Defensive Midfield

[Mase]

Southampton 'rejected £50m deadline day offer from Chelsea for Romeo Lavia' - just TWO MONTHS after signing the 18-year-old Belgian from Manchester City for £14m

Would it have been better to keep Lavia and have him as a proper backup to Rodri, one we desperately need now, rather than sign Philips?

Rodri seems to be struggling so far this season, basic passes going missing and not breaking play up as he did last season.

[Mase]

Also. We’ve got a buy back, so what would have happened if Chelsea had their bid accepted? We buy Lavia straight back?!

[sheblue]

Rodri is a good player, yeah had a bad game yesterday. Most of the midfield and wide men did. Its only 6 games in, let's see.

[Mase]

Rodri is a good player, yeah had a bad game yesterday. Most of the midfield and wide men did. Its only 6 games in, let's see.

I didn’t say he was the only one yesterday to have a bad game. He’s had a poor start to this season.

This “let’s wait and see” and there’s no point in a forum we’re here to discuss City.

The point of the thread isn’t to dig out Rodri, it’s whether we’ve made a mistake signing Philips when we already had a decent backup in Lavia.

[sheblue]

Rodri is a good player, yeah had a bad game yesterday. Most of the midfield and wide men did. Its only 6 games in, let's see.

I didn’t say he was the only one yesterday to have a bad game. He’s had a poor start to this season.

This “let’s wait and see” and there’s no point in a forum we’re here to discuss City.

The point of the thread isn’t to dig out Rodri, it’s whether we’ve made a mistake signing Philips when we already had a decent backup in Lavia.

Ok, but Philips has hardly kicked a ball, so we can't judge how much better than Lavia he might be. We have to just wait and see.

[Mase]

Rodri is a good player, yeah had a bad game yesterday. Most of the midfield and wide men did. Its only 6 games in, let's see.

I didn’t say he was the only one yesterday to have a bad game. He’s had a poor start to this season.

This “let’s wait and see” and there’s no point in a forum we’re here to discuss City.

The point of the thread isn’t to dig out Rodri, it’s whether we’ve made a mistake signing Philips when we already had a decent backup in Lavia.

Ok, but Philips has hardly kicked a ball, so we can't judge how much better than Lavia he might be. We have to just wait and see.

We’ve spent £43m on a player that can’t even stay fit, and we’ve sold a promising 18 year old that is starting and doing well for another team in the Prem.

[nottsblue]

Rodri is a good player, yeah had a bad game yesterday. Most of the midfield and wide men did. Its only 6 games in, let's see.

I didn’t say he was the only one yesterday to have a bad game. He’s had a poor start to this season.

This “let’s wait and see” and there’s no point in a forum we’re here to discuss City.

The point of the thread isn’t to dig out Rodri, it’s whether we’ve made a mistake signing Philips when we already had a decent backup in Lavia.

Ok, but Philips has hardly kicked a ball, so we can't judge how much better than Lavia he might be. We have to just wait and see.

We’ve spent £43m on a player that can’t even stay fit, and we’ve sold a promising 18 year old that is starting and doing well for another team in the Prem.

We bought an established PL player and England international and sold an untried young lad with no experience and for a decent fee as well
I get why we did this

But I also don’t understand why these promising young lads have barely been given minutes. Yesterday was a prime case in point and it has been repeated far too often over the past few years.

[Mase]

Philips is hardly Prem established Notts. He started 28 games in his first Prem season and only 18 last season because of injury.

Lavia was untried because, like you say, Pep won’t play them when he’s got the opportunity. Lavia was highly rated and we went with Komps opinion and signed him. We’ve done the same with Gomes apparently.

Edit: I wonder if Lavia was Spanish like Eric Garcia, he’d have been given the minutes..like Garcia was.

[Dunnylad]

Although I note he’s now out for 6 weeks

https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/ ... dates/amp/

I guess we cannot keep everyone happy and it opens up space for the next group of young players. Plus we bought Mr Whippy injured and there was probably a thread whinging about that signing at the time - let’s just see how it pans out over time

[blues2win]

The Club didn’t think Lavia was ready to start in a big PL or CL match if Rodri got injured. Phillips is an older more experienced player. Chucking in kids who aren’t ready can ruin their development. That’s not Pep’s way.

