Ilkay Gundogan

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RayCTID said:
Pep found a really good solution during the tour of the US. Kovacic is a year wiser and Rodri rarely gets rotated even with depth. We still have to find another replacement for Gundo.
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That is it, right there. Pep found a solution. To a problem, that was clearly there. It was good in one game, how sustainable it would have been, hard to say. But now he has further options and the problem is far less severe. He doesn't have to bin that solution, he now has more to play with in the event of injuries, suspension, fatigue or loss of form. He wouldn't be gong for it if he thought it would disrupt.

I still can't at all get this 'replacement' point though, just can't see what his signing changes in that regard.

But we have exchanged views on it, I am happy to leave it there now.

The thing is, this is happening. At some point you will have to begin to embrace it pal, otherwise your season will be less enjoyable, and that would be a shame.
 
Centurions said:
SSN have just been creaming themselves over this, they also banged on about just how well run we are generally and in regards to transfers, both in and out, and how rarely we get anything wrong.
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Hmm. Must mean they know we are getting relegated soon. Right?
 
RayCTID said:
Again we should be looking forwards when signing players and not backwards. There are examples where clubs shouldn't sign their former stars even after having a good season. Ronaldo being the recent one.
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PR37 returning to the swamp made perfect sense.

To Blues, anyway.
 
RayCTID said:
Gundo is still a highly influencial player and I don't think he is going to expect to play a perhiery part at City. He has retired from international football so that is one less demand. Rightly or wrongly he publically shamed his former teamates at Barcelona and that has probably ended his short spell at his one of boyhood clubs.
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Boyhood club? Barca wanted rid of him for financial reasons.
 
Coatigan said:
That is it, right there. Pep found a solution. To a problem, that was clearly there. It was good in one game, how sustainable it would have been, hard to say. But now he has further options and the problem is far less severe. He doesn't have to bin that solution, he now has more to play with in the event of injuries, suspension, fatigue or loss of form. He wouldn't be gong for it if he thought it would disrupt.

I still can't at all get this 'replacement' point though, just can't see what his signing changes in that regard.

But we have exchanged views on it, I am happy to leave it there now.

The thing is, this is happening. At some point you will have to begin to embrace it pal, otherwise your season will be less enjoyable, and that would be a shame.
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The issue is we we have won convincingly against a strong opponent without Rodri. And another is can Gundo can sustain it in a higher intesive league. We have signed Savinho and before Bobb's injury we have another highly promising EDS looking to breakthrough. There is still plenty to get really excited about even without Gundo's return. Foden's awards is another one. This signing is not a make or break.
 
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The way I see it we were a body or two and a profile or two short of being able to compete across all fronts last year. If we had won the shootout against Madrid I don't think we would have won the league. This isn't really about cover for Rodri, as Gundo was never especially great in that role, but adding tools and players into the box that Pep can work with on a week by week basis in a season that has a world cup at the end and 2 more games in the CL. If come the run-in Gundo is in our first eleven for big games over others he'll be there on merit and because it serves a purpose. Gundo + a decent second striker takes us from being light to really being able to challenge in every competition we are in in the next twelve months. In my opinion, this is our most diverse squad in a few years.
 
Still think this Gundo deal has less to do with him being a Rodri back-up and more to do with Pep knowing De Bruyne can't do 2-3 games per week anymore (with the added issue that we'll end Rodri's career before he's 30 if he carries on like he has been doing). The likes of Musiala, Wirtz, etc. are the names we've got our eyes on next summer but until then Gundogan can shoulder the burden so it's not all on Foden whenever De Bruyne is inevitably injured again at some point this season. If Kevin makes 30 Premier League starts this season I'll be surprised; Gundogan and McAtee are good options to have while Kevin winds down.
 
RayCTID said:
The issue is we we have won convincingly against a strong opponent without Rodri. And another is can Gundo can sustain it in a higher intesive league. We have signed Savinho and before Bobb's injury we have another highly promising EDS looking to breakthrough. There is still plenty to get really excited about even without Gundo's return. Foden's awards is another one.
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That's not an issue, that's a good thing.

Agree btw, re plenty to be excited about. And now there is even more.

He won't disturb anything any more than any other player coming in would have. He will slot in seamlessly, which wouldn't be true for other players. Would have been a push going into the season as we were, pretty much everyone acknowledged that, including Pep. Now we can get excited about all that, and having extra cover, and seeing a loved player back with us. I'm leaving it there for a while.
 
RayCTID said:
The question is will Pep rotate more or will he near enough stick to his strongest line up throughout?
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He has never stook with a strongest eleven, there are too many games for that, he always rotates, especially in the first half of the season. He usually settles on a strongest eleven around late March.
 
youngbob said:
Still think this Gundo deal has less to do with him being a Rodri back-up and more to do with Pep knowing De Bruyne can't do 2-3 games per week anymore (with the added issue that we'll end Rodri's career before he's 30 if he carries on like he has been doing). The likes of Musiala, Wirtz, etc. are the names we've got our eyes on next summer but until then Gundogan can shoulder the burden so it's not all on Foden whenever De Bruyne is inevitably injured again at some point this season. If Kevin makes 30 Premier League starts this season I'll be surprised; Gundogan and McAtee are good options to have while Kevin winds down.
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I think you are right about the KDB bit. Gundogan will help him a lot.
 
Brightwell Bros. said:
The way I see it we were a body or two and a profile or two short of being able to compete across all fronts last year. If we had won the shootout against Madrid I don't think we would have won the league. This isn't really about cover for Rodri, as Gundo was never especially great in that role, but adding tools and players into the box that Pep can work with on a week by week basis in a season that has a world cup at the end and 2 more games in the CL. If come the run-in Gundo is in our first eleven for big games over others he'll be there on merit and because it serves a purpose. Gundo + a decent second striker takes us from being light to really being able to challenge in every competition we are in in the next twelve months. In my opinion, this is our most diverse squad in a few years.
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He is still a highly influential player and hopefully he will be in the side on merit.
 
RayCTID said:
We didn't struggle vs Chelsea in the opening game and in the previous one vs United. Although it took a while Kovacic adjusted last season. We aren't really short in options.
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But we don’t know how injuries and suspensions are going to affect the squad throughout the season.

Bringing Ilkay back on a free makes perfect sense for all parties.
 
youngbob said:
Still think this Gundo deal has less to do with him being a Rodri back-up and more to do with Pep knowing De Bruyne can't do 2-3 games per week anymore (with the added issue that we'll end Rodri's career before he's 30 if he carries on like he has been doing). The likes of Musiala, Wirtz, etc. are the names we've got our eyes on next summer but until then Gundogan can shoulder the burden so it's not all on Foden whenever De Bruyne is inevitably injured again at some point this season. If Kevin makes 30 Premier League starts this season I'll be surprised; Gundogan and McAtee are good options to have while Kevin winds down.
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Possibly. Might get pelters here, but I think some of our best winning spells were with Gundo and Bernardo playing instead of KdB when he was out. Notably the 21 game run when we came from 8th place to win the title, and parts of the treble season.
 
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