Do you think "making do" is going to put more pressure on the likes of Kane and Alli, who have hardly had a break over the last couple of years, won't they and others have to play more games over the season?
I know that we tend to balance the books at the end of the transfer windows, but this might be a bit risky this time as others are spending and strengthening heavily.
Not sure its making do, probably a couple of things (personally I think we are light)
- Poch prefers to have a team spirit over options. Bench players have to be pushing for 1st team spot (e.g. Wimmer/Janssen/Winks) or comfortable as backup (Vorm).
- Due to the makeup of our team (under 25), I think we can expect fringe players to move on quickly (the Mason's/Carroll's/N'Jie's of the world should not spend more than a season or two on the bench), because our fringe is good enough to be starters at a lot of clubs.
Balance the books is an odd one, so many people focus on the net spend or stadium costs as some kind of barrier. The club income has gone up significantly and we have line of sight to more revenue still (CL, larger stadium, etc.)
The thing we don't know is, what is the club goals this season
- Cheat$ki/City/Manure have spent stupid money to strengthen squads that were already significantly better than ours.
- Scum & Pool have also made purchases, likely better than last season.
Do we try to spend a bit extra (knowing what those clubs have done), or do we continue to invest in right long term investments, with club/coach all being on same page that a 5th/6th place finish will not be a disaster or viewed as "bad" result as long as other signs of progress are made?
Re Kane/Alli, think Janssen helps, to me he should rotate between those two. We are short a goal scoring midfield option (Chadli out), but short answer = yes, they get playing time (more than they would have seen at almost any other similar level club), but the expectation to deliver is there.