So many changes in the squad with no loss of quality

[chris85mcfc]

Yep, we’ve played one top team so far this season and lost. Far too early to tell how we’re dealing with no Gundog, no Mahrez, no Laporte, less of KDB

Whats a top team?

We've played 4 of the 7 teams below us, and have won 3.

Tougher tests to come, but you've done your best there to paint a completely different picture of how our season has started.

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

Make these threads in May please

 

[The blue phantom]

Not to put a downer on things but we’ll have a better idea at the end of the season as to where we really stand compared to previous years. It’s when the going gets tough and the run in starts that you really find out how good a team is.

No club does it better than us regarding run ins. We always see it out and get over the line

 

[Ric]

Think we'll have a much better idea of where we are after the next four league games.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I'm not convinced that we can base everything on a 6-1 victory over Bournemouth, just as a defeat to Arsenal didn't derail our season.

The eventual outcome will be nuanced rather than extreme, but it always looks better when our rivals drop silly points or suffer injuries and suspensions, all of which happened last weekend.

 

[MadchesterCity]

Gundogan is a huge loss and not one that Kova and Nunes look like they can replace.

The fact we have incorporated Alvarez so well and Doku’s impact is probably above what was hoped and as such Mahrez loss is lower then expected.

The loss of Laporte might be felt more now Stones is out.

Far too early to make comments like that to me.

You could say Gundogan attacking input has been replaced (surpassed) by Alvarez and Foden. It’s from a midfield and defensive perspective there is a huge drop off to Nunes, Kovacic and Phillips

 

[tweety]

I say we will get 90+ points, who else could get that?

 

[Fuzzy80]

You could say Gundogan attacking input has been replaced (surpassed) by Alvarez and Foden. It’s from a midfield and defensive perspective there is a huge drop off to Nunes, Kovacic and Phillips

The control he gave is what is being missed for me, the recycling of possession etc.

But it could be argued that Pep is going more direct this season.

Probably time to judge will be end of the season.

 

[flook]

The beauty of the way we run and manage the club and play football is that we have a system which deploys top quality footballers who benefit the system, rather than rely on football superstars. This means we can have this ongoing evolution of the squad with far less impact than would normally be experienced.

There are exceptions, Haaland is an obvious one, as is Kev, both of whom will be very difficult to replace because they bring something outside the system, whilst still being part and parcel of it.

That is where Pep and the scouting staff come in, we've replaced the irreplaceable before (Aguero, Silva for example) by tweaking the system to accommodate the players brought it, I'm very confident that whilst we have the current manager and structure in place that this will continue.

The future's bright etc

 

[khoitnm]

Gundogan is a huge loss and not one that Kova and Nunes look like they can replace.

The fact we have incorporated Alvarez so well and Doku’s impact is probably above what was hoped and as such Mahrez loss is lower then expected.

The loss of Laporte might be felt more now Stones is out.

Far too early to make comments like that to me.

Agree, Gundogan was the person who carried us when Fernandinho legs are gone as DMC position.
And he also the person who carried us when K.D.Bruyne had long injured a few seasons ago.
Now he gone, and K.D.B is injured. It's lucky that Alvarez step up to fill the whole in K.D.B. Kovacic or Nunes will need more time to fill the whole from Gundogan.