johnny crossan wrote:Opposition and game situation aside, last night showed again there are clearly many players on our books who are not currently of the required level
(despite the manager's remarks)
Yaya, Delph,Fernando,Navas, Tosin and both the young fullbacks on show, even Nacho is still some way short of a back up for Aguero. Nolito looked distinctly average along with Clichy and Kolarov - and we know about Joe - so that leaves Stones, who did nothing special either.
Disheartening.
I think your post is a bit disheartening! Last night's game isn't a good one and certainly should not be seen as the definitive test to assess the stand in players. Not for the younger ones anyway.
Taking so many players out of a team at one go is always going to cause difficulties. Pep loves to control the middle of the park and he did again last night with a reserve side. Of course it was made easier by Steau's approach to the game but then the next part of the game became very hard.
Even if we broke through the initial shield, the pace at which we did it plus the control and movement ( or lack of it) meant we really created nothing.That certainly highlighted how much you miss players like Kun , Silva and KDB and Dinho. Yaya could have slotted in but last suggested to me he is totally shot and needs to move on. Delph can easily slot in if he is the only change in a team but not when there are so many. Pep gave him and the team a talking to at half time and they came out much brighter. Delph broke through once and then scored.
Fernando likewise can be ok and do a job but again not if he is one of many changes.He is a very limited player with little to contribute going forward. The 3 young lads did fine last night. Maffeo rightly got plaudits from the manager, Tosin slotted in well and could well be another John Stones ( doesn't Stones look serious quality) and Angelini was played out of position but showed tremendous enthusiasm.
Overall a crap match but I am sure very interesting for Pep to see the reserves in action to see if they can play the way he wants.