggle on the goal front more than we'd want. I'm actually backing Diaz for more game time here but he's not infallible
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KDB didn’t score on a similar shot last night as well. So he’s also unreliable.
 
We’ve got Burnley, Leicester and then Basel as our next three games. I’m hoping after them that Delph and Jesus will be back. I think Silva will be back for weekend so we should be fine.
 
Simple answer - the academy.

Diaz now becomes an important player and has to get starts, Nmecha will be involved now, not sure who our most promising young full backs are who aren't on loan but they'll have to step up and be trusted.

We have the FA cup to give anyone a rest who needs one. I absolutely love the FA cup and i'm not suggesting its lower on priorities, just that players such as danilo, gundogan etc should be more than enough to beat them.

delph is one we really need back as he covers potentially 2/3 positions and frees up zinchenko to move forward.

Centre halves we can now rotate and play as and when without any drop in quality.

OnWARds to turf moor :-)
 
DeBruyneWaterInMeEToilet said:
Thank god Agüero found his form again in January after that shoddy run of form before the New Year

One other thing that sucks about then depth right now is that our line-up is extremely predictable in terms of the midfield & attack. We really don’t have any curve balls we can throw at Arsenal.
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Since Mendy's injury we've played almost the exact same way all season no matter what personnel have been selected
We don't need a "curve ball"

In our squad, our three biggest issues were/are, Mangala (that one has been solved), Kompany being unreliable because of injury. And Toure because he's now not quick enough and doesn't suit our style of play
Diaz has to get more game time. He's certainly good enough
Gundogan has to take Fernandinho's place if Fern is injured or suspended
 
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