Also - where is Mateta?
Not shown as injured and yet didn't make the bench?

Was just watching REF watch there , Dermot Gallagher said that the refs veiw must have been shielded saw Tompkins arm coming up and that cvnt Mitrovic going down clutching his face , his arm was clearly no-where near his face .The Ref knew what he was doing also because by showing the yellow first VAR couldnt get involved as they can only get involved in straight reds . both commentators said no way a yellow . Should their players not have been punished for surrounding the Ref ? I could see within the first 3 mins of the match the Ref was going to do a Kevin Friend on us . We were still in it with 10 men and actually thought we played better with the 10. We seriously need a leader in midfield some-one like Luka in his prime or the Jedi but even with that we need a non_bias Ref . Im not wettig my pants or any of that s***e that a few come out with on here ! Im just not sure about PV or the players we have. I think Steve is looking at our squad with rose coloured galasses and should be more ruthless and move on a few ageing players .

I think most of the contributors to this thread recognise the concern is not in relation to yesterday’s performance in isolation.
We are too easy to play against and lack bite and competitiveness all over the field.
I’m as pleased as anybody about the emergence of younger players.
However, if you take a cold objective review of their contributions this season the following observations could be made;

Mitchell has looked off the pace since his England call up and injuries , and he doesn’t warrant being an automatic starter at present

Eze started the season well but has gone off the boil and his lack of goals and assists together with his minimal contribution out of possession mean it’s difficult to justify his being an automatic starter

Olise looked a real talent last season but this season his contribution has been at best sporadic with a lack of goals and assists.

These players all have potential, but that’s not enough to get you results on a consistent basis.
We are crying out for more experience and leadership and it’s unfair to expect the young players to dig us out of a hole.
We’re still far too reliant on Wilf and Kouyate, McArthur and Gallagher are huge voids in midfield.
I really hope we bring in some more experience and know how this window.

Perhaps it is just "corporate speak" whereby the man at the top talks things up even if underneath it he is fully aware of the deficiencies. I hope that is the case.

The big thing lacking is not experience, but money. Its HUGE. I have not heard anything from our American majority shareholders to suggest its there.
Football these days is ALL about money. Look at Man City, then Newcastle. Says it all.
What we need is a very big investor with deep pockets. We just need to find them. Following the World Cup, there will be more Arabs taking a look and we must be a rosey target. Great set up now with the academy, an amazing new stand approved and ready to go, and above all a fantastic following of very loud young fans.
Harris and Blitzer are ready to depart judging by their interest originally in Chelsea and now in Liverpool. Dexter is a bit of a dark horse, he has some big wheeling partners, but it sounds like they are keener on building a chain of clubs rather than short term funding to deliver what we need right now.
This window should rustle them out or not. But cash is the big thing. Nobody is building clubs on thin air anymore.

Yes they do,Fulham had two USA players in their side who England struggled against.Four others who went to the World Cup to our two, so our squad is not superior and yes they have all of the attributes you have listed as well.I get fed up with so called experts bigging up our squad when half of them are only Championship standard.!!