Ake played 13 games in his first season and looked out of his depth in all of them. He only really started to look the part at the end of the 21/22 season. He obviously came into his own during the 22/23 season and deservedly has a place in the side now. But his first season was a struggle and it's fair enough to point that out.
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27 | Matheus Nunes - 2023/24
- Thread starter johnny crossan
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Someone like Cole palmer perhapsHad a better first season than Ake my arse. He gets minutes against cannon fodder and even then looks bang average . Fucking hell the praise this lad gets for managing the most basic tasks is mind boggling. Hopefully gets moved on in the summer and get someone in that carries some sort of threat.
So far away …You can buy one like him on every street
cole palmer , now that name rings a bell ? bell as in CLANGERSomeone like Cole palmer perhaps
I think anybody with any semblance of football recognition can see there is a good player there.
Under Phillips 1st season, there was hope he could turn it around in his 2nd season, but watching him in his 1st season it was still difficult to find positives. The hope was that he was coming back from an injury, so we needed to wait.
In Nunes 1st season, you can immediately see all the good qualities he has:
- Ball Carrying Ability and Dribbling to glide past players
- Decent eye for a creative pass, especially good at crossing
- Fairly tall and fast for his frame
What he needs to improve (and some of these he has improved already):
- Positioning (The Pep Factor), knowing where to be and when to pass, literally every player Pep buys has to go through this at some point as it's the most different thing to them.
In the last game I saw HUGE improvements in Nunes for this, he wasn't making blind runs, he had patience, held position, moved when he needed to.
- Strength on the ball and Challenging, he needs to be braver, and stronger in these situations, I think this is something that with coaching, time and more maturity can improve, because physically, he has the attribute to be good at this, it's just a mental barrier he has to get beyond.
In the last game we saw the downside of him being too weak and flimsy on the ball as he gave away the goal, he should be able to receive that pass, know there is someone on him, and shield it properly.
- Lowest on my list, he doesn't seem to have a great shot on him, this is probably the least likely to get better, I think most players usually just "have it", and rarely truly get much better at this. This is one I don't mind if he is slightly below average at.
With All This Said
I think his ultimate future is as a box to box CM (Gundogan role) to be in build up, and push up higher in transition.
But should probably get minutes also on the wings, simple to get minutes and use to the system.
Agree with this, except I'd say that mistake when he gave away the goal was more down to lack of scanning and poor technique receiving the ball, rather than being weak. Totally with you in the positives though, he carries the ball well a d can beat a man in midfield when the opposition play man to man. He has his uses already, whether he can tidy up the rest of his game is obviously yet to be seen, but I'd say it's possible.
Gabriel
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It's been an awful lot of money for 1,510 minutes of football. Expected more and still do if he remains.
GaudinoMotors
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I demand a private investigation.Dire stats?
Sounds like money for nothing
Bluewars II
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Pep Era: Nolito, Mendy, Angelino, E.Garcia, Phillips, S.Gomez, Nunes are all players that I watched their first few games and said they won't make the grade at City with Pep.99% of the time I can tell you within 5 minutes if a player is any good mate.
The only one I’ve been wrong on is Rodri but in my defence it did take him a good 2 seasons to get it, which is highly unusual.
Can’t get my head round how some people need “a season” to assess a player.
He’s bobbins.
B.Diaz, Sane, Palmer, Delap, THB, are players I thought could become world class with Pep.
Zinchenko, Jesus, Mahrez,Grealish are three players I thought wouldn't make the grade after their first season but showed quality and became big players for us.
Rodri was always quality for me, complaints were about his lack of covering pace and loose passing, these are still some of his weaknesses, but he's 6ft3 we can't expect him to move like Kante and he's a ball playing DM of course he would/will lose some balls.
Players that started out well that I eventually felt/feel they wouldn't/wont make it;
Bravo, F.Torres, Alvarez and Doku.
Cool
He doesn't have a body of work to show otherwise and he’s not a young, inexperienced player. Let’s see if he starts another game this season - I doubt it
Couldn't agree more mate. it's only the 'top blues' who seem intent on defending his dire performances99% of the time I can tell you within 5 minutes if a player is any good mate.
The only one I’ve been wrong on is Rodri but in my defence it did take him a good 2 seasons to get it, which is highly unusual.
Can’t get my head round how some people need “a season” to assess a player.
He’s bobbins.
If improving is missing a sitter and conceding a goal then he's fuckedHe improved again on Saturday
Johnny Mars Bar
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To be fair to him, Sam Lee made a valid point.
It's not that Nunes is shit, it's just that he hasn't been quite good enough so far that he's got sufficient credit in the bank for when he does fuck up, that the fans let him off.
Sam Lee made the point that if John Stones or Rodri had the same brain fart nobody would give it a second thought but with Nunes it's different.
Having said all that my gut feeling is that he's probs not quite at our level.
It's not that Nunes is shit, it's just that he hasn't been quite good enough so far that he's got sufficient credit in the bank for when he does fuck up, that the fans let him off.
Sam Lee made the point that if John Stones or Rodri had the same brain fart nobody would give it a second thought but with Nunes it's different.
