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re: Manchester City 2015-16 thread "The Pepectations are high"
Posted on 5/5/16 at 7:19 pm to Ryne Sandberg
Posted on 5/5/16 at 7:19 pm to Ryne Sandberg
Welcome Back, Ryno!
Never been called an OG before. Might have to crack open a 40...
Never been called an OG before. Might have to crack open a 40...
1
Posted on 5/5/16 at 10:38 pm to jturn17
quote:
The City Watch podcast absolutely destroys the team, and I have to say it's 100% deserved. They might have been too easy on them.
They're right and it was well deserved. I said from the minute we got through PSG that I was happy to be in the semis and against RM, I would be glad if we kept it close. After the first leg, I didn't expect us to win but I would have been pleased if we kept it under control and lost by a goal.
Instead we pull out that shite. Didn't try. Defense was great IMO. Fernando got a bad bounce but I can't put that on him. Clichy? Where the hell did that match come from. Bad communication on the "goal" but it takes two to tango. Dinho was solid. Overall, we were shite. NO support in the attack. Navas booted it into the box to....nobody? KDB was taken out of the game. Aguero the same and his deep play was shite. Sterling looked like a man on fire when he came on. Can't knock his performance. Every single time someone looked his way to even THINK about passing to him, they covered him like flies on shite. He tried but I don't expect Sterling to be able to dribble out of 3 man cover on the line. He got zero support.
Pep needs to make changes. I think Sterling can be solid under Pep's direct style, but we need a backup. Nasri can pull it off IMO. On the right wing, we're shite. Navas is only good because he does his job. He's so fricking average. SO average. He gets the ball, holds the ball, drives the ball up the pitch, and crosses to nobody. Nothing. He doesn't even let shite develop, he just boots it in. Not to put it all on him, but his crosses suck. He is heralded for doing an average fricking job. Apparently doing your job and not fricking up is admirable now. As a sub? Sure, great deal! As a starter? He provides dick outside of making our attack look not shite by getting the ball forward.
Midfield is fricked. Silva is glass. I love him, but we can't rely on Silva. We need threats. So often our attack is Silva/KDB and Aguero. You shut down one of those and we're fricked. Dinho does a good job. Plays hard and is the antithesis of Yaya without the skill. Solid player, but he's a really good backup. Nando has done well in spurts. Yaya is past it. If you consider KDB a mid, which is where I think he's best, then you have one world class player, one that can't stay fit but is arguably world class, and a bunch of meh. That gives you dick behind an attacking mid. Dinho is 31. Fernando has been wildly inconsistent. Our midfield is really lacking.
Defense? We've relied on:
-Kolarov - shite. Played well with Sterling early but quickly went to shite.
-Clichy - No complaints. Played a GREAT game yesterday IMO and has been really solid when healthy.
-Zaba - Great player for the club but his best days are probably behind him and he's dropped off this year.
-Sagna - Good at times last season but his bad outweighed his good. Can't complain this year. He's been great...but he's 33.
-Otamendi - He has had his moments this year, especially yesterday, but pretty inconsistent. In form lately.
-Mangala - WILDLY inconsistent. He's had his moments but IDK if I trust him.
-Kompany - When healthy he's one of the world's best. That's the problem though, he's never fit.
-Demichelis -
Hart has stood out this season. He has had some mistakes but my GOD he has made some saves this year. He might not be a "Pep GK" but GK is the absolute last of my worries. We'll clearly need a backup with Wright and Cabs (likely) gone.
Out:
-Navas
-Fernando
-Kolarov
-Zaba or Sagna. I would prefer Zaba I think. Sagna stays fit and has been so solid this season. Zaba, even when not injured, has shown his age. It is catching up with him. I think Zaba fits Pep more...but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go.
-MDM is gone. Contract up.
-Yaya he has no place here any more. I've tried to defend due to his "yaya moments" where he takes a game over but I can't any more.
