27 | Matheus Nunes - 2023/24

[WallyA]

One thing I saw was he was able to spot and make gundo-esque late runs into the box. Sneaking through and creating overloads in the oppositions box was part of what helped Haaland score so much last season. Defenders had no choice but to leave him alone at crucial moments.

I know we are all in for Paqueta next season.

But I wouldn’t mind seeing a Rodri - Nunes partnership develop as well.

 

[Vincennes Blue]

Unlike the other recruits (Doku, Gvardiol and Kovacic), he hasn't yet made his mark on the season, but I have total confidence in him. Like Doku and Gvardiol, he's got an atypical style of play based on risk-taking, speed and dribbling, and it's very complicated to make a name for yourself in your first season at a club that plays almost exclusively against low blocks, with Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Phoden, Bernardo Silva and Julian Alvarez as direct competitors. It's fair to say that for the moment he's achieved absolutely nothing for us, but in football things happen very quickly - remember "Plodri" a few years ago, or a few days ago, Gvardiol and Doku, who were considered frauds. Matheus Nunes has a rare elimination trait in modern football that few other midfielders possess (Bellingham, Foden, Wirtz), as well as amazing speed. He just needs to integrate passing patterns, positioning and game plans, and when he does he'll be unstoppable. Pep is modulating him like Doku and Gvardiol, except that with him it takes longer because it's always longer and more complicated for midfielders. Not to believe in him would be a terrible mistake.

 

[Dax777]

I know we are all in for Paqueta next season.

But I wouldn’t mind seeing a Rodri - Nunes partnership develop as well.

I was hoping for the kid in Germany myself. Not really a big fan of Paqueta.

 

[Scoobz3]

Lowest performer again - convincing win saves him from being berated. Still the weakest player in the available squad for me and can't see why we went in for him - either based on previous form or what little current form he gets to display. Hopefully picks up or we can ship him out to Girona as part of a deal in the summer. Worth about £20m max on the open market ... https://www.sofascore.com/team/football/manchester-city/17

 

[bluegaz13]

He’s definitely got some attributes that we lack….running, ball carrying etc…..but his first touch and technical ability are not good enough for a Pep team as demonstrated when trying to deal with the admittedly poor pass from Ederson which lead to the Luton goal.
I don’t think he will be anything more than a squad member while he is here.

 

[Skrastins]

he was ok vs Luton, he needs to peel of the Banana of the cleats or else he will have Gerrard/Virgil type game

 

[Hungarian blue]

Real shame about that miscontrol, but it's not like Rodri doesn't have those every second game (and no, I'm not comparing them), and apart from it, I thought he played more than well throughout the game.

 

[St.Pauli support]

I think he's a typical 'squad player' with technical skills but happy enough to also accept the bench for vast parts of the season and good enough to give our top guns the rest in the business end of the season.

We won't get 23 world class players as they would fear to get not enough game time. Rice would be a good example.

It' hurts that we have to invest 50m also in those players but it's just the level we need and the market does the rest.

That's why I think he still just a good job for us in squad terms and managing game time.

As a Wolves said on here, he has the heart of a pea. Guess what he means. Then again players with a big heart and ego wouldn't accept the bench for too long. So maybe this all makes some sense.
Phillips would have worked with a similar mentality but he just totally collapsed as a personality for whatever reason.

We need top quality on the bench but also the type of person to be happy enough out there - for some good time.

 

[youngbob]

Has had a better first season than Aké did but think with us looking at Wirtz, Paqueta, etc. it'll be hard for him to keep his place here if he doesn't get more consistent minutes in the 24/25 season. Have a feeling we'll either nudge him on as a makeweight or give him another year and then send him to somewhere in Portugal.

 

[Zenmanc]

I think its really weird how some here think every player we buy is supposed to be world beating top 1% in the world elite status the first game they play for us. Nunes hasnt exactly gotten a run of play for anyone with any actual analytical acumen to determine if hes a good signing or not... much less the beer stained armchair lot we have here.