by PrezIke » Sun Feb 04, 2018 3:23 pm
Only players that Pep feels fit his style in the team will play, no matter if you are even decent enough to make a PL club side.
That's really it.
See: Joe Hart
If Foden was fit he would surely have been on the bench, and perhaps Nemcha might have made the team sheet given his recent promotion, but as a manager that uses such high and particular standards that Pep does, and that there's only 3 substitutes anyway, I can see why.
He may be sending a message to the FA about injuries, but he must have caught on about how in England his concerns are seen as whinging by a so-called "spoilt" manager of club with "infinite resources" that falls upon deaf ears or is used against him in the tabloid media (i.e. Sunday Supplement).
I think he doesn't really give a care about what these luddites say or write as long as what he is doing wins games and keeps things consistent within the team, which has been the case all season long, and just shows desperation to find something to both talk about or go after Pep about.
Pep brought Brahim on in a key part of a PL game, away from home, where we needed a goal. This says a lot about both what he thought of Diaz going in, but perhaps also about how dire the situation is for him having players he can use off the bench to play the way he needs to suit the system/style of play.
I cannot pretend to read as much about our other EDS players this season, but we've already promoted Diaz and Foden to get experience and help the team as attacking options, which is where we are short. That was even before Jesus and Sane went down, according to Pep who wanted Sanchez before in part due to this worry.
Ironic that Sancho left as he would have been on the bench yesterday if he had stayed. I suspect the idea was also that losing this one game was not going to be worth destroying the confidence of a very young player in a tough away game when we were 15 points ahead in the league coming in.
