Me too, I went straight to sky sports news to see what was happening. 
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This. Apparently he works well with the sports science side too, which would be a great help.
I think thereās a rich seam of young French players we can go for too, hopefully at reasonable prices, as the team overhaul continues.
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We also have a game in hand, and youāre missing the point. Theyāve had a much better start, but theyāve effectively regressed to be closer to us since then. A lot was made of their pre-season and how much lighter than ours it was, which might have helped them start better, but they canāt defy gravity.
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Or maybe someone getting the job at last and realising itās not for them despite having been watching it for so long?
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Not sure why you are going back and forth with me so much today.
Anyway, I will respond as forthrightly.
YOU are missing the point.
You mentioned how much Man City have regressed. I quipped I wished we had regressed that much this season, as they are 16 pts ahead of us. It was a light comment.
Since then you have gone over old, established, and obvious points about mitigating circumstances around our drop off.
It feels like Iām in a forensic argument with someone who has no emotional intelligence.
Stop telling people they are missing the point (twice today).
It is arrogant and rude.
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My apologies for actually pointing out the truth. Didnāt realise your feelings were so easily hurt.
I am not missing the point. I am pointing out that given that City have shown obvious signs of regression, if they have an injury crisis break out now it could well be worse than our issues so far.
If we presume that our pre-season regime was much harsher on the players, then the logical conclusion from that is that City, with its lighter pre-season, may simply have postponed the decline, a conclusion that may be supported by their form of late relative to ours.
Correlates to your activity on the forums, I can only presume. I donāt actually pay attention to whom Iām replying, usually. Didnāt realise I was replying to you this much.
Wow! Thereās rose tintedā¦then thereās grasping at strawsā¦and the thereās this. Ever hear the phrase if my auntie had bollocks sheās be my uncle?
And wishful thinking aside, their squad depth is far more quality than ours and given the way they play they are far less likely to wear down compared to us
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We have robots here?
We could do with a few in midfield
Why is it grasping at straws if theyāre doing pretty much on par with us while weāre staggering around like a drunkard because of our injury issues? If they get derailed by a few injuries, it could well get worse.
Not too sure about quality, but they have fewer bodies than we do. From what I remember of someone doing a depth comparison last season, they were definitely worse off than us.
Foden was unavailable for their last league game and was the only player unavailable. If he is still unavailable this weekend their match day squad will be forced to include 2 kids with about 15 senior appearances between them and a young guy they brought in from Belgium in the summer who has barely had a sniff so far. To be fair Lewis, he looks a real talent, but even if he looked mediocre hed be making the bench because they are so thin even at their strongest.
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Because even if we had a fully fit squad, our midfield is shot! Zero legs and we canāt operate effectively without that
You can choose to presume that thatās the reason heās leaving. And come up with another non-controversial reason to explain why Ian Graham is leaving, too. Youāre certainly entitled to strain on the side of all is well at the club.
I donāt see it that way, and Iāve read enough reporting out there over the last few months that have led me to believe - to put it mildly - that there is a bit of a disconnect on the sporting side of club operations. And Iām inclined to believe thatās why Ward and Graham have left.
Youād call it all utter bollocks, and you might be right. But you also have to acknowledge that none of us knows for certain whatās going on behind the scenes.
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Thatās the point Iāve been banging on throughout, that nobody knows whatās going on yet so many choose to take the rumours for gospel truth.
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Mmm but balance of probabilities and results of recruiting and results in the pitch plus rapid departures point to a certain conclusion and itās not the one favouring the club or the owners.
Thereās no shrewd or cunning plan that would see us pretty much jettison an entire season for all the recruitment chips to fall into place (squad space opened up, players becoming available Etc).
There have been a few fairly significant cock-ups
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It likely is about average to lose that number of staff over āxā amount of time. However, it is in my view highly unusual to lose so many staff over a small time span. The fact that weāve lost so many so quickly indicates some unrest in the club. Without being involved itās anyones guess, but for me regardless of it being an average number, something isnāt right. If that were to happen at any organisation/company there would be serious questions asked of the senior leadership/owners/board etc.
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As Iāve pointed out, that depends on your perspective/prior beliefs.
Weāve been in transition for the last few seasons. We havenāt stood still, yet the narrative seems to be that we have just because we donāt have massive turnovers in the squad. Of the front 3 that won the league, only Salah remains as a regular starter. Weāve brought in 3 forwards in Diaz, Gakpo, and Jota.
In midfield, weāve brought in Thiago while selling Wijnaldum, phasing Milner out into a break in case of emergency option. Weāve also eased Jones into the team that won the title, while introducing Carvalho, Elliott, and now Bajcetic.
In defence, weāve brought in a great backup left-back whom most teams would kill to have as a regular starter. Weāve brought in a young right-back with a view to improve him, while having tried out another one who is now a regular player for a Premier League team. Weāve also upgraded on Lovren with KonatĆ©.
Our hit rate is exceptionally high, which explains why we havenāt had much turnover. How many of Chelseaās transfers since 2020 are still at the club? Or Arsenalās? Or Cityās?
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We havenāt actually lost so many so quickly. The confirmed departures are Edwards and Ward, and unless Iām much mistaken, Grahamsā departure is only rumoured.
Itās not unusual either that after a team has been working together for so long, when one person departs the others begin to evaluate their positions and their ambitions.
The thing about staff turnover is itās rarely linear. It will ebb and flow, and if weāve had so little turnover for so long itās unsurprising that when the departures happen they get grouped together.
Again, I highly doubt anyone would care as much about the staff turnover if there werenāt rumours of a change in ownership.
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Makes it all the more frustrating that weāve gone and royally fucked up everything as if weād anything like the seasons we finished 2nd weād be walking the league again. All the talk now about how this being a transitional season is shit as nobody both in the Club or as an onlooker was saying that at the beginning of the season with the obvious exception to that being the shouts of āwe really need a midfielderā that somehow management only cottoned onto far too late.
Wasted opportunity, this season, as City are unlikely to go into next so threadbare.
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Quite possibly. I donāt think the number of injuries helps the speculation either, due to the 'high" number of medical staff members leaving.
At the end of the day we (unless someone here is Ward or Pep undercover 
) all reach our conclusions based on what we read and we each put as much weight on reporting credibility as we see fit.
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