He has been great in the last few games, but being an older player, he can only last 60 mins or so at the same intensity. And when we have to sub him... after Gavi's long term injury, the drop in quality is pretty big to likes of Fermin and Romeu.
Pedri, De Jong and Gundogan can produce nice stuff. Other than them atm... don't have options. Roberto could be decent from the bench if fit. That's about it. I'm talking about games vs serious teams, not some Cadiz or Almeria match. Fermin and Romeu should do the job vs these types of sides.
Similar to Kroos, and Modric to some extent. Still a good player but a bit past it physically.