Hugo Viana | Director of Football

Stiff Little Wingers said:
Well,I’d settle for scoring goals right now. And also for Pep to realize he doesn’t need to start every game
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that statement/thinking is why we dont progress....the balance of the team has been affected by trying to shoehorn Semenyo into a starting 11 centrally....the pla is obviously to use our fullbacks as width but they dont provide it very well and Semenyo and Haaland occupy each others spaces and also bring in an extre defender to that area - we are not often facing 6 defenders in the last line of defence...it happened against madrid and West Ham all within the width of the 18 yd box making it almost impossible to play through...

Our goa yesterday (fluke or not is irrelevant) came from wide play and bernardo overlappying and then cutting in but far too often whoever is outwde is not getting the service into the box which is no pack with upto 7-7 defenders plus 4-5 attacking players....

As soon as Semenyo went wide Haaland got two chance (with cherki on)...good save by the keeper for the first and Haaland should have done better for the second...the middle was less conjested....

the next question is whether we keep playing Semenyo wide..for me at present he is the best option out there (not idea but best at present)
 
simon23 said:
Think this is where you are wrong...it has nothing to do with wanting pep to carry on for ever...that is never going to happen even if we had won the league this year and next year.

But lets say we get the best manager in possible to replace Pep (whoever that is).

If we change style thats an overhaul of the whole clubs principles of play....from top to bottom...that is huge...but lets say it happens for arguments sake

Any manager still needs the quality of players to play in what ever system...I am not seeing those quality of players being brought in either under Vianna or at the end of Txixis reign.....we have a lot of very very questionable players in terms of quality

Rico Lewis being brought into the first team - from day one it looked a bad decision
Sav
Reijnders
Marmoush
Semenyo
Nunes as a midfielder
Phillips (as a footballer!!)

these are all mid table players at best...none top their game (please dont say Reijnders was Seria A player of the year....fucking Scott Mctomminay was one of the best players in that league....it is no comaprrison)

Then the likes of Khusonov as well - I love this guy but I question whether he is good enough with the ball at his feet...defensively he is very very good no doubt but there are facets to his game that need improving including heading the ball at times as well as his footwork.

IS NOR really good enough...another question...Ive no idea at present but he is filling in in various positions but what is his actual proper position (is it a number 10) - if it is this then is he ever going to be good enough to replace cherki in that position - I know we need squad fillers/players that can play a variety of positions so maybe that is NOR.

No manager turns this squad into league winners without a big overhaul - no one
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We will see together mate . Good post by the way .
 
I think Viana is in a very weird spot here.

I think the first thing that needs to be done is there needs to be some clarity on Pep's future after this season. I don't believe City would be reaching out to managers the way they have supposedly been doing without some degree of understanding that he is at least considering this being his final year. I think they are already beginning to think through who will be next and doing homework on them.

I think the building blocks of another elite squad are in place. Their is already have a world class striker who is arguably the best in the world in Haaland. There is some young ascending talent like O'Reilly, Cherki, Doku (To a lesser extent.) You have some established PL players who can get better like Guehi, Gvardiol and Semenyo. As well as there own established stars like Dias, Rodri, Donnarumma.

I think their needs to be a real emphasis though on going and getting established superstars and elite players this summer. We can't do another summer of targeting "elite traits" we need to find guys who have put it all together and we know can play at this level. You may need to do a bit of what Liverpool did last year in breaking the bank a couple of times to go and get those 2-3 players who can come in and immediately hit the ground running, and bring this team back to where it can be.

I don't think City are that far off, I think a lot of us felt this was going to be a re-tooling year.
 
Lkzerinho said:
I think Viana is in a very weird spot here.

I think the first thing that needs to be done is there needs to be some clarity on Pep's future after this season. I don't believe City would be reaching out to managers the way they have supposedly been doing without some degree of understanding that he is at least considering this being his final year. I think they are already beginning to think through who will be next and doing homework on them.

I think the building blocks of another elite squad are in place. Their is already have a world class striker who is arguably the best in the world in Haaland. There is some young ascending talent like O'Reilly, Cherki, Doku (To a lesser extent.) You have some established PL players who can get better like Guehi, Gvardiol and Semenyo. As well as there own established stars like Dias, Rodri, Donnarumma.

I think their needs to be a real emphasis though on going and getting established superstars and elite players this summer. We can't do another summer of targeting "elite traits" we need to find guys who have put it all together and we know can play at this level. You may need to do a bit of what Liverpool did last year in breaking the bank a couple of times to go and get those 2-3 players who can come in and immediately hit the ground running, and bring this team back to where it can be.

I don't think City are that far off, I think a lot of us felt this was going to be a re-tooling year.
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Yeah regarding pep he would have let the powers that be when he signed his two year deal it be his last contract!
 
Man_City_Loyal said:
well said, 2nd and still in with a chance to win the league

Cup final to come

Another QF in another cup

Plenty of positives! I actually had a Spurs mate of mine text me today to blame City for what's going on at the top and bottom of the PL.

Cheeky prick! Ha
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You should point out to him that after this season, as a Spurs supporter, he will no longer have any reason to concern himself with what's going on anywhere in the PL.
 
