It's Quiet the £250m return

simon23 said:
Not really no

We have no adequate right back at all- Neither Rico Lewis nor Nunes are anywhere near good enough.

We have 1 recognised left back in Alt Nouri - then a 19/20 year old no 10 in Nico Oreilly who is a fill in and nothing more...he can play there but that aint his position and in reality we need someone who is actually a left back as cover

We have two senior centre halves in Dias and Gvardiol ( a pair that has hardly played together) and two largely untested players in Khusonov and Reis (and I like Khusonov but he has hardly played at centre half for us at all) -they are project players and there is even talk about Reis going out on loan. Reis has barely played at all

Stones and Ake cannot be trusted to be in this equation - both are world class but if they are unavailable then they are redundant in the conversation. Both get injured any time they set foot near the pitch for more than 2-3 games.

And that leaves Akanji whose form has dropped off a cliff and again is getting injured more frequently.

So no I dont think we do.

Id let Stones and Ake both leave (f we could) and bring in one more experienced centre half but even before that we need a right back - at least one....
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For me Ake, Stones, Akanji should go this window and if we could get a right back and another CB I would let Lewis and Nunes go. All are either past it, super injury prone or not good enough
 
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skillman said:
Sadly, if Gundo is here then Pep will play him. It's like he can't help himself. Same with Bernie.

It's odd because Pep was known for being ruthless (Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Hart, Zabaleta, Yaya, Aguero etc.) but in recent years clearly has his favourites and is preferring them to the detriment of younger and fresher legs.

It's a huge part of Viana's job to essentially take certain players away from Pep. For the good of the team and progression of the club.
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You think next season he will keep picking Gundo if he stays?
 
simon23 said:
Not really no

We have no adequate right back at all- Neither Rico Lewis nor Nunes are anywhere near good enough.

We have 1 recognised left back in Alt Nouri - then a 19/20 year old no 10 in Nico Oreilly who is a fill in and nothing more...he can play there but that aint his position and in reality we need someone who is actually a left back as cover

We have two senior centre halves in Dias and Gvardiol ( a pair that has hardly played together) and two largely untested players in Khusonov and Reis (and I like Khusonov but he has hardly played at centre half for us at all) -they are project players and there is even talk about Reis going out on loan. Reis has barely played at all

Stones and Ake cannot be trusted to be in this equation - both are world class but if they are unavailable then they are redundant in the conversation. Both get injured any time they set foot near the pitch for more than 2-3 games.

And that leaves Akanji whose form has dropped off a cliff and again is getting injured more frequently.

So no I dont think we do.

Id let Stones and Ake both leave (f we could) and bring in one more experienced centre half but even before that we need a right back - at least one....
Click to expand...
I think you need to take a step back and look at our options.

At CB we have Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Akanji, Stones, Reis and Khusanov.

Arsenal have Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior and Mosquera

Liverpool have Van Dijk, Konate, Gomez and Rhys Williams.

Chelsea have Tosin, Chalobah, Colwill, Badiashile, Fofana.

We have far more cover than our rivals in my opinion. Playing the likes of Reis and Khusanov more will allow the likes of Stones, Ake and Dias to get a rest and recover. If we let Akanji go, I'd bring in Guehi from Palace (HG option), but I wouldn't bring someone in unless we let one defender go.
 
simon23 said:
Not really no

We have no adequate right back at all- Neither Rico Lewis nor Nunes are anywhere near good enough.

We have 1 recognised left back in Alt Nouri - then a 19/20 year old no 10 in Nico Oreilly who is a fill in and nothing more...he can play there but that aint his position and in reality we need someone who is actually a left back as cover

We have two senior centre halves in Dias and Gvardiol ( a pair that has hardly played together) and two largely untested players in Khusonov and Reis (and I like Khusonov but he has hardly played at centre half for us at all) -they are project players and there is even talk about Reis going out on loan. Reis has barely played at all

Stones and Ake cannot be trusted to be in this equation - both are world class but if they are unavailable then they are redundant in the conversation. Both get injured any time they set foot near the pitch for more than 2-3 games.

And that leaves Akanji whose form has dropped off a cliff and again is getting injured more frequently.

So no I dont think we do.

Id let Stones and Ake both leave (f we could) and bring in one more experienced centre half but even before that we need a right back - at least one....
Click to expand...
All defenders have to have a clean slate and a pass for last seasons form and availability. It was Peps batshit mental decision to go into the season with 6 defenders in the squad, that forced them all to play whilst unfit or straight up injured which then snowballed.

Judging Akanji on last season when he said he was playing for months injured until he had to say enough is enough and get surgery isnt fair. Likewise, Ake did the same, Stones did the same and Dias did the same. Granted Stones and Ake have had issues prior to last season but none of us know how often they'd have been available if they wasnt pushed into playing.

Most of our treble winning defence are still here, the eldest of which have barely entered their 30's, this idea the entire defence is finished and all needs replacing is a myth. They were shit last season because they werent fit and we had god awful suicidal tactics.

We now have the normal defensive numbers you'd expect a squad to have which will allow for rotation, allow players to get fully fit and eased back in and should eradicate the farce of having no fit defenders for the majority of the season and then we can only hope pep comes up with a gameplan that doesnt leave us completely open every time we dont have the ball, if he doesnt, no combination of defenders, new or existing will make us more solid.
 
simon23 said:
If foden plays at the level we know he can then he is as good as Wirtz in some respects, better in others and slightly behind in others...the one area we need Foden to improve on (even at his best) is his creativity.

