EricBrooksGhost
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The FA?
It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?
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Dribble
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Rodri revealed that he cannot undergo that workload again, with the 27-year-old’s fears about fatigue only heightened by the introduction of new prolonged stoppage time in games, something already condemned by team-mate Kevin De Bruyne.
‘I don’t remember exactly the number of games I played, but I had a talk with the club and the coach because it’s not healthy,’ Rodri said.
‘You can do it for one season, but when it’s two or three in a row, it can be worse for the team because your physicality can drop. So I have to watch out. We have already spoken that, it cannot always be like this.’
Rodri – who was called upon more than planned as Kalvin Phillips struggled to acclimatise with the club after a £42million move from Leeds United – believes his career could be cut short if the intensity is not managed.
‘The important thing for me is that they know the situation and they know that for the next few seasons we will have to watch out,’ he added.
‘Now I am young, but maybe when I get to 30 or 31 I cannot do this kind of thing, so I have to watch the body because 60 games is not the best thing for a player. Also, the seasons get even longer every year. We have to adapt to this.’
The plank who commented on my post, but didn't have the noodles to press reply or tag me, is going on about this article from August 2023.
As I maintained at the time, there's no way Rodders gave this interview without City's prior knowledge. He doesn't strike me as the type.
In Nov/Dec 2023, Pep apologised for not using Kalvin more, but said he's better suited if we're in a game where we have to play defensively & need a destroyer. We rarely if ever have to play defensively.
Pep also the revealed we'd had loan & purchase offers for Philips that summer, but he wanted to stay & fight for his place, which was his choice.
When asked about Philips possibly leaving in January, Pep said Kalvin deserves to be playing football.
Just like several players before him, I was hoping Kalvin would have a far better second season with us. However, after reading the article, many Blues connected the dots & saw exactly what the situation was for Philips, & so it turned out.
Both Pep & Rodders saw Philips everyday in training, & so reading between the lines of their coded words, it's evident from Kalvin's playing time that his move was a mistake that the club wanted to rectify.
Again, it was only two weeks ago that Rodders reiterated his exhaustion fears exactly as he did in the article, hence he asked to be rested prior to the home game against Luton.
According to Pep, both Haaland & KDB also asked to be subbed against Real through fatigue.
Having a small squad is Pep's way, but unless all the senior players are top notch potential starters, there's a danger this type of over-playing situation will occur.
With a small squad, we can't be carrying senior squad fillers like Kalvin, hence why I can see Nunes, Gomez, Philips & Cancelo being permanent departure considerations this summer.
Imagine the difference it would've made to our season if those four were called Paqueta, Musiala, Joao Nunes & Frimpong?
After losing Gundog & Mahrez & not adequately replacing either, & with KDB being out for a significant part of the season, Haaland's injury & loss of form & Jack's form & injury woes too, that's a significant chunk of our treble winning squad affected.
The aforementioned plank disagreed with the Rodri bit in the summer because he's too dunce to be able to connect dots. But Rodri's recent fatigue comments & drop in form & physicality back up the fears he espoused in the summer.
Some just don't possess the foresight to see these things, neither the ability to drop it after being proved wrong again & again over the same Rodri/Philips issue... \0/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...olds-talks-club-chiefs-concerns-burn-out.html
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citytill1die84
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He'll get an extended rest after the Euros me thinks
Nail on the head there. An individual to the T.
I still feel there’s hope for him. He doesn’t strop or moan on the pitch and he still picks out a pass when he can but more often than not, he wants to go through players himself.
Frustrating as the lad is good. You can see it but you can also see so many bad habits. Nonetheless, him coming from the bench in games has helped Lyon’s resurgence up to the table. His teammate, Caquere, who may not be as talented is bloody hardworking. Controls their games. Covers his teammates. Definitely fights for the badge. Wish Cherki could emulate that.
Dribble
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I fear that'll only happen if we buy a viable alternative to Rodri. A player who can not only cover, but challenge him & when played there's no perceived drop off in quality.
This is as big a summer for Pep at City, as his second season where we needed to spend £200m on a new defence & went on to become Centurions.
Asa's left peg
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No rush, Give him August and part of September off. 12 points behind at Christmas, reel the Arse in again (make them give back the PL December trophy). Champs League and FA Cup again. 'They' are right - football has become so predictable!
Alternatively, he will be even more tired playing on farmers fields in league 2!
I feel like this is not the time of the season we would rest Rodri. If we started next season without him for a few weeks it would be more understandable. Kovacic/Lewis paired can fill in but not all the time. Hopefully we sign another CDM.
