Just watched a David Silva comp and realised exactly what we're missing this season. His ability to drag defenders till the last moment before releasing a pass is so unique that no other player in our squad possesses that. We also miss his effective pressing.

He was so effective in the press and in holding the ball higher up the pitch that we could just suffocate teams in their own half of the pitch for majority matches.

Losing David is another reason behind why Pep is using a double pivot. Since we don't have a player that can hold the ball higher up the pitch. Pep is actually trying to push De Bruyne much further at times while maintaining a Gundo, Rodri pivot in deeper areas to control play.

What it has effectively done is we lack the cutting edge in the final third and we've become way too reliant on Kevin to create something from nothing.

We used to be a passing side with great penetration and progression till last season. Now we rely more on dynamism and speed. And it's not surprising that we've failed to beat teams with low blocks because passing and movement is the foremost weapon to break low blocks...

and we lack exactly that with El Mago gone. Now most of us think Phil could take the Silva role but it's not true. He has a very different set of abilities to what David had. Foden is more of a dynamic midfielder who loves to run with the ball into defenses rather than holding..

the ball in the final third and playing delayed passes. Noone in our squad can actually play that role. We effectively need to sign David's replacement, that is, a player who could hold the ball in the final third, drags out defenders, plays less riskier passes than Kev or Phil.

Thread over..
I would definitely want to know who do you think is a young player capable of doing exactly that.