"We can't risk playing someone" to the detriment of the team.
Utter drivel.
No.
"We cant risk playing someone as it may be to the detriment of the entire club".
I see where you’re coming from Zat, but, Benitez could and should have not given the fans this particular stick to beat him with, simply by playing a back 4 and playing Godfrey left back. By going with a back 3 he was playing a system which suits Digne more than just about any other player at the club. Putting Digne on the bench and refusing to bring him on just made a bad situation worse.
If Benitez has, in his wisdom, decided that Digne needs to go and he is, as you say, frightened to risk him being injured, surely the best course of action would have been to leave him out of the squad altogether and let the fans and the press draw there own conclusions as to the reason.
Weve seen Digne perform poorly as a wing back many times. In theory he should be great there but hes far better as an attacking full back.
The simplistic view (which im taking) is that theres been a row and weve signed a replacement.
Other teams are now asking for Digne on the cheap while Benitez sticks him on the bench as if hes 'part of the squad'.
Whats clear (in my simplistic view) is that theres no way Digne can be risked.
Not when weve signed his replacement, are about to sign another full back...and need the sale to improve our FFP anyway.
Im amazed anyone thought Digne would even get on the pitch.
If our purchases for Mykolenko and Patterson are totally funded by an anticipated sale of Digne, then it is not utter drivel. It is just sadly the reality of our situation that has been many seasons in the making. Digne was probably on the bench with an understanding that he would only come on if we suffered injuries in defence. He will absolutely not be risked in a highly intense Premier League match if we are making £25m worth of purchases that we have only been able to allocate funds towards by selling Digne.
We are already up the creek enough as it is, and we are probably in a situation that we'll only get out of this mess by selling either DcL or Richarlison in the summer. It's incredibly frustrating, but we only have ourselves to blame.
Spot on.
Although, the way FFP works we could just sell a few squad players and we wouldnt need to make a big sale.
E.g Digne, Mina, Holgate, Keane all move for £65mil+ now and summer and we should be positive for 2 out of 3 FFP seasons....plus have a decent amount of money to spend.
We used two subs the other day and had Godfrey at left-back when we were 3-2 down at home to Brighton, suffering our 10th defeat of the last 14 games.
No correlation whatsoever.
Im bewildered that you thought Digne would play.
It would be one of the most shocking things ive seen in football if Digne plays the next game.
It would be madness.
Looks like we will recoup the money for Patterson and mykalenko by selling Digne and holgate
We're going to be down £5.5mil on FFP for the 2 full backs...Digne+Holgate probably bring in £35mil.
So we would be around £30mil up on the FFP front.
Holgate should be sold as soon as possible. Anything over 5m is a good deal for us.
I think we need to see £20mil for Holgate and Keane combined. Then £15-20mil for Mina.
I know at this point it's firmly established that our squad incredibly lackluster, but I still find it shocking that it's so woefully deficient. We seriously need at least three more players beyond the two defensive backs. A definitive defensive Midfielder is crucial as Allan is ultimately a box to box Midfielder with diminished mobility, another CB that isnt a calamity and provide some guidance and leadership on the pitch in regards to the youth, a winger or advanced playmaker is required as well. The rottenness of the squad just demonstrates how inept the ownership has been
For this window i think we just need to make sure we bring players in that will stop us leaking goals and add some semblance of football ability.
2 full backs
1 centre back
1 defensive midfielder
All of them u23, able to make an impact now and have high upside.
