He's important.
Look I like Toby a lot but this is an example of correlation not necessarily equalling causation. We have not lost points because we have been poor defensively yesterday aside, but because we can't score. He played in the loss to Monaco of course so it's not like his presence significantly improved our performances in the Champions League. Unless you are making the point that not having Alderweireld affects us in attack I think it is just that our loss of form coincides with him being out rather than because he is out.
They said that he got a knock on the nerve outside his knee, and it is a strange injury... certainly is! Surely if getting a knock on the knee can damage a nerve, it would happen every week to someone.
Dunno. He's already had one setback that's delayed his return, and might yet have another.
We do need him, though. We're nothing without him, absolutely nothing - our team is a hollow shambles when he isn't around, as we're discovering to our dismay.
The entire side knits together when he's around. He instructs the defense, and they all grow brains because he's on the pitch. Lloris doesn't need to be as risky with his passing, and we keep possession more.The defensive midfielders can get a bit further forward, because he's at the back sorting things. That means the attacking midfielders can push further up, confident that they're free to create and press as high as possible. And the strikers can feed off the pinpoint long balls he plays, so they make those runs more than they otherwise would.
The team as a whole grows into a different, actually capable beast when he plays. Without him, the pack of cards collapses with alarming regularity.