Stoned Rose said:
If we’re going to go direct / blistering counters the best man for the job is Klopp imo mate.
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Stunning possible plot twist: instead of heading to RM or back to Pool, Klopp succeeds Pep this summer. The other Pep can roll out the blue carpet to welcome him...
 
simon23 said:
Guehi -yes - but he struggled big time against quality opposition that is not questionable...the good thing is that he looks like he will learn fast

But Semenyo already looks like he doesnt fit in...can he adapt and play wide of the central striker cause playing him inside or as a number 10 fucks up our attack....He needs to raise his game beyond scoring goals.....
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Are you referring to Semenyo or Haaland? The former is bagging lots of goals but the latter blows every chance he gets, recently. He's even struggled with penalties at times this season. I believe the problem for both these players is their roles in Pep's system seem designed to minimize their offensive impact, and ultimately, production. At least Semenyo scores goals. We will see if Haaland can rediscover his scoring touch or if it will only return at the World Cup. That may be quite telling.
 
Dizbuster said:
Are you referring to Semenyo or Haaland? The former is bagging lots of goals but the latter blows every chance he gets, recently. He's even struggled with penalties at times this season. I believe the problem for both these players is their roles in Pep's system seem designed to minimize their offensive impact, and ultimately, production. At least Semenyo scores goals. We will see if Haaland can rediscover his scoring touch or if it will only return at the World Cup. That may be quite telling.
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Get your money on Haaland to be top scorer at the World Cup.... Even if he doesn't score for us again this season!
 
Lavinda Past said:
Get your money on Haaland to be top scorer at the World Cup.... Even if he doesn't score for us again this season!
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Norway is fun to watch; I think they could be a "dark horse" in this tourney. Nusa, Sorloth and Strand Larsen are talented offensive players. I expect Bobb to play well, also. It should be interesting to view their matches and compare Club Haaland to Country Haaland.

One note in defense of Erling: he looks to me to be physically and emotionally knackered. Surely Pep has to take some responsibility for this. Playing him for the full 90 match after match after match must have exhausted him. I would sit him against RM and tell him to rest up for the Carabao final. Even if we somehow pulled off a miracle against RM (hey, they are NOT very good defensively) and advanced, I rather doubt we could get past Bayern or PSG at this point.
 
Dizbuster said:
Norway is fun to watch; I think they could be a "dark horse" in this tourney. Nusa, Sorloth and Strand Larsen are talented offensive players. I expect Bobb to play well, also. It should be interesting to view their matches and compare Club Haaland to Country Haaland.

One note in defense of Erling: he looks to me to be physically and emotionally knackered. Surely Pep has to take some responsibility for this. Playing him for the full 90 match after match after match must have exhausted him. I would sit him against RM and tell him to rest up for the Carabao final. Even if we somehow pulled off a miracle against RM (hey, they are NOT very good defensively) and advanced, I rather doubt we could get past Bayern or PSG at this point.
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If Haaland could score 2 he’d be guaranteed an early bath!
 
It seems to me that Hugo Viana has bought good players at good prices - he has done his job.
We have had a lot of change in personnel - players and coaching.
It was inevitable that the change would not be utterly seamless, and some of that was because some players held on a little too long. That is not on Viana. I kind of admire that loyalty but it did hold us back a little, temporarily I hope.

We just need to be a bit patient. We've gone from a 29 year-old squad to a 24 year-old squad, but anyone can see the quality of players like Khus and Cherki, and others might just take a little longer to deliver. We also need Pep to get the blend right, and I don't think he and his team has quite done that yet.
 
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I think the signs for the future a good ar my beloved club, not sure that Pep can see this at times as he often reverts to his favourite players and doesn’t often give the new players 4 or 5 matches to play themselves in.
I don’t think there is any point in playing Haaland without Cherki as he seems to be the only creative player with vision we have that can perhaps feed the Viking. I also think we should go with a midfield of Rodri and Nico x2 to make us a little stronger.
This season wasn’t about winning the league is was about competing in the cup competitions which I think we have done. It’s only cos all the other teams in the PL are crap this year it got us dreaming of winning it.
 
oldius said:
It seems to me that Hugo Viana has bought good players at good prices - he has done his job.
We have had a lot of change in personnel - players and coaching.
It was inevitable that the change would not be utterly seamless, and some of that was because some players held on a little too long. That is not on Viana. I kind of admire that loyalty but it did hold us back a little, temporarily I hope.

We just need to be a bit patient. We've gone from a 29 year-old squad to a 24 year-old squad, but anyone can see the quality of players like Khus and Cherki, and others might just take a little longer to deliver. We also need Pep to get the blend right, and I don't think he and his team has quite done that yet.
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Won’t stop them knees jerking with kneejerk bad takes nate
It also won’t stop all these sleeper WUM accounts who weirdly only post in bad times from popping up. Dozens of them since the weekend, sad twats
 
SaintColin said:
At which point mate? I’m guessing it’s the United bit. They bossed up around the park like school boys in the derby. Sit only a few points behind us, suck it up and put more pressure on the board to stop fucking about buying shite.
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Rag
 
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