This year we played without Haaland for a decent amount of time and Alvarez is a better deputy than Phillips is to Rodri but hopefully shows we can get by just fine until the business end of the season.
richards30
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I really hope we get either Bruno G or Neves this summer.
Dribble
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Rodri's too important to City. I commented on the favourite current City player thread that whilst I don't have a current favourite, Rodri's our most important player by a country mile.
We tried with Philips & it's failed, but the issue for us is, was Kovacic supposed to be a CDM replacement for Philips/Gundog? If so, it's not working.
Kova can play as a double pivot, but he can't singularly replace Rodri, Gundog or KDB, hence why our purchase of him baffled me. He's a decent player, but a downgrade on all the above imo.
This summer our priority has to be resolving the Rodri issue, before we completely burn him out like Benitez burned out Gerrard & Torres, who neither recovered their previous levels again.
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Although I agree and think it’s a priority to get it sorted it’s now reached the stage he’s asked for a rest and commenting about minutes. We also want to tie him to a new contract.
It’s important we don’t jump into a transfer and don’t sign another Phillips. I think the short term solution is to use players like Kov/Lewis/Nunes when we can and long term we will buy a player to help and to push him.
He’s to important for us to not look after his best interests.
Kovacic for me was a make shift signing. Someone Pep has admired for years and is clearly a good player. I think he’ll have a better season next year not because of ‘City second season’ but we are in a transition on how we play. We needed to replace Gundo and we didn’t realistically know how long KDB would be out for. We wanted Bellingham and Rice at one point and think Paqueta was 3rd on that list, Nunes was the reaction signing and we just are a little off balance currently. But we’ve challenged in all 3 competitions so far so we are no way in a bad position.
Dribble
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It's how the slippery slope starts. In terms of using Kovacic, Lewis & Nunes where we can, in place of Rodri, I firmly believe we need a like for like replacement for Rodders now, in the form of another Rodri or a new Fernandinho.
Our drop off in quality is too great without Rodders even in the easier games. As for rest? I wish Soain would give him the summer off, but there's little chance of that ever happening. Then there's pre-season & the season kicks off again early August. We'll run him into the ground at this rate.
Personally, I think it's time to get ruthless & to flex our financial might for once, & damn others carping on about City ruining football (which we've not).
Ideally I'd like us to sell Cancelo, Philips, Gomez, Nunes & I'd even consider Kovacic too who see as a squad player. We need to trim the fat & get back to previous levels whereby we would've had enough to topple a "defend deep & hit em on the break" Real Madrid.
Crucial ties like that, & games against ArseAnal & the Dippers are decided by small margins. The tiny slip in the quality of our squad's DNA is all it takes for potential wins to become draws, & draws to become defeats. We've had far too many of this in crucial games this season.
Agreed we also need to replace Gundog & Mahrez too. Hopefully we can get Paqueta done this summer.
The other issue we’ve got is the eventual phasing out of KDB, Walker & the annual will he/won't he Bernardo transfer merry-go-round. I think Kev & Kyle have both got another season in them at least, but we must start the succession planning from now.
Personally I think the club should give Bernie a latest date to secure a transfer this summer, so we can secure a replacement. No chance we need the uncertainty dragging on into next season.
Gabriel
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The sheer number of current players mentioned (8) plus those that we cannot shift for money (2) underlines just how much work and just how difficult the job of squad development is. There’s just no way that we’ll get everything done in the one summer.
Irrespective of where the trophies land, I think the last two seasons will be a learning experience for those in charge and they will appreciate that they need to plan better for the transition. One bad buy (Phillips) can have a knock on effect that is still felt even after they have left.
I think that’s why we are seeing reports of Pep wanting Bruno because he’s confident he could step in immediately. Same with Paqueta. Nice to see links to Kimmich as well. Would like the same quality player at RW to replace Mahrez properly like you say.
I think with Bernie any leave will be amicable and probably because of the constant uncertainty that’s why the release clause has gone in. We know he’s gone unless he changes his mind which we’d then know going into the window.
Think Neves makes sense for the next 10 years but some, maybe Pep, want players in that can make an immediate impact.
True. It's unfortunate that we're surrounded by idiots who latch onto a false narrative and run with it spreading the narrative to other idiots as they go. We see this with City over and over again. As long as we do our thing they can shove their opinions you know where : )
A certain Argentine I suppose?
Gabriel
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Must be. Can't see them realistically trying to poach anybody else. Having said that, they can go to hell, of course.
Dribble
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I honestly believe Pep & Txiki will be on it this summer. ArseAnal haven't been near us in years, however this season they've two wins & a draw after only really adding Declan Rice.
We've gotta do much much better imo.
Possibly Gomez and a price check on Cancelo...Yan Couto?
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