It's Quiet the £250m return

blueparrot said:
We have a few, Haaland, Foden, Rodri, Reijnders, Dias, Marmoush, should all be in or approaching their prime. Until this team has at least 10/15 games together though it's impossible to know one way way or the other how this season will pan out.
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Haaland and Foden, definitely on the cusp. Marmoush and Reijnders have been recent additions to address the shortfall.
But the recruitment previous to this year hasn't been great and has allowed the old guard to effectively grow old together with no 'next batch' coming through.
Think we've been too focused on getting value for money or potential rather than getting the top quality in.
 
Dialog said:
It's not City-related news and apologies for posting here, but if this is true, I had a proper laugh. Two transfers in one window? That’s unheard of and I was sure you can move once in a transfer window, clearly I was wrong. But I’m sure “it means more” for him.
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This is why this page needs to be blocked. He/she is a bullshitter and Ornstein just added fuel to the fire by commenting on it once. Worst of journalism out there.
 
simon23 said:
Rico Lewis is not an 8 or 10 - lets get this straight. He doesnt get in our team in either of those positions at any point over the last decade and even prior to that - not over a single option at any point we have ever had.
He is not suited to his "multi-role"(lets call it that) as he doesnt have the physical attributes to play it - he aint athletic enough to get about and lacks other key attributes at certain times as well.

His attributes are that he is good in tight spaces, good first touch and (sometimes) able to turn out of trouble (not always however) and is an intelligent player. He is a battler as well, doesnt give up and doesnt shirk a challenge

However he is easily knocked off the ball, has no pace/stamina to get up and down the field at pace, lacks a forward pass (makes good forward runs). Players that could play this more hyrbid role were like Ferna, even Gundo...Bernardo when younger....you could ferna played Ferna at fullback and all other midfield roles and overtime he would have done a decent job, Gundo can do the 6.8.10 role (not fullback). Bernardo can play al the roles except fullback (though Pep tried it once!). So you are mostly right as there is only possibly one other player that could have ever played that role...and that was Ferna (yaya played as a centre half however while at Barca under Pep - so similar ish?)

I do agree its on Pep for trying this...its failing and failing badly and will do against any of teams that have something about them..against cannon fodder like Wolves we can get away with it....It needs to stop. I think he tried it briefly with Zabba when he first arrived and it exposed him badly as well.

The issue for Rico Lews is that ultimately as stand alone fullback he isnt good enough - as a stand alone midfielder - he aint good enough
Ultimately he is not good enough in any position.

Would he get into Arsenal's team, Liverpools team Chelsea's team? Any top team in Europe?
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So we're broadly in agreement then?

OK, the players you mentioned in comparison were seasoned internationals in the prime of their careers, & none of them were asked to play the complex Rico role, so we can deduce that comparisons between them & Rico are impossible to make.

In terms of Rico being a specialist RB, No 6, No 8 or No 10, he's not being asked to play these roles, so coming to the conclusion that he couldn't play them to a degree of success is a subjective opinion, which you're entitled to hold.

However, if you're claiming these opinions to be fact, I'd be interested to see your evidence & for you to explain how you've arrived at these conclusions, considering Rico's never been regularly asked to specialise as a No 6, No 8 or No 10 so we can contrast & compare.

He's a 20 year old academy graduate playing a unique role, whose being compared to seasoned internationals who Pep considers aren't "intelligent" or "capable" enough to carry out that role.

We need a sense of fairness & perspective here. I've serious issues with our inverted tactics & believe we need to get back to Pep's classic 4-3-3 flat back four basics, because his inverted FB system has been well & truly sussed.

Against lesser quality players, we have more than enough as evidenced against Wolves. But even then the danger signs were there for all to see. If Wolves had better quality attackers, they should've scored three against us.

The main issue is when we come up against teams with better quality players like Spuds. At that point, since last November we've been at a distinct disadvantage against the best, hence us nearly getting relegated from the CL positions & our early exit from the 2024-25 competition.

