45 | Abdukodir Khusanov - 2025/26

Well time will tell, as it always does.

But if it really is a matter of organisation, not people - then why haven't we addressed it since, say, December?

I am a natural optimist, who's looking forward to the new season - but I haven't seen anything yet, including at the CWC, that suggests it won't be a continuation of the last season, mindset-wise.

We'll soon see
It was addressed in December which is why we went on unbeaten rum that took us to 3rd and almost chased down arsenal.I saw plenty at the CWC that suggested it will be different, as well as things that showed it was a work in progress.
 
Well time will tell, as it always does.

But if it really is a matter of organisation, not people - then why haven't we addressed it since, say, December?

I am a natural optimist, who's looking forward to the new season - but I haven't seen anything yet, including at the CWC, that suggests it won't be a continuation of the last season, mindset-wise.

We'll soon see

I think we've tried to address it with a few different tactical tweaks, but some of the personal don't know the roles and positioning all that well, so there were (and will be) points where they don't gel too well.

Also got to say that sometimes the opposition deserves credit for the way they create the opportunities and how they stop us.

I think 2nd half of the season we might fly. Key thing is to still be in touch by the end of Jan.
 
I'm a tad confused. People are saying khusanov is crap on the ball. All of last season when we were attacking & the opposition were camped out in their own box, game after game Ruben was on the semi(fnar) circle of their box & we are expecting him to provide a killer pass?
Ruben is a defender he is not David Silva, khusanov is a defender he too isn't David Silva. Am I being dim here? We want defenders to defend & goalkeepers to keep out goals. It really is not rocket surgery.
 
I'm a tad confused. People are saying khusanov is crap on the ball. All of last season when we were attacking & the opposition were camped out in their own box, game after game Ruben was on the semi(fnar) circle of their box & we are expecting him to provide a killer pass?
Ruben is a defender he is not David Silva, khusanov is a defender he too isn't David Silva. Am I being dim here? We want defenders to defend & goalkeepers to keep out goals. It really is not rocket surgery.
According to some Pep doesn’t think so. Akanji and Dias are top passers ( they are not)
 
I'm a tad confused. People are saying khusanov is crap on the ball. All of last season when we were attacking & the opposition were camped out in their own box, game after game Ruben was on the semi(fnar) circle of their box & we are expecting him to provide a killer pass?
Ruben is a defender he is not David Silva, khusanov is a defender he too isn't David Silva. Am I being dim here? We want defenders to defend & goalkeepers to keep out goals. It really is not rocket surgery.

It's more about when we are pressed around our own goal I expect. If someone isn't comfortable there, we'll give the ball away in a dangerous position.

When attacking often our defenders get time on the ball because they are capable and the opposition will prefer to cover space and reduce their options. It leaves them having to play a simple pass usually. If they weren't as comfortable then they may get pressed and lose the ball, or have to go back to the keeper more often. It does make a difference, and it's easy to forget that our experienced defenders are good on the ball because they end up with just simple options on.
 
I'm a tad confused. People are saying khusanov is crap on the ball. All of last season when we were attacking & the opposition were camped out in their own box, game after game Ruben was on the semi(fnar) circle of their box & we are expecting him to provide a killer pass?
Ruben is a defender he is not David Silva, khusanov is a defender he too isn't David Silva. Am I being dim here? We want defenders to defend & goalkeepers to keep out goals. It really is not rocket surgery.

I'm confused too..

IMO he's like Laporte on the ball.. he's accurate with his crosses and passes.

But can he dribble and keep control of the ball like David Silva? Obviously not!
 
9 appearances. 9. Not even full 90 minutes each time. The attributes are obvious, pace to burn, physicality and from what I can see a determined focus to win every 1 on 1 duel he finds himself in. Its a they shall not pass attitude, fortunate enough to see it at the top level with Walker (Des and Kyle as it happens for me) and at just turned 21 there's time for Pep to work on the other area's.

If that 10 appearance clause was not in his contract we'd have seen a lot more of him last season for sure. I've been wrong before about young players (we all have) but I can see the next (hopefully) all conquering backline being built around him.
 
I'm a tad confused. People are saying khusanov is crap on the ball. All of last season when we were attacking & the opposition were camped out in their own box, game after game Ruben was on the semi(fnar) circle of their box & we are expecting him to provide a killer pass?
Ruben is a defender he is not David Silva, khusanov is a defender he too isn't David Silva. Am I being dim here? We want defenders to defend & goalkeepers to keep out goals. It really is not rocket surgery.
You're overthinking it mate. This is the internet. People say silly shit.
 
Might sound silly this one but bear with me...

I think Khusanov has a lot of the same qualities - and possibly the same limitations - as Richard Dunne had for us.

Committed. Fast. Brave. Good tackler, good at blocking. Those are the best bits. The rest though I'm not sure on yet, time will tell.

Once the takeover happened Dunney went relatively early. And not just because he "didn't sell shirts in the far east". He couldn't have played in a top side which had a lot of possession.

Do people think Dunney, for all his City POTY awards, would have made us successful if he'd stayed?

Well, I do have doubts about this guy making it at the very top, the level is so difficult. If he can be comfortable and confident on the ball he could possibly have it all
 
Against Bournemouth in the cup, Dias was playing left centre back and his limitations meant that we couldn’t build up on the left hand side, meaning Dias was passing to Khusanov too much and Bournemouth then found it easy to press him.

Therefore he was hooked at half time to enable Gvardiol to play left centre half to allow us to build up on both sides.