[Outcast]

Southampton 'rejected £50m deadline day offer from Chelsea for Romeo Lavia' - just TWO MONTHS after signing the 18-year-old Belgian from Manchester City for £14m

Would it have been better to keep Lavia and have him as a proper backup to Rodri, one we desperately need now, rather than sign Philips?

Rodri seems to be struggling so far this season, basic passes going missing and not breaking play up as he did last season.

I think we'll buy him back in a two years time once he's fully fledged. It's a bit hindsight, what if he didn't hit the ground running and Rodri gets injured? I'm sure they'll be uproar had we not strengthened. What if we sent him on loan and he turns into a dud and miss out on 14m? I can't say I'm against him going and getting regural game time to develop, if he becomes a gem, the buy back clause secures our asset.

[Mase]

The Club didn’t think Lavia was ready to start in a big PL or CL match if Rodri got injured. Phillips is an older more experienced player. Chucking in kids who aren’t ready can ruin their development. That’s not Pep’s way.

Southampton have chucked him in and he’s been fine. Perhaps some of the kids need 10 minutes here and there when we’re 5 up and then Pep will know if they’re good enough?

[nottsblue]

The Club didn’t think Lavia was ready to start in a big PL or CL match if Rodri got injured. Phillips is an older more experienced player. Chucking in kids who aren’t ready can ruin their development. That’s not Pep’s way.

Southampton have chucked him in and he’s been fine. Perhaps some of the kids need 10 minutes here and there when we’re 5 up and then Pep will know if they’re good enough?

Southampton aren't challenging for the title though. Very different pressure on him and his team mates

[Mase]

The Club didn’t think Lavia was ready to start in a big PL or CL match if Rodri got injured. Phillips is an older more experienced player. Chucking in kids who aren’t ready can ruin their development. That’s not Pep’s way.

Southampton have chucked him in and he’s been fine. Perhaps some of the kids need 10 minutes here and there when we’re 5 up and then Pep will know if they’re good enough?

Southampton aren't challenging for the title though. Very different pressure on him and his team mates

We’ve just played a team below Southampton though mate, and Rodri has stunk up that position, most likely because he’s knackered. A player that’s playing for a team higher than Villa wouldn’t be bad as a replacement.

[Mase]

I’m not writing Philips off (if he ever stays fit enough to play), but the only way we’ll know how good some of these kids are is giving them 10 when we’re smashing teams.

Like I say, Pep was happy to do it with Garcia..

[City64]

Phillips is a sick note

Fact .

[Mase]

Phillips is a sick note

Fact .

This is looking the case. Missed most of last season through injury. Had a separate shoulder issue that ruled him out for England and he seems to have fucked that again.

Shame because he looks like a tidy player when fit.

[nottsblue]

I’m not writing Philips off (if he ever stays fit enough to play), but the only way we’ll know how good some of these kids are is giving them 10 when we’re smashing teams.

Like I say, Pep was happy to do it with Garcia..

Whilst I wholeheartedly agree about giving young lads a taster for 10-15 minutes when the game us won, and I've been banging this drum for years as it happens, we don't learn much about what they are like under pressure in a big game.

The only way to do that is to play from the start. And that's where the problem lies in DM. Its a pivotal position in Peps system and we simply can't afford to chance a young kid in there. In this day and age if you lose even 3-4 PL games you'll struggle to win it. Clubs who aren't in the running for prizes can afford to play these players and give them a chance. Even when the rags were winning the PL most years you could afford to drop more points than you can now

[zuricity]

I don't think Rodri had a bad game yesterday and i don't think he is struggling . The Draw at Newcastle wasn't his fault neither was yesterday's draw.

Cancelo had a poor game yesterday , strangely enough at Newcastle he was poor.

Simple things make a win easier. what on earth walker was thinking instead of the cross to Erland was shocking, Make like so easy don't be greedy , think of the team , Oy you too Mahrez pass the ball. We still have not lost a game , a good start for once and we move on into the two games a week period , we should pull away soon. Against spuds we definitely should start Foden , Haarland and Alvares, with tin tin and bernardo alongside Rodri in midfield and go four at the back.

Save Gündo for after half time , even Jack for tat much needed panalty

[Mase]

Kalvin having surgery on his shoulder and “could miss the World Cup”. He shouldn’t even be thinking about the WC ffs! How about he gets his fitness sorted and actually plays a game for us first, you know…the club that’s paying him.

Huge mistake letting Lavia go and replacing him with this guy.