It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[Colin Bells Boots]

I'm convinced Carson will be here until he retires aged 68.

Waiting for his gold watch ? :)

 

[Xhavenjoe]

I'm convinced Carson will be here until he retires aged 68

I,m convinced Carson will be here until he retires aged 115

 

[houraisen]

 

[striver]

well, at least they are realized, admitting a mistake is a step towards success. hopefully we can phase out walker in january

 

[John Wayne]

Pep is very unselfish. That's a bloke who is part of the fabric of the club.

The club couldn't legislate for Rodri's injury. But the failure in the market really revolves around just two issues, for me:

1) Walker was showing signs of decline last season. I think most of us would have agreed back in May that RB was a position that needed addressing.

2) Three summers in a row have seen us bring in one midfielder that isn't up to standard - Phillips in 2022, Nunes in 2023 and Gundogan in 2024.

Had we got the above right, we would not be facing the present problems.

 

[Roachy]

Pep is very unselfish. That's a bloke who is part of the fabric of the club.

The club couldn't legislate for Rodri's injury. But the failure in the market really revolves around just two issues, for me:

1) Walker was showing signs of decline last season. I think most of us would have agreed back in May that RB was a position that needed addressing.

2) Three summers in a row have seen us bring in one midfielder that isn't up to standard - Phillips in 2022, Nunes in 2023 and Gundogan in 2024.

Had we got the above right, we would not be facing the present problems.

We couldn't account for Rodri's injury as you say. We have to assume though that Pep had a plan for resting him or in the event of any short term lay offs. I think this is where Kovacic comes in, who I feel can fulfil a number of midfield roles. Sods law he then picks up an injury leaving us badly exposed. Coupled with some iffy purchases like you've mentioned, other injuries, on field errors, players out of form has led to what we're seeing now. RB is now standout priority for reinforcing, with the MF in need of some overhauling.

 

[RayCTID]

It may well be at least 4 in the summer.

KDB, Walker, Gundogan and Carson are all pretty likely to depart.

Then there’s a few like Bernardo, Stones, Ederson, Grealish etc who could all be moved on too.

Not all in one transfer window. There is the cohesive side with the new signings and keeping a couple of the current seniors are necessary.

 

[xMatMcC]

Could see us sending Delap to them for ~15m with a sell on clause and they give us the floor to sign this lad.

Seen Delap has been linked to Bologna and Zirkzee is likely to be sold this summer. Makes a lot of sense to me. Then Delap will show people he is the same quality as Vlahovic and get sold for ~50m in a couple seasons.

This football manager stuff is well easy.

Will be a great Premier League striker. Don't know what this comment is supposed to mean. Quite similar to a Joselu level backup at worst. Not everyone bursts onto the scene.

Have a hard time understanding why we let Delap go, if we were expecting Alvarez to leave, without having a new Haaland understudy in our sights.

Top class first half to his Premier League season.

Got a lot of stick for these Delap comments in the summer, and looks like even I sold the lad short. I knew he was Vlahovic level but did not see him commanding that ~50m fee as early as January this year. Props to him.

Worrying that Chelsea are after him. Would be a great striker for them if he keeps trending in the direction that I think he is.

We need to stop selling our academy lads too early, especially within the PL. Its inexcusable at this point. Every analytic measure showed clearly how good Palmer was, and to a lesser extent, Delap.

We've had a few blunders in the window lately. Fine. Make amends by not allowing it again. Fool me once, shame on you. I believe we've got the right people in charge to recognize this and it starts with fighting to keep McAtee and Wright. If I start seeing rumors of McAtee out for 40m quid I'll be really disappointed. He's a star in the making. Unless we sell him to a non-English team and he's replaced with the very best. AKA Wirtz/Musiala level.

Come on City, big year of recruitment ahead.

 

[Sk@mcfc]

any right back for me would be better than walker
Even one who can attack, cross a ball but can’t defend to save his life
At least we would gain something going forward

Sounds like the lad at the dippers

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Got a lot of stick for these Delap comments in the summer, and looks like even I sold the lad short. I knew he was Vlahovic level but did not see him commanding that ~50m fee as early as January this year. Props to him.

Worrying that Chelsea are after him. Would be a great striker for them if he keeps trending in the direction that I think he is.

We need to stop selling our academy lads too early, especially within the PL. Its inexcusable at this point. Every analytic measure showed clearly how good Palmer was, and to a lesser extent, Delap.

We've had a few blunders in the window lately. Fine. Make amends by not allowing it again. Fool me once, shame on you. I believe we've got the right people in charge to recognize this and it starts with fighting to keep McAtee and Wright. If I start seeing rumors of McAtee out for 40m quid I'll be really disappointed. He's a star in the making. Unless we sell him to a non-English team and he's replaced with the very best. AKA Wirtz/Musiala level.