Rico Lewis isn't to blame for any of that. It's not as like if Rico's removed, that's the silver bullet needed to return to prime treble winning City is it?
 
BerkshireBlue said:
The point is he's in this complex role because he's not good enough for the other roles. Let's face facts, when he plays our win precentage drops as we can't attack properly and our defense is wide open. I don't get this protectionism of him, he is starting too many games when he should be a bit part subsitute coming on in the last 5 minutes or when we're 3-0 up. That should be his role
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Do you have stats to back this up?

Also, if Rico has such a detrimental effect on our performances, why is Pep persevering with Lewis & his inverted FB tactic? Surely the stats would point to Lewis being the sole reason our season crumbled last time around?
 
I still think there won't be any incomings other than the keeper and thats only if Galatasaray meet the clubs valuation of Ederson.

Think we should have been more aggressive getting some players like Baleba. But its not the way the club does things.

I think they're hoping Rodri gets fit quickly and stays fit. A big gamble.
 
blueparrot said:
Don't even know what that means, you don't play in a team that finishes 3rd in the league with a squad of weak players.
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Watching the Newcastle game on Monday, we would not have been able to compete physically with them ( I know we beat them last season but it was around the time of their Carabao Cup Final)

We were also out muscled against Spurs.

A couple of years ago our vastly superior technique and ability on the ball meant that any physical inferiority didn't really matter.....although we sometimes struggled against Klopps Liverpool.

A fully fit Rodri and the inclusion of Kushanov plus a decent sized right back would go some way to solving this issue
 
I don't get that defending of Rico , anyone can see that he is a liability as a right back against any decent team with good wingers. Maybe he would be a good nr 8 or 10 ,but he isnt playing in that position anyway and playing him as a right back needs to stop.Though our defending overall as a team has been below bar for the last year or so, but we can count on Dias and Rico playing in that high line anyway.
 
kupest said:
This is why this page needs to be blocked. He/she is a bullshitter and Ornstein just added fuel to the fire by commenting on it once. Worst of journalism out there.
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I don't think they are, the last clown who owned it sold it to a group of people who genuinely do seem to have some information.
 
blue ranger said:
How many city players get in the Arsenal team? We are miles off the quality of previous years. I'd say Gvardiol, Rodri and Haaland plus Foden when he is back to his normal levels. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. The drop off in the quality of our players over last 18 months and beyond is huge.
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100% agree with this. See people say last season was an off season etc. The obvious thing to me is we have regressed and the opposition has progressed. Find it mad that two of the biggest problems we had at the end of last season were the goalkeeper and RB situation and with less than a week to go none of them have been solved. We used to be best in class both on and off the pitch and everything at the moment seems chaotic.
 
Blue tiger said:
100% agree with this. See people say last season was an off season etc. The obvious thing to me is we have regressed and the opposition has progressed. Find it mad that two of the biggest problems we had at the end of last season were the goalkeeper and RB situation and with less than a week to go none of them have been solved. We used to be best in class both on and off the pitch and everything at the moment seems chaotic.
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Not so much chaotic, I think our board are too professional for that, it’s more that for whatever reason we have been reluctant to buy the top players that would really improve us. Potential or second/third tier signings can only get you so far.
 
argyle said:
I still think there won't be any incomings other than the keeper and thats only if Galatasaray meet the clubs valuation of Ederson.

Think we should have been more aggressive getting some players like Baleba. But its not the way the club does things.

I think they're hoping Rodri gets fit quickly and stays fit. A big gamble.
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Khaldoon in his end of season interview said we hadn’t been aggressive enough in previous windows and that we would be correcting that. I assume the quick splurge just before the CWC was the only aggression we are getting.
 
Semper aggressus said:
Not so much chaotic, I think our board are too professional for that, it’s more that for whatever reason we have been reluctant to buy the top players that would really improve us. Potential or second/third tier signings can only get you so far.
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Aye chaotic might of been the wrong word tbf.
 
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