Its a reason not an excuse. Anybody with eyes can see that our starting eleven is very strong and also that when it is in any way diminished we have very poor quality in place which makes a 38 game season plus Europe very difficult. Its not a convoluted or biased take, its simple and plain to see that without enormous luck in terms of fitness we will be struggling over a long season with our current squad.
In defence our reserve options are dalot, bailly and Jones (never fit) and Williams.
In midfield Fred and Mctominay are a very capable base to back up matic but in the absence of pogba or fernandes we are looking at lingard and mata.
In attack we turn to ighalo and James.
I don't see why this obvious lack of quality on our bench is such a laughable concept that can only be an 'excuse'. Its a legitimate worry.
Is the first eleven "very strong" though? Feel that is an exaggeration, strong in terms of what, competing for the top four, title, Europe?
This season gone our first eleven includes a keeper making huge errors more often than acceptable, a left back still spending a lot of time injured, a centre back that many want replaced, the worlds most expensive centre back that has been merely decent, a right back that apparently has no ability going forward, a defensive midfielder that is ageing and looked dead just a season ago, a toxic central midfielder that is inconsistant, a left winger that is inconsistant, a right winger that is really a striker longer term and still a teenager and a striker that after several years is only startin gto show consistency and still not considered a natural goalscorer.
Now the above is what I hear time and time again on here, they are not my opinions though I do agree with a few of them. Our first eleven is for me still 2/3 players short at least for a side to compete for major trophies, let alone the weaknesses behind it within a large squad. We are moving in the right direction in terms of the football we are trying to play and the performances, but I wouldnt agree the first eleven is strong, certainyl not in terms of consistency. I think the Fernandes effect has blinded some people, when his form dropped the last few games, so did ours, one players performances shouldnt be making that much of a difference, as good as he has been we are not talkign about Messi or Ronaldo here.
What I would say, even with the first eleven, inconsistency performance wise is a problem and THAT may well be due to the weakness of the players behind them. There is currently little to no competition for any of the front four players, Matic or our two centre backs