Who should replace Riyad Mahrez?

blueparrot said:
Bernardo and Foden with a little bit of Bobb or Palmer.Think the bigger question is who backs up Grealish on the left.
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This sounds fine on paper, until we have an injury. I feel as if we need to bring in someone, even if it’s just a serious prospect like Perone.
 
A.Madrid are looking to loan out Felix again? Maybe Pep can get the Benfica player going again rather than what we’ve seen?
 
blueparrot said:
Maybe but we will need either Foden or Bernardo to play in the middle when either Kovacic or KDB don't. I think we need an extra body but mainly just as back up for Grealish, unless we think Gomez can do that.
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Agreed. But Pep will come up with the answers, he always has.
Keepingthefaithsince1976 said:
Don't they still owe us money for Ferran Torres? That may work.
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Yeah they do. Apparently not paid a penny to us yet but they still want to buy our players. Cheeky buggers.
 
I think our usual front three next season should be Jack, Erling, Phil. Then you've got probably Kev, Kov, and Rodri in the middle, and the back four. That leaves Bernie to rotate in, along with Alvarez, who has a proven track record of being able to come in and impact a game or to start games without hampering us.

And that's it, in terms of attacking, Prem-proven players who can come on or start games and make a proper difference. Then, you've got the academy lads like Palmer and Bobb, who we are understandably hopeful about, but can't necessarily rely on to play big, starting roles and thousands of minutes for a team that just won the bloody treble.

With true respect for those players and for the fellow forumers on here who seem to feel pretty confident that the squad is sufficient, I don't necessarily think it is.

Mahrez may have waned at the end of last season, but he still played a lot of football and contributed a lot of goals and assists. He also provided big-game performances in both the league and CL. Those are big shoes to fill. And, more importantly, he was a solid, proven rotation option we could use in CL weeks to give Bernie/Phil a rest without damaging the quality and chemistry of the first 11.

Yes, Phil can take that role and make it his own. He's perfectly capable of scoring/assisting just as many as Riyad, if not more, but we already had Phil last season, and he did play close to 50 games. Would've been more without his appendix troubles. He's not going to be able to play every 3/4 days and rack up 60+ games.

For me, I totally want to see the academy boys given a fair shot, but I think we also need one or two more proven options. Not necessarily as starters, but as rotation LW/RW options for those weeks where we have three games to play in the space of 7/8 days. Because injuries will happen. All it takes is Kev to do his knee and Phil to knock his ankle and suddenly we're looking at a bench of nothing but academy lads with mere minutes of Prem football to their name. And, for a team like ours that just won it all, that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, frankly.

Speaking of Kev, he's obviously gonna need more game management next season. And when he's not starting or coming off after 50 minutes, you might have Phil in the middle or Jack or Bernie, and that's leaving another gap on the wings that needs filling...

I don't want to sound entitled, nor do I want us to be like Chelsea and go out buying every bloody player under the sun. But the squad was small enough already last season, and it just got smaller with Riyad and Gundy gone. It also lost a fair number of goals and assists with those two. I'd love nothing more than Bobb and Palmer to make up those numbers, but I suppose all I'm saying is that I'd feel more comfortable with at least one more proven winger in the squad. And I think a team of our standing should have at least one more player like that.

In terms of who that player should be, that's where I struggle. I certainly like Olise. He's proven he can cut at this level, he got more league assists than Mahrez last season, and as a younger player, he'd probably be a bit more willing to accept a spot behind Phil in the pecking order, while still being a handy sub to bring on in the latter stages of games or to start against lesser opposition and work his way up. Or, if we were aiming even higher, a Sane return wouldn't be bad at all. Outside of that, it's tricky... Kvaratskhelia would be a dream, but we all know what Napoli are like.

I don't know. Maybe we'll carry on as we are and put the faith in Bobb, Palmer, and Gomez, and that'll surely be fine, too, because Pep has proven he can work wonders with pretty much anyone. In either case, these next few weeks will be interesting to follow, one way or another.
 
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