I think our most important player right now, and therefore most irreplaceable, is Pablo
It wouldn't surprise me to see nearly all 7 of the youth backups in the 18 vs Millwall, so many unavailable players for this fixture
Which was my worry at start of season. What will this squad do once the injures and suspensions start mounting up. We are basically without Pablo, Roofe, Bamford, Brown (I know he hasn't played yet but he will be a big player for us) and Berardi for a month at least as all their injuries are 3 weeks or more. Add say Saiz, Jansson or Cooper to that and we are really going to be fecked.
Feckn nightmare. 5hite timing. 5hite luck.
Lose 2 more seniors and we are then officially too short on experienced numbers
The shack attack kid is also out now
to be absolutely honest I'm still not convinced Bamford is a good fit for 'Bielsa ball', he just doesn't look to have the mobility which Roofe gives us, from everything I've seen he looks like the type of forward who plays best with a partner i.e. two up front, so I'm really hoping Roberts will prove to be more of a like for like replacement. But I think we'll still really miss the runs Roofe has been making in previous games.
Hernandez is a huge hole which Harrison definitely does not fill. It was obvious against Boro that we struggled to play that fast forward passing game, and whilst I'm not blaming Harrison entirely for that, he's much more of a conventional winger than Pablo, so doesn't provide the same 'roaming the pitch linking play' influence. But I'm not sure we have any better alternative unfortunately.
Berardi - not so worried because I think Jansson has looked at least as effective overall, what he might lack in terms of playing out from the back he more than makes up for in terms of actual defensive play, so might even make us stronger defensively, which could be a good thing against Millwall.
Also Bielsa has had two weeks to improve the integration of the likes of Roberts, Jansson and the other squad players into the style of play of the first 11, so hopefully we'll see that today. Nevertheless, still more hoping than expecting this afternoon, which is the first time I've felt that this season since the Derby game.