Come on City, big year of recruitment ahead.

Maybe the success Palmer has enjoyed since moving to Chelsea might provoke a change in the way the club handles the potential that exists within the junior ranks.

Not everybody sold will have the same progress as Palmer, but the club may see more value in giving them more opportunities.

Who knows ......?

 

[Cityyy2031]

#ManCity are conscious they may have made a mistake by identifying 2025 as the time for a squad rebuild rather than doing more last summer to accelerate the process. Kyle Walker, in particular, is identified as a player who should have been phased out earlier



Surprise surprise blue tone has had his say - Fraud that Man, absolute fraud.

 

[RayCTID]

Got a lot of stick for these Delap comments in the summer, and looks like even I sold the lad short. I knew he was Vlahovic level but did not see him commanding that ~50m fee as early as January this year. Props to him.

Worrying that Chelsea are after him. Would be a great striker for them if he keeps trending in the direction that I think he is.

We need to stop selling our academy lads too early, especially within the PL. Its inexcusable at this point. Every analytic measure showed clearly how good Palmer was, and to a lesser extent, Delap.

We've had a few blunders in the window lately. Fine. Make amends by not allowing it again. Fool me once, shame on you. I believe we've got the right people in charge to recognize this and it starts with fighting to keep McAtee and Wright. If I start seeing rumors of McAtee out for 40m quid I'll be really disappointed. He's a star in the making. Unless we sell him to a non-English team and he's replaced with the very best. AKA Wirtz/Musiala level.

Come on City, big year of recruitment ahead.

Chelsea wouldn't be the best move for Delap. Similar if we brought him back (although with the rumours with Gyokeres Delap would be the better option for what we should look for if we are going to sign another striker)

 

[blueparrot]

Got a lot of stick for these Delap comments in the summer, and looks like even I sold the lad short. I knew he was Vlahovic level but did not see him commanding that ~50m fee as early as January this year. Props to him.

Worrying that Chelsea are after him. Would be a great striker for them if he keeps trending in the direction that I think he is.

We need to stop selling our academy lads too early, especially within the PL. Its inexcusable at this point. Every analytic measure showed clearly how good Palmer was, and to a lesser extent, Delap.

We've had a few blunders in the window lately. Fine. Make amends by not allowing it again. Fool me once, shame on you. I believe we've got the right people in charge to recognize this and it starts with fighting to keep McAtee and Wright. If I start seeing rumors of McAtee out for 40m quid I'll be really disappointed. He's a star in the making. Unless we sell him to a non-English team and he's replaced with the very best. AKA Wirtz/Musiala level.

Come on City, big year of recruitment ahead.

Youre asking the wrong question though.Would these players mention get into our team this season and improve us, maybe they would.The question you need to be asking would they have got into any of our 100 point ,domestic clean sweep,or treble winning teams,then the answer is probably no they wouldn't
So that's the level we need to get back to not players that might get games in the current squad,players that would have got into those earlier teams are what we need.Delap isn't one and neither is Mcatee.

 

[decmancity]

Maybe the success Palmer has enjoyed since moving to Chelsea might provoke a change in the way the club handles the potential that exists within the junior ranks.

Not everybody sold will have the same progress as Palmer, but the club may see more value in giving them more opportunities.

Who knows ......?

It's not the club that is giving the players opportunities, it's Pep.

The "club" are the ones who identify these young lads, sign them, train them and prep them to play in the first team. We then have trusted Pep with the keys to the kingdom to have carte blanche on who plays and who are we to argue with his track record.

If Pep doesn't think Delap, Lavia or whoever else is any better than what we have then we trust his opinion, sell them on and move forward.

If we want to really be this holistic club and play academy players then we put Paul Dickov in charge and we make the rule that all first team players are from the academy.

The performances of the several names constantly mentioned in this thread will be of great pride for CFG and will help us in recruiting even more talent in the years to come because they know they will be given a world class education and won't block their careers.

How many "next big things" have the rags or Chelsea had that they just refused to let go and have stuck around for years playing reserve football ultimately to the detriment of their careers.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

It's not the club that is giving the players opportunities, it's Pep.

The "club" are the ones who identify these young lads, sign them, train them and prep them to play in the first team. We then have trusted Pep with the keys to the kingdom to have carte blanche on who plays and who are we to argue with his track record.

If Pep doesn't think Delap, Lavia or whoever else is any better than what we have then we trust his opinion, sell them on and move forward.

If we want to really be this holistic club and play academy players then we put Paul Dickov in charge and we make the rule that all first team players are from the academy.

