Any young player who wants a guaranteed spot is either 100% arrogant or naive. I’m pretty sure all Palmer wanted was a decent roll of the dice and then his talent hopefully does the rest. Most people could see his potential a good while ago and Pep’s inability to trust youth is now costing us big timePalmer clearly wanted to an automatic starter for City. Pep was unable to guarantee that. Given the choices available at the time, it was hard to disagree with Pep at that point. To disrupt a treble winning team by bringing in a relatively untried junior would have been a major call.
OK with hindsight, we would have decided otherwise given the subsequent relative decline of Bernardo and Grealish.
Foden stayed and fought for his place in the team, Palmer did not. Maybe, as a United fan, Palmer didn't fancy doing the same?
City won four League titles in a row. No team has ever done that before. Herbert Chapman's Huddersfield and Arsenal, Matt Busby's United, Stan Cullis's Wolves, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley's Liverpool, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, and Alex Ferguson's United all came up short.
The reason for that is it is bloody difficult. OK teams in Italy (Juventus), France (PSG), Germany (Bayern), and Benfica/Porto (Portugal) have had repeated success but their leagues lack the depth of the top division in England.
City clearly are overdue for a rebuild. I would certainly like to see Pep oversee at least the initial stages of that rebuild.
I would say Pep's greatest weakness is not to give young players a chance, I can understand this season not throwing too many in to a very broken team and potentially damaging their confidence but in the past seasons when we have games won with 20 mins to go, why did he have such a reluctance to give the young players some game time?Any young player who wants a guaranteed spot is either 100% arrogant or naive. I’m pretty sure all Palmer wanted was a decent roll of the dice and then his talent hopefully does the rest. Most people could see his potential a good while ago and Pep’s inability to trust youth is now costing us big time
Sorry. Don’t agree at all. Everyone keeps going on about how our academy kids should be playing in what was - until a few months ago - the top team in England. Then we were hit by 10+ injuries but you can’t throw more than one kid at a time - it’s too much responsibility & they’re not yet good enough.I would say Pep's greatest weakness is not to give young players a chance, I can understand this season not throwing too many in to a very broken team and potentially damaging their confidence but in the past seasons when we have games won with 20 mins to go, why did he have such a reluctance to give the young players some game time?
No it wasn't. It was completely predictable as it is now a trait.The unprecented injuries are as undeniable as Pep's reluctance to amend our tactics and pick players for the system.
Last night was the unsurprising nadir.
Quite shocking !!
Aaaargh !!No it wasn't. It was completely predictable as it is now a trait.
By tactics, I assume you mean playing football in the opponent's half and playing a high defensive line? Do you really want to go back to the old City? I don't. We need players who can play Pep's football.
There were plenty of players ahead of him.Perhaps but we didn't play him. That's Pep's blind spot. He doesn't think about squad development, he just manages for the current season.
I disagree with Palmer he probably made up his mind during the treble season to leave.
Palmer wasn't "clearly wanting to be an automatic starter at City" he wanted to be playing football not sat on the bench. He was happy to go out on loan from City to play regularly.Palmer clearly wanted to an automatic starter for City. Pep was unable to guarantee that. Given the choices available at the time, it was hard to disagree with Pep at that point. To disrupt a treble winning team by bringing in a relatively untried junior would have been a major call.
OK with hindsight, we would have decided otherwise given the subsequent relative decline of Bernardo and Grealish.
Foden stayed and fought for his place in the team, Palmer did not. Maybe, as a United fan, Palmer didn't fancy doing the same?
City won four League titles in a row. No team has ever done that before. Herbert Chapman's Huddersfield and Arsenal, Matt Busby's United, Stan Cullis's Wolves, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley's Liverpool, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, and Alex Ferguson's United all came up short.
The reason for that is it is bloody difficult. OK teams in Italy (Juventus), France (PSG), Germany (Bayern), and Benfica/Porto (Portugal) have had repeated success but their leagues lack the depth of the top division in England.
City clearly are overdue for a rebuild. I would certainly like to see Pep oversee at least the initial stages of that rebuild.
Intensity has gone up by a significant amount. Impact injuries aren’t that common anymore, mainly due to tackles being cracked down and rightly so.Are players generally just becoming softer?
When you think back to the 70/80's players would battle on with knocks on muddy pitches, yet today they cry off despite playing on carpets with tackles virtually banned?
we have done very well with limited muscle injuries in the past 6-7 years because of constant rotation from Pep and easing players back in when they do get injured.Fuck me... these injuries are demoralising
What the fuck is going on?
The worrying thing is, with this pointless club world cup, next season will probably be even worse