Miralem Pjanic.

Status
Not open for further replies.
ninjamonkey said:
For that team to lineup we would have to have 8 injuries simultaneously. You simply can't legislate for something as freak as that to occur, and even if you could, squad limitations prevent that.

I agree we needed proper cover for Sane but that isn't happening now, we've got Mahrez and between him Sane Sterling and Bernardo that's our 4 men for the two wide positions with KDB offering an additional alternative. We need a central midfielder desperately and thats about it. I'm not gundogans biggest fan but find me somebody better that will be willing to play understudy to silva and kdb
Click to expand...
This isn't about 8 simultaneous injuries, this is about fatigue suspensions & loss of form too. We can't keep flogging the same players game in, game out for a full season in all 4 competitions we'll contest.

So with us needing a CM & LW, you & I are only one player apart. What you're effectively saying is don't get a Yaya replacement or don't bring in cover for Dinho. I don't believe it's a choice we need to make if we box clever now whilst we can.
 
Last edited:
citizen_maine said:
So, not so much 'need', as 'wouldn't it be fucking great' then
Click to expand...
It all depends on the ambition of the person offering the opinion. I'm not confident at all that next season with be a carbon copy rerun of last season.

This is why I adopt the 'Take no chances' approach. If we did strengthen to this level the rest would be deflated before the first ball of the season was kicked.
 
Dribble said:
Cast your mind back to last February. To keep up our assault on all 4 cups, we were dead on our feet at times. Our squad has deficiencies. We have no replacement for Yaya & no cover/eventual replacement for Dinho. We have no adequate cover for Silva & have no cover for Sane.

How have we got around this? Luckily trying to force square pegs into round holes worked for us last season, but it didn't work for us under Pellegrini. Are you so certain we'll get away with this again next season? I'm not so sure & now is the time where we don't have to risk finding out.
Click to expand...
I understand your nervousness, however, for Sane, we have 4 wide options in Sane, Sterling, Mahrez and Bernardo. Also option of 3 at the back with Mendy giving width as Pep started last season. For Dinho, we have Delph, Gundogen and Stones can be played there at a push as a pivot, especially home games. For Silva and KDB we've got to trust Foden or move Bernardo plus Gundogen as last year. It's more than adequate and as I said buying 2 or 3 60m plus players for cover and rotation would be madness, a squad has to be adaptable
 
ninjamonkey said:
For that team to lineup we would have to have 8 injuries simultaneously. You simply can't legislate for something as freak as that to occur, and even if you could, squad limitations prevent that.

I agree we needed proper cover for Sane but that isn't happening now, we've got Mahrez and between him Sane Sterling and Bernardo that's our 4 men for the two wide positions with KDB offering an additional alternative. We need a central midfielder desperately and thats about it. I'm not gundogans biggest fan but find me somebody better that will be willing to play understudy to silva and kdb
Click to expand...
We have cover for Sane, we'd go for a 3 at the back and Mendy as WB. We started with that last year only this time we've addressed the left sided CB with Laporte
 
Banned Tosspot said:
Probably with fees, add on and wages that amount.
Click to expand...
Well if that is case, I would not mind driving to Turin to pick him up, fuel and snacks on me. He is far superior to Jorginho who is only 2 years younger , or anybody in our middle field apart from Kev and taking into consideration Pep said Merlin would play less in order to be at his prime. But I think that price tag is just a transfer fee.
 
SamBlue said:
Well if that is case, I would not mind driving to Turin to pick him up, fuel and snacks on me. He is far superior to Jorginho who is only 2 years younger , or anybody in our middle field apart from Kev and taking into consideration Pep said Merlin would play less in order to be at his prime. But I think that price tag is just a transfer fee.
Click to expand...

Excellent player but he ain't far superior to Diniho and Silva, even if both are aging.
 
SamBlue said:
Well if that is case, I would not mind driving to Turin to pick him up, fuel and snacks on me. He is far superior to Jorginho who is only 2 years younger , or anybody in our middle field apart from Kev and taking into consideration Pep said Merlin would play less in order to be at his prime. But I think that price tag is just a transfer fee.
Click to expand...
Jorginho may well be younger but that 'only 2 years' is the difference between entering his peak years and coming out the other side.I'm not saying this fella is past it but he doesn't offer the same value IMO.I just don't see this as an option,i don't think we have ever been in for him.
 
OB1 said:
Agreed: you have to assume that Pep is looking for a different kind of DMC to Kante.

Pep's objective is to have the ball and keep the ball. When they do lose it, everyone is part of winning back quickly. He doesn't want there to be a need to have one guy who is constantly breaking up the oppositions play / attacks. Keeping possession rather than regaining possession is the key.
Click to expand...
Yeah but in Kante we'd have a player that'll do both.....anyway that's my Sunday morning big-up for Kante over with....
 
Dribble said:
We do need a winger, because quite evidently it's not where Bernardo' future lies for us. We have 3 in Mahrez, Sane & Sterling. Just imagine another Willian/Peresic type added tp that lot?

We've not replaced Yaya & we need cover for Dinho. This is squad progress, not just settling for 'We were alright last season & don't need much more'.