=Nando for Gundogan. I get the vibe he wants to be "the guy". I could see him moving. If it comes to him or Dinho...bye.
-Bony is shite. At first he looked to at least be giving a shite. Now he does nothing but run up top and get pissed when the ball isn't placed perfectly for him. Nacho takes his spot. I worry about going into the season with an oft-injured Kun and a 19-year old but Bony has to go regardless. Call up someone from the EDS or something instead of Bony. You can't defend him anymore.
Who I want:
-Gundogan - he's a better and more cerebral Dinho. I've only seen a handful of his matches this season but that's my opinion.
-Laporte - Otamendi, Vinny, Laporte, Denayer. That gives you 3 known capable players and one guy that can fill in centrally or on the right.
-Gaya - Chelsea and City have popped up. I think he could be an upgrade. Him ORRRRR...
-Ricardo Rodriguez - Again I haven't seen a ton of him but I have seen, I like. He's like a better Kolarov with some defensive play.
-Pogba - Isn't going to happen but I wouldn't mind.
-Dembele - Same as above. Haven't seen a ton but from what I've read he is versatile. We need a gamechanger on the wings. He could be it.
-Denayer - Screw it. Put him in the rotation.
This post was edited on 5/5/16 at 10:56 pm
Posted on 5/5/16 at 11:29 pm to Srbtiger06
quote:Have you watched the rest of the team? His teammates can't even do their jobs.
Apparently doing your job and not fricking up is admirable now
I HAVE to think Sterling couldn't play the whole game. Going Sterling/KDB/Navas or, if we HAVE to play Yaya, then Sterling/KDB/Fernandinho. The only good attack the team had all game was when KDB linked up with Fernandinho. KDB has to play in the middle. He's our best player. Playing Yaya in that role, when he's been awful in that position every time this year, was just braindead. I do not understand why it takes Pellegrini 10 times of something not working for him to be like, "you know maybe we could do better."
If Sterling wasn't healthy, we should have just said frick it, 442, especially if we weren't even going to attempt to press and gain possession. Go complete counterattacking. I'm just still disappointed with this entire season. It could have gone so much differently.
I have one last thought on Bony before he leaves this club in 2 months. I was so excited for that Bony transfer. He was a perfect fit for this team. Over the 1.5 years he's been here, the only time I saw him look like the player from Swansea was for about 10 minutes in the 2nd half of the Southampton game. It's like he forget he was playing for City. He actually sprinted to get to a pass. He started moving. He linked up a bit. I was blown away for a bit. Then it completely stopped, and he was the same jog around the pitch, lose out on the header target man he's been for the 1.5 years. He's made me lonesome for Dzeko, which makes me dislike Bony even more.
Posted on 5/5/16 at 11:40 pm to Srbtiger06
I end up watching City quite a bit due to my gf and a friend who bartends around our apartment on weekends being big fans.
Reading through the posts where a few of you pinpoint a lot of roster issues confirms the feeling that I have really no idea what to expect from City's summer market.
There's hardly 4 or 5 regular players who don't seem to fall into one of these categories:
1) aging into 30s and losing form or a big injury question mark
2) really not quite good enough in the first place
4) not the best fit for Guardiola eventually
Not to say City is in that bad of shape short term since the vast majority of players on the roster are certainly still good enough to keep City in a CL spot and get through a CL group at least.
However, that such a complete roster overhaul will happen over the next 2 years makes it hard to guess which ones are going to be moved right away and which ones may be around for one more season.
I'd guess though that Pep looks at City and immediately sees the main issue as midfield, midfield and then midfield.
It's really been where City is a step off the elite clubs for a long time and with Yaya having seemingly retired this past summer it's not just against the top clubs anymore that the midfield often looks far too weak for City's ambitions.
This may come off badly in a City thread but I think City got a bit lucky that PSG were missing so many starting midfielders over the two legs just to get into the semis.