The problem Khusanov then had was the emergence of O’Reilly. That allowed Gvardiol to play centre back.

However bad you feel Dias’ deficiencies are, Pep was never dropping him for Khusanov last season.

Now we have Ait-Nouri to play left back, so Khusanov is in a fight to play right centre half with Dias, Akanji and Stones.

He might be tried at right back, but he’s not got much experience there.
 
I have a lot of hope for Khusanov, he's got great defensive qualities, is extremely fast and aggressive, and young enough to be developed to be perfect for us

But despite what some might think, he is worse on the ball than Dias and Akanji. Not so much technically, more in that ability to stay composed and read the game to play out under pressure

Dias isn't amazing on the ball, but he's better than the current level of Khusanov
 
Fwiw I thought Khusanov actually looked pretty good on the ball in the few matches he played last season...

Yeah I don't know where this idea that he's not good on the ball has come from. He didn't make the best decisions at times but he's infinitely better with the ball at his feet than Ruben Dias.
 
Might sound silly this one but bear with me...

I think Khusanov has a lot of the same qualities - and possibly the same limitations - as Richard Dunne had for us.

Committed. Fast. Brave. Good tackler, good at blocking. Those are the best bits. The rest though I'm not sure on yet, time will tell.

Once the takeover happened Dunney went relatively early. And not just because he "didn't sell shirts in the far east". He couldn't have played in a top side which had a lot of possession.

Do people think Dunney, for all his City POTY awards, would have made us successful if he'd stayed?

Well, I do have doubts about this guy making it at the very top, the level is so difficult. If he can be comfortable and confident on the ball he could possibly have it all
I'd love a Richard Dunne right now.

We can afford one of our outfield players to be not as good as the rest at passing so he is bypassed. Especially if that guy is a monster who cuts the opposition to pieces and gets away with the dark arts of defending.

A new Kompany would be awesome but I'd take a new Dunne any day.
 
I'd love a Richard Dunne right now.

We can afford one of our outfield players to be not as good as the rest at passing so he is bypassed. Especially if that guy is a monster who cuts the opposition to pieces and gets away with the dark arts of defending.

A new Kompany would be awesome but I'd take a new Dunne any day.

I guess that's the big question - could we afford it? Some games definitely. But we're at our best when we have everyone wanting the ball, if that's not the case and we're taking a split second to decide if player x can deal with the pass, then it does make things worse. How much though I'm not sure.

I'd like to see him given a decent run of games, but I just think people should temper their expectations little. Some seem to have him as the best defender at the club now, when he's had one season at a mid-table French side. The rough edges still need a bit of polish I expect.
 
I guess that's the big question - could we afford it? Some games definitely. But we're at our best when we have everyone wanting the ball, if that's not the case and we're taking a split second to decide if player x can deal with the pass, then it does make things worse. How much though I'm not sure.

I'd like to see him given a decent run of games, but I just think people should temper their expectations little. Some seem to have him as the best defender at the club now, when he's had one season at a mid-table French side. The rough edges still need a bit of polish I expect.
We rely on the offside rule to protect us so we play a very high line. So we need to be have players who can use the ball well under pressure with no one behind them to help if they mess up.

But then we have the risk of balls into that space and fast attackers getting on them so them not being offside so we need fast, tough and vicious defenders to get to the attacker to slow him down or take him out.

So we need football intelligence and we need a physical specimen. My opinion is we need one of each at CB (if we can't get 2 CBs to embody both sets of attributes).

I don't know if Khusonov is up for it but I feel like Akanji, Dias, Ake and Stones lack the speed/aggression element for sure at this stage in their careers. I'd have loved to have seen more of Khusonov at the CWC.

My preference is to keep Khusonov and Reiss and sign another CB who is a phenomenon (no idea who) by letting Akanji go.

Stone and Ake don't really matter I think because there's space for them among the homegrown crew - and if not then let Stones go at least due to injuries
 
We rely on the offside rule to protect us so we play a very high line. So we need to be have players who can use the ball well under pressure with no one behind them to help if they mess up.

But then we have the risk of balls into that space and fast attackers getting on them so them not being offside so we need fast, tough and vicious defenders to get to the attacker to slow him down or take him out.

So we need football intelligence and we need a physical specimen. My opinion is we need one of each at CB (if we can't get 2 CBs to embody both sets of attributes).

I don't know if Khusonov is up for it but I feel like Akanji, Dias, Ake and Stones lack the speed/aggression element for sure at this stage in their careers. I'd have loved to have seen more of Khusonov at the CWC.

My preference is to keep Khusonov and Reiss and sign another CB who is a phenomenon (no idea who) by letting Akanji go.

Stone and Ake don't really matter I think because there's space for them among the homegrown crew - and if not then let Stones go at least due to injuries

All fair, can't disagree with it. If it comes to it I'd rather keep Stones (who I think is almost one of a kind) to Ake (who I feel is a good solid player).
 
Fwiw I thought Khusanov actually looked pretty good on the ball in the few matches he played last season...
Same. I thought he looked pretty composed on the ball particularly at centre half! Don't really get these comparisons to Dunney etc if im being honest. Very different players from what I've seen of khusanov so far

The kid is absolutely electric and sniffs out danger so hes superb at stopping counters which are our achilles heel, so he should be incredibly useful to us to say the least (and im presuming that was a major factor as to why we signed him), but Pep is Pep so who knows how it will pan out at this stage.
 

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