Is Pep ever going to address the defensive side of our game?

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Yes, they are.
Well they look better but that's because they have Kante in front of them, and matic. Look at Huth and Morgan now that Kante is not there.

I don't think Alonso or Cahill are that good. Zouma could become very good and Azpilcueta is quality, but I think if you put the Chelsea defenders in City shirts we'd have the same problem. This is just subjective opinion. All this season the defensive weakness has been pinned on on individual defenders not doing their job. I think there must be a part due to a new keeper and new central defender settling in, but last season I spent most of it complaining about Toure, and we haven't addressed that. He's much fitter, and really committed, but his strengths are his distribution. We have Silva, De bruyne and Toure in our midfield. All outstanding on the ball. What we don't have in our midfield is a Kante like player. If we did, I think our defenders would look a lot better.
 
Walker and Rose would solve a lot though. I would also go after Ali.

Spurs are definitely ripe for a hostile approach. Much as Levy is so difficult to do business with, he is also a pragmatist. They are building a new stadium and if you offered them £150m right now, he would drive them here himself.

Ali is a superstar.

Where would Ali play? He's basically a second striker at Spurs, and the only obvious person he'd replace in our lineup is De Bruyne - and I can't see that happening.
 
Walker and Rose would solve a lot though. I would also go after Ali.

Spurs are definitely ripe for a hostile approach. Much as Levy is so difficult to do business with, he is also a pragmatist. They are building a new stadium and if you offered them £150m right now, he would drive them here himself.

Ali is a superstar.
Agree about Ali.Such an influential player who changes the course of games on his own. Quick technically good fullbacks would help, but I think we also need to replace Toure with a more defence minded player. That would be my summer transfer priority
 
Where would Ali play? He's basically a second striker at Spurs, and the only obvious person he'd replace in our lineup is De Bruyne - and I can't see that happening.

Valid point.

We will have issues again this summer with home grown by the looks of things, with Hart, Clichy and Delph out the door.

Ali is someone you have to try for, if available IMO.
 
We just need better defenders.
Ok, next question. Is there anyone at the club who is able to find better defenders because it seems to me that people have been saying "we just need better defenders" for a few years now, we've bought a fair few for a lot of money and we are still saying the same thing. Obviously the better calibre of defender we have, the better our defence will perform but I'm not convinced it is only about personnel. I think we could have had Baresi in his prime in the team under Pellegrini and we'd have still not been tight enough defensively because the defensive system was fucking poo. I assume Pep has more about him and will be able to get us sorted defensively but it isn't just about who is in the back four or back three, it's also about the overall defensive system and to some extent the philosophy. I know people talk about how good Pep's teams have been in the past in terms of goals conceded but I don't think it would be a ridiculous thing to suggest he's more into the attacking side of the game than organising a back four. I reckon other managers would probably be able to knock the defenders we have into a decent unit, if that was their main priority, probably Pep could.
 
Agree about Ali.Such an influential player who changes the course of games on his own. Quick technically good fullbacks would help, but I think we also need to replace Toure with a more defence minded player. That would be my summer transfer priority

Yup. And we stood back and watched Kante take the entire Leicester team to Chelsea with him last summer.

No coincidence.
 
Marvin thread? Marvin thread.

Pep has said on numerous occasions that he intends to upgrade, via signings, our defense. He even said it would be one area he would have made signings for in January, should the right players have been made available.

In fact, the club wanted to do just that last summer. Two of our targets, Bonucci and Laporte, both backed out late in the game (literally the 11th hour in Laporte's case) and left City with little options. That wasn't Pep's fault. He clearly pinpointed who he wanted and the club failed to bring them in. It's obvious the same mistakes are unlikely to be made again and it shouldn't surprise anyone if the same names come up only with offers that their respective clubs simply can't refuse.

Where would Ali play? He's basically a second striker at Spurs, and the only obvious person he'd replace in our lineup is De Bruyne - and I can't see that happening.

0% chance of KDB being replaced by anyone. I'd imagine Silva would be a more likely candidate in the long term, but Alli is not a target and I don't think he will be one in the near future either.

Ali is someone you have to try for, if available IMO.

I agree to an extent, but I feel he's down the pecking order of the City Dream/Wish List behind Dybala and Messi. These two the club makes a world record transfer fee run on. Alli, not so much.

Ok, next question. Is there anyone at the club who is able to find better defenders because it seems to me that people have been saying "we just need better defenders" for a few years now, we've bought a fair few for a lot of money and we are still saying the same thing.

We are still playing Clichy, Sagna, Kompany and Kolarov. Nothing has changed at all.

Five and sometimes six of the outfield players at any given game all played under Mancini in 2012. No other top team has a squad like this and it's untenable.

A massive clearout is coming this summer the likes of which hasn't been seen at City for years.
 
Valid point.

We will have issues again this summer with home grown by the looks of things, with Hart, Clichy and Delph out the door.

Ali is someone you have to try for, if available IMO.

Hart's obviously not in the HG equation anymore for this season, so isn't something we need to worry about next season, but as for Clichy and Delph, someone like Patrick Roberts coming into replace Navas would do the trick for one of them, and using Tosin/Denayer/Maffeo in meaningful squad roles would replace them too.
 
We are still playing Clichy, Sagna, Kompany and Kolarov. Nothing has changed at all.

Five and sometimes six of the outfield players at any given game all played under Mancini in 2012. No other top team has a squad like this and it's untenable.

A massive clearout is coming this summer the likes of which hasn't been seen at City for years.
We have also tried Nastasic, Demichelis, Mangala, Otamendi and Stones in recent years and by and large it has changed very little, we still haven't looked as solid at the back as we should have done. As I said, personnel in the back four is an issue, I'm not denying that but if we think it is the only issue, I think we are wrong. Plus as per my original point, can Txiki et al buy a top notch defender because they haven't managed it for a while.
 
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We have looked a lot better recently and I think the goalkeeper change has helped. Having someone who can speak the same language pays off and also not playing Ottamendi has helped because he can be a wild defender at times.

We need another CB in the summer to partner Stones and I think Pep needs to get his goalkeeper choice right. Hart coming back obviously won't happen but I think he knows now that he needs a keeper that fits this league as well as his system. Considering we also need full backs I can only see Stones surviving the next cull.
 
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