blueparrot
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They are still building.
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Pre-season preparations (merged)
- Thread starter HolisticJim
- Start date
FromPollockToSilva
Well-Known Member
It is perhaps worth noting that both Chelsea and Barcelona played all their pre-season friendlies within Europe last summer. They won a fair few trophies between them last season. However, without looking more extensively into the pre-season schedules of various big teams over the last few seasons, you can't really make a strong argument for causation...
tiggsywiggsywoo
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I don't see any preparations yet. Missing players injuries and unachieved transfer targets. No I'm hardly convinced we will be prepared.
BlueAnorak
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Squad wise we have acquired Sterling who is a great talent and gives us the ability to counter attack at real pace. We have also strengthened Left/Central/Defensive midfield with the acquisition of Delph. Sterling and Delph will more than make up for the loss of Milner.
That said there are still glaring weaknesses in the squad. YaYa is no longer good enough defensively to play in a defensive midfield 2. Yes he could play in a three with Delph and Fernadinho but that limits our options further up the pitch - so without Pogba our central midfield is still not strong enough to compete with Chelsea.
Ya Ya has to be pushed up the pitch without having to help out in defence as a number one priority.
Navas lost the ability to shoot or cross it in the second half of last season and Nasri fails to put a shift in against the better teams (e.g. Barca), so we need better. De Bruyne would be a great addition here. In fact if we get De Bruyne I can't see the point of keeping Nasri - except as a squad player - and would he be happy with that?
The problem at Left back has not been addressed. Chiche can defend - Kolarov can attack. But each has problems performing the other task. Neither has the problem at Right back been sorted - where Sagna although a very good defender can't overlap for toffee.
Mangala looked good at the end of last season and behind Delph will not get into the problems he had covering left back and centre half positions. I think he will be good this season.
Bottom line is we need Pogba and De Bruyne (or equally good equivalents) or our season will probably end up disappointing.
That said there are still glaring weaknesses in the squad. YaYa is no longer good enough defensively to play in a defensive midfield 2. Yes he could play in a three with Delph and Fernadinho but that limits our options further up the pitch - so without Pogba our central midfield is still not strong enough to compete with Chelsea.
Ya Ya has to be pushed up the pitch without having to help out in defence as a number one priority.
Navas lost the ability to shoot or cross it in the second half of last season and Nasri fails to put a shift in against the better teams (e.g. Barca), so we need better. De Bruyne would be a great addition here. In fact if we get De Bruyne I can't see the point of keeping Nasri - except as a squad player - and would he be happy with that?
The problem at Left back has not been addressed. Chiche can defend - Kolarov can attack. But each has problems performing the other task. Neither has the problem at Right back been sorted - where Sagna although a very good defender can't overlap for toffee.
Mangala looked good at the end of last season and behind Delph will not get into the problems he had covering left back and centre half positions. I think he will be good this season.
Bottom line is we need Pogba and De Bruyne (or equally good equivalents) or our season will probably end up disappointing.
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Will the game tmoro be on our official site?
Personally think what arsenal have done with the Emirates cup is genius
Getting use to your home pitch all the players getting settled and no jet lag or anything for the start of the season and can stay fresh, definately something we should look at doing
Personally think what arsenal have done with the Emirates cup is genius
Getting use to your home pitch all the players getting settled and no jet lag or anything for the start of the season and can stay fresh, definately something we should look at doing
I partly agree but question how Pogba and de Bruyne would solve the left back problem. There are several weeks to go before the end of the summer transfer window, ideally we would have completed our business by now but football doesn't work like that. This jury is out until early September, let Arsenal live in fantasy land a bit longer. ;-)
birchwoodgingerste
Well-Known Member
Squad wise we have acquired Sterling who is a great talent and gives us the ability to counter attack at real pace. We have also strengthened Left/Central/Defensive midfield with the acquisition of Delph. Sterling and Delph will more than make up for the loss of Milner.
That said there are still glaring weaknesses in the squad. YaYa is no longer good enough defensively to play in a defensive midfield 2. Yes he could play in a three with Delph and Fernadinho but that limits our options further up the pitch - so without Pogba our central midfield is still not strong enough to compete with Chelsea.
Ya Ya has to be pushed up the pitch without having to support attacks with a more limited defensive role.
Navas lost the ability to shoot or cross it in the second half of last season and Nasri fails to put a shift in against the better teams (e.g. Barca), so we need better. De Bruyne would be a great addition here. In fact if we get De Bruyne I can't see the point of keeping Nasri - except as a squad player - and would he be happy with that?
The problem at Left back has not been addressed. Chiche can defend - Kolarov can attack. But each has problems performing the other task. Neither has the problem at Right back been sorted - where Sagna although a very good defender can't overlap for toffee.
Mangala looked good at the end of last season and behind Delph will not get into the problems he had covering left back and centre half positions. I think he will be good this season.
Bottom line is we need Pogba and De Bruyne (or equally good equivalents) or our season will probably end up disappointing.
Pellegrini has said"fabian delph will be an important player for us this season as he is left footed "so seems he will block the left side covering for the left full back .
What i don't get is why we struggle to sign our top targets. We are surely attractive enough now but this summer same as last we are still waiting for our key targets to sign. Liverpool got Benteke in about a week, Arsenal nailed Cech early doors and Utd seem to sign their targets with ease. I also think that yet again the existing squad has had little time together to prepare. This is partly due to copa america and Vk's new arrival but Delph gets injured, Bony is crocked again by illness I think, so we will only have sterling bedded in properly. Not an inspiring pre-season at all.
supercity88
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It's been a decent pre-season. Sterling has shown his talent and City were excellent with Delph on the pitch and Yaya in a more free role. Things went to pot somewhat when Delph went off and Navas came on. I hope Pellegrini recognises, friendly or not, Yaya cannot play in that deeper central role. He doesn't perform his defensive work well enough.
City look much better when Yaya is able to get on the ball where he wants it. With players like Silva, Sterling, Yaya, Nasri etc, there's so much creativity that it doesn't matter if we only have two recognised strikers and Nacho next season.
We've seen glimpses of talent from Barker, Lopes and Garcia as well so the future's bright. Personally, I think we should be offloading Navas and even Nasri to allow Barker and Lopes progression into the side. That might not be a view shared by many, who think they aren't ready but passion and hunger to perform is something we were lacking last season and I don't think Navas adds much to our side. We have pure pace with Sterling now.
City look much better when Yaya is able to get on the ball where he wants it. With players like Silva, Sterling, Yaya, Nasri etc, there's so much creativity that it doesn't matter if we only have two recognised strikers and Nacho next season.
We've seen glimpses of talent from Barker, Lopes and Garcia as well so the future's bright. Personally, I think we should be offloading Navas and even Nasri to allow Barker and Lopes progression into the side. That might not be a view shared by many, who think they aren't ready but passion and hunger to perform is something we were lacking last season and I don't think Navas adds much to our side. We have pure pace with Sterling now.