The performances of the several names constantly mentioned in this thread will be of great pride for CFG and will help us in recruiting even more talent in the years to come because they know they will be given a world class education and won't block their careers.

How many "next big things" have the rags or Chelsea had that they just refused to let go and have stuck around for years playing reserve football ultimately to the detriment of their careers.

I hear what you say, but I doubt that Pep is the only person who appraises their talent, ability, personality etc.

He will have the final word on whether they are elevated into the team, match squad, bench etc but as sole arbiter on every stage of their progress, I am not convinced.

I totally accept that there is a higher bar at City than for other clubs, Chelsea obviously being one due to their
" recruitment policy " which has bordered on full-blown scattergun at times.

But just possibly the way some of the talent we have sold and then watched get into other PL teams might have caused a few discussions.

But neither you nor I know the ins and outs of this .

And tbh quoting the rags is just fucking silly, as there is absolutely no comparison with them and a properly run club, as well you know.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

It's not the club that is giving the players opportunities, it's Pep.

The "club" are the ones who identify these young lads, sign them, train them and prep them to play in the first team. We then have trusted Pep with the keys to the kingdom to have carte blanche on who plays and who are we to argue with his track record.

If Pep doesn't think Delap, Lavia or whoever else is any better than what we have then we trust his opinion, sell them on and move forward.

If we want to really be this holistic club and play academy players then we put Paul Dickov in charge and we make the rule that all first team players are from the academy.

The performances of the several names constantly mentioned in this thread will be of great pride for CFG and will help us in recruiting even more talent in the years to come because they know they will be given a world class education and won't block their careers.

How many "next big things" have the rags or Chelsea had that they just refused to let go and have stuck around for years playing reserve football ultimately to the detriment of their careers.

I think your going to the extreme with that point. No ones saying we should only play academy players or we have to play them. I do think it was pretty clear players like Palmer and Delap had the talent to be top players, they just needed to develop. You could see that when they were in the youth teams.

You could argue we’ve gone to far the other way - it doesn’t matter how talented they are they aren’t being given a chance and we’re focusing solely on making a profit.

Obviously it’s in hindsight, but for instance I now look at palmer and for me he’s better than all of our wingers and he’d have cost nothing. Why couldn’t the club see that? (I’m pretty sure they’re regretting it now)

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

We'll never know if he would have developed as fast here, he (Palmer) played the same minutes than Haaland then season he moved. Take him 2-3 seasons in the rotation to be given that and a free role etc. Probably a call we'll see the club make a lot when they hit the 'need to play' stage we usually don't have bulk minutes on offer at the time they are sold.

Buybacks are a double edged sword, if the player develops fast enough for us too think about it, would he leave a place he's playing 24/7 and improving on a fast track? Remains to be seen if they'll bear fruit.

Argument can be made all-day either way, Some players will flourish away, some will need a perfect storm of timing, trust and development to fill a need as it arises. I'm ok with the system, could be better/worse as it stands.

Its a fascinating process to see why, who, when and how calls are made as the lads graduate.

 

[xMatMcC]

Youre asking the wrong question though.Would these players mention get into our team this season and improve us, maybe they would.The question you need to be asking would they have got into any of our 100 point ,domestic clean sweep,or treble winning teams,then the answer is probably no they wouldn't
So that's the level we need to get back to not players that might get games in the current squad,players that would have got into those earlier teams are what we need.Delap isn't one and neither is Mcatee.

I don't think I am asking the wrong question. In no world would we have lost 6 of 7 if we had Lavia. Same with Palmer.

 

[xMatMcC]

We'll never know if he would have developed as fast here, he (Palmer) played the same minutes than Haaland then season he moved. Take him 2-3 seasons in the rotation to be given that and a free role etc. Probably a call we'll see the club make a lot when they hit the 'need to play' stage we usually don't have bulk minutes on offer at the time they are sold.

Buybacks are a double edged sword, if the player develops fast enough for us too think about it, would he leave a place he's playing 24/7 and improving on a fast track? Remains to be seen if they'll bear fruit.

Argument can be made all-day either way, Some players will flourish away, some will need a perfect storm of timing, trust and development to fill a need as it arises. I'm ok with the system, could be better/worse as it stands.

Its a fascinating process to see why, who, when and how calls are made as the lads graduate.

He didn't need to develop. Palmer was already a star in his City appearances, for the 1st team and the academy. He was so so good in all his limited appearances.

 

[blueparrot]

I don't think I am asking the wrong question. In no world would we have lost 6 of 7 if we had Lavia. Same with Palmer.

That is missing the point, we might not have, but would we have won trebles or got 100 points with them. Not in my opinion.Would Lavia have got in any of those teams, would Delap. No they wouldn't.