The Squad planning thread

[Sir Joe Aguero]

Even if we beat the charges the 2 year recruitment gap has damaged us whether we like it or not.. and Pep doesn't think he wants to leave but he's probably keeping options open till it's settled.

That 115 case is basically an elephant sitting on the club's backside!

Maybe for the big players, but we still could have identified a £20mil player here or there who could add something to the squad. We’re still a big draw, and if we did get relegated, we wouldn’t be holding them hostage. In fact, as long as a reasonable bid came in and they wanted to leave, we’ve usually let them go.

 

[JewelZee]

CitytilIdie...still laughing at Delap as a back up for Haaland...a brace against Villa but couldn't serve as insurance for us? LMFAO...

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

CitytilIdie...still laughing at Delap as a back up for Haaland...a brace against Villa but couldn't serve as insurance for us? LMFAO...

catch 22. will he be that good against a back 7, develop as fast with 1 appearance every 5-10 games over playing 24/7 in space hes getting.

still had Alvarez and Haaland to displace. Dont see the buyback being triggered but least we have the option

 

[JewelZee]

catch 22. will he be that good against a back 7, develop as fast with 1 appearance every 5-10 games over playing 24/7 in space hes getting.

still had Alvarez and Haaland to displace. Dont see the buyback being triggered but least we have the option

I meant if we knew Alvarez might be leaving. At least kept him around until the Alvarez situation played out...

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

I meant if we knew Alvarez might be leaving. At least kept him around until the Alvarez situation played out...

Think Delap went almost as soon as the window opened in early July if memory serves. Meh, it was it is, dont think he'll be back

 

[HaalandEffect]

Manchester City Are Impressed With This Red Bull Salzburg Rising Star: A Move On The Cards?

As reported by HITC, Manchester City are impressed with Red Bull Salzburg defender Samson Baidoo's progress. The Premier League club

the4thofficial.net

Samson Baidoo can be on the move in future

 

[DATOIA]

I think we are doing OK here...

KDB Gundo contracts expire this summer
Walker Bernie contracts expire next summer...

Plus we have one player who has to prove his worth in Matheus and academy graduate Macatee.


So I guess this summer we will concentrate on KDB & Gundo replacements, which means that we will buy defensive midfielder who covers for Rodri and either Matheus proves his worth as an attacking midfielder or we will sell him, add extra money and buy player like Wirtz or Musiala or whoever they are talking about.

Then we will have to replace Walker & Bernardo. By that time hopefully Rico will be fully ready for the first squad and we will buy his cover or competition, like Frimpong for example. As for the Bernardo, we will have 2 full seasons of Macatee by then and if he proves worth, we will use him as Bernardo's successor, otherwise same will happen to him like it happens to Matheus.

Therefore next two summers: 1 CDM and 1 RB. Plus 2 CAMs depending on Macatee / Matheus situations, which means that at least we will generate 50% of those transfers by selling Macatee and Matheus.

After two years, we will have to look at CB replacements, but till that happens, we will have a lot of time..

In other words - well done Txiki.

 

[decmancity]

Poor from txiki in the summer imo, Rodri at some point was alway going to grab an injury unfortunately (although never thought this serious) Walker 34/35, KDB 33 heading to 34, Gundo looks his age and was probably as a dressing room influence and a look to maybe joining the coaching staff as much as the player. The club are just scared to spend it seems but have to in January

Poor from Txiki is going and shouting from the rooftops about all the players we are signing and then ending up with nothing.

Instead what happened was once again we earnt millions through academy sales and secured deals on them that could help us in the future. We also secured Ortega for another season and signed a super talent in Savinho.

Pep consistently talks about squad size and only signing quality when it's there e.g. Gundogan. He doesn't tolerate signing for the sake of it (you can argue Phillips and Nunes). Could we have for seen a freak injury to Rodri, injury to KDB and a freak injury for Bobb?

If Pep, Txiki and Khaldoon wanted to sign someone then we would have. Unless of course we already know this is Peps last year and so do players we are going after which is why they aren't interested. Never mind the looming 115 charges case to deal with.

 

[Shazza458]

Poor from Txiki is going and shouting from the rooftops about all the players we are signing and then ending up with nothing.

Instead what happened was once again we earnt millions through academy sales and secured deals on them that could help us in the future. We also secured Ortega for another season and signed a super talent in Savinho.

Pep consistently talks about squad size and only signing quality when it's there e.g. Gundogan. He doesn't tolerate signing for the sake of it (you can argue Phillips and Nunes). Could we have for seen a freak injury to Rodri, injury to KDB and a freak injury for Bobb?

If Pep, Txiki and Khaldoon wanted to sign someone then we would have. Unless of course we already know this is Peps last year and so do players we are going after which is why they aren't interested. Never mind the looming 115 charges case to deal with.

When you think the club were happy to go into the season with the same midfield as last year
Season finished if we didn’t have Gundo.

