Yea, I see your point but it is bit off mark.
There never was 25 man team.
Replacing Janssen and N'Koudou has absolutely 0 effect. They were "in squad" but racked up smth like 100 minutes combined. Losing them has 0 effect, they were not trusted even at worst of the injury issues. Same goes for Vorm as well (who did not play after Gazzaniga took the 2nd gk place). That is 3 players with absolutely 0 effect actually.
Adding Wanyama to this list is also relevant as he played like 800 minutes alltogether.
So 1 player sold does not mean 1 equal squad member lost. Very far from it.
I mean it is by no mean relevant to compare losing Janssen, N'Koudou and Vorm to losing Kane, Son and Hugo despite both of the lists comprise of 3 players.
Though I agree that should we let Eriksen, Toby and Rose all go (after Tripps already left) that would mean the need to replace 4 REAL squad members (which is a lot).
Correct there never, effectively, was a 25 man squad. Which is the whole bloody point! We saw the devasting effect of that as injuries took its toll, and we were scraping and holding on for dear life.
We should be moving towards 25 viable options, not moving away from it by shifting anyone who hasn't been complete top marks for a period. Given we have plenty of deadwood to shift, plus a few unwanted uncertainties, we should leave well enough alone with anyone who potentially contributes positively on and off the field, ie. Lamela for instance. For the time being.
What do you believe Poch is doing when he repeatedly speaks of wanting to work with 25? Just trying to mindfuck Levy and us?
Janssen, N'Koudou, and Vorm has zero impact in terms of on the pitch, correct. The issue isn't that we need to replace them with world beaters and we're unable to do so. We just need to replace with people adequately better that they can contribute consistently (and more than 100 minutes). Rather the issue is that it does count towards the number of new faces to be integrated in the squad. And that has real effect, no matter fuck all minutes on the actual field of play.
Unless you can reason on the above question that Poch is just messing with us, when he says 25 again and again, then they WILL be replaced. By signings or youngsters integrated fully, we'll see, but they will be.
So my point stands, that there'll be 7-9 new faces for Sonny to do his handshakes with at breakfast. 8-10 and counting if we want to go your route and send Lamela packing. I'll take 7-9 and say that's already a huuuuge risk with a strong group dynamic.
To be completely clear, since you started talking about contribution and this possibly means we're talking about different things. My issue is NOT whether we would be able to sign 10+ players. We might. Who knows how many names Poch has down. My issue is solely the problem of integrating that many new players. That's a very real issue that has nothing to do with Janssen being crap and doing nothing in two years.
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