Having said all that my gut feeling is that he's probs not quite at our level.
Thought he played quite well on Saturday, but the mistake was horrendous.
I'm not aiming high with Nunes, but I'm hoping he can achieve a level Phillips failed to reach with us - that of being able to play against lower Premier League fodder without costing us points.
If we can regularly win when he plays, I don't really give a shit what he plays like I suppose.
I'm not aiming high with Nunes, but I'm hoping he can achieve a level Phillips failed to reach with us - that of being able to play against lower Premier League fodder without costing us points.
If we can regularly win when he plays, I don't really give a shit what he plays like I suppose.
Johnny Mars Bar
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I know what you mean but the issue there is we're running Rodri into the ground, again. Already happening this season.Thought he played quite well on Saturday, but the mistake was horrendous.
I'm not aiming high with Nunes, but I'm hoping he can achieve a level Phillips failed to reach with us - that of being able to play against lower Premier League fodder without costing us points.
If we can regularly win when he plays, I don't really give a shit what he plays like I suppose.
He's done better than some people on here seem to think but with all the midfielders we're getting linked with, and the fact that he was 4th on the list of targets last summer (behind Rice, Bellingham, then Paqueta), his time here is probably a bit limited. Pep doesn't fully trust him and that's rarely a good sign. He'll either be part of a deal to bring Paqueta here (charges pending) or we'll flog him to Sporting or Benfica to improve relations with them for whenever the next Bernardo Silva or Ederson comes along. I'd be willing to give him a second season but I just don't see where he'll get the minutes to build up any consistency, especially if we're serious about Paqueta and Wirtz, or Musiala.
You'd imagine next season our midfield options are: Rodri, Kovacic, Foden, De Bruyne, Paqueta, Wirtz. Barring a mental injury crisis, where the hell does Nunes get minutes there? And if there is a mental injury crisis, surely Pep would trust Bernardo to just slot into the middle instead? Unless he fancies becoming a midfielder/winger hybrid in the Grealish sense -- like he was for Wolves sometimes -- then yeah, okay, he might get a bit more time. But then you have to consider that Savio's mostly likely coming in, Doku and Bobb are progressing, and Grealish basically has that LW position on lockdown. We'll still be able to fetch about £30-40m for him and I think it'd be worth moving him on.
You'd imagine next season our midfield options are: Rodri, Kovacic, Foden, De Bruyne, Paqueta, Wirtz. Barring a mental injury crisis, where the hell does Nunes get minutes there? And if there is a mental injury crisis, surely Pep would trust Bernardo to just slot into the middle instead? Unless he fancies becoming a midfielder/winger hybrid in the Grealish sense -- like he was for Wolves sometimes -- then yeah, okay, he might get a bit more time. But then you have to consider that Savio's mostly likely coming in, Doku and Bobb are progressing, and Grealish basically has that LW position on lockdown. We'll still be able to fetch about £30-40m for him and I think it'd be worth moving him on.
Yeah it is and it shouldn't happen. If he can become trusted (by Pep, not us), just to be able to play against bottom half Prem teams, lower CL group stage teams and in the Cup, then that should give Rodri plenty of rest next season.I know what you mean but the issue there is we're running Rodri into the ground, again. Already happening this season.
Maybe he can aim higher than that (and maybe we should too), but we've got to start somewhere...
Gabriel
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I’m pretty sure most fans aren’t particularly bothered about his lapse that led to the goal, though the keeper and defence always pride themselves on a clean sheet. I’m more concerned that in another gruelling season for the squad and one where there have been multiple injuries, he has only been called upon to chip in with 1,510 minutes, fewer than Rico Lewis and fewer than Tommy Doyle has gathered at Wolves.To be fair to him, Sam Lee made a valid point.
It's not that Nunes is shit, it's just that he hasn't been quite good enough so far that he's got sufficient credit in the bank for when he does fuck up, that the fans let him off.
Sam Lee made the point that if John Stones or Rodri had the same brain fart nobody would give it a second thought but with Nunes it's different.
Having said all that my gut feeling is that he's probs not quite at our level.
Gordyola
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Shade unfairI’m pretty sure most fans aren’t particularly bothered about his lapse that led to the goal, though the keeper and defence always pride themselves on a clean sheet. I’m more concerned that in another gruelling season for the squad and one where there have been multiple injuries, he has only been called upon to chip in with 1,510 minutes, fewer than Rico Lewis and fewer than Tommy Doyle has gathered at Wolves.
How many minutes would Tommy have gotten at City v Nunes at Wolves?
Ake had a grim start to his City career. Nunes has already had twice as many appearances as Ake managed in the whole first season.
Ake played in the 2-5 against Leicester, got injured for much of the season, came back when we were 14 points clear at the top, and we then lost two of our next three games, with him being taken off in one of them.
He's clearly not set the world alight, but there's a reasonable chance that Nunes will play more minutes this season than Ake managed in his second season.
The word I can’t get out of my head watching him is weak. And sure enough he’s physically weak it seems to me and his decision making is similarly weak in that he has a knack for picking the wrong option -in the final third it’s pretty much every single time.
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