I don’t buy this narrative that we can’t attract players without Pep either. Our midfield recruitment has been truly woeful since we signed Rodri!

 

[nellyonthewing]

The squad used up all its reserves of immense mental and physical ability to get across the winning line towards the latter stage of last Season. It showed in the Cup Final how drained they were. To expect Rodri, Bernie and KdB to go again at the same intensity is unrealistic. Did we address this in the window I'd have to say no.

 

[Ajm1985]

I think we are doing OK here...

KDB Gundo contracts expire this summer
Walker Bernie contracts expire next summer...

Plus we have one player who has to prove his worth in Matheus and academy graduate Macatee.


So I guess this summer we will concentrate on KDB & Gundo replacements, which means that we will buy defensive midfielder who covers for Rodri and either Matheus proves his worth as an attacking midfielder or we will sell him, add extra money and buy player like Wirtz or Musiala or whoever they are talking about.

Then we will have to replace Walker & Bernardo. By that time hopefully Rico will be fully ready for the first squad and we will buy his cover or competition, like Frimpong for example. As for the Bernardo, we will have 2 full seasons of Macatee by then and if he proves worth, we will use him as Bernardo's successor, otherwise same will happen to him like it happens to Matheus.

Therefore next two summers: 1 CDM and 1 RB. Plus 2 CAMs depending on Macatee / Matheus situations, which means that at least we will generate 50% of those transfers by selling Macatee and Matheus.

After two years, we will have to look at CB replacements, but till that happens, we will have a lot of time..

In other words - well done Txiki.

Doesn't Gundo have an automatic extension based on appearances? Considering Rodri's absence, It's likely to be triggered.

Not entirely sure you can say it's been well done Txiki - aside from the misses with midfield transfers, and inability to get targets over the line, we wouldn't even have Gundo if he didn't make himself available. It was widely reported we wouldn't have gone into the market for a midfielder at that stage - and we welcomed back a midfielder we didn't want to offer a longer contract to the previous summer.

Phillips was a bust and as much as I think Nunes has talent, he was a trolley dash addition after our other choices failed & he isn't a Pep player. It's not been great planning in midfield.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Doesn't Gundo have an automatic extension based on appearances? Considering Rodri's absence, It's likely to be triggered.

Not entirely sure you can say it's been well done Txiki - aside from the misses with midfield transfers, and inability to get targets over the line, we wouldn't even have Gundo if he didn't make himself available. It was widely reported we wouldn't have gone into the market for a midfielder at that stage - and we welcomed back a midfielder we didn't want to offer a longer contract to the previous summer.

Phillips was a bust and as much as I think Nunes has talent, he was a trolley dash addition after our other choices failed & he isn't a Pep player. It's not been great planning in midfield.

Think its just an option looking at reports.

 

[DATOIA]

Doesn't Gundo have an automatic extension based on appearances? Considering Rodri's absence, It's likely to be triggered.

Not entirely sure you can say it's been well done Txiki - aside from the misses with midfield transfers, and inability to get targets over the line, we wouldn't even have Gundo if he didn't make himself available. It was widely reported we wouldn't have gone into the market for a midfielder at that stage - and we welcomed back a midfielder we didn't want to offer a longer contract to the previous summer.

Phillips was a bust and as much as I think Nunes has talent, he was a trolley dash addition after our other choices failed & he isn't a Pep player. It's not been great planning in midfield.

Well.. when we sold Gundo, we had Alvarez who wanted more game time and Foden, plus as I understand club was working on Bellinghem transfer, as well as Kovacic. So it was correct decision to let Gundo go..

This summer Alvarez wanted to go and was sold. If he hadn't gone, maybe we wouldn't have signed Gundo.

But I am not talking about "what would have happened", I am looking at the squad and it is well-planned.
We have a lot of young players.

Plus we won't need major overhaul as squad replacement can be done step-by-step, like I said - this summer find replacements for KDB & Gundo and next summer, find replacements for Bernie & Walker.

And players like Macatee and Bobb give us ability to spend less, as this players are developed year-by-year and eventually are getting to the level City needs them to be. So when someone retires or is sold, we don't have to spend big to find their replacements.

That's why our net spend for the last 5 years is less than 11 teams in PL, including Big8 and other ones.
But the results are N1

Yep, transfers like Mendy or Phillips happen once in a while, but I think we have the best ratio in terms of successful transfers vs flops, during the last 10 years.

 

[Ajm1985]

Well.. when we sold Gundo, we had Alvarez who wanted more game time and Foden, plus as I understand club was working on Bellinghem transfer, as well as Kovacic. So it was correct decision to let Gundo go..

This summer Alvarez wanted to go and was sold. If he hadn't gone, maybe we wouldn't have signed Gundo.

But I am not talking about "what would have happened", I am looking at the squad and it is well-planned.
We have a lot of young players.

