Ok. Remember the 2019 Colchester game under Poch? Who played? Dier, Sanchez, Davies.
I’ve just plucked that travesty of a game from memory and that was coming up for 4 years ago! Two of those are still regular first team players (Davies has made 26 appearances and played more minutes than Lenglet so hardly a bench warmer).
Last season Dier (and Davies) played well. One season. One. Out of … how many years has he been with us? He was shite before that - possibly thanks to his appendix situation - and shite since. What’s he still doing getting first team minutes? He should be on the bench. But, of course, there’s nobody who can really replace him because we didn’t get a CB in to challenge him.
And Sanchez, rarely a first choice. When he stood in for Toby (was it?) in his first season he did a good job. I thought he was a good acquisition. Since then, he’s had the odd good game - including a four game run at the end of last season - but otherwise has been the very definition of mediocre. Costs us points when he slides around like a pissed foal. Why is he still here?
We have players on our books who should have been moved on long ago but are still here. Why? Incompetence, stubbornness, short-sightedness and a dislike of losing money on players who should not have been purchased for the sums we paid if we can’t handle them failing. Yes, the latter fact is a product of hindsight, but it’s football and ultimately a gamble. If you’re wrong, you have to take the hit and move the players on or you stagnate. And that’s exactly what’s happened.