Our strategy buying defenders has been appalling since the takeover and still continues to this day with Laporte being the exception. Stones, Otamendi, Mangala christ thats about 120 million and none of them cut the mustard (Otamendi for one season).Of course we have a strategy and it’s served us well in the past 3 years. We do seem to penny pinch though on certain players? We need to be more pro active in the right positions and use our financial resources to better the first team and not just the squad? Sometimes it’s not about resale value and imo we should offer up £90-100m for koulibaly as we would still get 4 top years out of him while allowing Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis to get more experience and top level game time
If we had gone for the 2nd, 3rd or 4th choice when it was clear we couldn’t get Jorginho then we wouldn’t have had a squad place available for Rodri who seems like he’s the perfect signing from what little we have seen so far.We definitely have a strategy, and I think it's generally the right one, but where I think we go wrong sometimes is in the approach. We need to be more ruthless and proactive in the market; recently it feels like we're always reacting to something.
Whats the point of having one of the best scouting networks in the world if we're so thrown off by Vinnie deciding to leave a month prior to the end of the season that the only person we've come up with to replace him is Harry Maguire at 60 or 70 million pounds? Similarly the only player we identified to be our third or fourth winger the season before was Mahrez at a club record fee, or before that with Jorginho as the only player worth buying to be our new defensive midfielder, leaving us to hope and pray that Fernandinho didn't get hurt. Why have we spent the last two years betting the season on £8m and £2m midfielders in Delph and Zinchenko respectively stepping up at leftback?
If you want to take the stance in the market that City won't overpay for players, we won't get mugged off, etc, thats fine. Thats great even! But you need to have other options! Saying that we'll buy someone in a position that we really need, but only for X, and if we don't get him we'll get no one is nonsensical and leave us with holes that we've been lucky to get away with sometimes and unlucky other times. I said in another thread that not signing a new centerback this summer probably ruined this season, and yeah thats bad luck, but every year we seem to gamble with something exactly like this. It was just a matter of time until it didn't work out.
Totally, and it's a very fair point. The problem is, it buys into the idea that there's only one player worth going for, which just isn't true. You don't buy a second tier player just to buy someone, you identify more than one first tier players, of which there are many. We supposedly have one of the best scouting operations in the world and then we end up targeting someone from Leicester.If we had gone for the 2nd, 3rd or 4th choice when it was clear we couldn’t get Jorginho then we wouldn’t have had a squad place available for Rodri who seems like he’s the perfect signing from what little we have seen so far.
If you extrapolate that same strategy over 3-4 transfer windows, you will eventually have 6-8 players who you don’t really want, who weren’t the first choice and who you aren’t 100% comfortable building a team around.
That’s when you end up in mid table positions like Trafford Rangers, with a squad of Ugly ****, Smalling, Tom Daley, the other Tom Daley, the third Tom Daley, Fred, the two Chelsea rejects Matic and Mata, Fat Fuck, Fat Headed Fuck and some lanky prick who pays half his salary to his “fresh prince of bell air” barber.
I completely understand it will catch us out one year, maybe even two years but it’s better to have a squad full of players you really want and know you can trust long term who will provide sustainability and a return on investment (e.g. Sane) if we or they decide it’s just not working for that individual. Quality, not quantity.
Agreed, but, personaly I still think are full backs are bang average in terms of spending near 200m on them!Our strategy buying defenders has been appalling since the takeover and still continues to this day with Laporte being the exception. Stones, Otamendi, Mangala christ thats about 120 million and none of them cut the mustard (Otamendi for one season).
If we had world class centre backs as well as Laporte, we would be almost unbeatable. I think our full backs are good enough even though Mendy injuries are concern.
That’s when you end up in mid table positions like Trafford Rangers, with a squad of Ugly ****, Smalling, Tom Daley, the other Tom Daley, the third Tom Daley, Fred, the two Chelsea rejects Matic and Mata, Fat Fuck, Fat Headed Fuck and some lanky prick who pays half his salary to his “fresh prince of bell air” barber.
It's amazing the difference just one world class CB can make to the whole defence though. With Laporte we look very solid. Without him, we look lost at times. And to be honest, Liverpool were in exactly the same position until they bought Van Dijk. They'd wasted so much money on average defenders. Same with the rags after Ferdinand (it remains to be seen whether Maguire will solve that), same with Chelsea after Terry. The reason it's been such a problem position for us is basically because for years Kompany has been that player for us, but he was consistently injured for about a third of the season minimum every year. It's actually pretty rare for a team to genuinely have two commanding CBs of the type that will make everyone around them better. I hoped Stones could become that. In our 100 points season, he looked immense for the first half of the season, got injured, and hasn't consistently looked as good ever since. The fact that he wasn't really preferred for any of last season's title run in, reverting to Kompany when it really matters, suggests that Pep isn't happy with his progress. Sometimes it's tempting to just bite the bullet and say that we've already wasted shitloads of money and just go all in for an £80m Maguire, but the problem is that there's no guarantee that he wouldn't be similarly average. Let's be honest, Mangala and Stones were both examples of us just saying fuck it and paying what it takes.Our strategy buying defenders has been appalling since the takeover and still continues to this day with Laporte being the exception. Stones, Otamendi, Mangala christ thats about 120 million and none of them cut the mustard (Otamendi for one season).
If we had world class centre backs as well as Laporte, we would be almost unbeatable. I think our full backs are good enough even though Mendy injuries are concern.
But that plays into this fallacy that there's going to be some unknown player out there (homegrown, don't forget) who is good enough to transform our entire defence and yet simultaneously playing at a level that no-one has heard of him. A great scouting network finds the players that have potential to make it given time, development and perhaps the odd loan; the Zinchenkos, not finished products.Totally, and it's a very fair point. The problem is, it buys into the idea that there's only one player worth going for, which just isn't true. You don't buy a second tier player just to buy someone, you identify more than one first tier players, of which there are many. We supposedly have one of the best scouting operations in the world and then we end up targeting someone from Leicester.
That’s were we will always disagree, I think it’s way too optimistic to believe there’s more than one “perfect” player at any one time. Occasionally it may happen but it’ll be the exception rather than the rule, as there’s too many factors to take into consideration (e.g. background, transfer fees, wages structures, availability, personality, attitude, agents, injury records... I could go on forever). The most important is integrity, to the player(s), to the club(s) and to our current squad.Totally, and it's a very fair point. The problem is, it buys into the idea that there's only one player worth going for, which just isn't true. You don't buy a second tier player just to buy someone, you identify more than one first tier players, of which there are many. We supposedly have one of the best scouting operations in the world and then we end up targeting someone from Leicester.
The same summer we missed Jorginho, Rodri transferred from Villareal to Atleti (the deal was agreed earlier than the our transfer fell apart, but still). There are always other guys out there.
I don't think Cancelo is average by any means. Walker definitely is overpriced and Mendy cant be relied upon. We probably have to invest in LB in near future.Agreed, but, personaly I still think are full backs are bang average in terms of spending near 200m on them!