Plus we won't need major overhaul as squad replacement can be done step-by-step, like I said - this summer find replacements for KDB & Gundo and next summer, find replacements for Bernie & Walker.

And players like Macatee and Bobb give us ability to spend less, as this players are developed year-by-year and eventually are getting to the level City needs them to be. So when someone retires or is sold, we don't have to spend big to find their replacements.

That's why our net spend for the last 5 years is less than 11 teams in PL, including Big8 and other ones.
But the results are N1

Yep, transfers like Mendy or Phillips happen once in a while, but I think we have the best ratio in terms of successful transfers vs flops, during the last 10 years.

We wouldn't have signed Gundo or another midfielder if Gundo hadn't been made available at the end of the window. That's not planning, it's pragmatic & opportunistic. We didn't initially offer a longer contract (1 year extension was our initial offer) due to Gundo's age - which was correct. The failure is not landing midfield targets and reducing the age profile of the position - there have been 2 summer windows to address it and it hasn't been.

The replacements for KDB, Bernardo etc aren't going to be cheap - we've spent £100m on 2 midfielders to ostensibly support/deputise Rodri and they aren't close to the first team. 1 is on loan at Ipswich and the other was widely criticised as not being City standard last night.

Overall the squad is obviously of a high standard and is elevated by the absolute freak in charge, but it's fine to point out that there have been misses.

 

[Ajm1985]

Think its just an option looking at reports.

That's what I read about it

 

[69FACUPfinal]

Doesn't Gundo have an automatic extension based on appearances? Considering Rodri's absence, It's likely to be triggered.

Not entirely sure you can say it's been well done Txiki - aside from the misses with midfield transfers, and inability to get targets over the line, we wouldn't even have Gundo if he didn't make himself available. It was widely reported we wouldn't have gone into the market for a midfielder at that stage - and we welcomed back a midfielder we didn't want to offer a longer contract to the previous summer.

Phillips was a bust and as much as I think Nunes has talent, he was a trolley dash addition after our other choices failed & he isn't a Pep player. It's not been great planning in midfield.

I personally think Tkiki is living on past glories. Last two seasons xfers = very underwhelming ( apart from Josko).

Other contenders have has much better windows and are reaping rewards.

 

[Ajm1985]

I personally think Tkiki is living on past glories. Last two seasons xfers = very underwhelming ( apart from Josko).

Other contenders have has much better windows and are reaping rewards.

In fairness, in midfield it feels like there's been a mixture of not getting people onboard (Bellingham), moving onto other targets too late (Rice) and being steadfast with our valuation due to apprehension of how it appears (Guimaraes). Not having back ups or landing targets is a black mark, especially as it was clear how Rodri was running on fumes/likely to get injured due to overlaying.

Savio & Doku are really good signings for me - both completely change the dimensions of our attack and will come good. Just need them to start scoring!

 

[CC1]

I personally think Tkiki is living on past glories. Last two seasons xfers = very underwhelming ( apart from Josko).

Other contenders have has much better windows and are reaping rewards.

You mean like Dipperpool? Or the rags or ….

Also, I mean, he should have anticipated Rodri’s injury & signed a top class midfielder who wouldn’t have to keep the bench warm….

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Well.. when we sold Gundo, we had Alvarez who wanted more game time and Foden, plus as I understand club was working on Bellinghem transfer, as well as Kovacic. So it was correct decision to let Gundo go..

This summer Alvarez wanted to go and was sold. If he hadn't gone, maybe we wouldn't have signed Gundo.

But I am not talking about "what would have happened", I am looking at the squad and it is well-planned.
We have a lot of young players.

Plus we won't need major overhaul as squad replacement can be done step-by-step, like I said - this summer find replacements for KDB & Gundo and next summer, find replacements for Bernie & Walker.

And players like Macatee and Bobb give us ability to spend less, as this players are developed year-by-year and eventually are getting to the level City needs them to be. So when someone retires or is sold, we don't have to spend big to find their replacements.

That's why our net spend for the last 5 years is less than 11 teams in PL, including Big8 and other ones.
But the results are N1

Yep, transfers like Mendy or Phillips happen once in a while, but I think we have the best ratio in terms of successful transfers vs flops, during the last 10 years.

tend to agree the way the ages are staggered to leave 2-3 in/out at a time, and never within the same job role/profile must be tricky to balance everything, regardless if we want 2 internationals and a EDS player for every position. I get why pep likes his flexibility and small squad though. Kova, Josko, Savio, Doku, Gundo, Bobb, McAtee added in 2 seasons is all smart work. (Baffled at Nunes but what you gonna do)

We're rarely in a position of panic over needing 5 in, 5 out

 

[69FACUPfinal]

You mean like Dipperpool? Or the rags or ….

Also, I mean, he should have anticipated Rodri’s injury & signed a top class midfielder who wouldn’t have to keep the bench warm….

Re your last para. Yes they seriously haven't planned for any kind of Rodri or even Erling back up.