14 | Nico Gonzalez - 2024/25

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Charlesfarsbar said:
It’s not essential for players in centre midfield , being able to read the game , having an engine and technical ability are all preferred qualities over pace

If you can get all of these plus pace then you have a very special player indeed.
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There weren’t many slower midfields than that of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta.

They were decent enough.
 
Axel Freed said:
You can't brush off his obvious deficiencies just by pointing out that a once in a generation special talent like Rodri isn't quick either.

Our midfield is criminally short on pace and physicality. I think most blues were hoping that if a midfielder did arrive in the window he would at a minimum possess those attributes. Instead we seem to have another snail like ball retention specialist to add to the half dozen other of those that we already have
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He is physical. Just not pacy.
 
I think there are fans who mistakenly think our midfield when its better will stop counter attacks. Those people are mistaken. What a well developed and not aging midfield would do is help the process of suffocating the opposition when we don't have the ball and possessing it for long periods without losing it when we do. Which in itself demoralizes the opposition.

There was a 15 minute period in the 2nd half after Kev was pulled when we suffocated Liverpool. If you can imagine that 15 minutes being expanded to like 60 minutes of a game, we'd eventually win 90% of games where we can do that for at leat 55-60 minutes of a 90 minutes game.

Gonzo was a big help in achieving that suffocating 15 minutes.

If you can imagine Rodri next to him and Wirtz ( or some similar in form 10 - perhaps a rejuvenated Foden even) in the middle with Doku and Savio killing Fullbacks 1 v 1... I personally can see how this becomes a terrifying team.

Speed or no speed at DM it wint matter. As positioning and physicality is what's more important and he and Rodri have lots of that. That said, i want another fast Central defender like Khusanov. So we can legitimately play with a high line with little fear.

Gonzo is a fantastic addition. And that 12 to 14 minutes against a confident Liverpool is enough to let me know.

When we get back to what we do best, we are going to be a problem for the league...


I just feel bad for Arsenal, as they are missing out on their once in a lifetime opportunity to win the league :p
 
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Got a few concerns with him, but I'm sure the more time he gets the better he'll get.

He's not fast, but that worries me less than his first touch at the moment - been a few heavy touches and also letting it run away from him too. Suggests to me he's not getting the time he had in Spain and he needs to improve his scanning so he knows what he's going to do as soon as he gets the ball. That might come.

The fact he played so well against Newcastle certainly provides some hope.
 
mattcity5 said:
Got a few concerns with him, but I'm sure the more time he gets the better he'll get.

He's not fast, but that worries me less than his first touch at the moment - been a few heavy touches and also letting it run away from him too. Suggests to me he's not getting the time he had in Spain and he needs to improve his scanning so he knows what he's going to do as soon as he gets the ball. That might come.

The fact he played so well against Newcastle certainly provides some hope.
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Didn’t get much time in Spain at all because he was playing in Portugal.
 
as per usual i am seeing about 30 times more people using the excuse that anyone has dared put even the slightest bit of concern or criticism for a performance that was a bit lacking to avoid talking about how we actually played and focus on anything under the sun other than that. It's a real shame that we can't ever have actual discussions about how a player performed, there's such an aversion to it because everyone wants to protect the players
 
samuelyeboah said:
as per usual i am seeing about 30 times more people using the excuse that anyone has dared put even the slightest bit of concern or criticism for a performance that was a bit lacking to avoid talking about how we actually played and focus on anything under the sun other than that. It's a real shame that we can't ever have actual discussions about how a player performed, there's such an aversion to it because everyone wants to protect the players
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I see plenty of discussion here. Maybe you just want to discuss with people that agree with you?
 
His age and ability bode very very well for City. He will develop into a player who can play numerous roles for us and will be an invaluable player for many years to come…just like Khusanov!

Now, let’s see what Reis has got to say for himself and January might have been an absolutely brilliant window!!
 
Dax777 said:
I think there are fans who mistakenly think our midfield when its better will stop counter attacks. Those people are mistaken. What a well developed and not aging midfield would do is help the process of suffocating the opposition when we don't have the ball and possessing it for long periods without losing it when we do. Which in itself demoralizes the opposition.

There was a 15 minute period in the 2nd half after Kev was pulled when we suffocated Liverpool. If you can imagine that 15 minutes being expanded to like 60 minutes of a game, we'd eventually win 90% of games where we can do that for at leat 55-60 minutes of a 90 minutes game.

Gonzo was a big help in achieving that suffocating 15 minutes.

If you can imagine Rodri next to him and Wirtz ( or some similar in form 10 - perhaps a rejuvenated Foden even) in the middle with Doku and Savio killing Fullbacks 1 v 1... I personally can see how this becomes a terrifying team.

Speed or no speed at DM it wint matter. As positioning and physicality is what's more important and he and Rodri have lots of that. That said, i want another fast Central defender like Khusanov. So we can legitimately play with a high line with little fear.

Gonzo is a fantastic addition. And that 12 to 14 minutes against a confident Liverpool is enough to let me know.

When we get back to what we do best, we are going to be a problem for the league...


I just feel bad for Arsenal, as they are missing out on their once in a lifetime opportunity to win the league :p
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"I just feel bad for Arsenal"

Speak for yourself ;)
 
Extremely tidy but I'm unsure if he'll play again this year after that with Pep.. who does he think he is ?
 
Kippax Kidd said:
Extremely tidy but I'm unsure if he'll play again this year after that with Pep.. who does he think he is ?
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Eh? What happened?

I saw them exchanging words and he put his thumb up as he came off but assumed that was just general manager/player signs.

Can’t imagine he’s come in and chanced his arm with a new manager inside 3 weeks at a new club.
 
I can see Gonzalez as Rodri’s understudy in games where we don’t need the latter, or I can see him replacing Rodri when the game is dusted, but he doesn’t strike me as having the creative guile to play alongside him. We’ll need someone else to be sure.
 
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