We need a dominant (experienced enough) quick enough c/b / right back/ new leader keeper equally as urgently in my book. Whatever order by 31/8.
Get shot of 3- 4 others get 1 - 2 more midfielders who can run even sprint! Done.
Essentially 4 - 5 new players in / 5 - 7 players out. Should be an interesting 7 - 8 weeks . . .
This is the wrong thread to discuss such stuff, perhaps Matt's post as well as my reply should be transferred to the squad planning thread. But anyway...
In reference to the first paragraph of your post (Defense): Yes, Yes, and Yes. The CB needs to be a "killer", the RB to combine offensive - defensive skills. Have talked about the latter extensively, not coming back. GK needs to transmit a sense of stability - security to the team...
Midfield: Running is obviously a prerequisite, but not the only attribute you need. We need to be patient -and careful- with Rodrigo, we need cover at DM. Nico G is a questionmark, but has only 6 months behind him. Provided that everything goes smoothly with Mateo's recovery, he stays where he is. I'm not solving the NHG issue by getting rid of a very good, 100% professional, reliable player. If he goes, somebody has to come...
I'm assuming you're comfortable with the situation upfront. I've read a good post recently regarding the goals we need. The member had done his homework -and I agree. Football matches are not decided by some kind of performance related points like in other sports, you need goals. Which has been a major concern of mine all these years, regardless of our goal scoring records. You can be dominant, totally outplay opposition, if you don't score eventually you get punished. That's the nature of the sport, call it unfair or whatever, it's just irrelevant...
If you don't have the easy goal, you will have to work harder, waste more energy. You will lose games you deserved to win, and, even if you do win, you are bound to get punished for this in the process (long term) in terms of freshness, especially if you operate in the framework of a criminally thin squad: City's case. Finishing is therefore a vital attribute -also very expensive...
We have talented players on the flanks, but they are young and inexperienced. They are involved in official, highly competitive matches, while still developping. Which would be normal for Southampton, for example, but for a club like City, fighting for titles and trophies, it's by definition a risk. I love the boys, I want them to keep progressing, I support this process 100%. But we cannot rely on 1 player (or 2 or 3) for the goals, it's wrong -and very dangerous. I would welcome a talented, proven, versatile forward, ideally able to play across the forward line...
Regarding the second player in midfield mentioned in your post: Pep needs to provide an answer to the following question: Is Claudio an option, right fucking now? I'm not talking about starting the Carabao at home vs a League 2 team, I'm not talking about appearing when we have a comfortable 3 goals lead, etc. That is NOT what defines depth, does that seem to be clear in some people's minds? Let's say Phil is injured and Rayan is tired, can the boy be trusted as a starter in a PL match we have to win? That's the critical question. Because if not, then he is not ready and there is no point in keeping him. The boy needs to further develop, the boys needs minutes, the boy needs to be loaned so as to play consistently and come back improved, more mature, at a level closer to his potential. In such a case, I would welcome another option in an energetic, creative AM, with good run with ball and dribbling attributes, ideally with an eye for a goal...
Final comment (for now): Obviously there are people who need to go, some shouldn't even be here, as we speak. Generally speaking, we have generously conceded the momentum, rivals have the advantage, now we are playing catch up. And we have just self-destructed at the CWC, yet the positives are: a) More time to reflect on the situation and make decisions, the correct decisions obviously, and b) more time for the boys to rest. Some people will never get it, but once again for the record, rivals do not, I repeat, do not need rest as much as we do. For us it's "existential". And if it isn't already clear, let me summarise the idea behing the above mentioned thoughts:
Quality plus Depth. That has to be the principle in Viana's thinking process. You need competent footballers, you also need fresh legs every 3-4 days. It's imperative that the small squad shit ends right fucking now. For good...
Provided that decisions will be inspired by the above mentioned principle, you can expect balances to change. Even dramatically. For people writing in good faith, people who perhaps haven't thought about this, underestimated it, are not fully convinced all these years (which would be bizarre, but anyway), or whatever: Do not concentrate on what Pep says, he says a lot of things. Instead, you should concentrate on recent developments during the group stage of the CWC, for example. How did Pep operate in the first 3 matches (forget the 4th, I'll talk about it on another post) in terms of a) team selection, and b) tactical ideas behind the former? Then take a look at other managers, other teams. You are bound to reach very interesting conclusions. For example, since everybody and his dog are scared shit of PSG these days, take a look at their 2nd game vs Botafongo (which they lost). Am I clear or do i have to spell it out? Rotation is not easy, I'm sorry. On the contrary, it's one of the most complicated procedures in modern football -and there are reasons for that. Klopp didn't want, for example, knowledgeable Arsenal fans will tell you that Arteta has failed in that area -and it cost them. And so on, and so on. Guardiola is on another planet. It's not just about the application of the procedure itself, the best I've ever seen. It's about the ideas supporting it, a fucking variety of them. Which is NOT considered good parctice in modern football, by the way. You see, time is a factor these days -and owners lack patience. Managers, even if they want to, cannot afford experimenting, trying different ideas etc. Without quick results, good results, they simply lose their jobs...
With City you never know what to expect. The team is familiar with a variety of approaches, and a variety of approaches within every fucking approach. You need freshness for that though. Which means, you need players. Good players, MORE players. Othewise, Guardiola becomes -not a magician, but- an alchemist. Adopting methods so as to hide our problems, cancel opposition's strengths. Once again, what he and his boys have achieved under the circustances, is simply unfathomable. But never, ever, did we get the best out of his work, that is the truth. You cannot have it all, I'm sorry. You have opponents with 11 men in and around their box, spaces are inexistent. It's difficult without the right players, even more fucking difficult when you play football in slow motion. We lose the ball, they punish us on the break, they can run, we cannot. We lose control, opponents penetrate our lines as if we're not even there, they can run, we cannot: The story of this team during the last 5, I repeat, FIVE, years. Enough is enough, this shit has to end. Period...
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Should be an interesting 7 - 8 weeks", you say. It should, as long as we have identified these issues. I will assume that he has arrived in Manchester with all the necessary guarantees from upstairs. Without those guarantees, he is not the professional City need -and he should have stayed in Lisbon. I will also assume he has the knowledge -which automatically puts him into the minority, knowledge is a rare commodity in this "industry". Very soon we will know either way. In any case: Up to you, Mr Viana...
