We've got enough....

Ruzzles said:
Aguero, Jesus, Sterling and Sane can all play up top so the ST comment us invalid. I share your CB concerns though with a 3atb system
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we can play Ederson up front too but it's the question of scoring goals. Would you bet your head for Sterling and Sane converting enough chances to save your life? I wouldn't.
 
Johnny_on said:
In all seriousness though. It's not true.

We've been playing 3-5-2 this preseason and a single injury to just one CB or one ST means we can't play it without rotating square pegs into round holes.

That alone tells me we are short.

For example: Let's say Pep is preparing this 3-5-2 to counter against the teams that also play it.

Well if Vinny is injured when we play Chelsea, he can't. Or Sergio suspended against Arsenal, he's forced to be 433. Makes no sense to start the season that way.


We released Iheanacho, Navas, Nolito. We 100% need a forward.

We released 3 fullbacks and a centre back. We 100% need a centre back.
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I agree. We're likely to be missing Mendy and Gundogan tomorrow which means that the bench will have to include a couple of youngsters or players that the club are trying to move on. I'm all for giving the kids a chance but not in circumstances where the manager has no choice. Similarly it can't be right to have to fall back on players that the manager clearly doesn't want.
 
It's not enough. on sheer numbers, we're seriously lacking and that's already including the kids that went on the pre-season tour with us. We urgently need another striker and another left sided fullback/centre back should be acquired. If we don't get them in, we'll be fine when everyone is fit but as soon as injuries/suspensions start to mount we'll be gluing together a makeshift team. Central midfield is the only area we're well stocked
 
We missed key chances against big teams when it mattered, KDB v Chelsea springs to mind, that could have changed our season / their season, but instead we go on and lose the game. Pep has said many times we are not clinical enough in front of goal, from pre season it seems the same thing again of 3/4 chances to score one - maybe down to pre season but time will tell.

Aguero 30 goals - 20 in PL last season
Jesus 20 goals - 7 in PL (Half a season)
Sterling 15 goals - 7 in PL season
Sane 15 goals - 5 in PL last season

These figures don't seem realistic to me, based on the fact that the best wing player last season in Hazard only managed 16...Only takes one injury to Aguero then we are left with Diaz and Jesus our 2 main forwards. Not saying they can't score the amount you're saying but they'd all need a exceptional season.

I think we are 2/3 players short of a complete squad, 1-2 injuries in key areas and we leave ourselves at risk.
 
simon23 said:
complrletely disagree with the OP.

1. We are one injury to Kompany away from a very shakey defence.....ottomendi is a headless chicken ( the number of times he goes to ground early even in pre season games...im suprised pep hasnt pulled him for it). Stones: as good as his distribution is his defending one on one isnt strong enough yet

2. Ilky - an injury to him and we are relying on an ever aging Yaya who while still one of the best midfielders going, in high tempo games the ball starts to bypass him a little.

3. an injury up front to sergio
people are presuming that GJ slots in seemlessly...he is a fantastic player but all young players have dips in form...he will have one at some point....im not sure why people are thinking that sterling is suddenly going to become a natural finisher as this is historically the worst part of his game.... sane showed glimpes as well last season bit was still inconsistent and its clear from peps comments that he doesnt believe we have enough either
i think we are short a central defender, a central midfielder and another goal scorer...we have clearly targeted a centre half in the past and also a centre forward....
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1. The shakiness of the defence has been rectified by purchasing three exceptional full backs. Last season we had Kompany out for the majority of the season and conceded 39 goals, only one more than our title win in 2014. And that defence had Demichelis at it's heart. We also still have Mangala (plus Denayer and Tosin who are yet to go on loan anywhere).

I wouldn't complain at another CB but I think we have enough, 3 main starters plus Mangala, Denayer and Tosin as backup. It's plenty. Hell we could even play Mendy, Danilo and Walker as Cbs in a back 3, a job even Kolarov managed to play quite respectfully last season.

2. Ilkay won't be playing DM. He isn't a DM, he will be rotating with KDB, Spanish Dave and Bernado. Yaya is backed up by Fernandinho, and when we play 3 at the back I think Stones will cover Yaya's pivot role, we play such a high defensive line that if you look on the heat map of a game, Yaya is virtually in line with the CBs anyway, so plenty of cover there.

3. Sterlings finishing is no worse than Sane's from what I've seen, and there will be 10 other players on the pitch. An injury to Sergio and a dip in form of Jesus will mean that Sane and Sterling play there, both capable of tearing defences apart, creating spaces for the midfielders to exploit (KDB/Gundogan both very adept scorers). In some tactical setups there is more to being a centre forward than scoring goals, I seem to remember us playing Milner up top not too long ago, remember our record during those few games?
 
Yeah me too, we need to suck all the other teams dry.

I actually agree with the OP. We have enough talent, we have talented kids, time to start incorporating them into the team as backups. The kids will never get a chance if we just splash the cash every time.
 
dubblue said:
Correct. Until we get those 3 in which won't be this summer,we may not be as all conquering as some think.
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The DM is a risk area how much work can Yaya handle? The departure of Kelechi leaves a big gap in attacking cover. No new CB leaves us depending on Vinny doing something he has not managed in years i.e play 30 plus league games. I fear it may be like the last couple of years fast start followed by slow fall off the pace. The hard work is done mid winter boys and the finishing touches are put on in the spring. We need reinforcements!!
 
Charlesfarsbar said:
I'm glad in a way that it looks like we've missed out on Mbappe and Sanchez

It will allow us to blood the fantastic young players we have in Foden and Diaz

It also keeps a big reserve of cash for next year when we can bring in the world class DM that we need to finish off the side

We have lots of goals already in the team , players will improve on last season

Aguero 30 goals
Jesus 20 goals
Sterling 15 goals
Sane 15 goals

That's eighty goals there just from the forwards

I will get much more satisfaction out of winning the league with foden and Diaz getting games than I would with buying Sanchez and making it a dead cert
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Agree with this. Would like to keep what we have and see young guys brought in. However, I think CL is something we're desperate to go deep in ASAP. To win that, we need a little more quality. Alexis would have us competing on all fronts. But I am more than happy with what we have
 
We don't have enough for the simple reason that if we play 3-5-2 (as we did in pre season) an injury to one of our centre backs mean either Tosin or Mangala has to play or we change formation. An injury to Jesus of Aguero means playing Sterling up front or a change in formation.

Last season Nolito and Iheanacho had 39 league appearances between them. They have not been replaced. Kolarov had 28 league appearances the majority of which were at cetre back.
 
I personally feel we need 3/4 players over the next year or two;

CDM - I reckon this can wait a year until a stand-out candidate becomes available and Yaya/and or Fernandinho move on.
CB - we don't have too many options here and i don't thnik the club are ready to commit to a new CB untill we know they will work in Pep's systems, due to our previous failings in this area.
Option B Striker - Somebody like a Llorente who can come on, adapt to Pep's style yet win a lot of headers
Maybe Leftback cover - I think ideally we want 2 players for each full back position over 60 game+ campaign, in which case we'll need to bring in another LB.
 
I'm more concerned about defence than a striker but we should win the league with this squad barring a bad season of key injuries.
 
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