What you're forgetting is that Spurs, ManUre, Dippers, Chavs & Arse will actually have some say in the league next year.
Click to expand...
What part of we haven’t got the available slots are you not getting a grip of?
 
IBlue said:
I understand your nervousness, however, for Sane, we have 4 wide options in Sane, Sterling, Mahrez and Bernardo. Also option of 3 at the back with Mendy giving width as Pep started last season. For Dinho, we have Delph, Gundogen and Stones can be played there at a push as a pivot, especially home games. For Silva and KDB we've got to trust Foden or move Bernardo plus Gundogen as last year. It's more than adequate and as I said buying 2 or 3 60m plus players for cover and rotation would be madness, a squad has to be adaptable
Click to expand...
It's not nervousness, it's facts based on what transpired last season. Yes, we can adapt players, but we don't need to. We have the opportunity to get world class replacements in & we should take it to maintain/increase our advantage.

I just don't get all this mend & make do attitude when we don't need to.
 
Dribble said:
This isn't about 8 simultaneous injuries, this is about fatigue suspensions & loss of form too. We can't keep flogging the same players game in, game out for a full season in all 4 competitions we'll contest.

So with us needing a CM & LW, you & I are only one player apart. What you're effectively saying is don't get a Yaya replacement or don't bring in cover for Dinho. I don't believe it's a choice we need to make if we box clever now whilst we can.
Click to expand...
Fatigue is part of game but that doesn't mean we stack our squad with 3 options for each place,no team ever does that.
For 3 positions,we have Mahrez Sane Sterling Bernardo Jesus Kun and then we have Gundogan Fernandinho KDB Silva and Delph for 6 and 8s.
If people still need an attacking option who won't even make it to bench then I can't help
 
I think @Dribble is just getting a tad overexcited.

I get that in an ideal world we would strengthen further, however it’s just not realistic in a WC summer with only 18 days left of the window.

I’d happily get shut of Bravo, get an English keeper, which frees up an overseas slot. Sell Gündogan to Barca for £50mil and upgrade him with a better player etc etc

Just isn’t going to happen.

I do think though we will get a central midfielder, and I think it’ll be a huge mistake if we don’t.
 
Rammy Blue said:
I think @Dribble is just getting a tad overexcited.

I get that in an ideal world we would strengthen further, however it’s just not realistic in a WC summer with only 18 days left of the window.

I’d happily get shut of Bravo, get an English keeper, which frees up an overseas slot. Sell Gündogan to Barca for £50mil and upgrade him with a better player etc etc

Just isn’t going to happen.

I do think though we will get a central midfielder, and I think it’ll be a huge mistake if we don’t.
Click to expand...
We have upgraded our squad from last year with Mahrez. Add to that Mendy returning and freeing up Delph to cover at times in midfield then I think we are in a lot better position. What will dictate our season isn’t signing another world class player, but for me it’s how the players we do have approach the season on the back of last season and the World Cup. We keep the level of intensity and team spirit and it will be extremely difficult for anyone to get close to us.
 
Rammy Blue said:
I think @Dribble is just getting a tad overexcited.

I get that in an ideal world we would strengthen further, however it’s just not realistic in a WC summer with only 18 days left of the window.

I’d happily get shut of Bravo, get an English keeper, which frees up an overseas slot. Sell Gündogan to Barca for £50mil and upgrade him with a better player etc etc

Just isn’t going to happen.

I do think though we will get a central midfielder, and I think it’ll be a huge mistake if we don’t.
Click to expand...
Pep said yesterday we have several options,he didn't seem too concerned,i think people are panicing about dinho too much,having said that proper cover would be reasurring
 
Dribble said:
You've just repeated what I've said. The mend & make do approach got us a double last season, but I want us to do better & go for the treble or quadruple & more importantly to maintain the distance between us & the chasing pack.

We can't do this with the mindset of "We have cover for all those positions. It's not like for like exact cover but it's better than many teams' starters."

Our foot is on the necks of our PL competitors, we now need to stamp it down & break the fuckers' necks & then bury them using their amputated hands as shovels.

It's just differences of opinions & approaches to problems. I'm more of the mindset of forgetting last season & remembering this season our opposition will be stronger & we all start again from 0.
Click to expand...

But we do have cover for those positions. So we are not sitting back, we have effectively replaced an ageing mascot with a Premier League player of the year at his peak. He is cover for some of the positions you are mentioning. As is Bernardo Silva, who was the best player on the pitch in Portugal's last match. We have Mendy, another extra player who wasn't available last season, Jesus, who missed half the season injured & again, can play in Sanés position, & a fully fit Gundogan, plus several kids to take the weight off for the lesser competitions.

We will have to replace Fernandinho at some point but Jorginho wasn't that anyway, he is a completely different kind of player. So we have ONE position we could ideally strengthen in this window, not a load of positions. The squad is amazing & much stronger than last season.
 
World class players will not accept places on the bench or as a rotation for too long. Playing time would also have to be guaranteed for them to join, can we do that with the players we already have. The players we will get will want out of their current clubs
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top