Not to say that the summer isn't going to bring a couple of fullbacks, another CB and likely a couple of different attacking options as well but just that midfield is the most crucial area.
Gundogan seems to be an odds on favorite and will most likely help a great deal. I guess he can play all over the midfield but I'm not sure he's really the anchoring DM (Busquets, Alonso) for Guardiola?
Seems that an elite DM has been eluding City since Mancini was trying to buy De Rossi 5 years ago.
Not sure who is available that fits the profile?? but I'd be surprised if it isn't the most studied move for the ex-Barca front office guys and Guardiola.
Reading through the posts where a few of you pinpoint a lot of roster issues confirms the feeling that I have really no idea what to expect from City's summer market.
There's hardly 4 or 5 regular players who don't seem to fall into one of these categories:
1) aging into 30s and losing form or a big injury question mark
2) really not quite good enough in the first place
4) not the best fit for Guardiola eventually
Not to say City is in that bad of shape short term since the vast majority of players on the roster are certainly still good enough to keep City in a CL spot and get through a CL group at least.
However, that such a complete roster overhaul will happen over the next 2 years makes it hard to guess which ones are going to be moved right away and which ones may be around for one more season.
I'd guess though that Pep looks at City and immediately sees the main issue as midfield, midfield and then midfield.
It's really been where City is a step off the elite clubs for a long time and with Yaya having seemingly retired this past summer it's not just against the top clubs anymore that the midfield often looks far too weak for City's ambitions.
This may come off badly in a City thread but I think City got a bit lucky that PSG were missing so many starting midfielders over the two legs just to get into the semis.
Not to say that the summer isn't going to bring a couple of fullbacks, another CB and likely a couple of different attacking options as well but just that midfield is the most crucial area.
Gundogan seems to be an odds on favorite and will most likely help a great deal. I guess he can play all over the midfield but I'm not sure he's really the anchoring DM (Busquets, Alonso) for Guardiola?
Seems that an elite DM has been eluding City since Mancini was trying to buy De Rossi 5 years ago.
Not sure who is available that fits the profile?? but I'd be surprised if it isn't the most studied move for the ex-Barca front office guys and Guardiola.
Posted on 5/6/16 at 8:07 am to Srbtiger06
quote:
BREAKING NEWS: Borussia Dortmund's Ilkay Gundogan out for months with knee injury, misses Euro 2016 with Germany.
Cheaper??
Posted on 5/6/16 at 10:10 am to wm72
quote:
This may come off badly in a City thread but I think City got a bit lucky that PSG were missing so many starting midfielders over the two legs just to get into the semis.
Verratti was the only midfielder missing for PSG.
Matuidi, Lucas, Rabiot and the rest of the gang were all there. It's not our fault Matuidi missed the second leg due to a booking.
Apart from that, pretty solid insight.
This post was edited on 5/6/16 at 10:12 am
Posted on 5/6/16 at 11:22 am to McCaigBro69
quote:
Verratti was the only midfielder missing for PSG.
Verratti is pretty important to be missing both legs.
Then you add Matuidi being out for the second leg and then Motta having to be taken off with an injury just before half.
Also, Luiz was also already out and he would have been moved into DM. That's 4 of the 5 players PSG usually plays in the two deeper midfield positions.
They even surprisingly experimented with three at the back due to the missing midfield options and desperately had Marquinhos playing DM.
I'm not implying it was City's "fault" or that they didn't "deserve" to advance. Merely that it is also very fortunate that midfield -- mainly Verratti and Matuidi -- which has been the engine of every elite performance I've seen from PSG for two seasons was in disarray due to injury/suspension when dealing with elite midfields has been City's achilles heel. . .
