It's Quiet thread 14 - 'do one' edition

[leewill31]

Denayer and Stones would be the perfect mix of competition and the right age profile, with, as you say, Harwood Bellis in reserve.

We have faced Denayer three times now and he has proved more than capable against our attack.

I don't want us blowing £70m plus on a central defender - that calibre of player just isn't out there at present IMO.

Use the money for a world class midfielder who can run and tackle.

Spot on about Denayer when i watched him play against us numerous times he has matured well as a defender.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Did you watch Rodri before he played for us, because you can't possibly think he would be "awesome" but are now surprised how slow he is?

He is slow, that isn't an issue here. The problem is a stupidly highline with defenders incapable of playing it. Gundogan stood 3ft away from him for 90mins also doesn't help.

Put KDB and Bernardo or preferrably Aouar in that midfield and Rodri can be left to do what he does best.

We still need players behind who can rescue things when he gets exposed, which will happen.

 

[oddfellows]

 

[decmancity]

We still need players behind who can rescue things when he gets exposed, which will happen.

Yep exactly. This season we have had one player with pace and that is Walker. If you watch a lot of last season he saved us on more than one occasion. Ake is a good start to solving the problem, Koulibaly would be a great boost and perhaps Mendy will be feeling sharper and fitter. Can't possibly get any slower than when we had Otamendi and Zinchenko back there last season.

Anyone that is not Gundogan alongside Rodri would help as well as they can actually run backwards.

 

[oddfellows]

Poor deal if true

 

[blueparrot]

Poor deal if true

Why, what was the better offer on the table ?

 

[Semper aggressus]

Poor deal if true

It is a poor deal, £40m buy back sounds far too high, and we should have % of future sale included if we think he's worth anything like £40m one day.

 

[Sheikh rattle and roll]

He's got no fight in him. Remember last season when that non-league mug claimed any striker would score a 40 a year past Stones just before we played them in the cup? Any player with any kind of fight or pride would have turned up and absolutely battered that amateur, but Stones got pushed around, and eventually he scored.

Stones is broken mentally. His personal life is a state, he looks like shit, I disagree with @tolmie's hairdoo that his passing regressed because of Rodri, it's been getting less and less adventurous and penetrating since 2017/18 ended.




Maybe he's fixable, maybe he can get over everything and get the swagger back, but I've got no faith in it, I think he's just got too many mental scars from high profile cock up after high profile cock up and the Nations League killed him off. There's no way the john stones of 2019 or 2020 would do this -




I'd love to see him hit the gym, go through a transformation like Leon Goretzka at Bayern, who put on about 10kg of muscle and went from talented but not that effective box-to-box midfielder to a completely dominating physical presence. That would help him a lot IMO, if he could just learn to relish the physical fights the way Kompany did, VVD does, Koulibaly can, it might give him a confidence boost if he has more to rely on than passing.

I remember it was Port Vale hardly non league and also I accept not Barca
Oh we won 4:1 so I guess Stones did his job
I agree he needs to improve by the way but it’s funny how people make facts fit
I also note that you say Koulibaly can , well that remains to be seen I guess
You don’t become a professorial international footballer without fight

 

[Carlos- the- jackal]

Why, what was the better offer on the table ?

Who knew we had so many quality directors of football on here, get your CVs in lads, this cheeky fella we have at present must be some sort of novice!

 

[Goater=Legend]

Spot on about Denayer when i watched him play against us numerous times he has matured well as a defender.

Should never of left tbh

 

[leewill31]

Should never of left tbh

Lets be honest in hindsight yeah but sometimes these lads need the experience and mature first and some naturally dont need to and just fit in.

 

[oddfellows]

Why, what was the better offer on the table ?

Surely the buy back fee is his true worth?

 

[Zenmanc]

For the way we play Ederson is the best keeper out there, end of story.

Oh- make no mistake, i love the guy. He's a force unlike no other. His only flaw is a result of his relentlessness- it's not a bad thing just impossible to be perfect everywhere.

I'll take a raging bull who charges out and makes strikers brown their shorts who gives up a few goals as a result to one who can barely touch the ball with their foot without it sailing in the wrong direction whilst clinging to their goal post and goal line for dear life.

 

[Keeper!]

I remember it was Port Vale hardly non league and also I accept not Barca
Oh we won 4:1 so I guess Stones did his job
I agree he needs to improve by the way but it’s funny how people make facts fit
I also note that you say Koulibaly can , well that remains to be seen I guess
You don’t become a professorial international footballer without fight

"You don’t become a professorial international footballer without fight "

I would disagree , a England cap is hardly a sign of a great player anymore!

 

[Cobwebcat]

It's suck it and see when you buy a player for a different position to the one they consistently play and earn their reputation on.

Interestingly on who scored.com Last season’s ratings:

Maguire 7.27
Koulibaly 7.19

 

[vin]

I get what your saying but I think you will be surprised by Ake, Laporte back on top of his game will be something else to behold and Denayer is so much better than people give him credit for.

Laporte, Ake, stones, denayer Plus the quality kids coming through would be enough.

Laporte will take that Kompany role up - maturing into it this year with Ake who is a lot more vocal than Kompany ever was bossing the line I think.

I don’t think the back line looks too back now, without looking for perfection it’s a solid unit now that will do.

Let’s not forget that Kompany, great as he was had some frailty and had the comfort of De Jong, then Fernandinho bossing the defensive midfield, THAT is where we feel a little lightweight now for me.

Denayer? Is he in the academy or have I gone back in time to 2015?

 

[Chappie]

He wasn't good enough the first time and he certainly wasn't good enough the second time.
So we won't be buying him a third time so that figure is meaningless

 

[Sheikh rattle and roll]

"You don’t become a professorial international footballer without fight "

I would disagree , a England cap is hardly a sign of a great player anymore!

Really that’s a strange one
Every kid at school wants to be a footballer there are very few that make it
Every pro footballer wants to be an international big competition requires big fight just to make it

 

[Saddleworth2]

Spot on about Denayer when i watched him play against us numerous times he has matured well as a defender.

Denayer played alongside VVD at Celtic and at the time I said he was excellent and as, if not more effective than his partner. He never got a chance at City. Shame as he has turned out a wonderful player.

 

[Keeper!]

Really that’s a strange one
Every kid at school wants to be a footballer there are very few that make it
Every pro footballer wants to be an international big competition requires big fight just to make it

Not true, it's more difficult to get into a top 4 English Premier league team than it is to get an England cap.