He is a great goal scorer, he finishes very well. He is a great dribbler of the ball and moves exceptionally well through the phases of play. He is amazing on the half turn in tight spaces (probably one of the best).

But we do need him to step up and be more creative for others. We however need him to get back to his best as the drop off last year (due to injury, mental health - probably both) was huge.

We also need others (doku, and Sav) to really step up as well - at their current levels they arent doing enough consistantly. Doku is a one of my favourite players at present - I love the fact that he always shows up no matter how bad he is playing - BUT we need more from him. Sav is only young so needs time but this season is a big season for him...He needs to hugely improve in front of goal.

Cherki is the unknown quantity...huge potential and incredible individual skill levels - but can he transform that into performing in the hardest league in the world. He looks like a maverick type player so it will be either all in or bust with him.
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Cherki, Foden, Bobb, Savinho and Doku are all still young. They will all improve. Too much pressure is put on them to deliver. Cherki is 21 years old yet the fanbase is expecting De Bruyne level performances from him. He's still a kid who's learning his craft. Same for Doku, Sav, Bobb and Foden. All have learning to do still.

We've got an exciting young team, we also have Nypan, Echeverri, O Reilly, Bah to come through. Trafford another one if we get him. We've got a bright future ahead of us for sure.
 
Berti No Show said:
I think you need to take a step back and look at our options.

At CB we have Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Akanji, Stones, Reis and Khusanov.

Arsenal have Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior and Mosquera

Liverpool have Van Dijk, Konate, Gomez and Rhys Williams.

Chelsea have Tosin, Chalobah, Colwill, Badiashile, Fofana.

We have far more cover than our rivals in my opinion. Playing the likes of Reis and Khusanov more will allow the likes of Stones, Ake and Dias to get a rest and recover. If we let Akanji go, I'd bring in Guehi from Palace (HG option), but I wouldn't bring someone in unless we let one defender go.
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The problem is that we currently do not have a reliable world class CB compared to Liverpool and Arsenal having two each. Gvardiol is the closest but he needs a partner and who he can play with.
 
Berti No Show said:
I think you need to take a step back and look at our options.

At CB we have Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Akanji, Stones, Reis and Khusanov.

Arsenal have Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior and Mosquera

Liverpool have Van Dijk, Konate, Gomez and Rhys Williams.

Chelsea have Tosin, Chalobah, Colwill, Badiashile, Fofana.

We have far more cover than our rivals in my opinion
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Do you think we will have all of Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Akanji, Stones, Reis and Khusanov at the start of the season?
 
ninjamonkey said:
All defenders have to have a clean slate and a pass for last seasons form and availability. It was Peps batshit mental decision to go into the season with 6 defenders in the squad, that forced them all to play whilst unfit or straight up injured which then snowballed.

Judging Akanji on last season when he said he was playing for months injured until he had to say enough is enough and get surgery isnt fair. Likewise, Ake did the same, Stones did the same and Dias did the same. Granted Stones and Ake have had issues prior to last season but none of us know how often they'd have been available if they wasnt pushed into playing.

Most of our treble winning defence are still here, the eldest of which have barely entered their 30's, this idea the entire defence is finished and all needs replacing is a myth. They were shit last season because they werent fit and we had god awful suicidal tactics.

We now have the normal defensive numbers you'd expect a squad to have which will allow for rotation, allow players to get fully fit and eased back in and should eradicate the farce of having no fit defenders for the majority of the season and then we can only hope pep comes up with a gameplan that doesnt leave us completely open every time we dont have the ball, if he doesnt, no combination of defenders, new or existing will make us more solid.
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I get all of that and dont necessarily disagree but its presuming that the cover of Reis and Khusonov are anywhere near the level required...Khusonov looked reasonably decent in his few appearances but we have barely seen Reis and therefore again its a lot to presume he can make the step up (talk of him being loaned suggests not)

Stones was vital to that treble winning defence when he played...MOTM in the CL final playing more as a no.6

Walker was also extremely vital and was playing well - we had a right back which covered the high line like no other defender in the world could - we now dont have that and the two options we do have are poor imitations of defenders. Walker 1 vs 1 was unbeatable until he dropped off a cliff.

Do you think Pep changes his way of playing...Im not so sure he will - this exposes Dias and the rest as they dont have that cover in behind (Walker)

Dias and Akanji also arent that good 1 vs 1 - Dias has incredible leadership qualities but as a 1 vs 1 defender (which Pep requires) he is not the best...neither is Akanji

The number of players we have is not really the issue...its the quality and availability that could be - howmany games will Stones or Ake actually play for instance? Is Reis in particualr ready to make the step up...is Khusonov as well?
 
Berti No Show said:
I think you need to take a step back and look at our options.

At CB we have Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Akanji, Stones, Reis and Khusanov.
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Ake and Stones are not in the equation - they are rarely fit...both have long standing injury issues

So we have Dias, Gvardiol Akanji and two untried youngsters
Berti No Show said:
We have far more cover than our rivals in my opinion. Playing the likes of Reis and Khusanov more will allow the likes of Stones, Ake and Dias to get a rest and recover. If we let Akanji go, I'd bring in Guehi from Palace (HG option), but I wouldn't bring someone in unless we let one defender go.
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I would definitely bring in one more centre half
 
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