This post was edited on 5/6/16 at 12:21 pm
Posted on 5/6/16 at 11:58 am to Srbtiger06
quote:
Silva is glass. I love him, but we can't rely on Silva
*insert Kompanys name here*
Posted on 5/6/16 at 2:08 pm to wm72
You didn't and aren't saying anything I don't agree with. I don't know if it would have made the difference as it was apparent City felt they could play with PSG (unlike Real, obviously), but Verratti being out was a big boost for City imo. I'd love to have a player like him in City's team, and he was a big miss for PSG.
I really do hope the Stones/Laporte links are just bs. I don't want to spent 80-100m pounds on CBs again when we need to spend 100m pounds on legitimate midfielders.
I really do hope the Stones/Laporte links are just bs. I don't want to spent 80-100m pounds on CBs again when we need to spend 100m pounds on legitimate midfielders.
Posted on 5/6/16 at 9:22 pm to jturn17
quote:
I really do hope the Stones/Laporte links are just bs. I don't want to spent 80-100m pounds on CBs again when we need to spend 100m pounds on legitimate midfielders.
Yeah, I don't really follow closely enough to know exactly how much City can spend without running afoul of FFP but unless they're spending 200m I completely agree.
Maybe they have reached out to both Laporte and Stones but only plan to buy one this summer.
I do think that Guardiola would be among the first to focus on midfield balance though.
City may also have a bit of an issue moving many of the surplus players for immediate FFP help. A lot of those guys around 30yo are going to force moves to Spain and Italy to CL level clubs like Dzeko did. City is then dealing with poor neighbors like AS Roma paying them half price on five year plans since they're taking on those massive salaries.
Not sure if there's some youth players or loaned players City will sell to help with FFP like Chelsea does.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the market for City and then how Guardiola adjusts to having some pieces that may not be ideal since we've never seen him in that position at Barca or Bayern.
Posted on 5/6/16 at 9:46 pm to LuckySo-n-So
Posted on 5/8/16 at 12:26 pm to Dandy Lion
COYI
Posted on 5/8/16 at 3:01 pm to wm72
quote:
Yeah, I don't really follow closely enough to know exactly how much City can spend without running afoul of FFP but unless they're spending 200m I completely agree.
FFP is much more relaxed than it was now. We've been good on the revenue side so we should be able to spend whatever we want this off-season, especially with the new TV money coming in soon and the run we had in the UCL revenue.
This post was edited on 5/8/16 at 3:02 pm
Posted on 5/8/16 at 11:13 pm to jturn17
quote:
Have you watched the rest of the team? His teammates can't even do their jobs.
I have, but Navas isn't doing much. His skillset doesn't fit this squad.
Teammates be damned, he doesn't fit. His game has been get the ball, run forward, and cross. The box could be empty but he'll still try to play a crap pass to whoever he thinks he has seen.
Posted on 5/12/16 at 6:15 pm to Srbtiger06
It's Yaya's birthday. Maybe if they don't get him a cake it will be easier to get him to move this summer.
Posted on 5/16/16 at 6:42 pm to BlueMoon
Posted on 5/19/16 at 12:12 pm to Caplewood
With Richard Wright announcing his retirement from the side earlier this week, I thought this would be appropriate. It was pulled from the subreddit.
Also, there are mumblings that Pep has made his first purchase and the announcement will be coming in the next few days with the player supposedly Leroy Sane.
Won't believe until I see it. Do want, though.
Also, there are mumblings that Pep has made his first purchase and the announcement will be coming in the next few days with the player supposedly Leroy Sane.
Won't believe until I see it. Do want, though.
Posted on 5/19/16 at 4:39 pm to McCaigBro69
what is the point of that comparison?
Posted on 5/19/16 at 7:19 pm to McCaigBro69
Haven't seen much of Sane but if Pep likes him then sign him up. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Gundogan. He was considered a lock and I was really excited about him. That knee injury could wreck his career.
Posted on 5/19/16 at 7:21 pm to Srbtiger06
quote:He's fun to play with on Fifa! And that completes my Sane knowledge.
Haven't seen much of Sane but if Pep likes him then sign him up
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