Morning all
The squad should be 100% fit by next weekend and even Izzy will have had over a week getting Bielsa'd on top of his 3 weeks full training back at Chelsea. Phil Hay reckons it will be next month before we see him, and thats fair enough. It does seem however that he will be playing a key role for us this season as he will be the main cover for when/if Saiz form dips or gets injured and he is also the man to replace Pablo if/when he needs a rest. Izzy is seen as a creative attacking midfielder who can play out wide, in the middle or even up top. Seems to be shrewd planning gone into this as we may not see him in full flow until after Xmas when we know our form can drop.
Another new member coming back is Forshaw and he will be ready for next weekend, but he sits behind Klich and waits for his form to drop or get injured. He can also slot into Phillips role if required but it seems Bielsa has Klich lined up for that with Forshaw replacing Klich because Bielsa sees AF as an attacking midfielder not a holding MF as he played at Boro. Bielsa looked at Forshaws games for Brentford where he scored goals and created. Love the way Bielsa thinks - the game is offence, offence, offence and get the ball back fast when lost it and go on the offence again. Defenders are not defenders as we know it they are offence creators.