Your job is to back up your statement that we have great options in attack and midfield.
Effectively Bruno is the only senior attacking player who has performed at a level needed to do any better then we are doing.
Garnacho is in his breakout season and is playing so much because there are no other options.
Rashford has been off the boil all season , not sure you can Blame ETH for him going out on the piss, but he’s just not mentally right. Who is the wonderful attacking alternative to Rash ? Amad? Another player who is not used the EPL.
Hoijland joined injured and is also in a break out season in the EPL.
So that’s two forwards who are in their first proper season and a senior player whose form fell off a cliff. That’s 3 of our 4 most played , attacking players.
Where are all these attacking options you are talking about ? What other top teams are relying on players out of form or really having their first proper season in the league ?
Even in midfield we really need Mainoo, another player in their breakout season in the EPL. Casemiro, like Rashford , has looked like he’s tapped out. Two of our best performers in CM and attack from that season have effectively been redundant this season. So who are all the quality options available to ETH?
Implying ETH has a squad of top quality forward players is bollox. And don’t give me “but Anthony” sh*t, one bad signing shouldn’t be this much of a problem, a lot of you over play that card.
That’s not even looking at Defence which has been decimated all season.
There are good and fair criticisms of ETH and reasons for people to want him sacked, but implying he has a really strong squad of options this season is bollox.
Rashford was out top scorers last season, and has been available all of this season pretty much. If Ten Hag can't get him focused and performing for a full season then that is on him.
Bruno is Bruno. Plays every game, gives 100%. Best creator in the league and chips in with goals.
Garnacho has been great for us and would walk into most teams. Even the better teams would be giving him game time.
These are the options he chose to come into the season with, along with Hojlund and Antony. All have been available for a large number of games, so he's not done too bad in that regards. If Bruno had ever got injured then we'd have seen a real issue for him, because he is everything to this team. Without him there are no ideas at all through the way we play. Much like under Ole, Bruno is the brains of the team, because we don't play in a way to overwhelm opposition as a unit. It's just shit house long balls over the top and whip crosses in.
In midfield he's signed Eriksen, Casemiro, Amrabat and Mount, and has been lucky enough to have a top level talent come through the ranks in Mainoo. These have been supplemented with McTominay who has chipped in with goals and was wanted by West Ham, who are just below us in the table. Between all of them, I believe he could have put something together that worked.
Defensively we've had issues with injuries, but I believe that the likes of Maguire have performed well enough when relied upon. In fact, Dalot and Maguire have probably been amongst our best players this season. He also allowed Reguilon to leave, who I felt was doing a solid job at LB and has done well at Brentford, notching 4 assists in 12 and getting praise for his performances. Again, that's on the manager.
And the Antony thing is a bit of a joke no matter how you frame it. He worked with the guy for 2 years. You say Garnacho has played so much because "there are no other options", well what about his £80m signing that he recently said will be unstoppable for defences? Since he said that quote he's barely played the guy, instead benching him. If he truly believes he'll be that good then why isn't he tapping into that potential? Again, that's on the manager.