I was only joking mate.
I still donât see us needing three. It doesnât literally have to be one in one out.
A pool of Thiago, Hendo, Fab, Elliott, Bellingham, Jones, Calcaido, Bajcetic and Carvalho is absolutely fine.
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Yup itâs not numbers that are the issue itâs the fact that so many are injured regularly.
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Given that our midfield corps is as large as it is due to the unreliability of a few of them, the age and expectation of only using Milly sparingly, and a desire to be able to take the 2 kids out of the frame as needed, itâs a bloated group - 9 for 3 positions even before Melo and without having to consider the youth team players. City have only 6 players for their midfield, and that includes Foden who plays almost all of his football for them as a forward. Thatâs probably closer to the size of the group Klopp would want if he felt he could rely on them all. With the ages of Hendo and Thiago heâd likely accept 7, or 8 at a push. Exactly how many we end up having will likely be based on what sort of seasons we get out of Elliot, Jones, Carvalho and Thiago, but at minimum we should not expect a 1 in - 1 out situation.
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The question would be can Calcaido play no.6 to a good enough level (I donât know personally), and/or will Bajcetic be ready?
I really like the idea of Arthur doing well and we sign him, heâs at that sweet spot of 26 which I think we lack in the midfield. However another 25/26 year old who is a permacrock, no thank you! Keita and Oxlade have made me wary!
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Depends how one sees Carvalho being used long term and if Bajcetic both continues his progression and doesnât get loaned out then.
Since neither is guaranteed, suggestions of three new midfielders is hardly unreasonable.
Yeah, but there are fans who would have bought two this year, and fuck Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho, never mind Bajcetic.
Weâve got a bunch of absolute diamonds, and they need a pathway.
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I had a look at some LFC pages on Facebook. Dear me, what a shambles. Arguments ranging from cheating Mane, FSG lies, refusing to sign off on cash etc. etc. etc.
Clearly the team balance is off but the toys being thrown from the pram at the moment is hysterical.
Mostly idiots who only count trophies
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If they counted trophies it wouldnât be a problem. Winning the transfer window is all thatâs matters to these 
âs
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Nice cant afford all of them. Theyve already wasted money on Ross Barkley
I would suspect that pathway includes a loan for Bajcetic at some point and a parting of the ways for Naby, Ox, Milner and Thiago over the next 2 years plus a reducing role for Hendo.
Three in next summer doesnât stop any of this, it just means you donât end up in the same situation where weâre suddenly massively short because Thiago, Hendo and Jones all pick up injuries at the same time.
I suspect the main point of contention here though is that youâre very much including Carvalho as a midfielder while I see him more in the group of forwards.
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But if weâre also increasing the robustness of the midfield - and we fucking well should be - we donât need three players to replace two lads who never play and one who pretty much now just closes out games (Milner, ox and Naby - not sure I agree about Thiago)
We canât keep players on staff to account for all possible injury scenarios. Weâre does that end? Weâve been unlucky that weâve had all our midfielders out at pretty much the same time.
I think it was @Limiescouse made the point that City have 5-6 midfielders.
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Youâd think some people just canât get over 2020-21.
Youâre correct that we canât keep excessive number of midfielders just because someone else might get injured.
But this was entirely predictable. We have two ageing players (Milner and Hendo) whose performances have been suffering to differing degrees because of them getting older. Hendo has always had a tendency to get injured. Doesnât he have an incurable foot condition that is constantly managed? Millie has sadly fallen off a cliff when it comes to PL intensity.
Thiago, Keita, Ox are all injury prone and have a long history of this. After a gruelling season and a short preseason with an overseas trip it is entirely predictable that they would get injured at some point. Certainly within the realm of real possibilities that there would be a period of time when their injuries would overlap.
We are lucky that Fab isnât injured also given how much we are having to use him and his initial lack of conditioning (in fact he was nursed through a knock against Palace and didnât start against Man U for that reason).
Jonesâ is an uncharacteristic injury but that can happen. Normally it would be fine but we have the aforementioned midfielders to account for so this compounded the problem.
Elliott and Fab are kids and should not be relied upon to play every match lest we shorten their career span.
SoâŚ
A) we either have a bloated midfield corps to cover for injuries (which will sometimes backfire given the majority of our midfieldersâ age and injury profiles)
B) or we sell/release a lot of the oft-injured midfielders and buy fewer but more durable players.
I should also point out that because of what JĂźrgen demands from our midfielders (and VVD alluded to this) we have to keep them in rotation or even the sturdiest will break down (unless heâs a freak like Gini).
City play a much more possession-based game where their midfielders are not physically taxed to the degree that we ask of our midfielders.
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As I actually said, itâs to replace Ox, Naby and Milner, allow Bajcetic to go on loan, reduce Hendoâs playing time and a season later to let Thiago go. So really 3 players in to let 5 players leave and 1 on loan over the next 2 years, which will leave us with a less bloated and more resilient squad. While never leaving short to the point where we over rely on players or cannot rotate.
Ftr, Iâm not saying we definitely need 3 players, just that it isnât a ridiculous shout, much like when you were calling people out for daring to suggest we needed a new midfielder this summer - we ended up buying one and reportedly trying something for another at the last minute. Other people can have an opinion an end up being correct. 2 midfielders next year seems realistic, but 3 isnât an unjustified suggestion.
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Since my opinion is also that we needed a midfielder, itâs very unlikely I was âcalling people outâ.
I was more likely trying to see the clubs POV n the matter.
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Why would you want to extend that?
As someone who didnât (and still doesnât) think we need a midfielder, itâs because I like to see us draw on our youth players for these sort of nightmare scenarios. I also think that contrary to what many people think, most of the so-called injury-prone players arenât actually injury-prone, more so unlucky, or not managed very well.
I think for example, itâs quite clear that we learned our lesson after what happened with KeĂŻtaâs injury in 2019-20, that we let Gomez rehabilitate for a full season without stressing his body too much, which was also helped by Matip (who is another favourite as a supposedly injury-prone player) being fit for a full season. Oxlade-Chamberlain did not miss a game through injury last season either, but instead was just behind many other players in the pecking order. KeĂŻta himself suffered an injury that took him out for 7 games, that if I recall correctly, was linked to the Pogba attempt to end his career, but otherwise missed just one game.
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Why not? Heâs a great player, just inconsistently available at worst.